We arrived in Guilin a little ahead of schedule because of a lot of train difficulties (you can only buy a ticket from the city you are leaving from, and only a certain number of days in advance, and they all always sell out)
Our main reason for visiting Guilin was to go to the Dragon's Backbone Rice Terraces. The pictures in the Lonely Planet are of mountains covered in bright green terraces.
We decided to go with a tour from our hostel. We got on the bus full of Chinese tourists in the morning and headed to yet another minority village. We opted out of the "Long hair show" where the local women did a dance that included uncoiling their long hair, brushing it, and putting it back up (other people told us later we were smart to skip the show). From there we went to another village to begin the 40 minute hike up the mountain.
The terraces were beautiful, and an amazing feat of engineering. Our map said the park covers over 15 km of mountains, all terraced for growing rice. I really liked standing on the top and looking down over the hills.
Today we were planning to go to another village, but we woke up to pouring rain, our first of the entire three month trip. We decided that we should instead spend the day in the hostel, watching movies and playing on the internet.
From here, we will take a night train on Wednesday night to Hong Kong, our last stop of the trip. We will be back in the states on November 24, just in time for Thanksgiving!
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Fenghuang
After a few weeks in big cities in China, we decided that we needed a break, and headed to Fenghuang (in Hunan Province), according to some website, the 2nd prettiest town in China.
The village is set on a river (the Tuo river) and is home to several minority groups. Any time there are minority groups in China, there are costumes for the tourists to put on, and have their pictures taken "being minorities" We tried to imagine this happening in the states....
At night the women of the village sold little paper boats with candles in them, to send down the river. We had a good time wishing our little boats along (most of the time, they would end up completely in flames, or a wave would put out the candle).
We decided one day to take a boat ride down the river (since we decided earlier against the Yangtze River Cruise). We went to the ticket office, where we were told you couldn't just buy a ticket for the boat, you had to get an all inclusive ticket for all of the sites, for 148 RMB. That seemed a little ridiculous to us, since we had already seen the whole town, and didn't feel the need to go inside any of the buildings. So as we started to walk away, a woman approached us and offered a boat ride for 60 RMB each. We started negotiating with her and got the price down to 30 RMB each. Then we started walking. The boats all left from up high on the river, went down through the town, and then came back. We walked and walked and walked, until we were outside of the town, and then we kept walking. At this point we stopped the women and tried to ask where we were going (they didn't speak any English). We renegotiated a price to 20 RMB each and then continued walking. We ended up in the industrial outskirts of town for our boatride. The scenery was ugly, and we realized where all of the candle boats had been going....down the river to float in trash piles...however, we were only paying a few bucks each for it, and we thought it was pretty funny. We had been promised an hour ride, and after we returned to the launching point after a half an hour, we realized this meant two times down and back and opted to be done.
From Fenghuang, we planned to go to Dehang, another minority village in the area. Unfortunately, the train ticket system foiled this plan, and we ended up staying the night in a big ugly city. We decided to skip Dehang and head right for Changsha, to see the birthplace of Mao. Unfortunately, the ticket system ruined this plan as well, and we ended up going right down to Guilin, a few days ahead of schedule.
The village is set on a river (the Tuo river) and is home to several minority groups. Any time there are minority groups in China, there are costumes for the tourists to put on, and have their pictures taken "being minorities" We tried to imagine this happening in the states....
At night the women of the village sold little paper boats with candles in them, to send down the river. We had a good time wishing our little boats along (most of the time, they would end up completely in flames, or a wave would put out the candle).
We decided one day to take a boat ride down the river (since we decided earlier against the Yangtze River Cruise). We went to the ticket office, where we were told you couldn't just buy a ticket for the boat, you had to get an all inclusive ticket for all of the sites, for 148 RMB. That seemed a little ridiculous to us, since we had already seen the whole town, and didn't feel the need to go inside any of the buildings. So as we started to walk away, a woman approached us and offered a boat ride for 60 RMB each. We started negotiating with her and got the price down to 30 RMB each. Then we started walking. The boats all left from up high on the river, went down through the town, and then came back. We walked and walked and walked, until we were outside of the town, and then we kept walking. At this point we stopped the women and tried to ask where we were going (they didn't speak any English). We renegotiated a price to 20 RMB each and then continued walking. We ended up in the industrial outskirts of town for our boatride. The scenery was ugly, and we realized where all of the candle boats had been going....down the river to float in trash piles...however, we were only paying a few bucks each for it, and we thought it was pretty funny. We had been promised an hour ride, and after we returned to the launching point after a half an hour, we realized this meant two times down and back and opted to be done.
From Fenghuang, we planned to go to Dehang, another minority village in the area. Unfortunately, the train ticket system foiled this plan, and we ended up staying the night in a big ugly city. We decided to skip Dehang and head right for Changsha, to see the birthplace of Mao. Unfortunately, the ticket system ruined this plan as well, and we ended up going right down to Guilin, a few days ahead of schedule.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Butt pants
Please note the split that goes all the way from the front to the back. This way when the child squats, they are able to use the bathroom without getting their pants dirty. They still get the public sidewalk dirty, but that is another matter.
Chongqing
Chongqing is the world's largest city, at least according to the Lonely Planet. And after spending a few days there, I might have to agree with them.
We visited with Liz and Jason (friends of Cuttino's from PC Georgia). Liz is teaching as a private citizen, and Jason was crazy enough to sign up for another round of Peace Corps. They were lucky enough to be placed in the same town, same university, and actually as next-door neighbors.
PC China is definitely different from your average PC experience. The city of Chongqing has double the number of people of Jordan or Georgia, just inside the city limits. There were millions of buses, people, taxis (although never when we wanted them!) stores and American chains. It was all kind of overwhelming, but luckily we had our guides with us!
We went to the old part of town one day, to check out the market and a temple. The other day we went to "downtown" for more shopping and a walk along the Yangtze river.
It was nice having another vegetarian around, especially when we went for "Hot Pot" which is a Chongqing specialty. You take a pot of boiling water and put it in the middle of the table, and then throw in a billion hot peppers and some oil. Then you take platefuls of raw vegetables, tofu and meat and throw it in to cook there on the table. When you take it out, you dunk it in some more oil with garlic. Some of the best food we have eaten! (the lotus root and tofu were the favorites!)
From Chongqing we decided we had had enough of giant Chinese cities and headed down to Fenghuang, to check out the village scene.
We visited with Liz and Jason (friends of Cuttino's from PC Georgia). Liz is teaching as a private citizen, and Jason was crazy enough to sign up for another round of Peace Corps. They were lucky enough to be placed in the same town, same university, and actually as next-door neighbors.
PC China is definitely different from your average PC experience. The city of Chongqing has double the number of people of Jordan or Georgia, just inside the city limits. There were millions of buses, people, taxis (although never when we wanted them!) stores and American chains. It was all kind of overwhelming, but luckily we had our guides with us!
We went to the old part of town one day, to check out the market and a temple. The other day we went to "downtown" for more shopping and a walk along the Yangtze river.
It was nice having another vegetarian around, especially when we went for "Hot Pot" which is a Chongqing specialty. You take a pot of boiling water and put it in the middle of the table, and then throw in a billion hot peppers and some oil. Then you take platefuls of raw vegetables, tofu and meat and throw it in to cook there on the table. When you take it out, you dunk it in some more oil with garlic. Some of the best food we have eaten! (the lotus root and tofu were the favorites!)
From Chongqing we decided we had had enough of giant Chinese cities and headed down to Fenghuang, to check out the village scene.
Xi'an
In Xi'an, we stayed at one of the best hostels I have ever been to, the Shu Yuan. The staff were incredibly helpful and the hostel organized all sorts of activities. And they had really good American food (which we all had been craving!) and a free beer for each guest each night.
We visited Xi'an in order to see the Terra Cotta Warriors, but since we arrived on the day of the election in the states, we decided to postpone the warriors in order to watch election returns. Cuttino and I set out from the hotel, looking for a fancy hotel that might have satellite tv, and therefore coverage of the election. The only hotel we could find with a tv was showing old basketball games of Yao Ming playing, and those men were not about to let us change the station. So, dejected, we returned to the hostel to try and watch it on the internet. I find it funny that we would have had a much easier time in Rajef, Jordan (everyone has satellite!) or even Iran to watch the American presidential election than we did in China.
Luckily, this wasn't 2000, and the election was called pretty early so we didn't have too long to wait (hitting refresh as often as possible on nytimes.com, hoping another state had turned blue...)
We watched Obama's acceptance speech, streaming from the internet with the hostel staff, who I think were a little confused what was going on. That evening we celebrated with a 1.5 litre, four dollar bottle of champagne. We tried to find other Americans to share our excitement with, but alas, there were none to be found.
The next day we finally headed out to see the warriors, which were unbelievable. Each one is carved individually with a different face, outfit, and even the tread on the shoes. We first watched the little movie about the warriors, which was informative, and kinda funny. There were several long "re-enactments" of warriors, with each warrior running up to the camera and then being killed. From the movie we visited the three pits, starting with #3, the smallest one. This was definitely the way to go, since it saved the biggest pit for last. It was all quite impressive.
From Xi'an we headed down to Chongqing, to visit Cuttino's friends from Peace Corps Georgia, Liz and Jason, who are both teaching at a university there.
We visited Xi'an in order to see the Terra Cotta Warriors, but since we arrived on the day of the election in the states, we decided to postpone the warriors in order to watch election returns. Cuttino and I set out from the hotel, looking for a fancy hotel that might have satellite tv, and therefore coverage of the election. The only hotel we could find with a tv was showing old basketball games of Yao Ming playing, and those men were not about to let us change the station. So, dejected, we returned to the hostel to try and watch it on the internet. I find it funny that we would have had a much easier time in Rajef, Jordan (everyone has satellite!) or even Iran to watch the American presidential election than we did in China.
Luckily, this wasn't 2000, and the election was called pretty early so we didn't have too long to wait (hitting refresh as often as possible on nytimes.com, hoping another state had turned blue...)
We watched Obama's acceptance speech, streaming from the internet with the hostel staff, who I think were a little confused what was going on. That evening we celebrated with a 1.5 litre, four dollar bottle of champagne. We tried to find other Americans to share our excitement with, but alas, there were none to be found.
The next day we finally headed out to see the warriors, which were unbelievable. Each one is carved individually with a different face, outfit, and even the tread on the shoes. We first watched the little movie about the warriors, which was informative, and kinda funny. There were several long "re-enactments" of warriors, with each warrior running up to the camera and then being killed. From the movie we visited the three pits, starting with #3, the smallest one. This was definitely the way to go, since it saved the biggest pit for last. It was all quite impressive.
From Xi'an we headed down to Chongqing, to visit Cuttino's friends from Peace Corps Georgia, Liz and Jason, who are both teaching at a university there.
Beijing
We were very lucky in Beijing to have Jon as a tour guide. He spoke some Mandarin (way more than any of us) and knew the city really well. All we had to do was follow him around as he took us to some amazing sites.
The first day we did Tiannamen Square, the Forbidden City, Silk Street Market (lots of knock offs for pretty cheap) and the Night/Stick market.
At the Silk street market, we shopped for new clothes. Since all of us have been wearing the same clothes for the last two and a half years, we were pretty excited to find something new. Cuttino and Tighe both found some nice shirts and we had fun bargaining for them. However, when I was looking at shirts, I think we harassed the woman too much (four people bargaining is a bit much I guess) and she ended up getting angry. She got up close to Cuttino and said in his ear "I think you big crazy!" So I didn't end up with any shirts, but it was entertaining at least.
In the stick market, the boys ate friend scorpions (apparently it tastes like fried) and we checked out all of the other creepy crawlers for sale.
The second day we did the Summer Palace and the Olympic stadiums. Even though the Olympics had been over for a while now, there were still thousands of people at the stadiums. We paid a steep 50 yuan each to go into the Bird's Nest, where we were able to go down on the field. They lit up the Water Cube at night, which looked awesome!
The third day we headed out to the Great Wall. I had no idea what a hike it would be to get to the top! I was exhausted. It was very crowded (as is everything in China, and with Chinese tourists, not Western ones...) However, we walked a little past the top part and suddenly we had the Wall all to ourselves. It was kind of cool to get away from the crowd. I highly reccomend walking ten minutes past the top! After the Great Wall we went to the Temple of Heaven which was another pretty temple.
The last day in Beijing we went to the Lama Temple (which we had walked past a thousand times since it was next to our temple) The guide book says this is one of the most important temples in China.
From Beijing we booked a night train down to Xi'an, to visit the famous Terra Cotta Warriors
The first day we did Tiannamen Square, the Forbidden City, Silk Street Market (lots of knock offs for pretty cheap) and the Night/Stick market.
At the Silk street market, we shopped for new clothes. Since all of us have been wearing the same clothes for the last two and a half years, we were pretty excited to find something new. Cuttino and Tighe both found some nice shirts and we had fun bargaining for them. However, when I was looking at shirts, I think we harassed the woman too much (four people bargaining is a bit much I guess) and she ended up getting angry. She got up close to Cuttino and said in his ear "I think you big crazy!" So I didn't end up with any shirts, but it was entertaining at least.
In the stick market, the boys ate friend scorpions (apparently it tastes like fried) and we checked out all of the other creepy crawlers for sale.
The second day we did the Summer Palace and the Olympic stadiums. Even though the Olympics had been over for a while now, there were still thousands of people at the stadiums. We paid a steep 50 yuan each to go into the Bird's Nest, where we were able to go down on the field. They lit up the Water Cube at night, which looked awesome!
The third day we headed out to the Great Wall. I had no idea what a hike it would be to get to the top! I was exhausted. It was very crowded (as is everything in China, and with Chinese tourists, not Western ones...) However, we walked a little past the top part and suddenly we had the Wall all to ourselves. It was kind of cool to get away from the crowd. I highly reccomend walking ten minutes past the top! After the Great Wall we went to the Temple of Heaven which was another pretty temple.
The last day in Beijing we went to the Lama Temple (which we had walked past a thousand times since it was next to our temple) The guide book says this is one of the most important temples in China.
From Beijing we booked a night train down to Xi'an, to visit the famous Terra Cotta Warriors
Kashgar to Umruqi to Beijing
After spending a wonderful night in Kashgar (those hot showers felt amazing after not showering for around five days!) we headed out to the bus station to try and get a sleeper bus for the 24 hour ride to Umruqi.
The woman at the information booth told us that we were not in the bus station, that we couldn't get tickets there. However, there were road maps and time tables everywhere so we decided to ignore her. Tighe brought the phrase book and got in the shortest line. The woman sold him tickets and we felt very justified.
Then we found out we were in the wrong place for our tickets. He had inadvertently bought tickets for the train to Umruqi, and we needed to go to the train station in order to go to Umruqi. Turned out to be the best mistake ever. The train was exceptionally comfortable, and we were actually able to book tickets all the way through to Beijing.
The 24 hour ride was on a "soft sleeper" which meant we were in a little cabin with four beds in it, two sets of bunk beds. The ride to Beijing (a 43 hour train ride) was in a "hard sleeper" which is a little rougher, three story bunk beds with no real walls between the compartments. However, being on the top bunk of the set allows you to feel as though you are above everyone and is actually a pretty comfortable way to sleep.
We made friends with the four year old in our car and spent many hours play fighting with him. Whenever only one of us was down where his bed was, he would point to the other's beds and ask where we were. At one point Cuttino lifted him up to see Tighe, reading in the top tier and the kid thought that was the greatest thing ever.
We managed to arrive in Beijing in one piece, after pretty much constant travel. We were set to meet up with Jon, a friend of Tighe's from middle school who was living in Beijing (thank goodness for facebook keeping people connected!)
The woman at the information booth told us that we were not in the bus station, that we couldn't get tickets there. However, there were road maps and time tables everywhere so we decided to ignore her. Tighe brought the phrase book and got in the shortest line. The woman sold him tickets and we felt very justified.
Then we found out we were in the wrong place for our tickets. He had inadvertently bought tickets for the train to Umruqi, and we needed to go to the train station in order to go to Umruqi. Turned out to be the best mistake ever. The train was exceptionally comfortable, and we were actually able to book tickets all the way through to Beijing.
The 24 hour ride was on a "soft sleeper" which meant we were in a little cabin with four beds in it, two sets of bunk beds. The ride to Beijing (a 43 hour train ride) was in a "hard sleeper" which is a little rougher, three story bunk beds with no real walls between the compartments. However, being on the top bunk of the set allows you to feel as though you are above everyone and is actually a pretty comfortable way to sleep.
We made friends with the four year old in our car and spent many hours play fighting with him. Whenever only one of us was down where his bed was, he would point to the other's beds and ask where we were. At one point Cuttino lifted him up to see Tighe, reading in the top tier and the kid thought that was the greatest thing ever.
We managed to arrive in Beijing in one piece, after pretty much constant travel. We were set to meet up with Jon, a friend of Tighe's from middle school who was living in Beijing (thank goodness for facebook keeping people connected!)
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Getting to China
is very very painful.
We left our homestay in Sary Tash, Kyrgyzstan at 5:30 in the morning (after a disgusting breakfast of cold fried eggs). We were at the border by 8 am and ready to cross. Our driver put us in a semi-truck that we believed was going to take us across the border, and maybe all the way to Kashgar, China.
Boy were we wrong. The trip ended up taking 5-6 hours, with four semi rides, 45 minutes standing in a line of pushing truck drivers (who were all bribing the guards to take their passports to the front of the line), a hike up a mountain covered by trucks belching smoke, and more money.
When we finally arrived we convinced a man to drive us to Kashgar. We got to spend the next three hours coasting along (he didn't seem to like to use the gas) and listening to his favorie station at full volume. He didn't seem to mind when the religious music ended and it turned to static, we listened to that at full volume as well.
We originally planned on going straight onto to Umruqi, but after our horribly long day, we changed our minds and stayed in Kashgar for the night.
We left our homestay in Sary Tash, Kyrgyzstan at 5:30 in the morning (after a disgusting breakfast of cold fried eggs). We were at the border by 8 am and ready to cross. Our driver put us in a semi-truck that we believed was going to take us across the border, and maybe all the way to Kashgar, China.
Boy were we wrong. The trip ended up taking 5-6 hours, with four semi rides, 45 minutes standing in a line of pushing truck drivers (who were all bribing the guards to take their passports to the front of the line), a hike up a mountain covered by trucks belching smoke, and more money.
When we finally arrived we convinced a man to drive us to Kashgar. We got to spend the next three hours coasting along (he didn't seem to like to use the gas) and listening to his favorie station at full volume. He didn't seem to mind when the religious music ended and it turned to static, we listened to that at full volume as well.
We originally planned on going straight onto to Umruqi, but after our horribly long day, we changed our minds and stayed in Kashgar for the night.
Tajikistan, the Pamirs
In Khorog we met up with an NGO called MSDSP (I forget what it stands for...mountain, development, project, sustainable, I think those are all in there) They should be the model for tourism in any developing country. What they provide is a list of drivers, and a list of homestays all along several routes in the Pamir mountains. All we had to do was decide which driver we wanted to use, and how many days to travel for. Easy as pie.
The first day of the Pamirs was my favorite day of the trip so far. The weather in Khorog was perfect, with the leaves all yellow and red and warm enough for a t-shirt if you were sitting in the sun. We drove along a beautiful river, which we found out was actually the border with Afghanistan. Our first stop was Garm Chasm, which is a sulphury hot spring. We all went swimming and took pictures of it oozing hot water. Never thought I would be in a bathing suit that close to Afghanistan! That night we stopped in Ishkashim, where we had an amazing veggie cabbage and potato soup. (The food in central asia up until this point had been pretty rough going for a vegetarian...mostly large bowls of meat soup, with meat fat floating on top, so this was a big deal!)
The next three days included us driving in the most beautiful mountain scenery, stopping to climb around ancient ruins, and staying with friendly families in homestays. We stopped at several icy cold lakes, and crossed a pass that was the highest I have ever been in my life (15,200 feet!)
Leaving Tajkistan was quite entertaining. We were at a high mountain pass, and had to get out of the car, while it was searched by Lucky, a cocker spaniel drug sniffing dog. The soldiers took a really long time searching our car, while we chatted with some other back packers headed in the opposite direction. When we were getting back in the car, I noticed one of them pocketing a small baggie full of white powder. Our driver turned around and pointed at the ground, he said "We put the heroin right there, and she couldn't find it" and laughed.
The first day of the Pamirs was my favorite day of the trip so far. The weather in Khorog was perfect, with the leaves all yellow and red and warm enough for a t-shirt if you were sitting in the sun. We drove along a beautiful river, which we found out was actually the border with Afghanistan. Our first stop was Garm Chasm, which is a sulphury hot spring. We all went swimming and took pictures of it oozing hot water. Never thought I would be in a bathing suit that close to Afghanistan! That night we stopped in Ishkashim, where we had an amazing veggie cabbage and potato soup. (The food in central asia up until this point had been pretty rough going for a vegetarian...mostly large bowls of meat soup, with meat fat floating on top, so this was a big deal!)
The next three days included us driving in the most beautiful mountain scenery, stopping to climb around ancient ruins, and staying with friendly families in homestays. We stopped at several icy cold lakes, and crossed a pass that was the highest I have ever been in my life (15,200 feet!)
Leaving Tajkistan was quite entertaining. We were at a high mountain pass, and had to get out of the car, while it was searched by Lucky, a cocker spaniel drug sniffing dog. The soldiers took a really long time searching our car, while we chatted with some other back packers headed in the opposite direction. When we were getting back in the car, I noticed one of them pocketing a small baggie full of white powder. Our driver turned around and pointed at the ground, he said "We put the heroin right there, and she couldn't find it" and laughed.
Tajikistan, part 1
One of the most beautiful places I have ever been, and the home to my current favorite day of the trip.
We arrived in Penjkent, a wild west type town on the Uzbek border. There we were required to register with the country. This included 2 hours of filling out forms, 30 bucks, and several stops (change money, copy passports, pay at bank, go to registering place) before it was completed.
Our hostel owner in Penjkent was able to hook us up with a driver going to Dushanbe, the capital. They were worried about snow on the passes so he made sure we got a four wheel drive vehicle (a Niva) And thank God we did! The roads were unbelievable, I'm still not sure how we got through some of the places! It was a beautiful drive and our fellow passenger was a lot of fun. On the top of one of the passes we started a snowball fight with some Tajik girls who thought we were hilarious.
In Dushanbe, we were lucky to get to meet up with Maggie and Jessica, friends of friends who are living there to learn Tajik. They showed us a good time at all the ex-pat hang outs and shared Russia stories with Cuttino.
From Dushanbe we needed to go to Khorog to start the Pamir mountain part of our journey. Unfortunately, the guy with a four wheel drive wanted a ridiculous amount of money (as much as a plane ticket would have cost). Luckily, a Tajik woman took pity on us and helped us score seats in a Marshutka going that way. Maybe not luckily....we ended up riding backwards for fifteen hours over the twisty roads ever. Cuttino and I were both really car sick for a good portion of the way. But by the end, the group in the car had become like a team. We all sat together for meals and after dinner we had a singing/dancing party in the bus. They made two of the little boys (about ten years old) get up and dance for everyone. Then the two brothers started singing traditional Tajik songs. This may sound fun, but in actuality it was two boys yelling at the top of their lungs, really off key, with no discernible rhythm, for a VERY long time.
We arrived in Khorog around 1 am, and our friend invited us to stay in her house, which we gladly accepted. She made us a traditional breakfast in the morning, with Pamiri tea, which you stick a big hunk of butter in before drinking.
From there, we booked our Pamir trip....
We arrived in Penjkent, a wild west type town on the Uzbek border. There we were required to register with the country. This included 2 hours of filling out forms, 30 bucks, and several stops (change money, copy passports, pay at bank, go to registering place) before it was completed.
Our hostel owner in Penjkent was able to hook us up with a driver going to Dushanbe, the capital. They were worried about snow on the passes so he made sure we got a four wheel drive vehicle (a Niva) And thank God we did! The roads were unbelievable, I'm still not sure how we got through some of the places! It was a beautiful drive and our fellow passenger was a lot of fun. On the top of one of the passes we started a snowball fight with some Tajik girls who thought we were hilarious.
In Dushanbe, we were lucky to get to meet up with Maggie and Jessica, friends of friends who are living there to learn Tajik. They showed us a good time at all the ex-pat hang outs and shared Russia stories with Cuttino.
From Dushanbe we needed to go to Khorog to start the Pamir mountain part of our journey. Unfortunately, the guy with a four wheel drive wanted a ridiculous amount of money (as much as a plane ticket would have cost). Luckily, a Tajik woman took pity on us and helped us score seats in a Marshutka going that way. Maybe not luckily....we ended up riding backwards for fifteen hours over the twisty roads ever. Cuttino and I were both really car sick for a good portion of the way. But by the end, the group in the car had become like a team. We all sat together for meals and after dinner we had a singing/dancing party in the bus. They made two of the little boys (about ten years old) get up and dance for everyone. Then the two brothers started singing traditional Tajik songs. This may sound fun, but in actuality it was two boys yelling at the top of their lungs, really off key, with no discernible rhythm, for a VERY long time.
We arrived in Khorog around 1 am, and our friend invited us to stay in her house, which we gladly accepted. She made us a traditional breakfast in the morning, with Pamiri tea, which you stick a big hunk of butter in before drinking.
From there, we booked our Pamir trip....
Uzbekistan
Crossing into Uzbekistan included our taxi driver providing several bribes so that he could drive us to the hut, instead of us walking in the rain. He then walked into the area where the officials were working (cutting a giant line) and bribed the man to put a different date on his passport, very lightly. Apparently his first offer of money wasn't enough, and he had to add more.
This began our trip in the police state of Uzbekistan.
The currency in Uzbekistan comes in very small denominations. The largest bill is worth about 60 cents, so when I exchanged $200 (on the black market from a lady with a HUGE purse) I got quite a stack back. So much that I wanted to throw it in the air and roll around in it.
In Uzbekistan we had several people to meet up with. One of the Peace Corps staff from Cuttino's post used to work in PC Uzbekistan (before they were kicked out) and so she gave us a woman's name to meet up with. Turns out, this woman knows my friend from high school, Emiliya because they work together. So the first night we went out with Nodira and two returned Peace Corps volunteers, turned Foreign Service Officers. The second day Emiliya showed us the sights of Tashkent.
In Tashkent we were finally able to eat Georgian food, something we had been looking for ever since we had to cancel the Georgian portion of our trip. The food was delicious, and the atmosphere excellent at the restaraunt, even if Cuttino had to order Georgian food in Russian.
From Tashkent we took an overnight train down to see Bukhara and Samarkand, more stops on the Silk Road. Both cities were beautiful, but completely over run with European package tourists. Who expects to see tour buses in Uzbekistan??
Both cities were fun, although a little disappointing after Iran. In Iran, the mosques and madrassas were all actively being used, in Uzbekistan they were all full of souvenir stalls with pushy salesmen.
We enjoyed Uzbekistan but were eager to move onto Tajikistan, and the Pamir highway.
This began our trip in the police state of Uzbekistan.
The currency in Uzbekistan comes in very small denominations. The largest bill is worth about 60 cents, so when I exchanged $200 (on the black market from a lady with a HUGE purse) I got quite a stack back. So much that I wanted to throw it in the air and roll around in it.
In Uzbekistan we had several people to meet up with. One of the Peace Corps staff from Cuttino's post used to work in PC Uzbekistan (before they were kicked out) and so she gave us a woman's name to meet up with. Turns out, this woman knows my friend from high school, Emiliya because they work together. So the first night we went out with Nodira and two returned Peace Corps volunteers, turned Foreign Service Officers. The second day Emiliya showed us the sights of Tashkent.
In Tashkent we were finally able to eat Georgian food, something we had been looking for ever since we had to cancel the Georgian portion of our trip. The food was delicious, and the atmosphere excellent at the restaraunt, even if Cuttino had to order Georgian food in Russian.
From Tashkent we took an overnight train down to see Bukhara and Samarkand, more stops on the Silk Road. Both cities were beautiful, but completely over run with European package tourists. Who expects to see tour buses in Uzbekistan??
Both cities were fun, although a little disappointing after Iran. In Iran, the mosques and madrassas were all actively being used, in Uzbekistan they were all full of souvenir stalls with pushy salesmen.
We enjoyed Uzbekistan but were eager to move onto Tajikistan, and the Pamir highway.
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