There is only one reason to come here and that's the Great Wall - this is where it all ended, the western most point of the Wall under the Ming dynasty. Jiayuguan has a fortress, which was named UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. This seems to have prompted the city to massively invest in tourism,
there's a huge park around the fortress, the nearest parking lot is about a km from the entrance, so you first have to make your way through vendors selling mostly knick-knacks, don't expect any food (which we needed badly after biking the 15km there from the city against heavy wind), it seems they learned from the Terracotta warriors... just that the tourists aren't coming. The place was almost empty when we went there, the vendors looked bored, the buggy drivers (who drive you from the parking lot to the fortress) idle... It seems to be the story of the town - abandoned construction sites everywhere, huge avenues, roundabouts with socialist style sculptures in the middle - but no-one there to use it! Almost no traffic to speak of, even in rush hour there's no traffic jam, you almost always get a seat on the bus... Jiayuguan - where socialist living is fun!
The same went for our hotel, but they were friendly and clearly happy to practise the two or three English sentences they knew. They thought we were crazy when we asked to rent bikes though. Thankfully, the Lonely Planet does contain some useful information, and we managed to rent two bikes and ride out to the end of the wall - a place 5km out of town where the Ming Wall suddenly ends at a steep river cliff... it could be a quite impressive sight if it wasn't for the Disney-like fort they built there. It's not even a museum or of any historic or educational value!
There are a few fake cannons next to catapults and you can have your picture taken in a supposedly historic costume - if the only keeper of the place shows up. Because, of course, the place was deserted. More abandoned construction projects nearby and blue construction fences that spoil the yellow-brown desert imagery... Disappointed, we rode of in the direction of the fortress, and the best part was probably when we just decided to leave the road and ride through the brush. In the end, we did have to turn back and make our way to the big parking lot. The fortress is quite impressive and just as we got there, a huge storm started. Looking west from the fortress walls, one looks into the Gobi desert, where caravans used to depart for an uncertain journey...
In the evening we wanted to see the sun set over the wall, so we hired a taxi for a round trip. He said he'd wait for us for about half an hour. Poor B. ran up the stairs to the watch tower to see the red sunshine on the snow covered mountains - I had to pass, after only little sleep on the train and the day's bike trip I wasn't running anywhere (also the height, around 2,000m seems to take its toll on my fitness), so we wouldn't let the taxi driver wait too long. Well, when we came out he had left! We hadn't paid him yet, not even half of the agreed fare! So, there we were, a good 10km out of town, and there was nobody else in sight (it was already after 9pm, they had opened the gate for us after our taxi driver talked to the gate keeper). We didn't quite know what to do, we felt bad for "cheating" our driver out of his fare, but when a taxi happened to pass by, we didn't hesitate long and hailed it.
Who knows when there would be another one? The driver asked rather perplexed "how did you get out here?" Still no idea what happened to our first driver... too bad we didn't know he had abandoned us, we could have stayed at the wall longer. Without any other tourists around - I wish I could have that experience at the Great Wall stretch close to Beijing - the wall there is much more imposing, several meters high and wide enough for a horse cart. The wall stretch we visited falls into the "is it still restoration or already fake?" category. The fake camel caravan (statues) didn't exactly help...
We did spend half a morning wandering around the market, trying strange fruit and tasty baked goods. People are friendly (they are Hui - Muslim Han Chinese, so not really an ethnic minority - recognizable by the white hats worn by men) and probably quite dumbfounded what brings foreigners to their city. Well... so were we.
There is only one reason to come here and that's the Great Wall - this is where it all ended, the western most point of the Wall under the Ming dynasty. Jiayuguan has a fortress, which was named UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. This seems to have prompted the city to massively invest in tourism, 
there's a huge park around the fortress, the nearest parking lot is about a km from the entrance, so you first have to make your way through vendors selling mostly knick-knacks, don't expect any food (which we needed badly after biking the 15km there from the city against heavy wind), it seems they learned from the Terracotta warriors... just that the tourists aren't coming. The place was almost empty when we went there, the vendors looked bored, the buggy drivers (who drive you from the parking lot to the fortress) idle... It seems to be the story of the town - abandoned construction sites everywhere, huge avenues, roundabouts with socialist style sculptures in the middle - but no-one there to use it! Almost no traffic to speak of, even in rush hour there's no traffic jam, you almost always get a seat on the bus... Jiayuguan - where socialist living is fun!
The same went for our hotel, but they were friendly and clearly happy to practise the two or three English sentences they knew. They thought we were crazy when we asked to rent bikes though. Thankfully, the Lonely Planet does contain some useful information, and we managed to rent two bikes and ride out to the end of the wall - a place 5km out of town where the Ming Wall suddenly ends at a steep river cliff... it could be a quite impressive sight if it wasn't for the Disney-like fort they built there. It's not even a museum or of any historic or educational value! 
There are a few fake cannons next to catapults and you can have your picture taken in a supposedly historic costume - if the only keeper of the place shows up. Because, of course, the place was deserted. More abandoned construction projects nearby and blue construction fences that spoil the yellow-brown desert imagery... Disappointed, we rode of in the direction of the fortress, and the best part was probably when we just decided to leave the road and ride through the brush. In the end, we did have to turn back and make our way to the big parking lot. The fortress is quite impressive and just as we got there, a huge storm started. Looking west from the fortress walls, one looks into the Gobi desert, where caravans used to depart for an uncertain journey...
In the evening we wanted to see the sun set over the wall, so we hired a taxi for a round trip. He said he'd wait for us for about half an hour. Poor B. ran up the stairs to the watch tower to see the red sunshine on the snow covered mountains - I had to pass, after only little sleep on the train and the day's bike trip I wasn't running anywhere (also the height, around 2,000m seems to take its toll on my fitness), so we wouldn't let the taxi driver wait too long. Well, when we came out he had left! We hadn't paid him yet, not even half of the agreed fare! So, there we were, a good 10km out of town, and there was nobody else in sight (it was already after 9pm, they had opened the gate for us after our taxi driver talked to the gate keeper). We didn't quite know what to do, we felt bad for "cheating" our driver out of his fare, but when a taxi happened to pass by, we didn't hesitate long and hailed it. 
Who knows when there would be another one? The driver asked rather perplexed "how did you get out here?" Still no idea what happened to our first driver... too bad we didn't know he had abandoned us, we could have stayed at the wall longer. Without any other tourists around - I wish I could have that experience at the Great Wall stretch close to Beijing - the wall there is much more imposing, several meters high and wide enough for a horse cart. The wall stretch we visited falls into the "is it still restoration or already fake?" category. The fake camel caravan (statues) didn't exactly help...
We did spend half a morning wandering around the market, trying strange fruit and tasty baked goods. People are friendly (they are Hui - Muslim Han Chinese, so not really an ethnic minority - recognizable by the white hats worn by men) and probably quite dumbfounded what brings foreigners to their city. Well... so were we.
No comments:
Post a Comment