Day 17 : Kuqa cont.

On Day 17, I was planning to cross the mighty Taklamakan, from Kuqa. It was a 14 hour journey by bus and the bus was at 1 in the afternoon. So since I didn't see much on the previous evening in Kuqa, I decided to step out to see something interesting in town. So I visited the Grand Kuqa mosque and decided to visit another Mazaar of a famous saint. With the route plan in mind I stepped out and since time was of essence I decided to take a cab. The cabbie was a very interesting character like most cabbies in Xinjiang. Looking at me he was very curious to know where I am from and my background and what I was doing there in Xinjiang. Since both our Mandarin was not that good conversation was not that difficult. He took me through small alleyways and streets of the old town and dropped me right in front of the mosque. As I approached the mosque I noticed a group of tourists with big cameras and even bigger lenses running around all over the streets of Old town. I later found out they are a group of Taiwanese tourists on a trip. It was a ticketed entry into the mosque, so I paid the modest amount for the ticket and got in. The taxi driver said he will wait for me to take me back to the hotel or any other place, he now turned into my tour guide and came along with me inside and showed me around.

It was amazingly peaceful inside the mosque, the chilly morning along with the shining sun was a great setting. I walked into the prayer hall and was not sure if I am allowed to take photos inside, and when I asked the taxi driver he looked around and said "Take take, no one around". So after spending a bit of time there, I quietly left the place by then the other group of Taiwanese tourists had already reached there so the peace was broken. I clicked a few pics and left.

The dome of the mosque

The Grand Kuqa mosque from outside

The mosque courtyard

Prayer hall, very old and peaceful...Beautiful carpets were spread all over the place

A design on the roof of the prayer hall, it looked like a sun to me.

Morning sun shining his grace into the prayer hall...

Day 16 : Kuqa

On Day 16 - I headed to Kuqa or Kuche as it is known with Mandarin speakers. A good 4 hour bus journey away. I paid for the ticket and was on my way to get on to the bus when the Airport styled security at the local bus station while scanning my luggage found something 'suspicious'. The item in question my favourite Deodorant. After a futile attempt to convince them that its not and IED but my deodorant, I moved on. As if that was not enough I was soon to find out that my seat is the non reclining added seat on the bus which was right next to the driver, which made me more grumpy. But as it turns out all unfortunate events have a silver lining attached to it if you look for it, in this case I had wonderful 180 degree view of the road and my journey. So even if its was not the most comfortable journey, I did enjoy the sights on the road.

After reaching Kuqa, my next challenge was to find my hotel. I was booked into 'Kuche Grand Hotel' a rather plush looking hotel on the website and the only hotel that took foreigners in Kuqa. After walking past an under construction building which was called Kuche hotel at least twice I couldn't find the actual hotel. I was getting tired after walking for a good long distance with my heavy sack. Then I finally managed to understand from local's that the actual hotel was behind it. It was indeed plush hotel and a very attractive price, my only regret was that I was staying there only for 1 night. Checked in and rested for the while and got our to explore Kuqa.

Kuqa is one of those booming small towns of China, with all the standard issues like not enough public transport and traffic snarls. It was quite a challenge to get around and the blocks were quite big that what looked small on the map turns out to be a good fair distance away. Finally I took a bus to get to the old side of town, I strolled around a little around there and when I couldnt find much interesting things except for an old small mosque, I decided to head back after having some nice Kebab for dinner. So photographically it was again not a very interesting day...

Our Bus driver, a rather serious chap....(shot from my Galaxy S4)

Long road to Kuqa....(shot from my Galaxy S4)

A group of elders spending their evening near the mosque...

Day 15 : Korla Cont.

Day 15 in Korla was a bit more fun, I decided to roam around the town to look for interesting things, since heading to the Bosten lake was not happening. So I roamed around to click whatever that caught my eye. Spend nearly a day like that, luckily in the evening the hostel owner invited a few of us guests and took us for a drive to see sunset. This time even though there was a language gap things turned out well... ;)

This was my first sight at a park when I was strolling around, the guy who is supposed to protect the law was killing time...playing cards... ;)

The region of Korla is a Mongol autonomous region, so its apt to have the carving of the Great Mongol himself...Genghis Khan...

The clock tower in the middle of the town...

While strolling in the downtown near the clock tower, this old Ustad who was nearby was very curious to know where I am from and what I was doing in Korla and all... :)

It was immediately after I clicked these pics my lovely friend from Shenzhen called me and said she booked my tickets for my return journey and insisted I go and pick it up at the station after that. If it wasn't for her I would have had a hard time getting the tickets myself, a big Thanks to her...Later in the journey I found from travellers that it is nearly impossible to book tickets to leave Xinjiang in November, because the harvest season gets over by then and many people head home for winter....

The hostel owner took us to this park that was full of young Huyang trees, though I couldn't see the main Huyang forest I was happy with the sight of this itself 

At the top of the hill, Nature and culture...

Huyang trees...quite a few of them...

After the sunset we headed to the square to see some dance and then to the night food market for some snacks...

A proud father and his cute child....

A cute kid at the market...

Kind of looks like serious discussion over snacks...

Couple of curious, but friendly locals.... 

Busy making a perfect roast...

Day 14 : Korla

On Day 14 I got up early to catch up with my new Chinese friends who were giving me a lot of ideas on what to do in Korla, one of the ideas was to head to Bosten Lake, the largest freshwater lake in China. So with some new found friends who barely spoke any English and a fellow hosteller who said he knows everything about the place we took a bus that was supposed to take us to Bosten. So we reached near a lake which was covered with tall grass almost completely, which my map said was not Bosten. Only to later find out that the real lake where I wanted to be, was 30 kms from where I was standing and the whole thing was a glorious waste of time. The guy who took us there had some work around there so we were all just giving company to that 'genius' and due to a glorious 'miscommunication' which in my experience used to happen with quite a few of my Chinese friends every now and then I was also stuck there. 

Though day was kind of a bummer I at least managed to get a few shots around, what ever that makes you happy...

A young Huyang tree, these trees grow to great sizes. Their leaves turn yellow and they shed them in Autumn 

Autumn...

The Lake that we eventually saw...

Day 13 : On road to Korla

Day 13 started early, I left the hostel at around 8 to catch my bus to Korla an oil boom town in the middle of Xinjiang. The distance to Korla was small, but the roads through the mountains were quite bad and treacherous that it took a good 12 hours for me to reach there. The views along the road were amazing, it started in the hilly areas and grasslands near Yili, slowly climbing up to the high mountains after a famous grassland called Nalati. On to the plains/plateau over 3000 meters after crossing the mountain passes. The plains were so cold that at 3 in the afternoon it was near zero and the moment the shadow came over the plains it went sub zero. I was too lost in the scenery that I didn't take out my camera and when I did click I just pulled out my mobile to shoot a few pics.

The twisted and turning roads on our way up to the mountain passes.

Our bus stopped for a break sometime in the late evening on the plains over 3000 meters. The moment the bus stopped our driver jumped out with a mat and went to pray. I was amazed by his dedication that even at such subzero temperatures when the wind was howling away he found time to say his prayers.

After the plains when darkness swept in we descended to lower altitudes to similar twisted roads and finally reached Korla after a 12 hour trip. I found myself a taxi to take me to the holy hostel that was there in Korla, where I met a great bunch of backpackers all of them Chinese travelling through Xinjiang. It seemed like I was one of the few foreign tourists who went to great pains to find that place. They had rather comfortable dorms and beds and a great crowd all of them going out of their way to help the lonely foreigner. After long conversations trying to understand whats there in Korla I said my goodbyes  and hit the bed pretty late in the night. 

Day 12 : Yili Doppa hostel continues

Day 12 was also the continuation of previous day. It was another lazy day at the Doppa hostel. I had grown so used to the youngsters there that I spend most of the day chit chatting with them, eating and drinking tea with them. 

On the previous day the bunch had made me promise to make curry for them while I am there, so along with the Shanghai girl I made my way to the local market in Yili looking for stuff to make a simple Mixed vegetable curry. The market was some sight it looked liked a long factory complex or an aircraft Hangar. With multitude of traders selling fresh produce every thing from fresh veggies to live Fish, spices to sweet snacks. I was surprised that I managed to get most of the basic ingredients for my curry there. May be due to the geographical proximity to Central Asia and India you could find a variety of spices and ingredients that is quiet absent in other local markets in the heartland of China. So after a good 2 hours of shopping we headed back to make my curry and her Chicken special Shanghai style. We got back and started cooking a small feast for the whole bunch in the hostel. By around 2 in the afternoon we were done, and the guys there were starving for food that they just jumped onto it the moment we kept it on the table. 

So the day did not involve much clicking, it was mostly spend in cooking and resting. The odd shot that I clicked was just from my mobile phone, of the various art they were painting on the walls of the hostel. 

The day ended in the evening with a stroll to the bus station to book a ticket for my onwards Journey to Korla for the next day. 

A painting of an Uyghur girl doing a traditional dance

Minions...Should I say more...

The owner getting her hands messy, while we cooked she took over the painting

The symbol of Doppa painted right outside the wall of the hostel compound

Day 11 : Yili Doppa Hostel

Day 11 was the first time in 2 weeks I really felt lazy and wanted to wind down and my hostel in Yili, the Doppa (meaning hat) Hostel was perfect. A friendly young couple was running the place and there were a couple of other youngsters around who were staying there since a long time. The hostel was such a warm and cozy place. It was an old traditional Uyghur house converted to a hostel with a beautiful courtyard that had grape vines growing around. Since it was a wooden house they had no heating system,which made the night and early morning temperatures of near zero quite something to handle. The days were cold and sunny which was the perfect weather to sit around and do nothing. 

Our hostel owner, a young and energetic girl

Her partner, was in the quite thoughtful mood when I clicked this

A nice way to know people coming in, the hostel door

The family cat, who always climbs trees to catch birds but some how never learned the trick

The next in the bunch, he is a traveller who works part time at the hostel till he makes enough to move on to the next place

Another one in the bunch, she is from Shanghai who have been travelling all around the world since last 2 years and was slowly planning to get back to base

The day I was there, they were preparing for the low season. Very few people were coming in since the winter was setting in. The couple who owned the place was planning to shut shop and head to their hometown. So they planned to paint the place before they closed the hostel for the season. While they painted I roamed around in a mood for some abstract clicks. 

It's your guess...

Blue and blurred

Neighbours window

This was a street side en-route to a the famous Yili River

The following shots were taken from my mobile, so the pics are not as good as it would have been from the camera.

Hostel Exterior

The whole bunch sun bating on the couch outside

The guys were so friendly that they invited me for lunch, nice spicy home cooked noodle

Lunch with the bunch

The Yili river, this is the place were the Russians reached to when they had a conflict with the Chinese back in 1960's. They even have something like a small victory memorial nearby. 

Though the area near the river was quiet and peaceful I could see signs of rampant construction happening there as well, in an effort to modernise they were loosing the character of the river in its natural self.