A Memorable Trip in Northwest China
by Raj Mann-a long-time MBL volunteer
For this year’s Chinese New Year, I took a road trip with two friends. One is Sunny, a really interesting woman who owns a restaurant near my apartment, and her friend Seedo from Shanghai. Seedo is currently unsure what he wants to do, but in the past he was a movie set designer and an interior designer for some rental companies.
Our trip was from Chongqing where I live to Gansu, a province in Northwest China.
We left on Saturday the 29th from Chongqing, a municipality and a city, and drove north though Sichuan, a scenic province with many rivers, valleys, and mountains. Ten hours later, we arrived at a town called Tianshui in Gansu. The drive was filled with breathtaking scenery. We had passed through patches of snow. On one occasion one side of the mountain was green and when we exited the tunnel everything was white. It was a nice surprise and incredibly beautiful. I couldn’t help but wonder what life would have been like before the tunnel: people on one side of the mountain would have little idea what was on the other. During our drive, especially through Sichuan, the infrastructure really impressed me. The number of tunnels and bridges you go through and over is mad. Many tunnels were multiple kilometers long.
We arrived in Tianshui quite late, around 10pm, and there was snow on the ground. I enjoy arriving late at night as when you wake up the next morning it is a surprise to see where you are. Since we couldn't get anything to eat at such a late hour we had to have a vending machine dinner, which was surprisingly delicious. My friends had instant noodles and I ate this pork and rice dinner: all you have to do is add hot water to this container with a pad and somehow it cooks the rice and pork inside.
The next day we went to a nearby mountain with large Buddha statues carved into the side. It was awe-inspiringly beautiful. On the walk/hike up the mountain we bumped into some foreign English teachers from the town and a large city nearby called Lanzhou, our next stop. We ended up spending most of the day with them. Two of them were from Iran and the other from Morocco. They were super friendly. After visiting the Buddha statues we gave them a lift back to town as we had a larger car. When we got to the town, which was tiny, we realized that a lot of shops and restaurants were closed or were about to close as it was right before Chinese New Year. Many local people came out to have a look at us. One hospitable couple opened their restaurant for us and we had a wonderful lunch together.
At this point it was fairly late, around 4 or 5pm. It took us almost five hours to get to Lanzhou, a city famous for the Silk Road and having a large Muslim minority group. Sunny had lived there before so she felt quite sentimental returning. We went to a night market with lots of snacks, most of which was lamb in some shape or form. There was also bbq and one older shop owner was even live streaming from his store as he made a drink from egg and milk -- maybe he was “wang hong” (internet famous). It was freezing and I just wanted to get back to our hotel, which was certainly not fancy. Our room had two twin beds, however the shower and toilet cubical were not private and you could basically see into them. It goes without saying I won’t look to stay there again.
The next morning was Chinese New Year Eve. We got up early and had some local noodles for breakfast and then we got on the road as we had around 500km to cover that day. We were now heading to the most northern part of our trip, also Sunny’s hometown called Zhang Ye. The drive between Lanzhou and Zhang Ye was both beautiful and dramatic. We drove through the desert surrounded by blue skies, mountains and open spaces, a sharp contrast to the prior days in Sichuan. We stopped a few times on the way there. I observed as we drove near cities there were more coal power plants. I was a bit depressed at the sight of them, but my mood later lifted as I also noticed lots of wind turbines and solar power farms. So things seem to be moving in the right direction, I told myself.
We didn’t really plan anything and booked hotels and things to do as we got close to our destination -- we often planned just one day in advance. On the way to Zhang Ye we booked into their only 5-star hotel, which Xi stayed at before. So, we had high hopes. But when we eventually arrived at the hotel, it felt like the one from the Shining. It was basically empty and on the first and second nights we were probably the only guests. The elevator screeched as it moved. It had large chandeliers inside and a red carpet similar to the film. That night Seedo and Sunny were so scared that they shared a room. I had the double to myself which was comfortable. We actually planned to move to another hotel but the next morning we changed our mind and actually didn’t mind staying. As we were the only guests I parked the car right outside the main lobby and the hotel staff even bought breakfast to our room.
That evening we spent time with Sunny’s family, which is traditional on Chinese New Year. We lit fireworks and watched the Gala, probably the most watched TV show in the world as most families in China will watch it. I helped their family make dumplings and we stayed up until Midnight. Skeptical of my dumpling making skills, her family introduced a new rule that whoever made the dumpling had to eat it as a way to escape eating mine. But I used the same dumpling skins and filling as them -- I just packaged it a bit differently. Mine tasted just fine!
The next day (Tuesday) we went to Dan Xia, a place, I was told, million or billions of years ago, used to be a sea bed and was packed with different mineral deposits. At a later point in time there was some tectonic activity and it folded or compressed to make these multi-colored hills and terrain. It wasn’t that busy and we were able to move between the different viewing points quickly. According to Sunny, it looks far better after it has rained as it highlights the colors.
On Wednesday we spent most of the time in Zhang Ye, where we visited an ancient temple with the largest indoor stone buddha. In the evening we went back to where Sunny grew up to visit her old neighbors. On the 3rd day of Chinese New Year, the tradition is that you visit neighbors and friends. I really enjoyed visiting her old neighbors. It was a small town outside of Zhang Ye, designated a poverty alleviation area. I got to see firsthand some poverty alleviation work. One family we visited were moved from an old country house with a courtyard and very basic living conditions into a flat which was far more modern. The government is working on moving the remaining residence into new homes with a small garden. The houses are around 150 square meters but the people only have to pay for one third of the space to access the house. It is a great program and it should be finished in 2 years. I also spent a bit of time with the daughter of the family we visited. She was learning a traditional instrument and kindly taught me a little, which was good fun.
On Thursday we started our drive back towards Chongqing. It was basically just a driving day but Seedo presented a few options as we had no plans. We drove to a place called Long Nan which has a beautiful valley. It was another full day of driving -- around 12 hours. We mostly just drove the same way we came back, so we were quite relaxed. It was also nice to see the temperature slowly tick back towards 0C. We booked into a 4-star hotel (apparently) but this hotel was worse than the previous one. But luckily we just stayed for one night. Normally hotels are very strict on checking foreign guests’ passports and visas. But they didn’t even ask to see my passport -- maybe they thought I was from Xinjiang. The hotel guests were noisy, there was no hot water for a shower, and the kitchen team wasn't at work because of Chinese New Year, so we were left to fend for ourselves. Regardless, it was a memorable trip.
