Sue's Travels: Silk Road - 21 May 2009

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Silk Road - 21 May 2009 - Urumqi, China

Before we were permitted to disembark, a doctor again checked the temperature of everyone on the plane. He became annoyed with me because with my backpack on, my feet were partially blocking the aisle. He asked for my passport and saw I was American. The whole group was sent to the medical/quarantine area where our temperatures were checked again. He also wanted to know where we were for the last two weeks. Since we didn’t speak Chinese and he didn’t speak English, we had difficulty explaining to him that our passports had not been stamped when we left the States. Fortunately they brought in another young man whose English was good. Bora finally pointed to the stamp for entry in Turkey which was dated 16 May 2009. After filling out more paperwork, they finally let us go. The only advantage to our delay was that we didn’t have to wait on lines! Bora appeared nervous. I think that he was concerned that they would send us back to Kazakhstan.

Urumqi has a population of about 3 million and it is 800 meters above sea level. They get about 8 inches of rain a year which is low. The one child policy is being relaxed. Minorities such as the Uygurs are permitted to have two children. The population of the entire region is about 30 million of which about half are Moslem. It represents about one sixth of the land mass of China and has borders with about 8 other countries. The Altai mounts are to the north and they have gold and other precious stones. They are about 4,000 meters which as mountains go is not particularly high. The Tien Shan Mounts (Heavenly Mountains) located in the middle of the province are the highest at about 27,000 feet. The Tarum basin was named for the Tarim River which runs through it and is the longest river in China.

The people who lived in the north were nomadic. Oasis culture existed around the edge of the desert and the foot of mountains where there was some water. Agriculture and herding are the biggest industries in the province, whose poverty is only exceeded by Tibet. Oil has been discovered and is sent to Shanghai. Cotton is king here because this province produces forty per cent of China’s cotton crop.

Wind blows about 300 days a year. In the days of the silk road, this was a serious problem. Now Wind Turbines have been erected and are in use. The wind turbines produce a significant part of the electrical power used in Urumqi.

Shamanism was the dominant religion 2000 years ago. Budhism arrived from India around the first or second century CE. Islam arrived around the 8^th or 9^th century CE and by the 16^th Century CE, it was the dominant religion is the region. In this part of the world, Islamic groups may marry people from other Islamic groups as Budhists may marry people from other Budhist nationalities. However, Budhists and Moslems to do not intermarry.

At the time of the Silk Road, there were about 30 different, small kingdoms. Written records of the silk road go back at least 2,000 years, although section of the road probably existed as far back as 3,000 years.

The Trip to Turfan passed through desert country with changing scenery. Initially the mountains were multi-colored, but as we got closer to Turfan, they became and remained a dark tan color. We passed the Flaming Mountains which are really hills (about 500-800 Meters high).