15 Jul 11 Hong Kong, China

Dernier déjeuner à Hong Kong, à l’aéroport. Le plaisir de voir les yeux de Kim devant son bol de wan tan et la première bouchée de Cha Sive.

Nous sommes dans l’avion et dans quelques heures Maurice.

14 Jul 11 Hong Kong, China

Hong Kong que Kim redécouvre 10 années après. Quelques courses et un somptueux diner avec Raj, Brigitte et Ashwin. Un retour à la « civilisation », des reflexes à perdre, no more Point it. Le plaisir de redécouvrir et d’apprécier les choses simples de notre quotidien. Des toilettes qui marchent, des personnes polies et prévoyantes. Une foule de petites évidences qui nous paraîtront désormais précieuses.

13 Jul 11 Xi’an, China

90 jours! Au delà de nos petites différences, au delà de quelques accrochages mineurs, nous nous avons été les deux étonnés de la facilité de nos relations, de la douceur des rapports et de la facilité de nos décisions. Kim ne souffre pas d’être bousculé ; il faut lui donner le temps de trouver la bonne voie. Si au début du voyage le choix tardait à venir, au fur et à mesure de notre périple, il effectuait de plus en plus vite ses décisions. Son calme naturel devant toute situation lui rendait l’analyse des problèmes plus aisée. Je laissais faire et à la fin, nous avions une entente tacite qui coulait de source.

J’ignorais exprès ses réactions un peu agressives en restant calme, et les choses rentraient dans l’ordre. Il était étonné de ma flexibilité. Pascale nous posait sans cesse la même question ; « Papa te fait-il des misères ? » J’ai découvert en lui un jeune homme très agréable, ouvert, équilibré et ne tolérant aucune injustice, avec une soif d’équilibre et de justesse dans toute opinion ou traitement.

Ce dernier diner que nous faisons à Xi’an (canard délicieux) a permis un échange touchant en confidences de nos attentes et de nos découvertes réciproques. Nous nous sommes découverts. Et je suis aussi fier de lui qu’il a pu l’être de moi. Il a compris ce travail, ce rôle que j’ai su remplir au sein de l’UIA. Il était heureux de voir combien j’étais respecté et aimé par les architectes dans chacun des pays que nous avons traversé. J’étais très heureux de partager tout cela avec lui. Souvent lors de nos conversations, j’ai eu le sentiment de lui transmettre des éléments qui lui serviront toute la vie. Un peu comme les échanges que j’ai moi-même eus avec mon père.

2 Jul 11 Xi’an, China

The Emperor Jingdi tumb was much more revealing of the life of the dynasty in these days than the Terracotta warriors. The museum is well designed and gave us an excellent insight of the period. It is unfortunate that the English texts were so succinct.

We went on a shopping craze this afternoon and bought mainly clothes and shoes for Kim. I think he loved it. Tomorrow will be our last day in Xi’an before Hong Kong.

11 Jul 11 Xi’an, China

This was once the terminus of the Silk Road. It is my 4^th time here since 1997. Each time sees the change. Even Lonely Planet 2009 announces 4,2 m but now it has 8 m population. The Muslim quarter is totally transformed into souvenir shops and one can hardly recognize the original buildings. Of course the city walls are still there but inside them Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Armani shops set a different scene. We have seen more tourists in one day than the total of the whole of this trip. My last visit to Xi’an was 3 years ago and I had the privilege of being welcomed by the Mayor and the City itself. The City walls gate were open especially for me just like B Clinton. It is a very different story to visit the Terracotta warriors, just the 2 of us among the bus loads of tourists.

We had a farewell dinner with Julien and Isabelle, the French couple whom we met in Kashgar. We will follow them on their blog.

10 Jul 11: Tianshui, China

We are at the Beidao side of the city in a hotel just opposite the train station. We are booked for the 10:00 train. Although Qincheng is supposed to be a pleasant city, we only see the grey polluted side of it.

09 Jul 11: Wudu-Tianshui, China

Like any other city the people dance on the main square, from young to the older. Last evening Kim and I got caught and dragged to the dancing floor by an old lady. She would not let us go. The whole crowd were amused and clapped happily after. I think we were the only foreigners in town.

At the last minute we tried to skip Tianshui and buy a train ticket to Xi’an. But we only managed to get tickets for tomorrow.

08 Jul 11:Wudu, China

We arrived 4 hours after and there was no village for us to stop. Wudu is just another big city, all brand new dreaming of a Cote d’Azur destiny along the river banks. No identity, only noise, heat and dust. China is a huge construction site. No stone will be left unturned. They are building everywhere. Railway lines, tunnels, dams, hydroelectric stations, gigantic housing estates, schools, hospitals, roads. Electricity and water is reaching the remotest place. One can imagine what it is to feed and connect 1 billion people. They don’t stop any day of the week.

08 Jul 11: Li Jie– Zhouqu - Wudu, China

Zhouqu! The great thing about Zhouqu is that it resolves the dilemma of dust and mud. You don’t have to choose, you can have both. In fact you can have heat, dust and mud. If there is a city one would not wish to be, it would be here. The whole town is a construction site with not a single road, area which is not being demolished and rebuilt. Some cities are only polluted; here you can add the heat, the noise and the ugliness of the new. The future will be bright and ugly.

The police work well here in China. We were waited for on our arrival and descent from the minibus in Zhouqu. The policeman in civil was waiting and we were asked to follow him in a small van to a hotel opposite the police station. Soon after an English speaking policewoman joined us in the hotel lobby for the “interview”. Photocopies of passports and visa checks in the most polite way. The lady policeman then accompanied us and paid for the dumplings, then showed us to the bus station. We were advised to be careful for the journey

I had a haircut, short this time during the 3 hours of bus waiting. The whole staff and their friends turned up to see the foreigners and took the souvenir photos after.

We are off to Wudu and would like to try the same scenario, that is, drop off at a small village.

Noise!! This is another cultural issue. In this bus, the driver is like mad crazy with the horn, the screen is projecting a Hong Kong movie loud enough for everyone to follow, passengers talk among themselves from the back of the bus to the front ones, others scream in their phone, while my neighbor blows his chewing gum in my nose and the other can spit his phlegm out of the window. In this cacophony some can sleep.

07 Jul 11:Li Jie, China

We decided out of the blue to stop at Li Jie, one hour before Zhouqu. Small village where we were looked at as UFOs. Our walk in the village started with the 2 of us and ended in a whole group of children wishing to take photos with us, an old lady insisting to show us where to sleep, another one asking if we had dinner. We are in deep rural China. People are welcoming and curious. I guess no foreigners had stopped here for years. The hotel was surprisingly comfortable and of good standard. But the reception girl could not figure out our papers and the police wanted more information about us. At the restaurant food was served to us with photos and signs and the waitress was very helpful with useful information for the next morning bus to Zhouqu. Li jie is a small village cut in two by the river with one half “favoured” by the road. Transformation is happening fast and we will not recognize it in a few years.

07 Jul 11: Langmusi- Tewo – Li Jie

I am always puzzled by the number of Tibetans living outside Tibet. All the clichés concerning them explode into pieces. One will not believe that we can be woken up be drunk monks, that they can gather together in restaurant private rooms to have large eating parties, that they ride motorcycles. In fact Tibetans are immediately associated with Buddhism and piety. We can hardly think that they can be just human like all of us.

07 Jul 11: Langmusi, China

We have seen Langmusi well before it changes. It will! Already the 3 000 people village is trying to absorb the influx of the local tourists and the main road is being lined up with souvenir shops, restaurants, cafés and hotels paving the way for more. We had breakfast at Lesha Café where breakfast is served 24h. Yak seems to be omnipresent, yak yoghurt, yak mac and yak dumplings! The monks and nuns look at the few foreigners just like we watch them. Who is watching who? The village surrounding the monastery is more interesting and authentic than the monastery itself.  In a few years one will barely recognize Langmusi. May be a Siem Reap in becoming.

Toilets in China fall in different categories. The convivial open one where conference can happen. The private conversation type with half height separations allowing chatting. The individual type with private cabins but no doors where one can only show an amicable face. The VIP ones with cabin and doors.

06 Jul 11:Xia hé – Hézuo - Langmusi

We are on our way to Hézuo and expecting that we can get further in the rural villages. Idyllic villages on the way. We wished we could stop the bus which is full of monks all amused with our presence. One of them offered us a chewing gum.

Hezuo did not live up to our expectations. An English speaking Beijing couple convinced us to change our itinerary. We hired a taxi and are now on our way to Langmusi, deeper in the rural areas close to the Sichuan province. The woman driver is sharp, negotiated hard with us and immediately called her husband to take over the wheel.

Landscape is beautiful with a few nomad tents, now and then a Tibetan village. Each of them have a basket ball playing field where monks are enjoying a sunset game.

06 Jul 11: Xia hé, China

The Labrang Monastery is still there, a living monastery in spite of the Cultural Revolution and difficult ties with Lhassa. It is a huge university of Buddhist philosophy and medicine for hundreds of monks. We had a tour of the monastery with a monk guide speaking perfect English. I am amazed by the flexibility of the philosophy and their capacity of adaptation to local context and conditions. I wish all the religions could have the same approach. I don’t think I could live their life and devotion, but I can certainly find very acceptable their philosophy and attitude towards life.

We had lunch with 3 French student girls Camille, Pauline and Alice who are travelling the same route as we did in the other direction. They wished to exchange some travel tips with us

05 Jul 11: Xia hé, China

One street village and a Tibetan monastery, Labrang. More than 50% Tibetan and the rest Han and 10% Hui. It is the largest monastery in the world outside Tibet. This city was closed until March last year. Hotels and guest houses are being built and more tourists are coming in. Built since 1709, it is still active with all the monks in saffron robes in large presence in the city. It is surprising to see them with mobile phones and Nike shoes.

We had dinner with Julien and Isabelle. We tried some Tibetan dishes with yak meat and tasted momo – dumplings with yak meat. Strong flavor and not may favourite.

05 Jul 11: Lanzhou-Lin Xia – Xia hé, China

Bus travel 3 hours and a half. Unusual number of mosque minarets and domes and some even oddly sitting on Chinese roofs. Some splendid traditional villages nestled in far away valleys. This is where we want to be

04 Jul 11: Lanzhou, China

Huge city of over 4 million with its Hui areas with stronger Han predominance. We only spent time to visit the new Gansu provincial museum with theme exhibitions on the Silk Road and prehistoric sites discovered in the province. The Silk Road exhibition is excellent presenting each aspect by theme and showing the extent of communication between east and west.

80 days since we are on the road and the joys and feeling of discovery are giving way to fatigue and anticipation of resuming a “normal” comfortable life. Not waking up at odd times to catch a train or a bus. Not planning the whole day on where the toilets will be. Not having to walk for 1 or 2 hours before finding a place to sleep. Not having to wash and wear the same clothes every day. Simple things but all taken for granted in our every day life.

03 Jul 11:Xining- Lanzhou, China

Easy 3 hour train where we were seated next to 2 Chinese young women playing all their charm on us. Matters got complicated when we reached Lanzhou. We never found the hotel booked on internet. By 1H00 am we were so relieved to find one, we did not negotiate and just took it and slept like a log.

03 Jul 11: Around Xining, China

I think I now understand the meaning of “Tourist trap”. This is how we felt. We listed ourselves for the tour to the Qinghai lake. The 16-pax minibus is full of Chinese tourists except us. None of us knew the full itinerary and what was exactly included in the tour. We had several unprogrammed stops – Dang er ancient city, a small Buddhist temple, a Tibetan “village” and finally the lake. The entire tour are interrupted regularly for souvenir shopping included free of charge. We realized that the tour only included transport and everything else is payable, even the ticket to the lake.

The 18^th century ancient city is just a street with buildings renovated on both sides. I am sure Confucius may not appreciate, the yuans claimed for yak ride, the souvenir shops around his school, the fashion show disguised as folk dance introduction. We bypassed the Buddhist temple to the great displeasure of the ticket seller who scolded us for being too close to the entrance. The “Tibetan village” is totally fake. Even Disneyland look real, the tents are total empty shells, with a pond for romantic boat escapade. The only attraction was the costume trial which everybody enjoyed and was worth the 20 Yuans. The Lake climax was unique in the world not for its 3600 m altitude but for the mercantilist attitude. I have never paid money to see a lake, or the sea. Even the Tibetan villagers were guarding any alternative routes and claiming money. Lunch was a desperate attempt to lighten the day and was paid by the friendly Shanghai couple who are the only ones to speak English. The village where we stopped reminds me of one of the Far West towns with one street and façades.

I wonder if this attitude will encourage tourism growth or this total disdain will discourage new comers. Unfortunately I believe there will always be some very willing volunteers to test these traps.

02 Jul 11: Xining, China

If we had to choose a town to avoid, it would be Xining. Lonely Planet mentions 2.1 million people in 2009 and it is probably over 3 million now. Any buildable m² has been built over the old town with about 25 floors on each plot. And the town is still sprawling like and ink stain over the landscape. It is amazing that the people still manage to find a livable human life in between the skyscrapers, inserting food stalls and markets. People live, smile and laugh.

The people are a strange mix with Tibetans in the dark red robes walking around town, the Chinese Hui (real Hans converted to Islam) and the Hans themselves coexist.

The Kumbum 16^th century monastery built a few km away from the city gives a breath of fresh air to the city. Suddenly one sees himself inside another life with monks working at their every day duties. It is a pity that the Chinese tourists inundate the place not only with their overwhelming presence, but even drive their cars inside the monastery walls.

We decided to change our itinerary away from the cities and try to follow an alternate route through some villages to Xi’an.

01 Jul 11: Zhangye-Xining, China

We chose this destination instead of Wuwei on the way to Lanzhou. It allows us to go through another province the Qinghai

Are good manners a cultural issue? Simple things such greetings of the day seem to bear different values here in China and in Central Asia. The “Ni hao” or “Have you eaten today?” are not equivalents to the Western “Good morning”. They are sometimes said and most of the time just omitted or ignored. French people would be horrified not to be greeted by a “Bonjour” and by a “Meio” before you utter your question. Millions of Chinese never use it. Queuing seems to start here in China as opposed to Central Asia, although one would be pushed around if we try to let the ladies and children go first. We nearly missed the train by avoiding pushing our way through. It appears almost as a survival reflex. Of all my travels to nearly 100 countries, I have only met 3 nations with such an attitude, China, India and Nigeria. Kim is not put off by this attitude and is tolerant considering these as forming part of local ways and that some day they may learn, thinking that cleanliness should be learnt first.

We are on our way to Xining. We do not have the heavy music, but our driver is an angry hooter. He cannot stand the slightest movement of any vehicle or pedestrian hinting that they may be on his way. Stop “pipi” at Minte.

We just went through a 3 685m pass to reach the Eastern Tibet plateau. The landscape is totally different and we are now in the Qinghai province. Green soft rounded pastures, rivers and lakes with free yaks and horses grazing. A few shepherds with their tents and no yurts. This is the only difference with Kyrgyzstan. Stupas here and there. Surprisingly we noticed also mosque domes in the villages we pass.

30 Jun 11: Zhangye, China

We had no option than to stay an extra night here. No train to Xining, we preferred to travel daytime instead of 10 hours seated this evening.

Our hotel is opposite the 10^th century temple which convinced Marco Polo to stay one whole year here. It also contains the 34m long sleeping Buddha. Peaceful and serene traditional courtyard architecture in the middle of a busy city.

Marco Polo statue looks sad and crying in the crossroads and street in faux Venetian architecture.

The 90^th anniversary celebration was heavily celebrated on the main square with thousands massing in various coloured shirts. The green, yellow, red and blue seat and applaud together. Montgolfiers and fireworks! Star singers, musicians, dancers and performers with giant screens transmitting every scene to the whole crowd. Carmen and Vivaldi executed in Chinese performance. We met Julien and Isabelle again and were surrounded by curious Chinese wishing to take photographs with us. We must have looked bizarre and immediately spotted among the thousands. It was amusing to see all the young children with the split trousers to enable them perform their natural needs at any urgent need.