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though my dream is comprehensive world tour,but unfortunately i have no companion for that purpose.Anyone who can join me , please contact me.my email address is dr.talatbutt@hotmail.com, my phone no. is 0092-321-9501376: 0092-300-9501376: 0092-51-57934 | Log entries 11 - 20 of 73 | Page:
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Mar 12, 2010 09:00 PM 18th day on road to the east--xian-china
xian is v.beautiful and lively city。the people are v.kindhearted,helping，friendly，smiling and jolly。
today i left hostel at 8：50 am and by bus No。600 （1Y）i arrived a stop named zhang jia bu。there i waited for bus No。4 but when it arrived it didn't stop b.c its actual stop was little further away。for the travellers i advise that when getting off the bus No。600，pls returnbackward from the stop zhang jia bu and at the end of road turn left slightly and then cross the road。it is the stop of bus no。4. it takes only 2y to arrive at tomb of jingdi emperor。stop name is jing yung ling。lonelyplanet book says there is no public bus and taxi costs about200-300 y return。
i bought a ticket of 80y。
impressive tomb of an emperor who was toist and kindhearted and preferred diplomacy on wars and upgraded the life standards of the public and reduced taxes and softened punishments of criminals。81 pits are expected but 21
of them explored。 many pits are covered by glass floor so that we can walk on it while viewing the artistic explorations。there is also an exhibition hall。there is a problem that if you finish exhibition hall then no one is there where to go and how to go for pits。after some struggle i found out that there is a cart in parking lot which takes to underground pits。the cart was without driver and after waiting for 20 min and on calling by ticket issuer driver appeared and took me and some other tourists to the pits。
after finishing at about 2：30pm i returned to the bell tower
same way（first bus No。4 and then 600）
at bell tower entry is 27y。there was nothing imprssive 。just a big bell。some live music was also going on。then after visiting drum tower nearby i went to the muslim quaters。temptation of eating dominates here。so i bought 2 lengths of
mutton tikka （ bbq of mutton）by 2 y andthen bought one big nan(2y） and one small nan 2 y。I also tasted a bread cooked with minsed meat for 3 y。pinapple cutting for 1 y in muslim quaters and for 2 y on main road。while visiting bell tower i also enjoyed an ice cream for 1.5y。
then i returned to the hostel and paid 12y for laundry of my clothes（8y per kg）then i used internet
yesterday i booked hostel in pingyao from 14th march for one night（only 10y） through hostelworld.com 。also i booked a happy dragon hostel in beijing for 3 nights from 17th march（30 y per night）。
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Mar 12, 2010 09:00 PM 18th day on road to the east--xian-china
xian is v.beautiful and lively city。the people are v.kindhearted,helping，friendly，smiling and jolly。
today i left hostel at 8：50 am and by bus No。600 （1Y）i arrived a stop named zhang jia bu。there i waited for bus No。4 but when it arrived it didn't stop b.c its actual stop was little further away。for the travellers i advise that when getting off the bus No。600，pls returnbackward from the stop zhang jia bu and at the end of road turn left slightly and then cross the road。it is the stop of bus no。4. it takes only 2y to arrive at tomb of jingdi emperor。stop name is jing yung ling。lonelyplanet book says there is no public bus and taxi costs about200-300 y return。
i bought a ticket of 80y。
impressive tomb of an emperor who was toist and kindhearted and preferred diplomacy on wars and upgraded the life standards of the public and reduced taxes and softened punishments of criminals。81 pits are expected but 21
of them explored。 many pits are covered by glass floor so that we can walk on it while viewing the artistic explorations。there is also an exhibition hall。there is a problem that if you finish exhibition hall then no one is there where to go and how to go for pits。after some struggle i found out that there is a cart in parking lot which takes to underground pits。the cart was without driver and after waiting for 20 min and on calling by ticket issuer driver appeared and took me and some other tourists to the pits。
after finishing at about 2：30pm i returned to the bell tower
same way（first bus No。4 and then 600）
at bell tower entry is 27y。there was nothing imprssive 。just a big bell。some live music was also going on。then after visiting drum tower nearby i went to the muslim quaters。temptation of eating dominates here。so i bought 2 lengths of
mutton tikka （ bbq of mutton）by 2 y andthen bought one big nan(2y） and one small nan 2 y。I also tasted a bread cooked with minsed meat for 3 y。pinapple cutting for 1 y in muslim quaters and for 2 y on main road。while visiting bell tower i also enjoyed an ice cream for 1.5y。
then i returned to the hostel and paid 12y for laundry of my clothes（8y per kg）then i used internet
yesterday i booked hostel in pingyao from 14th march for one night（only 10y） through hostelworld.com 。also i booked a happy dragon hostel in beijing for 3 nights from 17th march（30 y per night）。
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Mar 11, 2010 09:00 PM 17th day on road to the east-xian-china
yesterday I asked at the reception of the hostel about tour to army of terracota wariors、she told me that charges of the tour including ticket and transportation with guide were 165y but unfortunately the tour will be on 13th March；so i decided to do the tour myself。
at 9:00 am i left the hostel and by bus No.603 arrived at train station where in parking lot i boarded on a bus without number but it was written on its sides army of terracota wariors，such buses are very frequent every 5 minutes（ 7 y）。it took 45 min to reach there。from 10 am to 10：45 am、
i bought a ticket of 90y and after a 20min walk i arrived at the great historical site。this site was discovered in 1974 accidentally when some farmers were digging well and found some pottery there。it consists of three pits，1，2，3.and exhibition hall。it is really a wonder。army is standing silentely with chariots，horses，generals，high ranking ，middle ranking and low ranking officials。process of digging and restoration is continuous。photography and videomaking is allowed but without tripods and flash。
i ended my tour at 3：00pm。during tour i bought one small bottle of juice（8y） and ice cream（10 y）。
after finishing the tour i returned to the parking place where by bus No。914 and paying 7 y i returned to the train station。then i came to the south gate by bus No。603 （1Y）。i started walking northwards to the bell tower and then turned left towards west to the drum tower。then i turned right (north) to
the muslim quaters.Narrow arrays of streets with stalls on the sides muslim people living in their own style.every type of stall,every type of eatery,dry fruits,meat of different types,chicken,fish,mutton,fresh fruits,soveniers.passing through
these streets gives a temptation to eat more and more.arabic songs on the roads.i also tasted a unique fruit called bomee.it is a v.big (approx.6kg) and the lady was selling it bit by bit (perhaps 150 grams by 10y).i also tasted it.i ate special type of (afghani style) bread with lower legs of sheep.
after walking for 4 hours in the streets, i returned to the hostel on foot.
xian is having both types of faces.v.modern face as i saw yesterday and v.old style as i saw today in muslim quaters.
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Mar 10, 2010 09:00 PM 16th day on road to the east-china
yesterday at internet i booked a shuyan hostel in xian by hostelworld.com for one night @20 y.
today at 8 am i checked out of the hostel after taking tea.
about hostel in tian shui: small clean room with tv,hot and cold water in water cooler,..........toilet and shower sharing..........v.noisy........the lady on reception remain shouting at night till 2 am.until i protested .location is v.good just 2 min.walk from railway station.....
after checking out , i walked in the city towards the river and then returned to the station where there were different ques according to the compartment No. but as soon as they opened the door, the people ran like ............ and there was great rush on the train enterences.everyone pushing each other . i boarded on the train with difficulty.i succeeded in getting a seat, but my backpack remained in my legs.some persons were occupying two seats and not allowing other people to sit there.i decided not to travel by train as far as possible.
this ticket from tian shui to xian was gifted by a chinese girl . i cant forget that girl. today she sent messages to me and asked whether i was comfortable and no problem faced. i thanked her and invited to visit pakistan as my guest. she accepted my offer.
at 9:47 am train departed and at 2:22 pm arrived at xian station.i boarded a bus no.603 (1 y ) i arrived at the shuyan youth hostel just near the south gate of the city wall.the people at hostel welcomed me warmly.i paid 18 y balance (10% already paid at the time of reservation). i asked her to extend my stay for one more night. therefore i paid 38 y(18+20) and also 100 y as key deposit.she gifted me two coupons for free welcome coffee and free beer.
i was introduced the hostel . internet is free here. clean toilets and shower rooms. dining room and bar room ,laundry,.v.v.nice hostel.there were many foreigners staying here. v.good place to communicate with other travellers.
after putting my back pack in the dorm room, i got out of the hostel and by bus no.609 ( v.frequent buses) just outside the citywall i arrived the big goose pagoda in 10 min. after 15 min.walk in the park i reached the da ci en temple (by tasting ice cream,2y) and then again cone ice cream(3 y). i bought a ticket of 50y for entry in the temple.(locals free)..i visited differnet halls there and then i arrived the pagoda for which i bought a ticket of 30 y separately. i climbed up the pagoda and saw different buddhism relics on different floors. from top i took pic. from all directions.coming down i continued huge temple tour.at 6:30 i came out of the temple and forwarded towards the fountains. v.beautiful fountains on the road with statues of their heros,......both sides of the road great shopping plazas,concert hall,eateris,restaurants,cinaplex etc. ................decorated with colourful bright lights........i also had dinner with KFC (21.5y) and started return to the bus stop where by 609 bus i arrived the south gate and then hostel. in the hostel i had a cup of coffee (welcome coffee) and used internet free.
druing internet a guy name raul met me and discussed with me chinese medicines and also he observed that in spite of friendly relations with pakistan there is no communication of the people. i told him that the reason is that chinese people cant understand english mostly.
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Mar 10, 2010 09:00 PM gansu travel tips
gansu is the province of china least friendly with the foreigners.hotels flatly refuse to accomodate foreigners whatsoever nationality.therefore i suggest to all the travelers that before visiting gansu cities , specially lanzhou and tian shui,they should book a hotel or hostel before hand on internet.
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Mar 09, 2010 09:00 PM 15th day on road to the east-china
in the morning i wanted to take bath b.c for 3 nights in villages i couldn't take bath. but lady at reception told me that there is no facility of shower.i was surprised. i visited toilet area and found a dirty room with washing machines. i closed the door and took shower under a tap of cold water. i was v.happy to take shower. then i checked out by taking 20 y deposit back and walked to a nearby main bus station near train station as told in book. but i found that the bus to tianshui depart from east station on the same road but at some distance from train staion square.there was a person kind enough to transfer me to the east bus station where i bought a ticket of 71.5 y and journey started at 11am.
after 4.5 hours at about 3:30 pm i arrived in qincheng area of tinashui.actually tianshui is devided into two towns connected by a long freeway road.beidao is the other area where train station is situated. while bus station is in qincheng area.i was thinking that after throwing my backpack in the hotel i will run for maiji shan( caves ) but i was stun to see that every hotel was refusing to accept foreigners.i continued walking till 5 pm but all in vain. then after disappointment i decided to reach the train station in beidao for moving to xian city.
every taxi driver refused to start meter and demanded huge amount of 40-50 y. i was tired of this.at last a taxi driver was ready to take me by 25y. (actual fare is about 6 y).at train station crowd was overwhelming.people were fighting for tickets.
luckily a girl named zhang bing fang came to me and offered me a free ticket to xian but not for today ,it was for tomorrow morning 9:47 am. she could speak english v.well.i told her that no hotel is accepting any foreigners. how can i stay for tonight? she helped me in finding the hotel and after a struggle of half an hour i found a hotel dianxin xhaodaisuo on yima lu near the train station. it was on the fourth floor.i got a single room with shared toilet by 50y. the girl refused to accept the ticket fare(25y) . she said she had bought ticket for herself but due to some reasons she couldn't go to xian. therefore gifted me the ticket. she was v. kind and helpind girl, i can never forget her.she helped me out of the way at v.difficult time.she said good bye to me and said she had lost her friend standing out of the station and going to find him or her( i dont' know).
she gave me her cell number and asked me to call if faced any problem.i offered her to have dinner with me alongwith her friend. she said that she will reply after finding her friend.after one hour she sent me sms that she has found her friend and also she finds time difficulty for dinner.
then i walked in the city and had a dinner(8 y)in a
local muslim restaurant. here also everywhere muslim restaurants.
then i found internet on second floor of the same building of my hotel.i paid 20 y for unknown time (at least 2.5 hours have passed on internet.)
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Mar 08, 2010 09:00 PM 14th day on road to the east-china
after breakfast we started our journey back to tongren by paying total 60y for 2 persons(30pp) to a shared taxi at 9am and arrived in tongren at 12:30 pm.
we immediately visited a rongwon gochen gompa monastery by paying 50y only by me b/c biamober is local person and doesn't need entry ticket.we appreciated the ancient art of different temples specially tara(godess) temple.
there was also a festival of monks at the death anniversary of high lama.
after one hour visit we arrived bus station by walking for 20 min.there was no bus today for xahe.so i decided to reach xining again with baimobar by shared taxi(100y for 2),from 2 pm to 4:30 pm.
i bought a train ticket for lanzhou by paying 22 y.
then i had a lunch with biamober from a nearby muslim restaurant. majority of restaurants are muslim.
biamobar told me that the people of the area dont eat pork and fish etc. only they eat yuk and sheep meat.also in cities and big towns they slaughter yuk and sheep in muslim way b/c they have to supply meat to the muslims.
tibbatans and muslims live in friendly way.
i bought a waist bag for keeping my valuables , specially passport from the tibbatan market, by 13 y.
then after visiting a super market near train staion for buying two big juice bottles and coffee creamers and some local sweet (21 y) i returned to the train staiton and said good bye to my helping and caring friend, biamober.
at 7:24 train left xining and at 10:30 after a comfortable journey i arrived in lanzhou.
on the way some muslims from xinjiang met me. one of them was v.friendly and chatty,named farhad.but due to language problem there was no communication except body language or some words from lonely planet book.
at lanzhou,i started finding hotel.i was stun to see that every hotel was refusing foreigners to accept. even at a hotel praised in lonely planet book , named qian bai hui fandian on tianshui nanlu road,not only refused but pushed me to the neighbouring hotel through a door between the two hotels(both belong to the same person).the ladies sitting on the reception of the other hotel refused me and asked me to go to the previous hotel. i again went to the previous hotel. they again started laughing at me and making fun, and pushed me out of the door.they even didn't bother to ask nationality.then i went to many many hotels on the road.all refused.though it is written in the book that hotels near the train station don't accept forigners, but it was a huge problem now.
then i returned to the station and on another road named pingliang lu i started search, but all in vain. i didn't lost my heart and continued walking on the road in spite of many many taxis behind me offering hotels. many men and women were standing on the sides of the road offering me ladies for sex.
at last i entered a hotel on pingliang road and a guard type man was sleeping on the sofa.he was kind enough and offered me to sit on the sofa and keep the luggage on the sofa also, and called a sleeping lady in a room.
after 15 min a lady came and she demanded 50 y for night. i happily paid and thanked God.
a room not clean but with tv.
toilet was out of the room and v.v.v.v dirty.
everytime when i was out of the room, i called the man to lock it.
then i walked on the road to the station to buy water and some nan(bread).returned to the room.nan was not tasty. so i relied only on tea made by me by tea maker and satisfied my appeitite by eating local sweets bought in xining super market.slept at 2 am.
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Mar 07, 2010 09:00 PM 13th day on road to the east-china
today at about 10 am after breakfast of tea and many local foods ,we went to lama,an old man of 83years.
he was v.busy in reading some old religious writings on some loose papers .after 15 min. he welcomed us v.happily and i asked him to pray for me.he did so nicely.
then tea and dried fruits and local foods were offered to us.i was v.happy to meet the great local man.
one thing is confirmed that tibbatan people ,all, are v.v.v.religious and lama is their spiritual leader. they obey him like a real God's man.
even yesterday the elder brother of my host family and his wife had taken their one year old child to xiahe , very far from the village, for attendance in a labrang monastery on advice of lama.they paid 1000 y to the taxi.
lama was sick and i checked him and also his reports (x-rays and ct scans of abdomen). He seems to be having some liver problem.i gave him some medicines brought from pakistan with me and also prescribed some medicines to be purchased
locally.then i checked his nephew who was feeling severe toothache and some intestinal problem.i gave him medicines. lama's sister was having arthritis problem and also given treatment.
all of them felt relief with the medicines.
on return lama gifted me a scarf and a bottle of wine though i dont drink.
all of the people were happy.
tibbatan people are really in need of education and health facilitis.
we didn't find any taxi. therefore , stayed there for one more night. we wandered here and there.hiking to the nearby mountains was done. pic. taken , video made. wind was blowing like storm.cold enough to freeze the hands and nose.
in the village there is no internet facility. therefore , traveloge remained pending.
one of the brothers was v.good singer. with gitar he amused us with his songs.
we played with one year child also.
i gifted 120 y to the family as pakistani tradition.
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Mar 06, 2010 09:00 PM 12th day on road to the east-china
early in the morning i got up for pictures of the valley covered with snow。
then a local food named samba was offered、it is butter +cheese+barley etc。again v.tasty
then we enjoyed sheep meat with continuous supply of green tea。the journey time to this village from tongren is 2 hours。yesterday at toungren i started the tour at 6 pm after a local food from a restaurant there。
today at 11：15 am we hired another car driven by biamobar‘s friend and i paid only 20y for fuel 。at 12：45 pm after passing through a rough and tough roadtype passage and also passing over the snowcovered river we arrived garong village.there a family of three brothers，one mother，one sister and wife of one brother welcomed us v.warmly and happily。
v.good hosts。cared for me in all aspects。even they washed my clothes in spite of my refusal。
the area is v.cool and windy。air blowing is v.forceful.even standing outside is v.difficult.this family like all other families relies on yuks（about50)and 300 sheep。
i also visited other houses of the village.ialso bought a scarf （ 10y）to present to the local lama next morning。
the people of the area are poor。no school in the area。baimober（ who is an artist and paints in mandalin) told
me that he taught many students about one year back here.school is v.far from the village i.e.tongren 3.5 hours , he taught english,chinese and tibbatan languages there for only a couple of months without fee.
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Mar 05, 2010 09:00 PM eleventh day on road to the east-china
yesterday when i finished the internet in lete youth hostel in xining，i was asked to pay 10 y for two hours and also 3 y for one times kitchen use。
today i checked outof the hostel。
i went to the kunlun bridge
and by paying 3 y to a bus i started journey to kumbum monastry at 10 am and arrived there at 10：50 am，i saw great monastry for 2 hours and saw pilgrims praying there in different ways。some of them were walking to the temple by lying down on ground and then standing up and then again lying down at a point where their arms can reach while lying down。v.difficult task really。i also saw the magnificient work in tiar si or kumbum monastry。after 2 hoursvisit i returned to the bus point about 300 m from the temple。
again 3y were paid to the busand after 50 min i returned to the kunlun bridge at 1：50 pm。after walking 20 min i arrived lete youth hostel where baimober ，my friend living in the grasslands between tongren and hanna。
after taking the luggage i started new journey with local friend baimober by shared taxi by paying 50y per person（i paid total 100y）at 3 pm to tongren and arrived at 5：30 pm。there we changed taxi and paid 80y for arriving in a village about 70-80kmfrom tongren。
there we stayed with a tibbetan family relative of baimober。they were v.friendly，caring and loving。theyoffered a lot of food made by them at home。v.delicious and tasty。
even they kept a lot of food in bedroom to eat if feel hungry during sleep。tea was a never ending process。the lady was having three children。as pakistani tradition i gave 20y to every child for choclates。
continuous supply of hot water for guests was untiring job of the family。great tibbatans。
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