Adventures with Julia

August 31, 2019

We arrived in Urumchi after 9pm on the 30th, met our new guide, Hassan, and drove through town to the hotel, with Hassan talking all the way.  Beijing time does not really work so far west, even though it is the only official time zone allowed.  Hassan told us Urumchi locals use an hour and 45 minutes earlier to make life more comfortable.  So at 9pm, Urumchi people would use 7:45.  He also told us Urumchi is the Chinese name for the city and Urumqi is the Uyghur name.  It sounds the same to us, but is spelled differently.  There are currently about 4 million people living in the greater city, which is at the heart of Xinjiang province, the largest in China.  The province is divided into North and South by the Tianshan (Chinese) or Tang ri Tag (Uyghur) Mountains, which means Mountains of God.   There are 10.6 million Uyghurs in China with about 900k-1M in Urumqi.  We learned that Hassan is Uyghur, Sunni Muslim, married with 3 kids ages 13,10 and 5.  We decided on a sightseeing plan for the next day and said good night at the hotel.   We both enjoyed him better than PinPin and looked forward to our time together.

Hassan picked us up at 9am Beijing time and off we went to the National Peoples Park, aka the Red Hill Park in the center of the city.  The park was started in the late 1700s and boasted a Red Hill Temple in 1790 at the top of the hill. 

National People’s Park

A young lady in a see through skirt overlooking a koi pond

This is the 70th Anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party.

The Red Hill Temple

Many happy, casual buddhas, unlike Tibetan buddhas.

Buddha of Compassion. This was the representation of the 11 heads, 1000 arms and 1022 eyes we saw.

Ancient Red Hill Pagoda

Although the Chinese stopped worship in the temple some years ago, there are several interesting statues, which are very different from the ones in Lhasa.  Wandering around the park, we enjoyed the colorful flowers and shade trees and, on reaching the red pagoda at the top we took a few photos.  

Then we drove to the Urumqi Grand Bazaar and mosque.  We enjoyed walking through the bazaar, eating freshly baked Naan, taking photos of statues and people, especially people. 

As seen on the street

A child having fun in the bazaar.

Twirling away.

In a store window

A lady with a see through skirt

An interesting take on jeans

Another see through dress over a tight skirt

A fancy slightly transparent skirt

A very dressy transparent dress

I hook up with some of the ladies. I really like the red dress. It was very well made.

The Wild Horse ladies pose for my camera. They were not all wearing the “new” fashion, but they were certainly all fashionable.

I started observing that many women were dressing in a peculiar fashion with short, tight fitting underskirts and long flowing see through overskirts, some even made of netting,  Many wore shirts that did not go with the skirts and many wore tennis shoes as well.  Weird.  So I started photographing the ones I could capture unawares.  Eventually I ran across a sophisticated group of ladies dressed in the fashion and approached them about the style.  Some of them work for a conglomerate business called “Wild Horse” and their job was to show off their clothes in the bazaar.  I chose to be enthusiastic about the style.  Their outfits ranged from $500 up.  Here are a number of shots I took over 2 days in Urumchi of these decidedly Chinese ladies.  

Strolling in the Grand Bazaar

An instrument vendor entertains us with a tune.

A huge shop full of nuts and other condiments

The unused mosque in the bazaar

The knife we managed to buy in the bazaar. It has survived several check points so far.

Baking naan

Putting a naan into the oven

Chinese attending a naan tasting complete with lecture.

A pretty side street in the bazaar

Chinese KFC Man and me

Mark wanted to buy a knife, so we made some effort to find one we could get through customs.  We finally found a store that sold knives, but they resisted selling to Mark.  Finally we got down to the smallest possible knife, about 2 inches long, and they let him buy it.  He only wants it to peel fruit in our room.

Finally, we were hungry and walked to a well known Uyghur restaurant called Herembag.  Mark and I ordered Polo, like the meal Rashida made for us, and Chao Mian, the dish we had watched being made with square flat noodles.  We were very happy with our selections and ate it all.  Only wish we could have had a beer with it.  While reading the menu, Hassan told us there are 32 characters in the Uyghur alphabet; 28 from Arabic and 4 from Persian.  The language got started during the 7th century and the name Uyghur mans “union” or “united”.

After lunch, our last stop was the xinjiang Autonomous Region Museum, which houses a special collection of mummies.  

There were just a few things that caught our eye in the Museum as well as the mummies, which were quite well preserved.

THe Xinjiang Autonomous Region Museum.

Grassland stone statue from 1000-700BC

Painted Wooden Figurine of a Lokapala stepping on a demon 618-907AD

Painted dancer. Tang Dynasty 618-907D

Porcelain Pottery. 1644-1911AD

Color-painted statue of a guard best with  a man’s head (Tang Dynasty 618-907AD)

Ancient cemetery with logs on end as grave markers

Lowland Beauty (age 40-45) 3500-5000 years old.

Close up of her head. Pretty even after centuries.

Artistists rendering of how she looked in life

Lowland Beauty (age 40-45) 3500-5000 years old. Full and head of Mummy and drawing of her face

Face of female body 3800 years old

Infant 2800 years old

Body guard with tattoo. 1100-1400 years old.

Out of time.  More later.

August 28, 2019

A panorama of the Potala Palace

Buddhas are the name of the game for another day.  We start with the Potola Palace, which was the spiritual and governmental heart of Tibet until 1959 when the Chinese government sent in troops to capture the Dalai Lama, forcing him to escape in disguise at night.  The troops proceeded to kill many people in the process.  Today it is a living museum for the faithful and a treasure trove for historians and tourists.  When we first arrived there were hundreds of people walking clockwise around the facility saying mantras, using prayer beads and spinning wheels.  They all seemed very devout.  We walked with them for awhile and then went back to to the ticket booth to pay and begin the walk up into the Palace.

An old lady wants to sell me trinkets. We pay for a photo.

In front of the PalaceEntering the PalaceBeing manhandled by the medical team.

The medical team insists I use oxygen. I finally convince them I am fine, just slow.

A character we walked up the steps with. He was even slower than I.

The Chinese Square opposite the entrance to Potala Palace as we climb up. How pretentious is that?

Mark with many buddhas

This is a gold and bronze mandala. My only photo inside. They were very strict.

An upper courtyard where the Dalai Lama watched activities from the top story.

Walking from one section to another.

The view down the back side

Potala Palace from the back side

We started at 11,992 feet, the same as our room as it happens.  As we walked, we learned the Palace was founded in the 7th century by Songtsen Gampo with 2 chapels and slowly enlarged over time.  In the 17th century the Fifth Dalai Lama made extensive modifications and moved his residence and administration into the Palace.  Since then each Dalai Lama has made extensions and modifications.  The white part of the Palace buildings are for administration and politics the red part is for religious purposes.  It is clearly more administrative and political than it is spiritual or religious.

Without a guide, I would still be lost in the labyrinth of the 999 rooms.  After walking up long steep ramps in the sun, we arrived at the bottom of the 13 floor complex and began to see inside a room here and there until we reached the top, where the huge Assembly Hall is located.   I checked the altimeter again and it read 12,467 ft.  I was amazed so many people made the climb without assistance.  Just at the beginning, as a ploy to get us in the door earlier than our scheduled entry time ,our guide told the Chinese medical team that I might have difficulty walking and they all but carried me up to a shady place where they stuck a spray oxygen bottle in my face and wanted to check me out.  I insisted that I was fit enough to make the walk and eventually started walking up the steps on my own.  They stayed behind.  I was a bit embarrassed but in the door 20 minutes early.

Again I was not supposed to take any photographs so I do not have many unfortunately.  The attendants were vigilant.  Some of the incredible artifacts we saw included huge, jeweled burial tombs of the 5th through 13th Dalai Lamas (Dalai Lamas are always mummified), except the 6th.  Interesting story there.  He liked beer and ladies and was not a good example of a traditional Dalai Lama, so he was ostracized at his death and buried somewhere else.  However, he proved to be a very good writer and published books of poetry that, our guide said, could still be purchased today.   He is remembered more than some other Dalai Lama’s.  We also saw many chambers of statues of Buddhas and lamas, frescos and murals.  One special statue was of a Buddha that was over 2000 years old and had survived the cultural revolution.  One mural on a huge wall depicted the history of Buddhism.

Line dancing in the park behind Potala Palace.  The guy in white shirt is sporting big hair.

Back at the bottom of the Palace complex, we found ourselves in a park with a crowd of locals line dancing.  It was fun to watch as all ages and styles of dress were happily dancing away.  Several young men sported large pompadours and a few looked absolutely gay.

Our driver picked us up and off we went to a Tibetan restaurant for lunch.  We are both noticing how filthy restaurants, restrooms and public places are, not to mention the monasteries and the Palace.  Cleanliness is clearly not a priority.  The streets, meanwhile, are being swept clean all day long by people in orange uniforms.  We’ve also noticed that people are pushy, especially when lined up for something.  And while we are complaining, Mark added that men and women spit a lot without apology .

Entering our lunch spot

Barkhor bazaar

A street vendor

A vendor selling seemed sweet potatoes

A fruit store. The seller is on her phone

A brass wares shop

Although we were sitting at a dirty, but pleasantly located roof top table, our lunch was just ok.  Mark ordered a stir fried yak and vegetable dish.  I ordered fried eggplant to go with it and a dish of pot stickers.  The whole thing was pretty greasy. Time to get beyond yak, I think.

PinPin met us and off we walked through the Barkhor, Lhasa’s medieval Bazaar, to the nearby Jokhang Temple.

The temple was built in 647AD by King Songtsen Gampo, who also founded the Potala Palace, and is the holiest temple in Tibet.  It too was enlarged by the 5th Dalai Lama in the 17th century.  The story is that the King had 3 wives–a Tibetan, a Nepalese and a Chinese.  The Chinese bride brought a very old and important Buddha from China as her dowery.  When she arrived and found no place to install it, she threw her ring.  It landed in a small lake, so she had the temple built on the site of the lake to house the buddha.  The charming story is told on a mural inside the temple.  The king had only one son, who was from the Tibetan wife.   He died at age of 32 and the Chinese sent an army to take back the statue of Shakyamuni, the 2,500 year old, original, Present Buddha, which had been made in India in the 8th century BC.  The Tibetans hid the statue in a vault behind other statues in the temple and the Chinese did not find it.  It is in the temple today.

The Nepalese bride also brought a buddha for her dowery, but it was destroyed during the cultural revolution.

When we arrived at the front of the temple, we passed people praying in several ways including prostrating themselves or building mandalas.  The temple was, happily for me, on one level and there were not many rooms or statues.  Again, I snuck a few photos in spite of the rules.  There was a roof top level I did not climb.  Mark said the roof top was gold colored and probably was the real thing.  From the ground it certainly looked like a fancy gold roof.

We engaged with a few people in front of the temple and enjoyed the afternoon light.  But there was no time to linger as we had one more stop—the Summer Palace.

About 3 miles away, the Summer Palace was built in what gradually became an 89 acre horticultural park in 1755 by the 7th Dalai Lama, Kalsung Ghatso.  All the Dalai Lamas have used the Palace from then on including the current Dalai Lama.   We saw groups of people picnicking on the grass here and there under lovely shade trees.  Flowers were everywhere.  There are several palace complexes.  We entered the Truzing Palace of the 8th Dalai Lama and got to see an excellent Buddha of Compassion with 11 heads, 1000 arms and 1022 eyes.  Also there, was a statue of a buddha we had not yet seen, the Medicine Buddha from the 11th century.

Finally we entered the 14th Dalai Lama’s Palace. It was built in the mid 50’s and he occupied it for about 6 months before escaping to India to avoid the Chinese government.   Unlike any other, it had twin staircases with modern handmade carpets and a clock that is stopped at 9pm, the time the Dalai Lama left for the last time.  There was a wall with a huge mural depicting he at the age of about 27 surrounded by family, teachers, mentors, dignitaries and many others.  Each face was very identifiable.  We saw his throne and living spaces including his study room, sleeping room, meeting rooms, bathroom and living room.  It was a very personal tour.

What I learned from PinPin about succession is:  in the normal course of time, the two next highest people under the Dalai Lama, the Pachenlama and the Karmapa, choose the future Dalai Lama under a very strict set of procedures.  In the current situation there are two Pachenlama.  The real Tibetan one, the 12th Pachenlama, is in prison, and the second one, who has been appointed by the Chinese, but is not recognized by Tibetans.  So the Dalai Lama and the Karmapa, who himself escaped to India in the early 2000’s, have been conferring on how best to decide on the next Dalai Lama.  It seems like the Karmapa will have to do it alone following a set of procedures he and the Dalai Lama have laid out.  The current Dalai Lama is 86 years old.  I wish him a very long life and fear for Tibet once he has passed.

Dinner for the third night we again ate fruit in our room.  We have lovely peaches, apples and bananas and lunches in restaurants have been less than satisfying.  Oxygen again to sleep.

August 26, 2019

Things are very weird here in Beijing.  I had no access to Word Press while at the Peninsula Hotel or at the Apple store.  Now, at the airport, I have access through a Chinese server called BAI.  Hopefully it will hold.  But now I have no more time and must run to the gate.  Here is what I completed before we left home.   More as soon as possible.  Do not hold yours breath.

August 23, 2019

We are over Russian territory at 37,000 feet on our way to Beijing.  Our 7-week adventure to unvisited places in Asia has begun.  For the first time, I am feeling somewhat undone by the amount of time we have agreed to spend traveling.  Is my age the issue or have the stresses of work at home gotten the better of me.  I’d like to believe the latter.  For sure I am exhausted by all the stress.  In addition to difficulties finding a tenant for our Dickinson, Texas property and dealing with unfinished landscape issues at a property in Grass Valley, we recently entered into a purchase agreement for a house at Lake Tahoe. It is expected to close on October 22, but at the moment our financing is unsettled because the required appraisals have not been completed.  When we left SFO today, none of the issues have been resolved or even concluded.   Although we did make some progress with the landscaping repair problem at the last minute.  

Now that we are in the air, I am telling myself to relax, let go and lose myself in our coming adventures.  The stresses at home will naturally re-assert themselves the we return.  Maybe I should be grateful for seven full weeks in a different world where all I have to do is keep a low profile and stay away from trouble.  

We cover China from east to west, mostly by air

I have brought a lot of material to read about the places we will visit and hope I manage to get to the reading……soon.  To start, I downloaded a few maps, as many of you express appreciation for having them to study.  The first map is of China and shows all the places we will visit in that country.  We start on the east coast in Beijing and gradually work our way west across the entire country, albeit mostly by air.  After a day in Beijing, we fly to Lhasa in south central China and spend several days in Tibet.  From there we fly northwesterly across the country to a city called Urumqi, pronounced Urumchi.  It is the heartland of the muslim people known as Uighur.  There are about 12 million of them and they are in the news lately for being persecuted by the Han Chinese.  We will have a couple of days there and then fly further west and south to Kashi, aka Kashgar, where we will pick up a car, driver and guide and proceed by road into Pakistan.  The distance across China is much further than across the US.    

Back to our arrival in Beijing.  At the Peninsula Hotel we will rest and try to adjust to the 9 hour time difference.  The next day we plan a special meeting with the artist parents of a young woman we have gotten to know during the Classical Tahoe summer season in Incline Village on Tahoe’s north shore.  Her name is Zubaida Azezi, aka Zuby.  She is a violinist in the orchestra.  Her fiancé is Tim Dilenschneider and he is one of orchestra’s three bass players. During the regular season, they play in the Houston Symphony Orchestra. 

Zuby and Kim with us at Gar Woods.

We took them out to dinner one evening after we had learned that Zuby is Uyghur and from the city of Urumchi.  We were surprised.  She was shocked that we had even heard of her city, let alone planned to visit it.    She identifies as Uighur and told us about the difficulties happening in her homeland, the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in northwestern China, where the largest muslim minority resides.  She has not been there or seen her relatives since she was a young girl.  It is too dangerous for her to go back, but she is confident we will have no problem as tourists.  I asked if we could look up some of her relatives and give them her regards and a photo or two.  She declined, saying even that was too dangerous for her people.  Of the 12 million Uyghur population, 2 million are incarcerated in “re-education camps” similar to what Kim Jung Un is doing with his people in North Korea.  Very sad situation.  Last October the BBC released details of an investigation into China’s “hidden camps”.  Perhaps you can find more news about it.  

 However, she said she would love to have us visit her parents, who are English speaking artists living safely in Beijing and ask if they would mind meeting with us and showing us their art and the art community in which they live.  That sounded really good to us, so she called them, made the contact and the next thing you know we cancelled our other activities in Beijing and agreed to meet her parents.  So that will be most of our day.  The drive to her parents home is about an hour from our hotel.  In the evening we have dinner reservations and tickets to the Wind Orchestra Show at the National Center for Performing Arts. We have seen the building from the outside and it is quite a lovely space.  I am looking forward to seeing the interior, which was not open when we were last in Beijing.