dunhuang, urumqi

left hotel at 6.30 am for breakfast of beef noodles, a lanzhou/gansu specialty. we were enthralled by description of noodles as thin as human hair but were disappointed by the thicker, if still delicious, noodles.
the thing about yumen guan and yang guan was the getting there. at points, there wasn’t even a road but stakes outlining a path on the gravel. and the desert stretched away on both sides and u think, god, it’s beautiful. and please don’t let the vehicle break down here.
as the minivan zipped along, the shadow hovering craft on the desert ground glided along effortlessly.
the soundtrack to our travels is an eclectic mixed tape that runs the gamut from 70s pop to more current mandopop, with a dose of patriotic songs for good measure. the true oddity is a heavily-accented version of a cantopop hit (candy lo’s 好心分手) in mandarin? some local dialect? with bizarro lyrics. but it was only hilarious the first time round.
30 for entry into yumen gate. all that’s left is the weathered remains of the building for processing visas. a further 5 rmb a head to engage a guide to listen to the history of the place. given the wind erosion, it’s amazing that anything survives, same with the fortified earthworks of the han dynasty great wall.
yang guan was next, 40 for tix. quite impressive that they’ve built up this whole compound in the middle of nowhere. pity it feels like a movie set then. u could even get your olden day visa for a fee, complete with issuing official and a send-off party of dancing girls. or so the photos suggested. in reality, the ‘official’ was some guy who looked as if he had just rolled out of bed and the send-off party comprised 1 single girl, who was at least in costume.
the sole surviving structure was a ways off and lethargy and the fact that it was noon almost made me miss it. good thing L was determined to press on.
while the fire tower was underwhelming up close, one did get to glimpse the wide expanse of land from that vantage point. pretty sure no one traveled for fun back then.
lunch was at a 农家菜 place nearby. pleasant setting under the grape vines, which provided much welcome shade. plucked a few grapes but they were a little sour. certainly took their time preparing the food and it wasn’t cheap either – chicken in sauce, egg with tomato and 干扁扁豆 (ganbian biandou), noodles – came to 120+ for 5. the 扁豆 was great though, it tasted sweet and went well with the peppercorns.
back into the city with some time to kill before our flight at 7.40 pm. went to a café for ice-cream (4) and plum juice (6).
reached urumqi at about 9pm. cab fare to the youth hostel was about 50. triple with attached bath for 190 a night. place was only 3 months old and run by certified cool people who were friendly and helpful. 小沈 (xiaoshen, syb-2000@sohu.com, www.yhaxinjiang.com) owned the place and he’s certainly done his share of traveling. listening to him swap adventure tales made our ‘off-the-beaten-path’ plans sound well-trodden.
went to 友好夜市 (youhao yeshi), the 2nd largest night market in the city, for dinner. turned out to be a 45-min walk as opposed to a promised/imagined 10. row of food stalls lining the sidewalk with seating behind them and people packed tightly together on stools. we had claypot chicken (10), fried noodles (5) and of course, mutton skewers (10 for 10), and a yoghurt drink (3) to which you added sugar and sesame. tried not to think about the food we were stepping on.
room was new, hence clean, but no fan and temperamental hot/cold water. glad we’re setting off at 9 the next day, can finally get more sleep.