|
|
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 21 - 30 of 73 | Page:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
|
Mar 04, 2010 09:00 PM tenth day on road to the east-china
in the morning after having tea, i checked out of the hotel. a friend from lhasa invited me to lhasa. i told him that foreigners neet tibetan permit to visit tibet. but he didnt know . he took me to the bus station where it was written that to visit tibet, permit is must which can be obtained from china international travel service CITS. cits will also organise your tours there. there was a man standing there speaking fluent english.he told me that he could help me. the man from lhasa shing sheng returned to the hotel and i kept my luggage in the hotel and went to the cits office at changjiang lu by bus paying one y.
the lady there told me that it might take 6 days to get permit.she demanded also 4600 y for the whole trip including transport in lhasa,hotel stay with breakfast but train from xining to lhasa( the highest train in the world calld roof top train of the world. 6 days for me to wait for permit was not practicable. so i dropped the idea and planned to visit lhasa when i will return to china again on 2nd april inshallah.
then i bought a mobile sim with the help of that man and also i operated atm machine of bank of china to withdraw 800 y.
then before leaving for museum , the man asked me to pay some service charges . i paid 20 y to him. without him it was impossible to buy sym b/c no one could speak english and also the sym card is totally in chinese language .
anyhow i boraded a bus No.25 ( 1 y) and arrived qinghai museum. not impressed by the museum . just carpet weaving history to promote carpet selling.
then i started walking in the city and after walking for 2 hours i arrived the lete youth hostel located on the 16th floor with a good elevator( 2 in number).
all of them were speaking english v.well. she showed me 4 bed dorms for 35 pp, 6 bed dorms 30 y pp.and single room 40 y pp. In 6 bed dorms 2 persons were staying therefore i preferred to stay there for 30 y.
i also met a travel agent here. she gave me lesser rates for tibetan permit with tour operators and stay etc.
i asked her to scan my passport and after arriving in beijing from tokyo i will inform her the exact dates for lhasa visit with deposit by bank of china,she will arrange permit before i arrive in xining again.
then by bus no.17 from the nan dajie road i arrived the bus station and enjoyed a local meal of beaf soup for 8.5 y and then carried my back pack from mei ning hotel and returned to a super market where i bought two big bottles of juice with some local wrinkled cake type food and 10 milk sachets for 28.8 y. by taxi i returned to the hostel and paid him 9 y.
after checking in and paying 30 y +10 y key deposit , i again started walking in the city and arrived main mosque of city where i attended a prayer of sunset. i also met many people who were happy to shake hands with me. everyone was asking about pakistan and general condition of muslims all over the world.
anyhow,i bought a bread and returned to the hostel where i heated up my pre-cooked meal brought from pakistan in kitchen and then ate with juice. i also met a buddhist artist, painter , from north west of qingiang. he invited me to visit his hometown. i accepted the offer.
yesterday i stayed in the mie ning hotel just opposite the bus station. 2 reason for disliking it: the reciptionist ladies were not speaking english. their behaviour was v. rude.there was no lift and the room was at 5 floor.No internet.
but 2 reasons to stay there: v.cold wind was blowing which was intolerable.second my friend from lhasa was so friendly with me and he haggled with the hotel ladies to lower down the room rent from 100 to 70y. he insisted me to stay in the hotel.
|
Mar 03, 2010 09:00 PM ninth day on road to the east-china
i awakened at 7 am. there is no toilet in the house. for call of nature you can releive yourselves outside the house in open air theatre.at 7:30 am a bus came for departure to zhang ye but i missed it b/c i was willing to go to the temples again. but when i went out of the house at 8 am i saw heavy snow all over. the man told me that there was heavy snowfall in last night. therefore it was not possible to visit the temples again.so i hired a taxi for 100 y to zhang ye. all the roads on the way and also zhang ye city was fully capped with snow. yesterday there was no snow in zhang ye city. i was dropped at a different bus station.there i bought a ticket for xining by paying 60.5 y.departure was at 11 am. but it was 9:30 am. so i bought a small piece of sweet wrinkled bread by 1.5 y and then enjoyed a local food at a restaurant (noodles in chillied soup) with chinese traditional tea with all meals(3 y).at 11 am bus left the city . it passed through the mountains like spinning roads all covered with snow.a man from lhasa named shinsheng alongwith some of his relatives was also traveling with me in the bus.
at 6 pm ( 7 hours drive) i arrived in the city of xining.as soon as i came out of the bus , it was so cold and windy that i felt i will fly with my luggage.anyhow , i went to a hotel just in front of the bus station.she told me the room rent as 100 y. then i went to the other hotel nearby.she was also demanding 100 y but shinsheng haggled with the lady and said he is pakistani friend.take only 70 y. the lady agreed after some hesitation.then shinsheng and his relatives took me to the nearby food market where i had dinner of local food, mutton and noodles soup with bread.shinsheng paid for me . and then we returned to the hotel and again i came out to an internet cafe to wrte down my travel log.3 y per hour.
|
Mar 03, 2010 09:00 PM ninth day on road to the east-china
here in xining the people are mostly muslims or tibetans.most of the food restaurnts are also run by muslims and on their name boards it was written"islami food" or "food for muslims".lhasa family who traveled with me from zhang ye to xining and now staying in my hotel in nearby rooms is also v.loving and i am impressed with their hospitality.a man name Eisa , muslim, met me in restaurant and taking keen interest about pakistan . he was trying to communicate with me in arabic.
|
Mar 02, 2010 09:00 PM eighth day on road to the east-china
early in the morning at about 7:10 am i checked out the hotel in jiuquan by taking back the deposit of 130 y and arrived the bus station just opposite the hotel. i bought a ticket for zhang ye for 40 y and checked its chinese characters and compared it with those mentioned in lonely planet. again and again i confirmed by different people that it s the zhang ye ticket. at 8 am bus departed instead of 7:30 am and after one hour drive due to unknown reasons the bus was changed and at 11.30 am i was dropped at the outskirts of zhang ye b/c the bus was continuing onwards journey to wuwei . I walked for about 1.5 km and arrived at drum tower called GULOU then i turned right (south) for two blocks and then again right (west) for one block and i found greater buddha temple. entry was 41 y. reclining buddha was under repair.......also visited stupa behind the temple.then i walked in the city here and there and met some chinese students and talked in little english about the city and life style and then i arrived at the west bus station .the lady told me that bus to MATI SI will depart at 3:40 pm. it was 2:15 pm . so i came out of the bus staton and enjyoed a local food noodles with some meat in soup form from a stall. it was only 3 y. bought a small bottle of water for one y to dilute my juice bottle.at 3 pm i bought the ticket for 11 y and bus departed at 3:40 pm and after one and half hour journey i arrived at the village of fairies called mati si.....the hotel was closed therefore i lived with a v.decent and nice family .i walked in the surrounding areas though v.cold(minus 8 temp) . i was feeling like walking in heavens. no tourists. almost no local people.i took pic. , making movie, and climbed up the temples and stunned to see the tortuous stairs , leading to the caves ...........oh my God,who were they people who constructed these temples in sandstone cliffs. were they human beings? miraculous...........unbeleivable..........i will suggest all the people to visit mati si once in life at least........better in the end of march or april.
after visiting the temples i came down to the house and enjoyed a delicious dinner prepared by the lady.the family was v.caring. dinner consisted of boiled rice and pasta soup with meat and vegetables. also sour salad,banana........and then tea.At 10 pm i slept in the hotter room.
|
Mar 01, 2010 09:00 PM seventh day on road to the east-china
it was unfortunate that today after checking out of jin ye binguan and taking 50 y deposit back i visited an atm machine at bank of china which was located on xinhua zhonglu.my hotel was located at junction of shengli nanlu and lanxin xilu.bus station is almost in the junction on lanxin xilu.200 m on lanxin xilu and then returned right on first traffic signal for further 200 m , i found atm machine at bank of china and drew 800 y by citicard.
returned to the bus station and told the ticket issuing lady that i have to go to zheng ye , i also showed her the writing of the city in chinese characters in lonely planet book, but she issued a ticket for dunhuang for 70 y. it was all in chinese characters . i sat in the que for zheng ye. but at 11:15 am a man came to me and asked me to go to bus (in chinese). i told him and also showed him the word zheng ye in the book. he was in hurry and i boarded on the bus. again i asked the driver that i had to go to zheng ye , he said ok, ok
i checked by compass that bus was going to west direction. therefore i asked two other persons whether bus was going to zheng ye, they replied me in positive.
i was sitting at a postion in bus that i couldn't see the signboards on the road. at 3 pm bus stopped at some station. i asked another person, what station is this? he said anxi..............Anxi, oh my God, i was near dunhuang. everyone was laughing instead of helping me. either they were jokers or i was joker.....No one understands even the word of english. they call english something different word.at last i boarded another bus leading to east. when it passed by jiayuguan i thought it was going towards zheng ye but after about 25 min at 6:30 pm it stopped finally at a station, i found it to be jiauquan.i tried to find a bus to zhengye but reply was that bus would depart in the morning at 7:30 am. i found a hotel in front of bus station. a single room , neat and clean with private bathroom and toilet(with soap,towel,shampoo,body lotion,tooth paste with brush,),also with tea maker,tv ...............70 y agreed instead of 100 y.
i went to an internet but i was refused b/c i was not having china id card. then a lady from hotel came with me to the internet and i was allowed to use internet.
|
Feb 28, 2010 09:00 PM sixth day on road to the east-china
in the morning i checked out of the fie tian hotel by taking back the deposit of 50 yuans and when i came out of the hotel , a bus was departing from the bus station just opposite the hotel. the bus stopped near me besides the hotel and driver asked me loudly ...............jiayoguang?/????????? i replied yes and then i was in the bus and my journey started at 9:30 am after paying 62 yuans as ticket. after a comfortable journey i arrived at the outskirts of jiayoguang at 3:50 pm . i hired a taxi with meter and paid 7 yuans to reach the wumao pinguan (hotel). the receptionist was not understanding anything in english and demanded 120 yuans first , then 100 , then 80 and at last 60 yuans. i was not satisfied with the behaviour , therefore i visited another hotel few steps away at the corner, jin ye pinguan. there a lady was understanding some english. she showed me the double bed room with shared bathroom and demanded 50yuans for night and also 50 yuans as security deposit. i checked in and then after few minutes came out of the hotel and started walking towards west ( jiayoguang fort). a taxi appeared and for 8 yuans i arrived at the fort. 80 yuans was entery ticket. it was a great and impressive fort with classical chinese style.At 5:30 i finished the tour . it was very cold , temp -3 with snow everywhere.
by taxi ( again 8 yuans) i returned to hotel in city centre.
i prepared my ready made meal by heating in tea maker and enjoyed it with bun bought from the super market.i also took tea prepared in the tea maker( tea bag and everyday milk).
|
Feb 27, 2010 09:00 PM fifth day on the road to the east-china
i arrived at dunhuang by a night sleeping bus at 8:45 am , coming from turpan( departed at 8;00 pm last night).
i struggled to find a toilet on the bus station for 15 min. but at last the sentence ' where is toilet" translated in chinese in lonely planet book helped me and after giving 0.5 yuans the lade allowed me to go to a toilet on the third floor of the third class hotel.but i was shocked to see the toilet, it was just an open drain full of faeces and with so much so foul smell that it was v. difficult to stand there for few seconds. i immediately returned and on the main road , mingshan lu, i tired to find charley johng cafe as advised in lonely planet . it was closed , therefore i found a hotel fei tian hotel just opposite to the bus station. it was v.nice,neat and clean with broad hall and broad rooms. fully decorated hotel and rooms. however, bathroom was out of the room. also shower time is fixed to be 7pm to 9 pm.
i paid 50 yuans as rent and 50 yuans security deposit.
then by taxi ( 80 yuans return) went to mogao caves 25 km , 30 min.entry ticket was 100(80 as entry + 20 perhaps for english guide).guide did good job and showed me caves 16-17 famous as library caves b/c hidden manuscripts and paintings of buddhist art discovered accidentally by a toist priest in 1900.
excellent stock and excellent work.
i was also showed caves No.328,329,427,428,096( 9 storey building with 35m high buddha ,130(26m high buddha), 148 ( reclining buddha 50 m).there are total 20 open caves out of 742 caves. But only few are shown each day decided by the administration. we cannot visit the caves by our own but guide is must carrying the keys of the caves.She demanded also the tip and i paid 25 y.
then i visited the museum opposite the 16-17 caves telling the story of unearthing the secrets of the 17 No. cave called library cave .
the tour was 2 hours long. i returned to the parking where taxi was waiting for me. at 1:15 pm i started moving back to the town. the road mingshan lu was closed due to celebration of the new year. i was dropped by the taxi just few steps away on the other road.
mingshan lu was fully decorated.
i asked a shopkeeper for 6 battery cells but she asked me 100 y. i went to another shop and bought the same 6 cells by 20 yuans.At 3 pm a procession of dancing,and drumming clowns appeared on the road. i observed it enthusiastically.
at 4:30 pm i hired a taxi for sand dunes and crescent moon lake 6km south of the town.paid 10 yuans for taxi.
taxi dropped me about 500 m away from the lake.
entry ticket was 120 yuans. on entering the premises i was asked to hire a camel for 80 y . i refused. then he said 70 y. i again refused. at last i agreed on 50 y. a carvan of camels started climbing for a while , then we were asked to climb by ourselves. it was a v.nice view on the top. i took pictures and then back to the camels.then went to the beautiful crescent lake half covered with snow.a spectacular sight. never forgettable.
then i started walking back to the town. after one hour of walking i entered the town celebrating crackers showdown and laughing and happy boys and girls walking on the street.
i used internet after many days of absence due to non availability in xinjiang province of china.internet was 3 yuans / hour.
|
Feb 26, 2010 09:00 PM fourth day on the road to the east-china
at 10:15 am we left the hostel for remaining tour.first we arrived jiahoe ruins, well preserved.it was quite a big city with central adminstrative part. there 200 infants were buried. the cause unknown.
entry of the ruins was 38 y.pp
we also walked up and down the monastries and temples big and small.this ancient city is worth visiting.unesco is also helping to preserve it.
after 2 hours we finished and arrive at karez. entry 18 y pp
just shown karez system of the turpan . they are v.proud of this system of underground water supply in this hottest spot of turpan in china.
turpan is 154 m deeper than sea level and third deepest depression in the world and the hottest spot in china.
famous for grapes.
I asked Mohammad to take them to museum now but he said it is closed from 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm.
Yutaro was interested in going to toyoq village and Mohammad had trapped him at 700 y for night stay there with meals and transport included.
at the bus station i bought a ticket of 200 y , hard sleeper, booked for 8 pm tonight. then i bought a small bag pack for 40 y.
i was dropped by Mohammad's driver at the turpan museum at 4:35 pm but unfortunately museum was closed at 4:30 pm while i was told by Mohammad that there is break of lunch from 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm. i dont know it was delibrately or unknowingly misreported by Mohammad.
I hired a return taxi for 130 y and arrived in toyoq village. i arrived there at 6:15 pm after hour long journey. there I walked up and down with yutaro. it is a nice village in flamming mountains.good to see the uighur culture in pure state.
at 7:15 pm i left the village by taxi and arrive at 8 pm exactly. bus was ready to leave. i boarded in and only 4-5 passengers were travelling in that sleeping bus.
|
Feb 25, 2010 09:00 PM third day on the road to the east-china
at 9:30 am i checked out of the xinjiang maitian internation hostel and got back the deposit of 100 y. also he paid me one day rent back b/c i stayed there for only 2 nights instead of 3 nights. it was 30 y per person per night as dorms.8 dorms in a small room.
my japenese friend yutaro also accompanied me and we boarded on bus no.7 ( one yuan per ride)to arrive southern bus station. first i came back to the hostel to take my electric adapter and then at the bus station i bought ticket of 35 y and journey started at 11:30 am and we arrived in turpan at 2 pm.walked to the turpan binguan about 1 km from the bus station.double room 50 y per person. nice room with tv, tea maker with jasmine tea sachet,bathroom inside the room with bathing tub.neat and clean with toothbrushes,soap and shower foam.
the road is covered by transverse iron rods for grapes.
on the counter of the hotel a man , Mohammad, speaking both english and german ,arranged a tour for that half day and next half day for 350 y instead of asking 400 y. it included all the entry tickets of the places. we paid 200 y each as advance and started tour with the driver without english.Mohammad didn't accompany us. first we arrived and explored the ruins of gaochang ruins( entry ticket 36 per personpaid by us and mohammad promised to pay back).nothing left except ramnants of the city wall.there we had lunch and walked to the monastry.on returning a donkey cart offered us for 5 y each. we accepted offer.
then we arrived astana caves ( entry ticket 20 y pp)with mummies of a couple in a cave . paintings in other caves.
then we travelled to bazeklik caves( entry ticket 18 y pp) and tried to see the images in dark with poor torch of the guide.
at the end of the tour we were brought to a small local restaurant.we enjoyed there a soup of beans,tomatoes,beef etc with mutton kababs and nan.very delicious dinner 33 y for four persons paid by me and yutaro.
slept a v.deep sleep
|
Feb 24, 2010 09:00 PM second day on the road to the east-china
in the morning at about 10 am i visited xinjiang museum in urumqi by bus no 7( one yuan) three stops from huangshan square. free entry in the museum. i passed about 5 hours there . it is very interesting and knowledgeable museum with different nationalities in xinjiang, their history,culture,language,religion etc.
then i arrived at the old city of urumqi by the same bus No.7 and bought hand gloves (10Y) b/c temp was minus 8.i also ate 2 pieces of delicious melon each 1 y.i also bought a nan for 1 y and 2 small nans for 1 y.
after visiting the mosque , i returned to the hostel.there i met a japanese traveller yutaro from tokyo.he is very nice boy. he was planning to go to turpan next day. i cut short my 3 day tour to urmuqi( b/c of severe cold and no further attraction) and decided to check out next morning.
|
Page:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
|
|
|
