Journey to the West (many many pics)

[Marcion]

A couple of years ago, me and my dad went on a trip to China, taking a historic tour along the Silk Road from Xi'an to Urumqi (we also had stops in Beijing and Shanghai) where we visited various tombs, temples and sites of interest. These are some of the better photos from the trip out of many taken (mostly by my dad). It's been a while, so I probably don't remember every historical detail of these places, but I am consulting Wikipedia (so post if I get something wrong). And sorry some of these staunchly refused to resize, I'll fix them if they rape too many modems.

The Beijing great wall was simply great. I'll never forget looking out over the scenery with the chill wind and perfect sky. It was all good except for the peddlers accosting us every ten feet.







The walkway leading to the Ming tombs outside Beijing. There are numerous statues of animals and government officials along the way, all bowing to the emperor as he passed. There's a massive complex of tombs on the end of it, it was pretty crowded and was mostly bare stone walls inside. I thought we had some pictures of it, but I can't find them...







We went to Tienanmen square the second or third day, the line in front of the tomb of Mao was long so we skipped it and when straight to the Forbidden City. There was a lot of outside renovation going on, and a lot of the walls and roofs looked fairly shoddy (paint peeling, tiles missing). Wish I could go back when the Olympics start and see it all finished.



The crowds were bad outside, but got better the further you got in.



Here's a ****ing Starbucks in the ****ing Forbidden City. I heard they closed it not too long ago, and for that I am glad.



Guardians on the roof, clearly failing in their duty to cleanse the city of evil.



Don't ask me how they make these. I thought we had some more pictures of the smaller interior buildings that were made into museums, those were really beautiful, and not many people made it there, seemingly.



Part of a mural that stood up pretty well.



Here's a guy practicing calligraphy with water near Kunming Lake (not Forbidden City anymore). The lake is man-made as part of Empress Dowager Cixi's summer palace. We went in there, but it was fairly dilapidated.



But the pagoda overlooking it wasn't.



Performers putting on makeup for one of the four operas we saw.




That's all I'm going to do for one post, Xi'an is next (don't worry, they get better and more interesting). I've also got a couple of shots of the gates of the Temple of Heaven near Beijing, if anyone wants to see those I'll post them.

[Marcion]

Just in case anyone's reading...


The east gate of the old city wall of Xi'an, built in the Ming dynasty, and according to Wiki is the best preserved in the world. If you're a runner looking for a challenge, this place is for you. I was beat just walking a quarter of it.



And of course you don't go to Xi'an without meeting these guys.



Lots of them.




The first pit is the only one that's had any significant restoration done. It's going to be a long time before they unearth all that's in there. They've also discovered another even larger site nearby, that hasn't yet been excavated due to limited technology.



One of the unexcavated parts.




One of the best preserved artifacts that have come out.




The Big Wild Goose Pagoda, around 1500 years old, I heard from the guide it got its name from a group of Bhuddist monks who came through the area, traveling from India, and had run out of food, and were nearly dead from starvation. But a flock of wild geese came out of nowhere, promptly died in mid-air, and thus gave the monks food, but one of their number had already died, so the pagoda was built for him. Apparently the vegetarian Bhuddists have a different story.




The view from the top, the pagoda itself was basically empty, as were all the ones we saw (I think). Most of the land around Xi'an is divided up into 50x50 farming plots with mud huts in a corner, while the city itself is as affluent as any I've seen. Things sort of “evened out” the farther west we went.



Here's a place you don't hear about much. Practically hidden in the market of the old city is the Great Mosque. It's around the same age as the pagoda, and both mark the city's status as the terminus of the Silk Road. Don't ask me what the Zoroastrian flame icon is doing there.



It has some of the best traditional architecture we saw in the trip.



The overcast sky made the garden enthralling.





That's all for Xi'an, I've got a ton of stuff for the next area so I'll do it in another post.

[white-wolf]

Wow, great!

Do you have Uygur pictures?

[bushbush]

hahaha...feel like home

[Marcion]

Wow, great!

Do you have Uygur pictures?

Huh, someone is interested. Fancy that. Yes, Turfan was one of my favorite places on the trip, it's not till the very end though. I'll do some more... some time.

[white-wolf]

Huh, someone is interested. Fancy that. Yes, Turfan was one of my favorite places on the trip, it's not till the very end though. I'll do some more... some time.

Please continue,

[Legionem Insanis]

awesome stuff!

[Marcion]

Now into the high country of Gansu province. Reminded me of Colorado.



Our first expedition here was to the Bingling Si, the temple of ten thousand Bhuddas. Damming of the Yellow River has ensured that the only way to get there from the road is by boat.





But even when it isn't flooded this is not easy terrain.



Yet the footsteps of cultural transmission persist even across the jagged spires.




And etched into the rocks are the echoes of the enlightened hermits of the Kushan.



Right up until the last gasps of the Ching new shrines have been carved here. Someone familiar could probably trace the development and spread of the religion looking at this single wall. That is someone other than me though.













That's the best from the grottoes. I'll try to do the next area later tonight.

[Marcion]

Next stop, Xiahe (shïa + hü), a little patch of Tibet in the north of the province.



It has a pretty one-track economy, exporting canola seed and....





Yaks! These people make more things out of yaks than you want to think about.



Even though I'm used to lots of wide open space, this place seemed... mystic, half-unreal.





And that was before I saw the incredibly ornate entrances.





Or the giant monastery. They wouldn't let us take any pictures inside the place (as was the case with many) unfortunately. Not even of the cool Tibetan writing that looks like Klingon.





But they did let us take them of the yak butter sculptures. I sincerely wish I had the creativity to make this up.







The morning after, my dad got what is probably the best shot of the trip.



And (possibly) one of a handful of my own modest contributions

[Icefrisco]

Cool trip!

[jankren]

Here's a place you don't hear about much. Practically hidden in the market of the old city is the Great Mosque. It's around the same age as the pagoda, and both mark the city's status as the terminus of the Silk Road. Don't ask me what the Zoroastrian flame icon is doing there.

Where? I dont see no flame.

[Marcion]

Where? I dont see no flame.

It's on top of the stone gate in the first picture. The guide pointed it out to us and I still have no idea why it's there.

[Atterdag]

Great stuff!
If you have any more pictures please do post them.

[Marcion]

Great stuff!
If you have any more pictures please do post them.

Oh I'll post them.... If I have ten rep by midnight. BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

Nah, j/k I was out of town yesterday.


Now we're farther into the country, and are in sight of the western Great Wall. Only the parts near tourist areas have actually been kept up, most of it is just sand-blasted rock.










In Wuwei we visited various Bhuddist temples, I forget which are which.








In probably the only occurrence of them letting us take a picture inside a temple, the shrine of an old rain god, as old as the town if not older. I'm pretty certain people still come here to pray.



A drum tower in Zhangye, old.




And a wooden pagoda from the Sui dynasty.




Some nearby farm land. I'd bet this area has looked the same for the past 2000 years. Something about this country seems to encourage this somehow.



Now encroaching on the Gobi desert, we visit a reconstructed fort of the Great wall near Jiayuguan.




Juxtaposed with the actual Great Wall remnants.




I remember it got windy as all hell while we were there so photo opportunities were limited.






Got maybe two more posts worth after this, Xinjiang and Shanghai.

[Marcion]

Actually I forgot we had one more city in Gansu, Dunhuang.


The Mogao Caves are essentially a cliff face that's been pockmarked with shrines, inside them are hundreds of beautiful statues and murals... That we couldn't take pictures of (although there are many available here). But here's one on the outside that I think was plastered on fairly recently.







Celebration of the country's founding was drawing near. “Opiate of the masses”, eh?



The town from our hotel



And sunset on the train across the Tarim



And now we arrive at Turfan, an oasis in the middle of the world. I think I'd retire here if I had the chance.



We visited some very old ruins near the town called “Jiaohe”, that I can't really find anything on. But feet from every corner of the Earth must have walked this ground.





Although the sun was hot, there was always a chill wind blowing. And the sky was as blue as I've ever seen it.





I can't help but wonder if the Carthagini came this way.



We also rode a mule-drawn cart to another old site called Gao Chang.





The Emin mosque has a minaret that dates back to the spread of Islam into this area.



Which provided the subject for the best picture I have yet taken.



This ends the relevant pictures of the Silk Road I have. I've got another set of some tourist trap stuff in Shanghai, and the Urumqi skyline (I'm sad I didn't get any of the market there, pretty unique place). If it is so desired, I'll dump those, but it may not be for a few days, as I'm packing up tomorrow.


I'll leave with this picture from the plane on the way home, perhaps the second best be picture I've ever taken.

[Leander]

That is beautiful and utterly magnificent. The Chinese Architecture is the most beautiful I've ever seen. I thank you for sharing these pictures with us, and I myself would be most interested in seeing Shanghai as well.

[Marcion]

Been a while since I've been around these parts.


I just wanted to say something about the recent events in China, after having visited some of the places that were affected by the anti-Tibet "crackdown."

Although it is hard to say anything, really. Partly because I got such a one-sided view of the country, travelling with state-sanctioned guides, sleeping in (mostly) nice hotels, having more food put before us at meals than some see in a week, probably. Anyone who's spent more than a cheap vacation there no doubt is better informed than I am. Yet, nonetheless, in the many hours I spent staring out the window of a local copy of a Japanese seudan, I gained something of an insight, maybe.

I can see why the government in Beijing is doing what they are. Those clusters of mud huts stretching through Hexi sure as hell don't have pictures of the Chairman in the living rooms. The yak hearders in Xiahe didn't sing "The East is Red" while they cleared the road for doubtless the only car that had been by in months. China is thousands of ancient towns filled with ancient peoples, very few of whom had any love for the old emperors, let alone the proclaimed followers of some German academic. Imagine if you will, if Louis XIV had managed to depose every single other monarch from Portugal to Crimea, and subsequently claimed the whole shebang for himself. "Tout est maintenant la France!"

Louie's Europe is "China."

I stood in Red Square and saw the Versailles palace gated off in the distance, and although the old aristocrats inside are making a spirited effort, I hope they're beginning to realize that there's nowhere to look but down. It's going to end one way or the other, and the only choice they have in the matter is whether they keep on murdering and oppressing on the way. But of course, they've already made that decision.

And I've got to wonder now if a few pages in the history books is really worth it.


Oh, and sorry for neglecting to post those other pictures, I might get to it next week.

[ray243]

Looking at all this pictures makes me want to play china total war...

It's true that alot of people in china would not give a damn about who is the government, as long as the government more or less let their lives remain intact. Politics will only come in when something major is occurring in their town and etc.

As for the emperors, it depends on which emperor and which dynasty are you talking about.

[Godless Pickle]

Nice pics. Really love the Great Wall and Xi'an's little army of stone figures.

Looking at all this pictures makes me want to play china total war...

I know right!

[jankren]

Wow, there are totally a lot of things to see in China.