On our way out of Langmusi this morning at 6:30 am we crossed the border from Sichuan into Gansu province. Just a note about these early morning buses - I'm totally sick of them now, I've been getting up at 5:30am just to catch buses for far too many days in the last 2 weeks. Gansu has much better roads and I've noticed a reverse correlation between the wealth of a province and the state of its roads, Guangxi (where Guilin is) and Gansu have excellent roads which really speeds our travelling up as we're not stuck doing 15km/h through mud and rocks.
It was snowing heavily last night so everything and I mean everything was pure white this morning - it felt like we were in a Scandinavian country and not China with the white mountains on either side of our snow covered road and also in the horizon. The bus even needed snowchains for part of the journey and its the first time I'd ever been in a vehicle that required snow chains.
It was snowing heavily last night so everything and I mean everything was pure white this morning - it felt like we were in a Scandinavian country and not China with the white mountains on either side of our snow covered road and also in the horizon. The bus even needed snowchains for part of the journey and its the first time I'd ever been in a vehicle that required snow chains.
The air was so cold outside that instead of getting condensation on the windows we got ice crystals forming on the inside instead. I was amazed but my European travelling compatriots just laughed at Eddy the 'convict' because it's normal in Europe as well. We changed buses in a town called He Zuo 合作 which literally means 'co-operation' - I can see why now and I'll explain a bit further on. I was able to flag down a passing bus heading for Lanzhou straight away so there was no need to wait around in Hezuo for any period of time.
It is written in history books that Mao's long march suffered heavy losses in this area and I could see why today - the landscape is frozen even though we're halfway through March already - it would've been just like the Germans invading Russia and freezing to death because of the extreme cold and lack of anything to eat around here.
Once again I've noticed a huge change in the population, we've moved from predominantly Tibetan areas to Muslim areas with many (majority) of the men wearing white caps and the women (Chinese) wearing burqas. A muslim Chinese woman with a burqa is a really beautiful sight with their high red cheeks, broad smiles and their colourful scarves around their heads. They dress modestly but radiate some sort of inner beauty. I think the town is aptly named 'Hezuo' because the Muslims and the rest of the population get along so well here - there isn't a hint of segregation or inequality along religious lines here. It's made me think/realise that there is nothing wrong at all with Islam the religion but rather it's proof that only a small minority use it as an excuse to wage what is basically a race war against Anglo countries.
There are mosques all over North Western China yet no-one thinks differently fo these people because they are Muslim. There were Buddhist monks and Muslims sitting side-by-side on my bus today - if only the whole world could cooperate like this. As a matter of fact I told Phil today that in Lanzhou which is where we are staying right now I'd trust the Muslims more than anyone else because they're the most friendly and the least likely to cheat or steal from us.
Interestingly enough - with the change in location and religion, the cuisine has changed. Everyone knows that pork and rice are the two staples of a Chinese diet yet over here we've been eating a lot of unleaven 'Muslim' bread with charcoal BBQ'd lamb meat or yak meat. The lamb kebabs are really tasty and it's easy to see Lanzhou as being one of the great stops along the Silk road even more so than Xian with its convergence of different religions. It's really funny beacuse in the towns that we drove past we could see lamb carcasses being hung on the roadside after being killed the Halal way. I've seen yak carcasses being chopped up as well and I really make the connection now between live animals and meat on the dinner table - when I see live yaks walking around grazing on frozen grasslands it amkes me hungry for yak meat!
Everything is so fresh at the restaurants here in Lanzhou. They lay their ingredients on shelves outside the shop and you just point to what you want and they stir-fry it up infront of you and then serve you inside the shop. Another note about the Northern province of Gansu is that they speak Mandarin that's quite close to the Beijing standard so it makes getting around and being understood quite alot easier for me. I met more rural guys on the bus who'd never seen a digital camera before as well and were absolutely enthralled by the fact you could take a photo and look at it straight afterwards - they loooked exactly like the farmer boy in 'A World Without Thieves'.
Tomorrow will be interesting as I scour the travel agents and ticket offices to obtain tickets to Lhasa from here in Lanzhou.
It is written in history books that Mao's long march suffered heavy losses in this area and I could see why today - the landscape is frozen even though we're halfway through March already - it would've been just like the Germans invading Russia and freezing to death because of the extreme cold and lack of anything to eat around here.
Once again I've noticed a huge change in the population, we've moved from predominantly Tibetan areas to Muslim areas with many (majority) of the men wearing white caps and the women (Chinese) wearing burqas. A muslim Chinese woman with a burqa is a really beautiful sight with their high red cheeks, broad smiles and their colourful scarves around their heads. They dress modestly but radiate some sort of inner beauty. I think the town is aptly named 'Hezuo' because the Muslims and the rest of the population get along so well here - there isn't a hint of segregation or inequality along religious lines here. It's made me think/realise that there is nothing wrong at all with Islam the religion but rather it's proof that only a small minority use it as an excuse to wage what is basically a race war against Anglo countries.
There are mosques all over North Western China yet no-one thinks differently fo these people because they are Muslim. There were Buddhist monks and Muslims sitting side-by-side on my bus today - if only the whole world could cooperate like this. As a matter of fact I told Phil today that in Lanzhou which is where we are staying right now I'd trust the Muslims more than anyone else because they're the most friendly and the least likely to cheat or steal from us.
Interestingly enough - with the change in location and religion, the cuisine has changed. Everyone knows that pork and rice are the two staples of a Chinese diet yet over here we've been eating a lot of unleaven 'Muslim' bread with charcoal BBQ'd lamb meat or yak meat. The lamb kebabs are really tasty and it's easy to see Lanzhou as being one of the great stops along the Silk road even more so than Xian with its convergence of different religions. It's really funny beacuse in the towns that we drove past we could see lamb carcasses being hung on the roadside after being killed the Halal way. I've seen yak carcasses being chopped up as well and I really make the connection now between live animals and meat on the dinner table - when I see live yaks walking around grazing on frozen grasslands it amkes me hungry for yak meat!
Everything is so fresh at the restaurants here in Lanzhou. They lay their ingredients on shelves outside the shop and you just point to what you want and they stir-fry it up infront of you and then serve you inside the shop. Another note about the Northern province of Gansu is that they speak Mandarin that's quite close to the Beijing standard so it makes getting around and being understood quite alot easier for me. I met more rural guys on the bus who'd never seen a digital camera before as well and were absolutely enthralled by the fact you could take a photo and look at it straight afterwards - they loooked exactly like the farmer boy in 'A World Without Thieves'.
Tomorrow will be interesting as I scour the travel agents and ticket offices to obtain tickets to Lhasa from here in Lanzhou.
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