Thursday 18 May
Our last day in Urumqi before moving on to Lanzhou. We have more washing to do - I'm able to do 2 loads for only £3, including the washing powder. I hang it on ceiling poles to dry, in the laundry area. A lovely young man (from Denmark I think) speaks fluent English, and shows me how to work the top-loader washing machine. He's travelling around the world for 9 months, alone. We chat for 20 minutes.
Reg has done a lot of rearranging of trains and hostels due to our cancelled trip to you-know-where. So our first task when we meet Frances at lunchtime is to buy train tickets for after Lanzhou.
We catch a heaving, people-filled bus to Urumqi station (would there be this many people on Bristol buses if the fare was 10p however far you travel?). We need to buy our tickets from Lanzhou to Xi'an, and from Xi'an to Beijing.
Urumqi has a population of 2.33 million, according to Wikipedia, and I think the majority of them are in the railway station, buying tickets. Frances is never afraid to approach people to find out what to do. She finds that there's another place about 15 minutes away by bus, where we can buy the tickets, so off we go. We would have waited hours at the station.
Incidentally, as we entered the station, I took off my sunhat, forgetting my sunglasses (not optical ones yet, Angela!!) were on top of my hat. I remembered 5 minutes later, and Frances went back into the packed station to look for them. No joy. How many pairs of glasses/sunglasses have Reg and I lost between us on this trip? I could make this a "blog" competition for the correct answer - but answers please at the end of the trip.
I said earlier that Urumqi drivers don't beep their horns a lot. I take this back - at least, in respect of buses. Pedestrians don't walk on pavements in Urumqi - well, they do, but they enjoy walking in the road as well. I don't want to tempt fate, but I can't believe I haven't witnessed anyone getting knocked over. The lane coming out of the bus station is extremely narrow, and people are walking in the bus lane all the time. As the bus comes out of the station, the pedestrians nonchalently move over just a bit, and the buses brush passed them.
On the road, buses have designated lanes too, so they move more quickly than cars. The main roads have designated " people crossings", with a green man/red man. The Chinese take no notice of the red man, whether cars are coming or not - in fact, it's as if it's a challenge for them to them to try to cross between four lanes of moving traffic when the light is red. A bit like in England, says Reg!
We arrive at the other place that sells train tickets. In the queue we meet a Chinese man who's just returned to China after studying computers at Newcastle university for 3 years. His English is excellent, and we all, including Frances, have a good chat. Reg is really pleased because he's able to quiz this man about luggage allowance on Chinese trains. It seems that luggage on trains doesn't get weighed so we should be ok. I've already decided that when we reach Lanzhou I'm going to try to send some clothes home - we shouldn't need any warm clothing now.
We get our tickets from Lanzhou to Xi'an, but can't get the ones from Xi'an to Beijing until tomorrow, as train tickets in China can only be bought 10 days ahead. Reg arranges to meet Frances at 8am tomorrow to buy our tickets from Lanzhou to Beijing. They have to meet early as we need to be packed up and ready to leave the hostel at 10 am tomorrow to catch our train for Lanzchou.
We go for lunch with Frances to one of her favourite eating places. We have a special dish, and a lovely refreshing cider-like drink (which is actually made from honey), both of which you can only buy in the Xin 'jiang region of China. The lunch is noodles, lamb pieces without bone, peppers and beansprouts, and a slightly spicy sauce - it's delicious. Reg eats his with chopsticks - he's getting really good. I have to ask for a spoon.
Some restaurants in Urumqi have a toilet, but most don't. The public toilet near the restaurant is locked. Reg doesn't need to go so he stays back in the restaurant. Frances, in her quest for the toilet, takes me across the road to a hospital. The women's toiilets are on the 3rd floor, not very clean, (those toilets again of course) and there's no soap to wash your hands. Perhaps thankfully they haven't got the MRSA bug in Chinese hospitals yet. I know I go on about toilets, but I learned one more thing from Frances - people living in the country don't have toilets, or any kind of sanitation. Just a hole in the ground.
We walk to the "ethnic bazaar" area of the city. We go into the huge Carrefour supermarket there and buy food for our train journey tomorrow. It's very difficult to buy unsweetened bread in Urumqi.
I buy some replacement sunglasses and a pair for Frances too. We pay her for being our guide, though whatever we paid her wouldn't be enough. She doesn't want to take what we give her, but we make her. She's a hungry student after all. Frances has bought us a present too - a CD of our wonderful theatre experience on Tuesday, when Reg and I were forced onto the stage!! Also a beautiful Kazhak style scarf for me.
We have a quick look around the ethnic quarter, but oh dear its nearly 6 pm and we've been on the go all day, and even Reg is flagging a bit - and I definitely am. We say goodbye to Frances till tomorrow, head back on what seems like a very long journey on the bus to our hostel, standing all the way on the sardine-packed bus.
We have our little routine now - we buy an icecream, and go into the lovely shady green park near our hostel and relax for a few minutes.
Then back to the hostel to pack and make ready for our train journey tomorrow. The washing is dry. We've loved this hostel, and most of all we've loved our experience in Urumqi ...which might have been a very ordinary place, had we not met the lovely Frances. We've given her an open invitation to visit us in England if she can - she's one of the world's very special people.
Our last day in Urumqi before moving on to Lanzhou. We have more washing to do - I'm able to do 2 loads for only £3, including the washing powder. I hang it on ceiling poles to dry, in the laundry area. A lovely young man (from Denmark I think) speaks fluent English, and shows me how to work the top-loader washing machine. He's travelling around the world for 9 months, alone. We chat for 20 minutes.
Reg has done a lot of rearranging of trains and hostels due to our cancelled trip to you-know-where. So our first task when we meet Frances at lunchtime is to buy train tickets for after Lanzhou.
We catch a heaving, people-filled bus to Urumqi station (would there be this many people on Bristol buses if the fare was 10p however far you travel?). We need to buy our tickets from Lanzhou to Xi'an, and from Xi'an to Beijing.
Urumqi has a population of 2.33 million, according to Wikipedia, and I think the majority of them are in the railway station, buying tickets. Frances is never afraid to approach people to find out what to do. She finds that there's another place about 15 minutes away by bus, where we can buy the tickets, so off we go. We would have waited hours at the station.
Incidentally, as we entered the station, I took off my sunhat, forgetting my sunglasses (not optical ones yet, Angela!!) were on top of my hat. I remembered 5 minutes later, and Frances went back into the packed station to look for them. No joy. How many pairs of glasses/sunglasses have Reg and I lost between us on this trip? I could make this a "blog" competition for the correct answer - but answers please at the end of the trip.
I said earlier that Urumqi drivers don't beep their horns a lot. I take this back - at least, in respect of buses. Pedestrians don't walk on pavements in Urumqi - well, they do, but they enjoy walking in the road as well. I don't want to tempt fate, but I can't believe I haven't witnessed anyone getting knocked over. The lane coming out of the bus station is extremely narrow, and people are walking in the bus lane all the time. As the bus comes out of the station, the pedestrians nonchalently move over just a bit, and the buses brush passed them.
On the road, buses have designated lanes too, so they move more quickly than cars. The main roads have designated " people crossings", with a green man/red man. The Chinese take no notice of the red man, whether cars are coming or not - in fact, it's as if it's a challenge for them to them to try to cross between four lanes of moving traffic when the light is red. A bit like in England, says Reg!
We arrive at the other place that sells train tickets. In the queue we meet a Chinese man who's just returned to China after studying computers at Newcastle university for 3 years. His English is excellent, and we all, including Frances, have a good chat. Reg is really pleased because he's able to quiz this man about luggage allowance on Chinese trains. It seems that luggage on trains doesn't get weighed so we should be ok. I've already decided that when we reach Lanzhou I'm going to try to send some clothes home - we shouldn't need any warm clothing now.
We get our tickets from Lanzhou to Xi'an, but can't get the ones from Xi'an to Beijing until tomorrow, as train tickets in China can only be bought 10 days ahead. Reg arranges to meet Frances at 8am tomorrow to buy our tickets from Lanzhou to Beijing. They have to meet early as we need to be packed up and ready to leave the hostel at 10 am tomorrow to catch our train for Lanzchou.
We go for lunch with Frances to one of her favourite eating places. We have a special dish, and a lovely refreshing cider-like drink (which is actually made from honey), both of which you can only buy in the Xin 'jiang region of China. The lunch is noodles, lamb pieces without bone, peppers and beansprouts, and a slightly spicy sauce - it's delicious. Reg eats his with chopsticks - he's getting really good. I have to ask for a spoon.
Some restaurants in Urumqi have a toilet, but most don't. The public toilet near the restaurant is locked. Reg doesn't need to go so he stays back in the restaurant. Frances, in her quest for the toilet, takes me across the road to a hospital. The women's toiilets are on the 3rd floor, not very clean, (those toilets again of course) and there's no soap to wash your hands. Perhaps thankfully they haven't got the MRSA bug in Chinese hospitals yet. I know I go on about toilets, but I learned one more thing from Frances - people living in the country don't have toilets, or any kind of sanitation. Just a hole in the ground.
We walk to the "ethnic bazaar" area of the city. We go into the huge Carrefour supermarket there and buy food for our train journey tomorrow. It's very difficult to buy unsweetened bread in Urumqi.
I buy some replacement sunglasses and a pair for Frances too. We pay her for being our guide, though whatever we paid her wouldn't be enough. She doesn't want to take what we give her, but we make her. She's a hungry student after all. Frances has bought us a present too - a CD of our wonderful theatre experience on Tuesday, when Reg and I were forced onto the stage!! Also a beautiful Kazhak style scarf for me.
We have a quick look around the ethnic quarter, but oh dear its nearly 6 pm and we've been on the go all day, and even Reg is flagging a bit - and I definitely am. We say goodbye to Frances till tomorrow, head back on what seems like a very long journey on the bus to our hostel, standing all the way on the sardine-packed bus.
We have our little routine now - we buy an icecream, and go into the lovely shady green park near our hostel and relax for a few minutes.
Then back to the hostel to pack and make ready for our train journey tomorrow. The washing is dry. We've loved this hostel, and most of all we've loved our experience in Urumqi ...which might have been a very ordinary place, had we not met the lovely Frances. We've given her an open invitation to visit us in England if she can - she's one of the world's very special people.
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