Tom: Enroute to Kashgar (June 21)

Enroute to Kashgar (June 21) · Jun 24, 09:43 AM

I want to get out of Turpan. I’ve paid for two nights, but I check out early, collect my deposit, and take my backpack two buildings over to the CITS in the Jiaotong Hotel adjacent to the bus station. At the CITS office I initiate the long process of procuring a train ticket — they will send a representative to the train station to buy tickets. They charge fifty yuan for the work.

My next errand is mailing home two pants, two shirts, and camera manuals — stuff I don’t use, taking up room. The post office is also on this street, back past my hotel. After twenty minutes filling out forms and boxing up stuff, I find Robert, Chris, and Arnold in the CITS office — Robert and Chris are unhappily paying the steep commission to buy tickets here. We sit down for dumplings around ten. I’d been there earlier today and was feeling a bit queasy, but ate anyway. We take out time, but my train leaves mid-afternoon; I break away from th group.

First, I pull out 1000 RMB from a Bank of China ATM. Second, I spend thirty fast minutes at the Emin tower. Third, I check in on my ticket — still not a sure thing. When my ticket finally arrives it’s just in time for them to put me in a car to the train station — 40 yuan. The driver is young, he has a little English, and he puts on “River of Belief”-era Enigma for the drive.

At the station I buy a noodle cup meal and then climb up to the second floor waiting room where the passengers for N949 are assembled. There’s an American from Wisconsin here, but I’m busy sweating and being nauseous — the dumplings must have been bad — I don’t get around to saying hi. Not vomiting while we are lines up and waiting to board takes concentration. The lesson here to is not eat breakfast food during the lunch hour.

On-board, I immediately lay down for a nap in the air-conditioned upper bunk. The cabins on this train only have upper and lower bunks, but each car has two decks. After waking up I meet Katie, who is headed either to Pakistan or along the southern silk road. We talk in the aisle then sit down for dinner in the dinning car. My stomach has recovered; we order a couple cheap dishes, supplement with our own food, and drink a bottle of weakly alcoholic fruit juice. After dinner we meet Sam from Wisconsin who’s been teaching English in China for a while.

The sun has gone down now. We’ve been riding through high frosted mountain valleys past sheep herds, abandoned towns, and snow-capped mountains.

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http://tom.spacing-guild.net/2006/06/24/kashgar-june-22

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