World of Pots: Silk Road by Train

Come join me to explore Silk Road by train, not on a camel's back. I am serious. In early days, the only mode of transport on Silk Road was by camels, the animals that would survive the harsh conditions across miles and miles of deserts and wastelands. Now we have the luxury and comfort to travel on an express train, no doubt it might not be as comfortable as buses, but certainly it is better than on the back of a camel. Anyway, it didn't come cheap as we charted the whole train for our very own use, just to take us (no other passengers) across the deserts, on the Silk Road Trail.

The Silk Road or Silk Route is a term referring to a historical network of interlinking trade routes across the Afro-Eurasian landmass that connected East, South, and Western Asia with the Mediterranean and European world, as well as parts of North and East Africa. Extending 4,000 miles (6,500 km), the Silk Road gets its name from the lucrative Chinese silk trade along it, which began during the Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD). The central Asian sections of the trade routes were expanded around 114 BC by the Han dynasty, largely through the missions and explorations of Zhang Qian (an envoy who explored the North during the Han Dynasty), but earlier trade routes across the continents already existed.

Our portion of the silk Road is only limited to the northern China portion between Xi'an and Urumnqi in Xinjiang. Last year we joined a tour organised by a travel agent here who deals mainly on Silk Road by Train (other tours may use buses to cover the whole journey). The advantage of train is that at night, while the tourists are sleeping (the noise from the rattling train is a constant nuisance), the train can continue its journey. In this way we saved valuable travelling time and the Silk Road tour can be covered in just over 7 days compared to 14 days or more by bus. Bus driver had to sleep at night, so the tourists bundled into hotel every night.

We began out tour by first flying to Xi'an, taking a local flight to Urumqi, then boarding an express train and travelling eastward back to Xi'an. When we were at Urumqi, we visited Ghost City where gust of wind and sand produced howling scream of ghost. A famous tourist attraction is the Kanas Lake with breathtaking scenery, the sky and the lake almost share the same hue. It was beautiful. We also visited places like the Tuwa village, Flaming Mountain, the Grapes valley and Karez well in Turban. We were welcome by the chief of a local tribe at Turban to taste the grapes at his residence. As usual, he would then do his part (sales promotion for extra income) to promote the different types of raisins produced by the local farmers.

Kanas Lake

A whole roasted lamb

From Turban, we then arrived at Liuyuan train station. The place was filthy (rubbish thrown everywhere) with local people sleeping on the streets, pavements and even at the centre of roads. Beside them, heaps and heaps of rubbish with flies on the garbage. I supposed nobody care about cleanliness and health issues. Everybody is just passing by, ready to go to their next destination. Yes, and they were all waiting for their trains to take them out of here. As we were VIP (if you were visitors, you enjoy different status), we were able to bypass a lot of local people and went inside the station directly. Once inside, we waited for the train to arrive. We boarded the Express train to continue the next part of the journey on train. We all checked in our little twin sharing cabin, this would be our home for the next 4 days of our tour. One problem tough, there was no bath room/toilet in our little cabin, so the 10 of us would have to share a common bath room/toilet at the end of the coach. We needed to create a roster so that every one can take turn to have shower. A piece of paper was placed in front of the bath room and we started to book our slot to take bath. Each was only allowed to at most 15 minutes to finish the bath. I remembered the first night on the train, by the time the last person had taken his shower, it was almost midnight. After we had settled down it was dinner time. As there were other passengers on this charted train, we had to have dinner in two batches. Dinner was served on a two separate coaches called the Restaurant Coach. There was also a bar serving wine and alcohol to guests. After dinner and having taken the shower, we went back to the cabin to rest. As it was dark, there was nothing to see and we went to bed early. I can tell you it was almost impossible to sleep due to the rattling noise from the train and the tight "bed" (actually our seat by day). By the time we opened our eyes, we could see beautiful sun rise from the windows of the train. Then again, we began to do the usual morning task like changing clothes, brushing teeth, going to toilet, etc.

Liuyuan Train Station

Having dinner onboard the train

Our little cabin, not as cosy as a hotel room tough

One of the highlights of this tour was a visit to the Mogao Grottoes (also known as Dunhuang Caves) in Dunhuang. This is a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1987. It also has the reputation of caves of the thousand Buddhas, from a system of 492 temples. The caves contain some of the finest examples of Buddhist arts spanning a period of 1000 years. The Mogao Caves are the best known of the Chinese Buddhist grottoes and, along with Longmen Grottoes and Yungang Grottoes, are one of the three most famous ancient sculptural sites of China. We were amazed at these sculptural works, all crafted following the pattern of the caves, some even extending to the roof, some site contains so much Buddha statues that it was impossible to count their number. The tour guide told us that quite a good portion of these statues were stolen in early days by foreign visitors who were shocked at the beauty and magnificent works of Buddhist art. Most of these Buddha statues ended up in museums all over the world. The destruction caused to the ancient treasures was beyond description.

Mingsha Hill

Mogao Grottoes

A visit to the Mingsha Hill, a place full of sand and sand hills, just like the desert, was also unforgettable. We had to loan from vendors a pair of cloth shoes (looked just like socks) to cover our footwear as we wondered into the wilderness of the land of sand. This was to prevent sand from getting into our shoes. Tourists can choose to ride camels or sit on camel carts to tour the desert. I missed the chance for a camel ride but later made it up in Jiayuguan where I mounted on a camel for photo shooting purpose. The experience was plain awkward, I really pity the travellers of those good old days, they had to endure the discomfort (not to mention the smell coming from the animal) on the back of a camel for miles and miles of journey across the deserts. When eating is concerned, one thing worth mentioning in Xinjiang is the roasted lamb. It is very tasty and the texture is equally good. It can come in the form of one whole roasted lamb or more commonly in pieces of lamb on sticks. They are equally good to eat although your cholesterol level may rise, but who cares, anyway.

Riding a camel, but not in Mingsha Hill

We also visited Jiayuguan or the "First and Greatest Pass under Heaven" and viewed Mt Qilian from far. Other places of interest included the Great Wall City Museum and the Xuanbi Greatwall. Fianally we boarded the train and headed for Lanzhou, the last leg of the tour. At Lanzhou, we visited the waterwheel Garden, the White Pagoda Hill and the Mother River Statue. After Lanzhou, the train would go on to Xi'an, the last stop of the tour. As we had been to Xi'an on another occasion, we did not join the group. So we said bye bye to the rest and flew home from Xi'an.