Tursun Gul, a local Uighur woman on a crutch, shouts at Chinese armored personnel carriers and soldiers wearing riot gear as a crowd of angry locals confront security forces on a street in the city of Urumqi on July 7, 2009. Click on the image to access more pictures. Warning, some photos are shocking.

I found a testimony on a blog on Le Monde.fr, a French newspaper. Here is an excerpt.

I was in Urumqi on July 5th. The demonstration started at 5 pm. It had been announced on the web the day before. That was mainly students who were asking for justice after what had happened on June 26th at Shaogan. Rebiya Kadeer has nothing to do with that. Around 5 pm we started to gather on the People’s square, in front of the prefecture, with black t-shirts to show our message. I was with my girlfriend. We were around 200, 300 people, mostly students. Then some more came to support us. Ultimately we were more than 3000. Among us were even some Uyghurs officials working for the government.

Please follow the story here.

Concert at Grappa's Cellar

Tonight I decided I’d try a story in pictures because to show Hong Kong I need both. So, this is thus the story of an ordinary Saturday night in HK.
We (us, the exchange students) had already gone out in the famous lame clubs of LKF (Lan Kwai Fong) on Friday, so Saturday we tried to have an easy night. First we had dinner at the residence. Great dinner. With Scottish Baileys for dessert. Then around midnight we started to shake ourselves and went toward HK Central to assist a rock show that my friend Lara had told me about; and it was actually quite fun to see a concert here. But since we were slightly late there was only half an hour of the show left, so we headed toward LKF to see this place while being sober, for once.

After hours

On the way I stopped and took this picture of a [late] worker. It was 1:30 a.m. Hong Kong literally never sleeps; everyone run 24h non stop.

Lan Kwai Fong

Anyways, we still made it to the busy LKF which we found quite more trashy now that we weren’t feverishly drunk. The place was packed, since it was Saturday night. It’s funny how perspectives change with alcohol. So we had a beer from 7/11, wandered among the crowd, and headed back to the residence.

Horny horns, and incredibly enough people buy and wear them...

I also noticed this peculiar phenomenon: I saw many people – boys and girls – wearing this astonishingly beautiful party accessory… and then I found the dealer. Why???

Finally we took a cab, one of these big Toyota that I haven’t seen anywhere else than here in HK. They must have a special factory producing these cars because they all look old fashioned, and yet some of the cars are brand new. I guess it gives a special ‘touch’ to Hong Kong.

Half an hour later we were back at the dear City University student residence, which I already find annoying. The walk between the university campus and the residence (5 min uphill) is the most tiresome: it’s almost impossible to reach at the residences without being soaked in your own sweat. And there are no shops around the residence, so one end up going up and down quite often.

Another critic (I like to criticize, of course) would be to the lack of place ‘to be’ on campus or at the residence. Since it’s bloody hot it’s not really nice to sit down outside, but there’s nowhere to go except the miniature bedroom and the Homey Kitchen!

Which of course leaves the pool; the fantastic 50m open-air swimming pool where I go almost everyday to swim and tan… And then beside the pool I also have to work on my homework: practicing portrait photography and write short stories… So I can’t really complain about my life in HK!

Today Sabrina and me went sight seeing in Central, Hong Kong Island. After walking a bit we got tired so we took one of the double deck tram: best way to visit Hong Kong! Here are some pictures. Writing is too tiring tonight…

At the Airport

Hong Kong! Where to start from?
Maybe from the start then. This is a story that begins to be repetitive but once again I should first say that my original plan did not include Hong Kong for 2009-2010! Sabrina and I wanted to go in exchange to the American University in Cairo for a year, but we got to go only for one semester; so we had to chose another destination – anywhere – to spend the fall 2009 semester. And Hong Kong was our choice. Our ‘exchange manager’, Pauliina Rouleau (now in maternity leave), suggested Hong Kong, as there was spots available, so we said: “why not?” And here am I.

I was never really interested in discovering HK. I always though that it was much more interesting to go to rural China, which I would lamely but truly say is ‘more Chinese’. I also always said that cities did not interest me, specially the huge ones. But Hong Kong is just amazing, crazy, crowded, busy, shiny, big, traditional, western and eastern in the same time.

Hong Kong Harbour

The harbour, for example. It was the busiest in the World for some time, and it is definitely the busiest I’ve ever seen. It’s immense. It also constitutes the ‘introduction to HK’ as one kind of has to go through when coming from the airport to go downtown. And the view in the background of the forest of skyscrapers is almost surreal. Wowowiwow.

The view from my dorm...

Talking about skyscrapers, I could also go on with the superlatives, but I won’t, because it’s getting boring. Just look at the view I have from the roof of my student residence at City University. Luckily we are situated in one of the most expansive neighborhood in HK, so I pay 500 US$ rent for an entire semester instead of billions per month. Good. On the picture above, in the very center, you can see some fierce light. That’s Mongkok, the busiest area in the world (I have personally compared every square inches). On the right of the center the Bank of China building can be seen, and even more on the right is the tallest building in HK, still in construction, the ICC tower (International Commerce Center, for the ignorant ones). Sweet stuff.

A

And then that’s what I do on Friday evenings: floor dinner party (7th floor, hall 9), with KFC buckets and Pizza Hut delicatessen.

The Chinese propaganda goes “Develop the West for a harmonious society” or something like that. Part of this go west policy is to create an incentive for Han Chinese to move to Xinjiang…

Well we saw last Sunday that the Harmonious Society we hear about went to hell! From what I understood there was a group of Uighur student who were demonstrating. The police started insulting them, and then the mayhem started.

From the news about 150 people died. I have no idea what these number means, as what the state media’s truth is often quite different from otherpeople’s view on things… What I know is that a friend staying at the same hostel in Urumqi got stucked in the bazar on sunday night. (I was lucky enough to have left the place about 30min before the beginning of it all). This guy got almost killed and saw someone ’s skull being smashed open with the sharp edge of a shovel. Brain splashing everywhere.

Another friend was passing through the bazar by car on monday morning and saw piles of bodies on the street. I went on the afternoon and everything had been cleared. It seems to me that mostly Han Chinese died but I know from the guy who got stucked in the bazar that the Uighurs with him were just as terrified. So who knows. Of course the Chinese media shows only Han victims with a sad\romantic music in the background.

But then things started to become really messed up. On tuesday afternoon I went back to the bazar to try to get some eye witnessess’ stories with 2 friends of mine. We had barely finished our luch that people started running everywhere, so we ran also. 200m away was a big Hotel which staffs were telling us to get in and take refuge. In the same time tanks and special police forces were pouring in the bazar. We were sent to the roof, where about 20 people were already hiding. As I step on the roof everybody yell at me to seat down because my head was exposed to gun fire. And gun shots actually started just as I was seating… One of the most intense instent of my life. 

But as I was climbing up the stairs for the roof I had time to glimpse through the window and I saw hords of Han Chinese rushing to the heart of the Bazar with sticks, machete, shovels, baseball bats, and all kind of strange weapons. I even saw a saw (the big ones to cut trees…). They were passing in front of some army guys who just stood watching them going to war.

But I really got disgusted when I finally made it back down town some hours later. There the streets were crowded with Han Chinese walking around with huge sticks, making jokes between friends on who would be killing the most Uighurs. Some were organizing themselves in packs, yelling slogans such as “Xinjiang is Ours!, Xinjiang is China!”, brandishing Chinese flags, trying to get by the army who was preventing them to get to the bazar (area where almost all the Uighurs left in Urumqi live).

I really can’t see how Xinjiang will ever be harmonious, unless no more Uighur live there.

Bezeklik Caves around Turpan

…

Recently I have excelled at being the good tourist! First this camel tour in sand dunes, and now a whole day in a tourist car going from different spots all day long (and ending up skipping half of them because they were tourist traps, expensive ones!). I arrived in Turpan, or Turfan, or Tulufan again, depending which map you are reading, on Wednesday the 1st of July. A historic date.

First impression: “The Great Disappointment”. The magic of Turpan, which is supposed to be the hottest place in China (and maybe on earth; after all China is ‘The Middle Kingdom’, so fuck the rest of the world), was diluted in an awful rain and sand storm alltogether. On top of it the city itself is quite ugly. OK maybe ‘ugly’ is a strong word, but I assume it. Really not nice, and worsen by the fact that big tourist buses are touring all over the place.

Yet I got to meet my first Uighur, and that was cool. I also got my first real nan bread with lamb kebab from Xinjiang: brilliant!

Apart from that the small villages surrounding Turpan are quite nice to go through, and I guess that’s how Turpan used to look like:
small canals with a refreshing water, grape trees used as roof in every houses, big beds outside people’s places for relaxing sport all day long in the nice shade… I really liked it! So hopefully as my journey goes on I will get to see some less touristy places which have kept their Uighurness…

Also impressive was the ruins of Jiahe, a town of 6500 inhabitans 2000 years old… They really had a nice life here, with the oasis-like valley on the town’s feet, and the irrigation Karez system. And they were Buddhist! There is a temple with some remnants of Buddha statues… That of course was before the invasion around 1000A.D from Central Asian people who were already converted to Islam. What a fascinating area! And you can still see the mix of Buddhism and Islam everywhere, as even some Buddhists paintings have typical persian images…

So that was for the cultural moment of the day. But as everything else, small quantity is always best, so I became bored of it and hated the end of my tour in Turpan…

hhh

So, after pligrimming for a while I decided to go camel riding for 3 days in the desert. I think that camels were part of my destiny for some time, and on Sunday it became reality. With two travel companions, Gil and Cedric, I book a tour (yes, a tour for tourists and everything) to go camel riding for 3 days/2 nights around the giant sand dunes of Dunhuang.

We thus started this thing with a strong feeling of being scammed just like any other fool tourists, and as we would later realise it was a sort of scam. We paid too much.

But as we were getting going we put our anger on the side and decided to enjoy this thing; and it was really cool. The suffocating heat and our sore ass made us understand the Bedouin life. Also my camel had some driving issue and was always on the side. But I fast learnt to sit and enjoy. Camels are a quite comfortable thing (for a while). It was the occasion to take some nice pictures, get a Central Asian suntan, and climb a dune that was high as something very (very) high. Camping in the desert is also a fun experience, but the best was when we found a little stream with some shade available and water to clean ourselves.

One of the most thrilling moment of this trip was running down from the gigantic dune, creating a mini-sand avalanche, and hearing the whole dune resonating as the sliding sand was making vibrations. Quite nice also was to arrive back in town as this lazy trek was in fact exhausting.

And now I’m barely able to concentrate so I’ll take a nap before going to Turpan tonight!

Cave at Mati Si

Thousand Buddha Caves and etc… In the past week I realised I have seen quite a lot of Buddhist sites on the Silk Road; almost as performant as a pilgrim! And actually I could say that I have been religious sites hoping accross the Silk Road. It all started with the big Mosque in Xi’an, and then Tianshui with the cliff full of huge Buddhas, then Zhangye, with its 35 meters sleeping Buddha, Mati Si, a temple carved on another cliff somewhere in Gansu, and finally the cherry on the French Toast: Dunhuang!

So I went to one of the most famous sites on the Silk Road: the Mogao Caves （莫高窟）。 I was quite sceptical of this big tourist attraction. I had even read somewhere that it was quite disapointing.

But the night I arrived in Dunhuang is worth a short summary:
I arrived at a hostel, which I had been dreaming about for days! A real hostel with dorms, a courtyard, some backpackers and even some foreigners!!! Fantastic! Among the people I met was a French couple, travelling with a Jeep Cherokee, and coming from Beijing. Quite cool. And the best is that they had Pastis de Marseille, the wonder drink. So we drank, and some Chinese travelers joined us, and we played Chinese drinking games, and at 3 a.m we decided to climb the enormous sand dunes (150m) that’s just behind the hostel, see the stars and finally the sunrise. That was quite fun. I went to sleep at 8 a.m.

But the point was that Daphnee, the French girl, told me I still should go and see the paintings, as they are suppposed to be amazing even though you have to follow a group with guide. And that was true. The painting are actually amazing. Some flashy light blue color dates from the Tang dynasty, 1300 years ago… Really impressive.

Apart from the caves DUnhuang itself is quite pleasant. It lies in a oasis in the middle of the desert, with lots of grapes, water-melon, and tons of other fruits. People are so chill! It’s all tranquillo! Great. And from everywhere within the city there is the ubiquitous presence of the sand dunes that lies right on the borders of the town. Very nice!

I should write again after my camel experience, and then I’ll be going to Xinjiang…

A late merchant following Marco Polo's caravan?

My travelling around has finally found some real relevance! I have found the lost heir of Marco Polo! She was a bit late though, but trying hard to catch up with her Grand-Father’s caravan…

More seriously I am today in Jiayuguan, 嘉峪关，at the ‘mouth’ of the Corridor of Hexi. Here lies the historic Fort which was the last stronghold before the barbaric lands of Central Asia… So I went to see this fort they talk about, and it started with a frustration because the entrance is now 100 RMB, which is quite expensive for China. And then there was the tourists, with their tour groups and yelling and being everywhere… So I waited they every one went, and I got some nice momments by myself in this historic place. And I also managed to get the above picture of the Chinese tourist trappers bringing their camel back home for the night (they offer a 5min ride on a camel in front of the fort).

The city itself, however, is not that interesting. There is actually nothing, it just another developing city in China, with big avenues, ugly appartment buildings and factories vomitting a black smoke.

But I saw my first long bearded Central Asian looking guy! There are some Uighur here, and they all seem very nice and smily. So that gives me some hope for Xinjiang, which is coming soon…

My journey to the West continue, with its good and bad experiences. Backpacking anywhere around the world usually brings some highs and lows, but this is especially true about China.

Yesterday I started the day quite happy to move on to Zhangye (张掖), described by the Lonely Planet as nice and colorful. But then I get to the train station and I learn that my train is long gone: the departure time was 2h48 a.m, not p.m… How could I be so stupid!

So, quite angry about myself I go and see if a train is leaving soon to the ticket office; and by chance there is one leaving at 14h43! So I ask for a ticket, but there is no more room on sleeper!!! So I take the hard seat, ready for 16h of pain and torture. I am even more angry about myself now; I was actually looking forward to relax on my bed in the train for 16h!

Then I get in the damn train, and after one minute a guy come and seat next to me and start talking to me as he want to practice his English. Very annoying, because I am tired and angry. But I have to behave, so I talk. But then it appears that this guy is a complete weirdo, he ask me if I was virgin, shows me a porn video on his cellphone, tells me he never got any girl, etc…

So that was for the down. At that point I really hate myself for misunderstanding the train situation. But suddenly a very nice looking girl seats next to me, and everything changes. The weirdo has eyes only for her, and since she’s very nice (she’s a nurse) she talk with him also, so he forgets about me. Ouf. So things start to get better. When they leave the girl gives me another gift from Maiji Shan, the Buddha mountain I visited the day before. And the guy gives me some sour vegetables cooked by his mum. Nice.

Then the people change at Lanzhou, and I stay, so I get to have some new travel mates… And what a change! Suddenly I am at peace, the couple in front of me is very sweet and smiling, I have a beer with 2 guys from Dunhuang, everyone is silent, no baby crying, it’s not too crowded… it’s perfect. As the train continues it’s smooth ride I observe the landscape, which is gorgeous. We pass through arid red mountains with white horizontal stripes, the valleys are of a splendid green as there is irrigation, and I can just imagine being Marco Polo and passing through this magical landscape several centuries ago. This was for the high. But now sadly an ugly factory pops up here and there, and the hideous highway destroys permanently the valley’s perfect composition…

And then I get to Zhangye, at 2h in the morning, half awake half asleep. I go to a hotel indicated by the Lonely Planet, but there is no dorm as indicated in the guide, so I take the double room for 40 Yuan, which gracefully came with hordes of bloodthirsty mosquitoes. So I am eaten alive, and impossible to fall asleep since I am bitten every 5 sec. Finally at 6 a.m I collapse. This was another down. When I wake up I also realise that there is no shower! And that the town is ugly. Down down down. I hate Lonely Planet, it seems that the did not even come here. I’ll try to explore a bit more the place before giving my final judgement.