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China's Northwest and the Silk Road
Wednesday, August 3, 2005-5:41 PM
My sights have been set on the one region of China I have yet to step foot in, the Northwest. Ningxia, Gansu, Qinghai, and Xinjiang comprise this part of China, huge in area, small in population.
Perhaps the most powerful draw to this relatively inaccessible corner of China is the famous Silk Road, and I hope to make it to at least some towns along this ancient trading route like Turpan or Kuqa.
But, since I'm coming from Guangzhou on China's southern coast, I plan to first explore parts of southwestern China before reaching the Northwest, most likely via Qinghai.
The visa is the limiting factor. I have to be out of China before the end of August. After that, I can reenter China once before I need to get a new visa. Since I don't have entry visas for any other countries (and I don't plan to get any), I will probably exit to Hong Kong. However, Thailand might also be an interesting possibility.
Late this week or early next week I'll set out for Guiyang, Guizhou. The train ride from Guangzhou should take around 33 hours.
With no time to spare, I'll immediately head for Kaili, apparently a good jumping off point for exploring Guizhou's minority Miao and Dong villages. I'm embarrassed that I've lived in China for two years and haven't made it to a Miao village yet. There around seven million Miao in China. The Miao people are related to the Hmong people of Southeast Asia.
After a few days in Guizhou, I'll head north. Most likely, I'll have to remove Leshan, Sichuan from my itinerary and instead head straight for Golmud, Qinghai.
Golmud will just be a short stop, perhaps a day or two. My real objective is Xinjiang.
Before I reach Xinjiang, however, I'll head to Dunhuang, Gansu, to see the famous Buddhist grottoes, the Buddhist art hidden inside extensive cave networks.
There probably won't be any time to visit Ningxia. Instead, I'll head straight for Xinjiang. First, I'll head towards Urumqi. Then I'll make my way westward towards Kashgar through cities like Turpan and Kuqa.
At that point, my visa will almost be expired. Instead of wasting time taking trains and buses back to Hong Kong, I'll have to relax my "no airplanes" rule and fly either to Hong Kong or Thailand so that my Chinese visa doesn't expire.
After that, I'll have to earnestly make plans to return to the United States.
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