..............................................................................................................
Hi Abudullah,
We were back to Malaysia on 11/9 safely. There was an hour delay from take off due to heavy traffic at Beijing airport.Xinjiang is one of the places which I have planned to visit many years, somehow it was not materialized until this year. My knowledge and impression about Xinjiang is Silkroad, Gobi desert, storm desert, hot and dry, oasis, the flaming mountain, fruits especially grapes, Islam, nan and the rich cultural dance. To my surprise, Xinjiang is so big and the history of some of the towns could be traced back to 200BC during the Western Han period. Now some of these places are left as a ruin site. Buddhism was already existed and there were grottoes around. I am also not aware that Xinjiang is divided by the Tianshan into north and south Xinjiang.
These 2 regions have very different scenery. There was this song played by Ilham and the lyrics is something like this “ If you have not being to the great wall, you are not considered as a man. If you have not being to Xinjiang, you will feel regret.” And our naughty, big boy tour guide Ilham added the next line : if you have being to Xinjiang and never visited both north and south Xinjiang, it will be your greatest regret!! We were like got electrical shock, WHAT!!?? Excuse me, I beg your pardon, are you sure, what so special???........ Guess what, after his explanation, some of the tour members is planning to visit north Xinjiang next year!!!!
I guess I made a right choice to visit Xinjiang this year. Thanks for the well planned itinerary and also gave us one of the best tour guides and driver that we ever had in China. I have a better insight understanding about Xinjiang. Ilham brought us back to the memory lane the good old days of silk road, instead of by camel; we are now by the modern transport. As one of the tour members repeated said, this trip is value for money.
Needless to mention, Ilham is a very good guide. He is knowledgeable, delicate, well presented himself with confident, with high energy and drive, friendly, easy to talk with and easy to build rapport. We can find the good quality characters on him, thumb up to him!!! He is just too excellent. He talked to us about the cultures, races, lifestyle, religion, arts and of course his strong subject, history. Especially when he brought us to the bazaar, at every store that we stopped, he will take the interest to explain in detail. To be frank, I like the bazaar, especially the one at Yap Chan, it might seem a bit ‘messy’, but I think that is life. The other one which is quite organized is around the Mosque Eidkah, I managed to get some wood handicraft souvenirs. At the bazaar, we have the opportunity to interact with the locals, at least understand how they live in basic.
It was really our honor being invited to have a very wonderful dinner at Ilham aunt house. It was just marvelous, gorgeous. I think I will never forget the delicious and yummy noodle soup and the lamb rice. Serious, maybe it is due to my eating habit, I do not fancy about dishes cooked with lamb, however, those food served on that day were just too tempting that I can’t resist, I have 2 rounds of serving!!! Ilham demonstrated to us how to eat the rice with hand, somehow just too bad, I could not pick up the skill. Also not to forget to mention he brought us to his grandmother house. We were so shock to see that his grandmother was joy with tears to see him, what a touching moment!!
Yes, I am very happy and satisfied with the trip. I have visited places that I have being looking forward, the Mogao Grottoes, Terra Cotta army, the crescent moon lake, Turpan and the none other than the route to the SilkRoad with all my imagination whenever I listen to the music play by Kitaro on Silkroad and Dunhuang. No regret!!. I think the only regret I have is I did not able to put a night in the yurt at Tianchi. My tour members are not adventurous enough to take the challenge!!, what an opportunity wasted to have a difference encounter and experience.
There are a few points which I would like to bring up for your attention:
1.Hotel – Jinye hotel in Korla – the room is smelly, especially the toilet, smell of sewage. The door was spoiled and we were not able to lock the door properly. So worry that there could be break in case.
2.Hotel at Oytagh Natural Reserve – No hot water supply, we were not able to take our shower，There is this hotel with wooden bath tub (I cannot remember the name of the hotel), the tub is in very bad condition and could pose danger.
3. The guide at Xian – We have no question about her knowledge and explanation at all the sites that we visited. In fact, I rated her excellent. But, the way the arrangement was made was too rush. She brought us to those expensive restaurants without a proper explanation about the food. The food fell below our expectation!!!! We have heated argument.
Last but not least, on behalf of the group, please send our best and warmest regard to your mother and sister in law. Thanks for their hospitality and deepest appreciation from the bottom of my heart.
Regards
Cham (Singapore)
October 2010
..............................................................................................................
|
