Day 5 - Last day in Kashgar

Day five on our trip was our last day in Kashgar, as we were boarding the overnight train to Turfan which is back towards Urumqi. We started with a trip to the Id kah Mosque, which is the largest mosque in all of China, it was built in 1442 and holds 7,000 people. It was a dreary overcast day, so the greens and yellows didn’t stand out as much as you could tell that they must when bathed in sunlight… The mosque is in the center of town and the noise of cars, bikes, and people all fades away once you walk through the front gate and around the corner to the courtyard. It’s immense and very peaceful, there were towers near the front where, prior to loudspeakers, men used to stand and repeat the words of the Imam out to the rest of the crowd. During high holidays the masses that are late have to pray out in the giant square outside of the mosque – they used to use additional men to relay the message out to them.

Id Kah Mosque

After wandering around the mosque we headed over to the Abakh Khoja Tomb. I didn’t follow the story perfectly, but it sounds like it was built to house the rulers of Kashgar who first brought Islam to the people. However they taught a strange version that forbids marriage and working in the fields, something like that, but people didn’t follow it and instead ran the man and his son out of town. Somehow after another war or problem the man came back and had loosened up on some of his ideas and the people took to it then. It sounds likes the Uyghurs have a slightly different religion, and we were told that they didn’t even have the Koran translated into their local language until 1989.

Abakh Khoja Tomb

Once we finished touring the tomb and the nearby mosque and old school we headed back into the old town, this time to visit the touristy section where we had to pay 30 RMB each to get in. But with our entry fee we were provided a guide and had the chance to go into some peoples homes so that we could see their courtyards and how their homes were set up. Overall it was interesting to see both the old town and then the tourist section of the old town.

Neighborhood meeting

By 15:00 we had been dropped off at the train station and were sitting in a small sleeper cabin for 4 people. Our guide, Hussein, told us that the train would probably be empty leaving Kashgar but would fill up at one of the next three stops. We enjoyed watching the scenery change to the desert as we left the city, and after 3 stops we were still alone in our cabin. It was perfect, night fell and we enjoyed the two bottles of wine that we had carted with us from Xiamen and played travel Scrabble…

The fun of travelling in China....

For those of you who haven’t heard, China, over here, will be celebrating their New Year’s next week. We are going to bid adieu to the Rat and welcome in the Ox.

And in keeping with the theme, I thought I would share a story or two about the adventure one can have traveling within China during this festive week.

It started out innocently enough. Yang, my Taichi teacher, asked how long my flight back to Chicago took. I explained it took approximately 14 hours and then we had to wait a few hours before heading up to Toronto. He thought that rather quick.

The first time he left Xiamen to go to his hometown in the Henan province, he took a bus. This trip lasted 55 hours. The second time he opted for the train, which took less time, only 30 hours. After how long it took him to travel to his home province, I would agree.

The discussion then went into safety of the trains and buses in China during these peak times. According to Yang, the issue with the system here in China is the guanxi, and the the process of purchasing tickets. Unlike home, one doesn’t purchase a train ticket via the Internet or phone, one must go to the train station and queue up. Basically, it’s you and thousands of your closest friends. Bring a good book, and perhaps a meal or two. Generally one can only purchase the tickets a few days ahead of time.

Guanxi, which is common practice here in China, is basically the art of “gift” giving. This helps the person purchasing the ticket to secure a bunk (if you gave him a large gift, or a seat, if you were too cheap to cough up more money). Not that much different than Chicago politics but I digress. The trains are always oversold, and if you weren’t lucky enough to secure a bunk or seat, your only choice would be to stand, unless you find the bar car first. As for the rest of the travelers, well that means being vertical most of the trip. Yang has seen people sleeping, standing up the entire time. Some were so exhausted they couldn’t stand anymore and would fall on people’s laps.

He also told me of a story about 3 years ago, where the train was so crammed during this time, they found 7 people in the toilet, as there was no place else left on the train to stand. Apparently, if you needed to relieve yourself, you used the windows.

The buses are no better. Typically, the buses will call out to people who weren’t fortunate enough to get a train ticket, and then cram as many as 100 people on them.

Yea, I think I will stick to airplanes…

Next stop - Tettnang

We were up almost at the crack of dawn that last day in Prague and headed down to the train station for a full day of crossing Europe. From Prague we take the train to Munich (6 hours) then we switch to a train heading to Ulm (3 hours), and finally a short 1-1/2 ride from Ulm to Meckenbeuren where Tina's cousin Monika should be waiting for us at the station.

Because we are old pro's at the train thing now, we totally forget to pack any snacks or even drinking water for our first 6 hour leg of the journey. Yeah, and because it's a train from the Czech Republic - no bar car. So that made it a long journey right from the start.

Somewhere while we were still in Czech Republic the train stopped, and I got up to take a quick look outside only to see them stopped so that they could move an old steamer just a few tracks over. It was nice to see, and having the car we were in fill with soot as it went by brought back all sorts of old memories....

So yeah, I took a few photos of that -





From then on the rest of the trip was uneventful, we managed to grab a snack in Munich while changing trains and then, despite me getting turned around in the Ulm station, we still made our transfer to the train going to Meckenbeuren.

Tina's father flew in the same day, and was meeting another cousin Rudolf, who was bringing him down to Tettnang. We pull into Meckenbeuren and as we are getting off the train we find Rudolf and Tina's father getting off the train car just ahead of us. Good timing on the trains.

From there it's a quick 10 minute ride to Tettnang, and then everyone in the family being happy to see everyone. Tina's aunt, Tanta Betha was waiting at home waiting so that they could serve some homemade leberkase (Tina's favourite).

Tina and Tante Betha

Rudolf and me

Tomorrow - they throw a party with all of the family. Don't miss that one.

Barb's celebration

We were still in Salzburg until the afternoon, when we took the train to Vienna. Some of the gals slept in, while others continued shopping or sightseeing. Mark and I opted to wander around and pick up some wine for the train ride in which we would then celebrate both Barb and Vicki's birthdays.

The wine was a hit and helped make the train ride that much quicker. We laughed, drank, and took many pictures of the scenery both in the train and outside of the train. Even the Austrian who had asked if we were ever going to be quiet, couldn't dampen our spirits for celebrating Barb's and Vicki's day.

That evening Barb made plans to celebrate her birthday in a castle, followed by drinks at a bar close by our hotel. No need to take taxi's when one can stumble home.

Everyone dressed for the evening occasion and off we went to have a fun filled evening.

Well, since there were 10 of us, a few of us arrived ahead of Barb and the rest of the group. The first question Kim asked was; are we in the right place? The taxi driver assured us, that yes this was indeed the correct place. The next question was; where's the castle? Perhaps we are missing something Jo countered.

What was once a castle appeared to be part of one or as Jo put it, perhaps where the stables once were, though the rest of the castle appeared to be missing and the fact that the restaurant felt no need to set aside any funds to restore this building.

It was quite dark inside when we first entered, and wondered if this was indeed the place that was recommended to Barb. The waitress finally decided to break with her two friends to acknowledge us but was in no mood to work or be helpful. Did I mention that we were the only guests? Yup, this was going to be an interesting evening.

Well, the rest of the gals showed up to the same quizzical look we gave upon entering the restaurant.


We ended up having a good time, with 11 different types of schnitzel and lots salad and wine. We clearly ordered too much. Barb was a trooper, despite the surroundings and the fact that she had expected something different didn't deter her or anyone else from having a good time.

We later went out for cocktails, enjoying the beautiful evening, and laughing, okay, perhaps not so much at that moment, but later on, about the dinner.

Hey, it's not about the venue, it's more about the friendships that have survived over the years, and the fact that Barb's friends came to Europe to help celebrate her birthday. So, hats off to you Barb and I'm sure it will be a night you will always remember.

Day, 1: The reason we went to Europe

Our first day we had an 11 hour flight to Frankfurt, which actually went by quicker than we expected, followed by a 5 1/2 hour train ride.

Our flight was delayed by a 1/2 hour, so we missed the earlier trains, but managed to get one at 5:30, which would connect into Munich and then onward to Salzburg.

We first sat down, and enjoyed our view around the table seats on the train, until someone kicked us out of their seat, so we moved to the next seat, only to find out that we sat in someone else's place as well. We later found out that this was a very popular route and one needs to make reservations for this specific route at this time. Makes sense. A very kind man, offered his seat, while one of the four seats had no reservations, so Mark and I were able to stay where we were until we reached Munich. Note, to self, remember to make reservations. Others were not as fortunate, and ended up standing the entire time.

We arrived late into Salzburg, while expecting to see the rest of the gang already in the hotel bar, but later found out that they missed a train and arrived shortly after we did. It had been a long day, and both Mark and I were looking forward to sleeping.

The next day, after breakfast, Mark and I took a stroll around the gardens that were close to where we were staying, before meeting up with everyone for our 2 hour walking tour. We started off with some light drizzle, followed by a good hour's worth of heavy rain. Once the rain's stopped we had absolutely beautiful clear blue skies.

The tour guide was excellent, showing us where Mozart was born, where he livid, why he didn't like Salzburg, as well as where parts of the Sound of Music scenes were shot, and so on. The city itself is very quaint, with the castle on top of the mountain looking down on Salzburg. It was tourist season, so there were lots and lots of people walking around the old part of town.


After the tour, we decided to have a beer, before everyone went their separate ways. There was shopping to be done.

The reason we came to Austria, two gals celebrating milestone birthdays.

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A nice surprise from Jo and Kim, for both Barb and Vicki before heading out to dinner.

Dinner was at the Art Hotel Cellar restaurant, again, thanks to Jo who found this place. It was a culinary delight, with deer, liver, and some Austrian speciality dishes. The food was fantastic.

After dinner, most were exhausted and went back to their rooms, while a few of us forced Barb to stay awake and ring in her 50th birthday. She managed to stay up, have a toast, and wandered back to her room around 12:06am.

We followed shortly thereafter.

Trains in China

After a relaxing weekend in Xitang, we had to purchase tickets back to Shanghai. We arrived at the station, thinking that if the original train we wanted was completely full, we can take the next one. You cannot order a train ticket by phone, it appears that one must go to the station ahead of time, wait in line to purchase the tickets. Ah, the things we take for granted.

Mark and I arrive around 9:00am and the lines were almost to the entrance way. We patiently waited for our turn, and as most things in China, the Chinese are not big on the queue forming ritual. We were the second in line, and at least 5 people cut ahead of us and no thanks to the security guard who also assisted the impatient travelers to wiggle in ahead. We were the next ones up and 2 more people cut through. Now granted by now we should be use to this, but there are times it's rather unnerving, so just remember this when you are visiting Beijing for the Olympics. We finally get our tickets for an early train and hopped on that one. The cost 8RMB equivalent to $1.10 USD. We had the hard seats, which should tell you what the train ride would be like. What's a hard seat?

Well, let's see, they're hard for one. They are basically benches where three people sit beside each other on one side, and two people sit next to each other on the other side facing each other. Air conditioning is non existent and only a few windows can open. They are crammed, dirty and generally it appears the overbooking is the norm. It's the Darwinian theory, only the strongest survive. Oh, and because we were Laowai's everyone stared or tried to strike up a conversation.

As we were waiting we checked our tickets and unlike the train coming where we had designated seats, this one was a free for all. Great, just what we needed, everyone trying to get a seat with all their luggage. This wasn't going to be pretty.

The train out, with designated seats. I did not take a picture for the return train as the cameras were packed away.

The train pulls up, and everyone ran to the door to get their seat. We headed to the back of the train where a few of us made it in one piece. The only problem, no seats. I looked at Mark, and said, "can they do this?". "Ah, honey", he replies, "we're in China remember". Apparently I didn't have enough coffee.

Everyone hovered around the bathrooms, with all their luggage not moving anywhere, though clearly you can see there was some empty spaces in the middle, so Mark and I muscled our way through and found a seat. Better than nothing we thought.

The train itself was disgusting, and dirty. People throwing their garbage on the floors, though the cleaners came through twice during the hour we were on the train. This was the complete opposite of the train we had taken from Shanghai to Hangzhou, where it was immaculate, new and quick. This one reminded us of what you would expect back in the 60's.

That being said, the trains in China are quite social. Everyone talks to each other whether they know each other or not, kids play and run around, while others enjoy a good card game.

After receiving an email from Barb, saying she needs another $165 (CAD) for a train from Frankfurt to Salzburg, I would have to say, I would rather take a train within China. Well at least for nothing else, the cost was much better.