Mad Guru's Sketchbook

Blog moved

2009-05-27T17:02:00.000-07:00

This blog has moved to:

http://www.madguru.net/blog/

madguru.net

2009-05-26T08:28:00.000-07:00

Thanks for visiting my blog. I have been hard at work on a short film called "Gul" (flower) which I completed earlier this month. Currently I'm sending it out to film festivals.

Drop by http://www.madguru.net/ for a trailer and more information.

The blog has also been rolled into the site and can be found at:

http://www.madguru.net/blog/

Future updates will be found there.

Drop me a line and let me know what you think.

Thanks!

Adnan Hussain

Hilltop Culver City

2009-05-23T17:35:00.000-07:00

Went to a hill top in Culver City and created this sketch.

Hyderabad Musicians

2009-05-03T17:30:00.000-07:00

Here are some Musicians I sketched in Hyderabad. I met them while searching for folk musicians for my short film "Gul" (flower).

Los Angeles Forest

2009-05-02T17:23:00.000-07:00

Went to the Los Angeles Forest on an overcast day and created this sketch.

Jamshoro, Sindh

2009-05-01T17:25:00.000-07:00

Here are some small sketches I created in Jamshoro, Sindh. I was there looking for the musicians who eventually recorded the music for my short film "Gul" (flower).

China Sketches

2009-04-27T17:32:00.000-07:00

Here are some sketches created during travels in China last summer.

Culver City Sketches

2009-04-25T17:15:00.000-07:00

My friend Terry lives in an condo complex with beautiful gardens in it. We went painting there one day and here's what I came up with.

Holy Sites in Pakistan

2009-04-21T17:19:00.000-07:00

During my travels in Pakistan last year, I went to Data Darbar in Lahore, Nankana Sahib and Panja Sahib. Here are some small sketches I created there.

Venice Beach

2009-04-10T17:13:00.000-07:00

Sketches from Mongolia

2009-04-05T16:37:00.000-07:00

Here are some sketches I made in Mongolia last year. The first is a band at an Irish pub in Ulanbataar. The next 3 are Mongolian and Korean musicians playing out in the planes during the Nadam Festival. Then there are two landspaces painted out in the beautiful country and lastly some wrestlers also from the Nadam festival.

Elephants with Guns

2009-02-25T16:29:00.000-08:00

Here's a sketch of Elephants with Guns Performing at Seva Cafe in Long Beach. The second sketch is if band member Andy Bauer.

Not Achieved By

2009-01-10T19:44:00.001-08:00

Not Achieved By

Samarkand

2008-08-18T10:51:00.000-07:00

The next morning, we said goodbye to Simone and head to the train station to go to Samarkand. We met a crazy guy while we were waiting, who kept miming that he had been electrocuted and was crazy, but was very happy that we were Muslims. That was fun, if a bit odd. The train itself was pretty good compared to a lot of transportation we have used on this trip. It was easy enough to get to Samarkand. Once at the station we hopped in a taxi and made our way to a beautiful guesthouse called Antika. There was a large open courtyard with grapes, apples and other fruit growing on a canopy over some tables. We dropped our things off and head out to get some more cash. Walking around, the city had a different feel than Tashkent. Just down the lane from the guest house was an amazing mausoleum and plenty of restored historical buildings. It was great to see that the buildings are restored, but mostly they no longer serve the intended purpose. In that way there is a disconnect between people and history. It's sad to see at times, but it is amazing to see the crafts and arts kept alive. The quality of wood work, tiles, architecture, miniature paintings etc. Uzbekistan has so many souvenir shops, many in these amazing historical buildings, but the good part of it is the quality of items sold there.
After much wandering and getting lost, we made our way home and got some sleep.

Yongiabad Bazaar

2008-08-17T10:27:00.000-07:00

The next day we decided to head out to a flea market called Yongiabad Bazaar with a friend we made at the hostel from Switzerland, named Simone. He'd been travelling for a while and was in the final days of the current trip also. We grabbed a bus to a tram to some walking, to some confusion, to another bus and finally reached the market. We were first greeted by some friendly militsiya (police) who introduced us to some more militsiya. They took a while, and we asked if there was a problem and they realized there was not and let us move on. The market itself was full of all kinds of..well junk and a few other things here and there. Machine parts, clothes, animals, books, old cameras, decorations and all kinds of random second hand stuff. We explored for a while, before heading across town to Khost Imom, where there is a mosque called Telyashayakh Mosque, and the Moyie Mubarek Library Museum (housing one of the oldest Qurans in the world). The architecture around there was amazing, but it was all empty. A guard said he would let us in to see the Quran in the museum, but demanded a bunch of money for it. They even called some kind of caretaker there, who offered to take us, but wanted a bunch of money. We agreed to pay them if there was a physical ticket. There was none, so we walked out. There was a mausoleum in the back that still seemed to be used for the intended purpose. After looking around a bit more walked down to Chorsu Bazaar and grabbed some food. There was an upper, open level in a building at the bazaar with all kinds of food vendors. One area in it was an open room with tables, and outside it there was a man grilling shashlyk. We picked up some vegetables to go with the shashlyk and asked if he could grill them. He could not. So I went inside the dining area, asked for a knife and started chopping vegetables. A lady who worked there saw this and offered to chop them for me.

Simone and Omar returned with some soda and nan. The lady returned with a beautifully chopped and seasoned salad.
After lunch we walked down the street to a fast food place to just sit and drink some coffee etc. The place was like a nicer version of an American fast food place. From there we caught the metro, with Simone leaving for a Central Asian film festival and Omar and I heading back to the guest house. We got back and hung out downstairs, playing some music and talking to the security guy named Alex and another traveller named Murat. We didn't share much language between us, but it was pretty amazing to watch Omar tirelessly communicate until after a few songs they themselves were making huge efforts to explain simple things across the language barrier. I was tired and mostly just sat back and watched as Omar learned some more words to a Russian song his friend Constantine used to play.

It was really interesting watching Murat and Alex go from being very quiet, to gesturing and using bits of words to explain the deeper meaning of the song and its pronounciation and how it was sang.

A few hours later Simone returned and told us about his experience at the festival. First he had to convince the ticket seller that this film existed. Then he got the ticket and had to convince the theatre person that it existed, before finally being led to an empty theatre. He convinced the projectionist that yes he did want to see the film even though he was the only one there and that though he did not understand the language he still wanted to watch. Half an hour through the film, the projectionist came down to see if Simone was still awake and asked if he really wanted to watch the whole thing. Simone did, but the rickety dvd started skipping and after many failed attempts he had to stop without ever finding out how this coming of age Soviet era story ended. He told us that the projectionist was a strong communist supporter, who had been in that job for over 30 years. He walked Simone to the metro, giving him advice on where he should go and what not to miss in Tashkent.
After all that bizarreness it was time to sleep.

Tashkent Day 2

2008-08-16T08:36:00.000-07:00

So we went out again, finally got a little cash, ate some food at last (thankful for the complimentary breakfast at the hostel) and all of that in a day. We had a longer meeting with our friends in the metro as well as many other chats along the way. In fact, by the time we were riding back towards the hostel, we actually recognized some of the new friends in uniform we had met during the day. We went to an internet cafe and then decided to call it a day, early around 7pm, because it gets a bit tiring being always being careful not to photograph any kind of security buildings..especially when you don't read Russian. That's why there aren't that many pictures.

How do I get cash in Tashkent?!

2008-08-15T23:19:00.000-07:00

Andy, Omar and I grabbed some food, while Mike stayed to let us back in. We shared a final breakfast together at Andy's friend's kitchen table before Omar and I jumped in a taxi and head to the airport. I packed away my camera stuff because of all the strict regulations and not wanting any trouble. We got there early, hung out for a while, then flew out on a quick hour long flight to Tashkent. Once in the country, we saw many Pakistanis at the airport, arriving on a flight from Lahore. Once through customs, we hopped in a cab after negotiating a price. The guy thought it was funny to try and double it on the way. I opened the door and threatened to get out, and he quietened a little. We got to the place and he did try one final time to squeeze some extra money out of us. I just handed him what we had agreed and left it at that.

The hostel owner greeted Omar and I with some Urdu. Unfortunately, after the usual Muslim jokes, all he could muster was a lot of cursing, asking if we wanted to do all kinds of idiotic things that we had no interest in as some kind of a joke. It is a pleasure to be looked down upon for your race and the unfounded (as in equally applicable to anyone else) prejudices linked by people to it. Even better to hear all kinds of dirty talk from some old drunk guy with a daughter and wife who should know better. Luckily, the place was comfortable, clean and cheap. On top of that the wife and daughter are very nice and seem to run the place, while the guy just sits around with his old buddies getting drunk all day. All in all, one of the better places we have stayed at.

From there we set out to find an ATM. 8 hours of walking from one to the next and finding them all empty all over town, exhausted us physically and mentally. The saving grace was the kindness of people. Seriously, we have met so many wonderful people on this trip, but the way people tried to help us out here in Tashkent is really amazing. For every annoying jerk we meet, there are tons more warm people who go out of their way to help us, and that I think is the lesson to learn from.

I had limited cash that I exchanged from the airport, but didn't want to run out, so we just walked and walked. Along the way, we met bank staff who called around to help point the way. This is apparently a big problem in Uzbekistan. The currency is valued at about 1,329 Uzbek Som to 1 US dollar, so people have wads of cash, but very little money. That and the fact that atms are almost immediatly emptied makes it very hard to get cash.

At one bank, we met a wonderful lady who walked us up to an office where we met a kind man who had learned English as he said from John Lennon and Mick Jagger. I knew he was cool even before he handed us cookies when we asked for a business card and he had run out.

It is a treat to meet such great people, with so much charm and charisma. Even though we felt miserable, hungry and exhausted at trying so hard to find cash and failing, the city is beautiful with mosaics along the sides of buildings, and amazing architecture all over and more kindness from everyday people than we have run across before, and most of the other cities were very generous and kind also.

The metros are absolutely amazing. Each terminal has a unique design. One had amazing paintings of cosmonauts and the space program. Others had beautiful tiles, or vaulted ceilings with flower designs, or sculptures in the walls etc.

Unfortunately we could not photograph any of these. Each metro station is a work of art.
Along the way we were stopped for our papers many many many times, but at least they were friendly and polite. Still after a while it does make a person feel like some kind of criminal, and what felt like harmless looks by people before starts to feel less so. It's not a new situation, but it was fun in Xinjiang, China to not feel like that, at least part of the time we were there.

How to go from Bishkek to Tashkent

2008-08-14T23:17:00.000-07:00

Happy Independence day Pakistan! So, what did I do to celebrate? Well...I got a mean headache, and felt real weak. I felt so exhausted, I could not even think about doing the drive from Bishkek to Osh, stay the night, then hire another car to the border of Uzbekistan and another on the opposite side to Tashkent. I felt like I had been on far too many rides, haggling and being cheated or worrying about what some jerk keeps in his car door or worse passenger door to make it look like it is ours or who decides to throw stuff through the window at night. So, Omar and I decided to just fly to Bishkek for about $150 more.

This is a vacation after all. We spent the day figuring out the logistics of all our travel plans, then bought or changed tickets. The four of us were exhausted as we shared a final dinner together on this trip at a place called NY Pizza. The pizza was very good and we were all grateful that we had each other to make this trip possible. I went to bed early that night.

Fun at the Osh Bazar

2008-08-13T20:43:00.000-07:00

In the morning we got up and head down the street to a more modestly priced restaurant than we had seen before. It was upstairs and there was a recording of verses from the Quran being recited over the speakers (kirat). The place had a really calm and peaceful atmosphere. The family that ran it was very friendly. They led us to the kitchen and out back when we had trouble communicating ingredients for an omlette. The food was some of the best I have had in Kyrgyzstan. Afterwards, we head to an internet cafe where the guys had to tend to matters back home.

I uploaded some more blog stuff, then just hung out. Eventually Omar and I went to the Osh bazaar. It was okay, like many other bazaars we had seen, but the police were extra friendly. A pair of them called us over, then checked our documents, before introducing us to a group of their buddies working dilligently on nothing to one side of the road, definately not goofing off or anything. Likewise, we figured we should return the favor by going through all our belongings with them and then Omar stared at the mysteriously palmed 100 som note the one guy had held on to for safe keeping before he returned it. This happens all the time in Osh bazaar according to Lonely Planet. We expected it to occur far more often all over, but thankfully that was the only place and time during our stay in Kyrgyzstan.

After all that fun, we decided to walk back and wait for our other friends who aren't as polite about holding money for us. That evening we met up with some friends of Andy's who were very sweet to come hang out with us. We ate some delicious food together and called it a night.

Lake Issyk-Kol day 2

2008-08-12T01:04:00.000-07:00

We woke up in the home that Gulbubu had found us a room in. The guys slowly got out of bed and we played some music for the family. The kids started dancing and it was a lot of fun just watching the funny things they did as we sang. Gulbubu kept explaining things to us in Russian and some of the grade school children who knew some English tried to translate bits of it. Either way, she had such a sweet and friendly laugh, like one of my aunts. She was so warm and sweet to us, that even after trying very hard to explain something to us, and then just receiving a blank look with no understanding from us, she would start laughing and try some more. It was a little sad saying goodbye to these sweet people, but I did record some video of something Gulbubu was trying to tell me. I'll try and find someone to translate it for me. Enjoy this video of our biggest fan, dancing away. Watch as her assistant comes in during the clip.

After that, we grabbed some food, played for the people in the restaurant then walked over to the beach and enjoyed a quick dip in the super cold water. The beach had some rides in an amusement park and typical fair type game stalls and food vendors. There was a weird pizza guy selling gross looking pizzas out of a box who didn't seem to take a hint or like it when I mimed that his pizza looked like barf. But he left eventually and so did we, catching a bus leaving for Bishkek. We played lots of music on the way back in the bus, and got here around evening. We head to the internet cafe, then barely made it back to the hostel for some beds that were not gauranteed. So plenty of stress later, we slept in our many times slept in by others beds, and enjoyed the sweet scent of stranger's sweat (one of many times) as we fell asleep.

off to Lake Issyk-Kol

2008-08-11T01:50:00.000-07:00

The next morning we woke up, cleaned up a little and with the help of Andy's friend head over to the train station to get tickets to Lake Issyk-Kol. The lake is a scenic tourist spot, for locals as well as foreigners. After navigating several lines we were turned away to other lines, met a line cutter I dubbed "the Buzzard", then found out that the one and only train there was at 6am. Many friendly taxi drivers approached us repeatedly offering to drive us there for a princely sum. We declined, and one asked for Asel's phone number. I was sad that none of them took notice of me. We thanked Andy's friend Asel, and head over to grab a minibus (or as they call it, auctobus) to the bus station.
Once there we got a price that seemed high, so we went the hostel we stayed at, a couple blocks from the bus station, sat down and played some music as we waited for a man there who offered a driver service. Twenty minutes, and twenty more minutes and then many more minutes later, we all ate, found out the bus was the better deal and head out to it once again.
We had to wait for the bus to fill up with passengers before it would leave, so Andy and Omar decided to pull out their instruments and help the conductor get people on the bus. I joined after a while and we sang a whole bunch of songs and got a crowd around us. We even managed to make some ice cream money thanks to the generous donations of our audience into Omar's hat.
Finally, after a very long time, we all boarded the bus, ice cream in our bellies and started down to the lake. I fell asleep, a bunch of times until we reached Bosteria, a popular section along the huge lake. We stepped out and there were people walking all over, returning from the beach, walking up and down the streets.
We grabbed some food at a restaurant, found out the places to sleep on that section of the lake were very expensive, then started walking back to the main road to search for a better option.
Along the way we saw an old man playing an accordian beautifully. We sat down and started playing music together. A crowd gathered, the sun started to go down, we had no place to sleep but we were having too much fun to care. He played a bunch of different songs, including an old Hindi movie song "Juta maira Japani, patloon hai Englistani, topi Turkistani par dil hai Hindustani." While we were playing we befriended a lady at a stall next door and some random drunk guy who kept trying to speak to us (like a small child speaking gibberish that sounds like sentences). We explained to the lady that we were looking for a place to sleep. She was really friendly and though we shared no common language, we started walking with her and so did the gibberish guy. She had really enjoyed a Junoon song we played called "Saeen". She turned out to be Muslim as well and as we walked we explained to her "Nyet Vodka" "Mussalman" etc and got away from the gibberish guy and ended up renting a room with her family for the night.

Al-Archa

2008-08-10T00:45:00.000-07:00

We woke up and head out of the hostel to Andy's friend's place. She had very graciously offered to let us stay in her apartment. She seemed worried that the place would be too small, but I don't think she'd seen most of the places we have stayed at. Anyway, it always feels so much better to stay in a place where there is the warmth of friends. So we dropped our things off and head out to meet up with a few Turkish guy that Omar and Mike had met the previous day.
Ali showed up at the bus station for us. He took us to a Turkish restaurant, and invited his friend Yusuf to join us. We ate some amazing Turkish food and got to know each other a bit better. WE decided to go to Al-Archa where there was a beautiful canyon and river. It took us a while to figure it all out, but Ali was tired apparently from a long night of video games, so Yusuf who spoke English, joined us in a cab and the rest of us squeezed in the back seat. After about an hour or so we reached the outer gate and were convinced that we should walk the rest of the way.
So, we started walking along a road for a bit, then Yusuf ran back to get the taxi to come take us the rest of the way. Reluctantly, the cab took us up to the river. We sat down next to it, relaxed and started playing some music.
There was a Kyrgyz family having a picnic close by. The children came to check us out, then the grandfather came by and invited us to join them. We sat down at their picnic and they shared their food with us and we played more music. Some other people nearby came with cameras and there was a bit of a crowd there with young and old. It was so much fun playing for them. I don't really care much about singing for everyone in LA. I mean, it is fun, but I don't care for attention and there's shyness too when you're put on the spot in a group, but here with my friends playing music is a joy. Just like when I did it with friends back in high school, it was never about attention. To play music to people here is fun because there is a real sweetness that we share with people when we connect that way, across language and cultures. In many ways, to me it feels like we are saying thanks for being so nice or in other situations, just breaking down that barrier between being consumers on this trip and getting a bit more connected just as people.
After a while, we parted ways, head back to the taxi and drove back to the Turkish restaurant. The cab guy wanted to charge us extra again, and we were all sick of getting overcharged by people, so we refused. We could tell that Yusuf was going to pay the guy to avoid any issues, and more than not wanting to pay the jerk, we didn't want Yusuf to pay him, so we paid the extra 100 som and walked back toward the restaurant. Omar and Andy sat down on the steps to play some music, Mike went off to use the restroom, and I walked down a couple stores to get over that annoyance.
As I was walking, I heard some men speaking in Urdu. I turned and saw a group of men sitting at a table in front of a burger joint. I introduced myself and asked if they were from Pakistan. They were and invited me to sit with them. A few moments later so ice cream was brought out and I was offered one. I wasn't about to leave after that. I explained that the music they heard in the distance was from my other friends. We talked a bit and I shared some stories from our travels and they shared their stories as well. One man was visiting and the others all worked in Bishkek for a number of years. The ice cream was great and so was the company. Omar, Andy and Mike came looking for me and found me there at the table. The too were invited to join. So we put some tables together and sat down. They even placed an order at the Pakistani owned fast food place which does not serve Pakistani food, for some Pakistani food. Apparently the group hangs our there every day and they have the retaurant cook up some Pakistani dishes for them. Usually on this day they go out for a hike, but as our luck would have it, they didn't go today and so we were lucky enough to meet them.
We sat for hours talking, playing songs, then eating, and talking and singing some more. Another wonderful experience with music.
Afterwards, we head back to Andy's friend's place, gave her a run down of the day's adventures and went to sleep.

In Bishkek at last!

2008-08-09T00:22:00.000-07:00

The next morning around 6:30am or 7am, we reach Bishkek and a hostel that had been recommended in Osh. It was very quiet and hardly any people were on the streets as we paid the driver the balance of what we owed and some money to help him with his windshield, not that it was our fault, but because it seemed like the right thing to do to Omar and I. We were all really annoyed by all that had happened, and just glad to be there at last. It felt like we had gone from misery at travel the night before, to really enjoying the day in Osh, to more miserable travel at the last night getting from Osh to Bishkek.
The hostel was a house with some tents and yurts in the backyard. The staff was busily preparing food for the wedding of the two owners which was taking place that evening. We got information to take Andy to the hospital, and planned to but he decided not to at this time. Again some guy tried to tell us that we should have jumped out of the car and beat the guy up. He told us about a fight he had got into with some guy who said something to him while he was walking down the street and then a photo of a huge gash he got in his head as a result as proof of why we should have gotten into a fight. While his reasoning seemed sound, we decided his advice probably wasn't worth taking. There are a lot of macho jack asses in the world who put ego before the safety of those around them as well as their own well being.
Mike, Andy, Omar and I grabbed some breakfast, then Mike and Andy returned to the hostel for some sleep. Andy and I decided to check out the town and sleep at night instead. We walked around, checked out a mosque, made our way toward the center of the city, and met of with a friend of Andy's from Kyrgyzstan. She took us around to a museuem of Soviet history, with statues of Lenin and many major occurences during his time. It was all pretty sad, until we got to the top floor that was focused on Kyrgyz cultre which was similar to Mongolia and very beautiful. The people at the stores on the first floor were really nice. One lady had me sit down once she learned I was an artist and asked me to make something on a piece of cloth. I drew some flowers on it and signed and gave it to her.
We checked out some art in a park just before that also, and walked around an amusement park, ate some good food, then parted ways and returned to the hostel.
I finally took a shower, and sat for a bit as we waited for Mike and Omar who had gone out while we were away, to return.
They came back and we met up with Andy's friend and another friend of hers again for some dinner. She and her friend were so kind to us, that it really made us feel at home. For all the rough travel and some negative experience during the trip, it is all these beautiful places and even more important the kind people we meet along the way that makes it all worth while.
After dinner we grabbed a taxi back to the hostel and got some sleep.

To Bishkek!

2008-08-08T00:07:00.000-07:00

Th next day we woke up and paid for our room. After we talked to the guest house people about arranging for a car to Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan's capital). They called back and said a car would be there in 30-40 minutes, so Mike and I walked over to pick up some food as Omar and Andy sat with the bags in the apartment complex courtyard and played music with a few kids as the start of the audience sitting on a bench across from them.
We picked up some food to go, and again everyone we ran into as the day before was so kind and polite and went out of their way to help us communicate and make us feel welcome. We came back with food and saw that the crowd had grown significantly. There were children dancing happily, and some adults standing around, smiling, including the owner of the apartment we stayed in, who was smiling by the door of the building as Andy and Mike played. I sang a little and we wrapped up with the kids playing around with the instruments a bit. A Pakistani and an Indian medical student who were roomates had come by and joined the crowd while Mike and I were purchasing food. I talked to both and they were very friendly, inviting us to come eat with them and telling us lots of invaluable information about the area. We would have loved to join them, but were just about to leave the city. Perhaps we will see them on the way back. I've met so many nice peopel travelling like this, and getting email addresses etc along the way.
Our car arrived and we loaded up, then drove off. Along the way we took out our nan and kababs to get some food in us, as beautiful mountains streamed past.
Things were looking good. The car was fast, the road was good and the scenery, as usual, beautiful. After a while, the car started to stutter. We kept making stops at the side of the road, eating with some British travelers, getting to know our driver through our limited communication, listening to tapes.
Several times we stopped and just walked around until the car got settled down a bit, until we reached an autoshop run by children on the side of the road. We stayed there for many hours as they went to get some clean gasoline, then drained the contaminated gasoline and refilled it. We played music and made friends with the kids who worked there. The river water there was very clean and good. By now it was night and we were far behind in getting to Bishkek. It seemed at this point that we weren't destined to have much luck with transport on this trip. Still, we were very grateful that it was much better than the horrible ride from the border into Osh, so everyone was patient and in good spirits.
It was dark by the time we got back on the road. We passed more rock, and went through a very long tunnel, as we all tried in vain to sleep. Suddenly I heard a loud crash and a 7-8 inch piece of concrete fell next to my foot in the back seat. Andy told the driver to keep going, and we got out of there quick. At first I thought a rock had dropped from above, but noticed that we were surrounded by trees. We drove a ways from where the rock had smashed through the windshield then stopped to asess the situation. It turned out that Andy opened his eyes, just in time to see a 20 or so year old man throw the rock into the windshield from the side of the road. He barely moved out of the way and the rock scraped his hand and the side of his head. All of us were covered in fragments of the windshield. We checked Andy out. It was dark everywhere. The driver called another car and decided he wanted to go back. Andy had said to keep going at the time because we had no idea if there were more people waiting in the dark or if this guy had some other kind of weapons. The driver drove back to find this guy with us in tow. As we reached there, another man had already grabbed a kid who seemed to fit the description. There really wasn't anyone else out at that time, so it seemed likely that he was the culprit. He even had the same color red shirt that Andy had seen, but he could not be absolutely certain and we could not accuse someone not knowing for certain. So we let the kid go and the two men (our driver and the other car driver who had turned up to help) communicated to us in gestures that they thought we should have jumped out of the car and beat the guy down. Sound logic in a pitch dark place, where we don't speak the language and the law can't be trusted any more than the bandits who roam about at night.
We drove on down the street, not quite understanding what they were all saying. At a row of roadside stalls in the dark, our driver picked up some tape to cover up the gaping hole in the windshield that Andy had been covering up with a cloth propped up by his feet to try and keep sand like glass from getting into our eyes. Meanwhile a brawl was taking place a few stalls down from us and a bunch of cars pulled up around us. Our driver didn't seem worried, but we all felt we needed to be cautious. I found some odd things in the car, so we all tossed them out at the next spot we stopped at as our driver taped up the windshield unaware of us.
From there the ride was tense and silent in the dark.

Osh: Welcome to Kyrgyzstan

2008-08-07T23:46:00.000-07:00

No one could sleep or sit still, or relax for the entire ride. Finally, we reached Osh at about 6:20AM. Plat wanted his money right away and we explained that we needed to check into a hotel first. We hunted around for one, and he got us close by but then just panicked instead of being of any help. Of course he was extremly exhuasted and paranoid about whether he would be paid. I felt bad for him, but I was also pretty mad that he refused to listen to us or communicate his thoughts in an efficient way so we could listen to him properly. Language barrier or not, he really didn't make it any easier on us. Still, I tried to set his mind at ease and explain what we were doing each step of the way, looking for the guest house. No one would let us call, whether because it was not possible or it was expensive to them I do not know. Finally, we met an excited woman who worked for a restaurant there that was just starting to prepare for the day. Her name was Sonia, and she head all her front teeth in gold, as we would find many people in Osh have. She walked around with Andy and I to find the Osh Guesthouse. The directions in the book started at a trash heap and went to one of the apartment buildings in the vicinity. So we walked around in the early hours of the day. Sonia asked some people questions in Russian, but no one knew. Finally I found a sign, and from there eventually the trash heap. She called the place and we met Ali, who told us they were full but kindly started calling around to find another place to stay. These places are basically apartments that people own and rent out to guests as added income. He walked back with us to the car and explained the situation to Plat as we awaited a call from one of his associates regarding a room. Plat apparently was cursing and said some nasty things to Ali, who calmly related this to me in English (not the actual cursing, just the situation). He told us Sonia requested some money for her help, so we gave her a dollar and she told us to come back to te restuarant. I think the money was for phone use, which may be very expensive in Kyrgyzstan. I'm not sure yet.
Finally we somewhat calmed Plat down long enough to pay him, get our things and thankfully bid him farewell. It's no wonder we didn't take him up on his offer to take us further to Bishkek the next day. No thanks.
Ali on the other hand was very calm and sincere in helping us. This was his business, but unlike many people we had met, he knew how to conduct his business in a manner that made you want to come back. The city had not quite awakened yet, and it felt pretty uncomfortable after that nasty entry into the country. Ali introduced us to an apartment owner how was just finishing cleaning up the place for our use. There was no electricity yet as it was turned off every night and then came back in the morning. We were very grateful and they were very relaxed about the fact that we would change money and pay them later. So got the key and collapsed on the beds for a few hours.
I awoke a while later, and took a cold shower and woke the guys up so we could see the city some before leaving the next day as we planned. With the sun up and some rest it seemed a lot more pleasant.
We went back to Sonia's restaurant for some food. There were all kinds of kababs, and we figured out what was what by making animal noises. Sonia was hilarious and more than happy to help us non-Russian speakers. After some food, Andy tried contacting his friend's friend in Osh, then we walked down the street through a bazaar, looking around until we got to Soloman's Throne, which is a rock hill with a small room on top.
We played some music at the base and more than made our admission money back. Omar, as a joke opened up his drum case and people put money in as we played. After a few songs we said thanks to the people and walked up the stairs to the top. My legs sort of quivered by the time I reached the top. Too much tiredness. The view of Osh was very beautiful. In the room there was an old Muslim man speaking in Russian. Along the way to the top there were rags tied to trees. Local people believe that the Prophet Mohammad prayed here once, though I have never heard of him travelling here. Expecting mothers tie rags in hopes of improving their fertility as some say the hill has the shape of a reclining pregnant woman (I didn't notice that).
Afterwards we walked back down and checked out a 3 story yurt which was a museum of folk crafts and traditional Kyrgyz clothing. There were beautiful wall hangings made of felt and some musical instruments and other interesting crafts. From there we crossed the street and entered a place called the Art Faculty. All the rooms were closed inside, except one where I found two people with a sound mixer and computer. I asked if they were musicians (mausikaar) and they nodded, so of course we sat down and played music with them for a bunch of hours, before heading out to dinner with the pair. They were both music teachers there, and we had a lot of fun playing music and acting things out to communicate outside of that. At dinner we laughed a lot and talked, before heading to an internet cafe.
One of the guys at the internet cafe wanted to communicate to me so we talked a bit using google translate to go from Russian to English and back again. The electricity went out (as it does at that time every day in Osh), so we took a taxi back to the hotel. I don't think it is safe to be out at night, particularly as we don't speak the language, and it is very dark all around, so we went back and slept.

Goodbye China!

2008-08-06T23:35:00.000-07:00

The next day we grabbed food at the same Pakistani place as the night before. The lady who ran the place was Uighar. She told us about how she loved Pakistani food, and had learned to cook it on a few trips to Pakistan. She said it made her eat more and that it was more interesting to her than Uigher food which had less variety.
After eating, we head to the bus station to check on tickets to Kyrgyzstan. I waited in the car as Andy and Omar went in to check times and prices. The taxi driver misunderstood and thought we were dropping them off and driving to the next hotel, so we went off and I had to keep explaining that we needed to wait and then go back...so a few blocks later, we started driving back, looping around to a place we could turn around. In the meantime, Andy and Omar thought I was kidnapped by the driver and I could see them in the distance looking around the parking area. Finally the taxi came back around, we picked them up and moved on to Chini Bagh, where the travel agent's office was.
At CITS travel agency we sat down to figure out passage to Kyrgyzstan and get a refund on part of our previous trip. It turned out we could leave that day in about 10 minutes. The timings were limited due to the hours that the border was open. So we had barely enough time to set out immediatly by car and reach the border in time to get across, then jump into another car that was waiting for us on the Kyrgyzstan side and travel through rugged country to get to Osh. We went through all the details as quickly as possible, with the travel agent using additional staff who spoke the appropriate languages to make arrangements with a travel agency in Kyrgyzstan for that side of the trip. We were in luck (or so we thought) and a driver was already in the area to take us on from the Kyrgyzstan border to Osh. Along the way we were told we would have to hitch a ride with a truck across the 8km between both borders.
In the middle of all of that Mike arrived, making it possible for us to leave immediatly. We thought he was arriving that night, so it was kind of surreal to see him walk right in as we were discussing plans for Kyrgyzstan. He'd just come off a rough ride to get to Kashghar and had not eaten since lunch the day before, but he too was ready to get out of China.
So Andy and he ran off to do some last minute things, Omar went to get some water and snacks for all of us, and I sat waiting for our driver. It turned out to be Mr. Ling, who had taken us to Kashturgan.
This time with Mike in tow, we could communicate using his Chinese language skills. Mr. Ling was far more talkative as we sped toward the border. Along the way we stopped for gas, and all of us had to get out of the car outside the gas station before the car was allowed to enter with only the driver. Security checkpoint after checkpoint we were checked and let to pass. Finally we made it to the Chinese side of the border, filled our departure cards, paid the fees, had our passports stamped and luggage checked. The staff was much more at ease at the border. They examined us closely, but were far friendlier than the rest of the checkpoints before, where there was obviously a great deal of tension. So crossed several more Chinese checkpoints, performing some music for some of the soldiers at their request. That made them pretty happy, and one was kind enough to ask a crossing truck to take us through the middle stretch across to the Kyrgyzstan border. We hopped in a truck with an Uzbek driver of a double trailered truck, traveling at about 5 miles an hour over unpaved road. He was very friendly and we pulled out our instruments and performed a few songs including an Uzbek song that Andy knew to entertain each other across the way.
We thanked him once we reached the Kyrgyz checkpoint after a few more Chinese checkpoints, and meeting some of his friends along the way and passing scores of huge trucks waiting to enter China. I didn't take any pictures of any of this due to security reasons..as in securing myself from getting beat by the friendly border folks!
At the Kyrgyz checkpoint we went through the usual questions and scrutiny, before meeting our driver, Plat on the other side. He strapped our heavy bags to the top of his old Russian jeep, and we started down the unpaved road in Kyrgyzstan. The driving was slow, but intense. Sometimes we would go off on dirt side roads, away from the stone filled main road from the Kyrgyzstan border. It is known as one of the worst roads in the country...which seems odd as it is an important trade route into China. At times the car would speed up and we'd avoid potholes and smack right into others. Our driver seemed pretty funny, as we tried to communicate with his limited English and our even more limited Russian. He was retired from the Russian Military and drove for a living now. There was some kind of deal to stay the night at some overpriced place along the way that the travel agency had relations with, so we refused to pay 8 times the cost. We had also requested to go straight to Osh, so the confusion now became more and more annoying. I don't think our driver, Plat was at fault for this, but he really did not seem to have ever taken anyone from the border before. He was confused and thrown off by misinformation that we would stay at the over priced (8x what it should have been) tourist trap along the barren road into Kyrgyzstan. The mountains around were beautiful. It was red and dusty, with bits of green all over, as we bumped and swerved and jumped along the road.
Plat would at times insist that we stop somewhere and at other times insist that we keep going to Osh. He was a thin, older man and in any case this was an insanely intense drive, so we didn't want him to have to drive all the way through, but he wouldn't communicate to us properly about our options either. It was, stay in the tourist trap or drive all the way through. He would get very frustrated and annoyed, and not really try and communicate his thoughts properly. The sun went down and it was darkness everywhere. We had no Kyrgyz currency as we had not stopped anywhere we could change it. At last, late into the night we stopped for food and Plat filled up on some coffee. He paid for the meal, which we agreed to pay him back for in dollars.
As we drove, he became afraid that we would not pay him at times, or he would change his mind about sleeping and then stop somewhere, only to argue that we had to continue due to safety issues. I know this drive was torture for him and also for us, though he had the advantage of understanding the language, and we had the advantage of not destroying our arms yanking the steering wheel from big pot hole to little pothole, to side of road, up and down inclines, stopping to cool down the engine etc along the way.
This was without a doubt the worst ride we had been on, and during this trip we've had some really tough ones.

Back to Kashghar?

2008-08-05T09:39:00.000-07:00

The next day we learned the pass was closed and that we would not be able to go up to it. We were all devastated. The mood of the city changed. The morning we had left Kashghar we learned there had been a bombing at a police station. As usual in China, there were many checkpoints along the way, but the morning we awoke in Tashkurgan, it really felt like things had soured. There was a lot of tension in the air. We ate with the Pakistanis again, learned about the current situation as security people intensified their scrutiny. The police had come by as we played at the hotel the night before, though the people at the hotel said not to worry. It was routine for them to charge in sirens blaring to check the guest registry, or check up on retaurant books to see who and when they got eggs, vegetables, meat and other supplies from.
We walked around ruins of an old castle and enjoyed a beautiful view, and the local bazaar before deciding to start heading back. Out tour guide at CITS was not able to provide any alternate destinations. I asked about local handicrafts, but she really didn't care. They just seemed to want us to go to all the overpriced tourist traps that they had special deals with. All of this with the tense atmosphere combined to make us all feel a bit miserable. We were in one of the most beautiful spots on the planet, but due to some people it was really maddening. We stopped at a beautiful lake, and refused to over pay for nasty food or tourist trap prices. We left i disgust, visited a hot spring, that had been turned into a bath house, then left after looking at it for bit. Too much bad salesmanship, and people not trying to communicate, but just take you for what you are worth to them and all this beauracratic nonesense can turn a person sour quick.

Mr. Ling seemed confused, but took us slowly back. We stopped at the stone work tables and I was in thr process of bartering my boots for a traditional jacket (the guy had gone to get his jacket so I could see it), but Mr. Ling insisted we leave. The tour lady called a bunch of times on his cel phone, but she just wanted to go to more tourist traps and they refused to let us visit regular people.
We decided to end the trip and just go back to Kashghar. It just felt like it was time to get out of China, withe the Olympics and even more heightened image conscious paranoia and terrorist threats only days away.
Along the way, Mr. Ling I think sensing some of what we were about stopped at a Yurt where we ate some bread, drank tea and put on a music show in a beautifully decorated Kyrgyz home. The family crowded into the door and we all had a good time, though the songs felt tired as we played. It felt like our hearts had been ripped out and we just wanted to leave China. The people were very sweet and it was great to share music with them. One lady pulled out a mouth harp like Andy had. She joked that his was no good and played us some beautiful music on hers. One of the girls danced while we played. They showed us a photo that some other American tourists had taken with them and sent back. We took photos with them and I met some of the little ones outside before we left. It was a long ride back to Kashghar. The feel at the checkpoints was much more intense.

We got back into Kashghar, and got a room at the Semens hotel where many Pakistanis stay. The hotel was beautiful with a lot of Uigher cultural decorations in the lobby, but like most places, the rooms were not good. There was a tv, with no power outelt (not that we were going to watch it), the fan burned out, the toilet needed to be repaired and was just as we were going to bed. It was a bad hotel for the price, but another interesting experience. We ate some Pakistani food at another cafe near by, before going to sleep.

To Tashkurgan!

2008-08-04T09:14:00.000-07:00

The next day we jumped in a car with our driver Mr. Ling, to head out to Tashkurgan, a border town on the way to the Khunjra Pass to Pakistan. We had obtained permission to go up to it, and were very excited to see it.

As we left Kashghar, we stopped at a small dusty town along the way. Mr. Ling pointed us to a bazaar, so Omar took his drum and Andy his Rabab and we walked over to it. It was a lot less built up than the one in Kashghar. It had tents instead of concrete shops and it was definately not geared to tourists. I went to a stall to buy a notebook and pen, meanwhile a bunch of people seeing the intruments asked Omar and Andy to play. Before they knew it, old women and pulle dout little chairs for them and they started playing as a very large crowd formed in front of the stationary stall. I joined them and we sang a couple of songs, as the crowd surged, pushing a little to see what it was all about. It was a pretty amazing experience, but we wanted to move on quick as we had attracted a very large crowd. People were very friendly, and appreciative. They made sure we didn't leave any stuff behind and thanked us as we took off back to the car, running into a bus of Pakistanis and on down the road.

The scenery changed rapidly and we could see huge mountains in the distance. We stopped at a tourist shop along the way, where I finally found some intricate traditional Uigher clothing. It was very beautiful with intricate needlework. Apparently that type of clothing is not too common any more. It is made by families for themselves and sometimes for shops like that one. We moved on and stopped at a line of tables with stone work. Vendors ran out to call us over to their tables. I walked along, largely ignoring the over anxious sales people. Finally, before leaving we decided to play some songs. That completely changed the feel of it all. From being annoying sales people, to the sweetest crowd we have every played for in a matter of moments. Little kids, mothers and people of all ages came to see from the yurts across the street. It was such a pleasure to share some music. The crowd made room for some men to dance a bit. It was pretty ubelievable.

We head on down towards Tashkurgan stopping along the way to admire the magnificent landscape.

Eventually we reached Tashkurgen, checked into a hotel, only to check out very annoyed at the staff trying to double the price and that too with no running water and all kinds of construction being done in the hall. So we walked across the street and booked a room there. It actually turned out great as we met a Pakistani man who had just opened a gift shop selling Pakistani souvenirs. His name was Mustafa and along with a man from the Pakistani bus we ran into earlier named Javed, we head to a Pakistani restaurant. Andy was hooked on Pakistani food at this point. Along the way we picked up some dry fruit to help with altitude sickness as I was getting a bit of a headache. Once at the Pakistani restaurant there was a steady stream of Pakistanis coming in. We ran into more people from the bus from earlier in the day. They all said we should have just hopped on the bus with them. We ate some good food, played some music, then head to one of the hotels where a lot of Pakistanis stay and played more music in the lobby.
It was late and I was a bit afraid that we would wake people up, but our hosts insisted that it wasn't a problem. They were all business men, mostly trading in fruit and they knew the Pakistanis we ran into in Kashghar as well.

After a bit, a man in a green uniform stumbled out of a room across the way. His eyes were almost shut, his hair a mess, face all red, he just stood there across the lobby staring at all us. He didn't look too happy. I invited him over to join us, but he just stood there. The other Pakistanis around me explained that he was a Tajek, and sarcastically said he was the Minister of Oil, drunk out of his mind, and not to bother with him. So we continued, and so did he.

Finally he got the hotel staff to cut up some melons and presented them to us. He sat down and really enjoyed the music. He kept asking us to play more.

Andy handed him the Rabab and he played and sang an amazing Tajek song unlike anything we had heard before. He just stared at Andy and me as he sang with a huge grin ear to ear. Yeah, it was kinda creepy, but man could he play. He begged us to stay, but we were tired and managed to get out and back to the hotel. The Pakistanis we met in Kasghar and Tashkurgan were all from northern areas like Swat and Gilgit. Their hospitality was very genuine and it felt nice to be welcomed and to speak in Urdu with all of them.

Kashghar 2

2008-08-03T08:54:00.000-07:00

The next day we ate breakfast at a Pakistani restaurant which Omar had seen the night before. We met a bunch of friendly Pakistanis who worked in the fruit import and export business. After, since it was Sunday so we head out to the famed Kashghar Sunday Market, though it is open every day...just bigger on Sunday.

There were lanes of all kinds of carpets, cloth, decorations, household goods etc in the market. The instruments that Andy tried were not up to the quality of what we had seen the day before, and I wasn't able to find the traditional clothing I had hoped to, but it was interesting to see, though perhaps a bit over hyped. We walked around for a while, then grabbed a ride back to the old part of town so we Andy and Omar could make their instrument purchases. I hung out for a while, then head out to the bazaar across from the Eid Ka Mosque. The lanes there were very interesting. There were some beautiful mosques and balconies, along with food vendors and people's homes. I wandered about for a while before returning to the tourist shops around the Eid Ka Mosque. I wandered them for a while before joining Andy and Omar. Andy was in the process of choosing having the instruments packed and figuring out the logistics of shipping them, with very little time left as we were taking off the next morning for some sightseeing outside of town. Omar had already made his choice and had a Naagara drum. I hung out as they played around and I joined a bit here and there. A funny little girl wandered into the shop. Every time the fan blew on her she would flinch. She didn't say much, but just watching her look at things and be curious and funny was very interesting. She sat down with me for a bit, before running off to new adventures.

Mohammad's was tireless and very excited as he ran around between customers making many sales that day, all the while taking care of Andy's needs too. Afterwards, we went to another beautiful restaurant, that featured some live Muqaam music. It was a real treat to check out. Omar had his drum, and the waiters and staff kept looking curiously and asking if he would play as the other musicians had finished and left. Omar started drumming and we both sang some songs. It was funny how quick we were surrounded by excited restaurant staff. It was a lot of fun to give them something to enjoy. The management got a little bugged, well one guy, so we stopped so as not to get them all in trouble. We finished our food, then played a few songs outside before heading back to the hotel where we ran into Musa, one of the Pakistani fruit import/exporters we met at the Pakistani cafe. Actually, helped us at the laundry next door as the guys were trying to explain what they wanted. He happened to be walking by and he helped us communicate in Uighar. We played some music for him and whoever else wanted to be woken up in the hotel, before going to sleep.

Kashghar

2008-08-02T08:39:00.000-07:00

The bus brought us to Kashghar in the morning. We checked in about bus tickets to Kyrgyzstan, then jumped on a little motorcycle with an attached wagon to get to the Chini Bagh hotel. From there Andy and Omar got some tour info about exploring the mountainous areas on the way to the Pakistan border. With that in mind for the next few days, we head out to see the old part of town. As we walked down the street, a drunken man invited us to his brother's birthday. He insisted that we join him as he was an english teacher. So I invited him to come pray with us at the Eid Ka Mosque which we were headed to. That got rid of him quick.

We walked down some lanes to the old city and followed them to a row of shops with people making wood items, musical instruments and metal pots. I walked into a shop with antiques and the shopkeeper spoke to me in Urdu and English. His father had been to many countries and much of the antiques in his shop were from Pakistan. He suggested I trim my mustache, in fact he really wanted me to trim it, as he showed me how well manicured his was. He was a very friendly person, working all day in the shop, but still full of good cheer. We walked across into the best looking instrument shop and met the owner, Mohammad Abu Bakri, whose family had been making instruments for 4 or 5 generations. He had all kinds of Uighar instruments, including huge bass variations we had never seen. Andy had planned to purchase some and Omar was interested in a good drum. We sat down and started jamming with Mohammad who was very warm and happy to explain the different instruments to us, without any expactations. We started playing different songs and found that old and new Pakistani and Indian film songs were popular amongst the Uighars. He shared some songs with us and we shared a bunch with him, both playing each other's music as a crowd streamed into the shop and outside the glass window. After a while, I walked down the street as Andy and Omar kept jamming.

I passed the metal workers, ate some Uighar ice cream, as we had in Urumqi, then happened upon a little barbershop. It had two barber chairs, and was run by two boys who were about fifteen at most with a number of small assistants. I sat down and little eyes all over started watching me. I waited my turn then showed an old photo and with gestures decribed I wanted a mustache trim etc. I figured I'd follow my new friend's advice. I checked to make sure that they use fresh blades etc and then let the kid do whatever he wanted. It was pretty funny, with the little assistant kids watching and helping, and getting my hair washed more thoroughly than I ever thought possible. The young barber himself was very meticulous and after a long time and lots of care, we were done. The guys were still at the shop, quite shocked to see me.

We did some more music, as Andy and Omar tested out different instruments. I saw some amazing Muqaam paintings, of traditional music in a catalogue of Uighar instruments. There was a tiny little boy who kept hanging around to see us. He'd ask me something every now and then, I think asking for some money, but mostly just stood and watched. I got him to clap during one song at another shop, but he would not take the food I bought for him. I suppose the sweet little kid was probably begging for someone. We also stopped by the shop of Mohammad's younger cousin and jammed with the cousin and another boy for a few songs before they closed shop.
We walked over to a beautifully decorated restaurant, where Andy amused some bald kids with a piano. They even turned off the restaurant music as he played, until some stuffed shirt made him stop playing. We ate some food, then walked back and went to see the Eid Ka Mosque which was the largest mosque in Kashghar. There was a whole open area around it with shops. We walked back to the hotel and got some sleep.

one month on the road!

2008-08-01T20:31:00.000-07:00

To celebrate our first month of travel together, we all decided to have some stomach problems. Mike joined in a bit early, but obviously didn't feel like being a part of the team on this one, because he quit quick. Ubul's mom made some special corn gruel to help us at the family restaurant down the street. After, we spent some time outside of town by a large river. I wasn't feeling well, so I sat on one side and sketched. The rest of the guys and our taxi driver jumped in for a swim. There were all kinds of kids and adults (all male) swimming in the river. As I sketched a lane off to one side, a crowd of 15 kids crowded around to watch. When they left 15 more came by. It was pretty funny hearing their voices and picking out a few words here and there. I showed them the sketch from time to time as I worked on it. It was funny, but cool to share with the kids. After I finished, I passed it around to the kids that were around me and one gave me a "Yakshi" and a thumbs up :). We spent some more time at various spots around the river before rushing back to get our things and jump on the bus to Kashghar. Mike parted ways for a bit to do his own thing, and we'll meet up with him again in a few days. It was a pretty sad goodbye to Ubul and his family. Even with language barriers etc, we really felt close by the time we left. Particularly Ubul, who made time for us and was just so much fun to be around. He is one of the warmest, kindest and funniest people we have met on our trip, and being here with him and his amazing family has been one of the best times in the whole trip.

Khotan Day 2

2008-07-31T20:22:00.000-07:00

I woke up early and painted a sketch of the courtyard in Ubul's home. I spent a couple of hours building it up as Ubul and his mother walked passed, checking in on my progress and working on breakfast. I could not really communicate my gratitude to Ubul's mother for her hospitality in words, but it really made me feel good to present her with the sketch as a gift once it was finished. The neighborhoods around there are very nice. They are similar to small town neighborhoods in Pakistan. Being in Xinjiang province is like being in a different country from China entirely. After cleaning up, we walked outside. A neighbor invited us in to eat some nan, and piles of watermelon and cantelope. We spoke for a while, then took off to Ubul's family restaurant. Later in the evening we walked around town, sampled some different kinds of food, went to the river, then went to the market square to look around and eat some food in the open market. After all that walking we head back for some sleep.

Arriving in Khotan!

2008-07-30T10:04:00.000-07:00

We rolled out of bed the next day and head for the bus station next door to go to Khotan. Along the way, we passed lots of desert, stopped at a town and ate some food, before finally reaching Khotan. Once there we called a musician friend named Ubul whom we met in Beijing. His brother came to get us. We hopped in a taxi and told it to follow him to Ubul's family home. It was similar to the museum home we had seen the day before. Simple, spacious and very beautiful. We were all exhausted. He and his family brought us tea, delicious sliced watermelons and cantelopes, and a hearty soup to help us sleep. We had met Ubul during a performance at Beijing and I gave him a sketch I had done of him and Omar and he had jammed on percussion afterwards. That was it. From there to the hospitality, warmth and love that he and his family gave us was really amazing.

Cherchen and Bin Chi Leen (Ice Cream)

2008-07-29T09:44:00.000-07:00

The next day we woke up, I went to visit my pals at the internet cafe and when the guys woke up we walked around town. We could only get tickets to Khotan for the next day, so we had another day in Cherchen. After checking out a little market where Omar and Andy bought some cool hats, we went to the ice cream place that had broken our hearts the day before. Once there we waited for a while and then ate some waterdown tasting soft serve ice cream.

We really amused the store owner with our enthusiasm for ice cream. After eating a few, we head over to the local museum which was housed in the former home of a local man who..um..doesn't live any more. The lady there was kinda nuts, but we saw some traditional tools, got a feel for the layout of a traditional home and saw some beautiful carpets in what remained of the household. From there we wandered around some more, asked the music store guy if there were any local musicians we could hang out with, met one who wanted to charge us lots of money to put on a show, and did not seem to understand the concept of just wanting to share music with fellow musicians, so we took off and ate at a nice restaurant.

As we ate, a crowd of kids gathered and watched us. When we stepped out, we went to a general store where the lady there spoke english. We bought some ice cream as many children watched us. We sat down eating ice cream amid giggling children who had been playing outside the restaurant. The general store lady invited us to sit on some stools with her and we talked for a while about our travels. She was really kind and brought us some sliced cantelopes.

After a while, the little street tough from the previous day walked up and smacked Mike on the back. He joined us for a bit and spoke his strange street language then left. I was hoping we'd see him again. We walked around some more, then went back and slept.

Cherchen

2008-07-28T19:57:00.000-07:00

The bus kept making stops and the lights would go on all night, so none of us got any sleep by the time we got to Cherchen at around 5am. We walked over to a hotel by the bus station and got ourselves a good rate on 2 double rooms thanks to Mike. I woke up around 11am the same day, and the guys were still getting some much needed sleep. There was no water, so I went downstairs and let the hotel owner know, with the help of my phrasebook. He got the idea and said something, but I didn't really get it. So I walked back up, hung out, went back down a couple hours later and still nothing. I could not really understand the replies, but the owner and his family were all very friendly and we smiled at not being able to understand one another. One man in the lobby asked me where I was from and when I replied Pakistan and America, he bought me a Future Cola. I asked about an internet cafe and followed directions down the street. Once there I realized I didn't have my ID on me, so I went back to get it. By then the water was back and I cleaned up before going back to the internet cafe.
There is a lot of paperwork at the hotels and internet cafes whenever you sign in. Language barriers don't help this, but the girl and guy at the internet cafe very sweetly typed things into google translate in Chinese and translated their questions to English. They were very patient and polite, as many people I have found here. Another thing that I really appreciate is, even if people might look at you a bit because they don't see foreigners all the time, they still extend the exact same politeness and courtesy to you as they would any Chinese person, for the most part. There are many sweet polite things that people do, like handing you change with both hands in a very respectful manner, or saying there's no need to thank when you say thank you etc. There are many polite customs here, and it adds something good to even the smallest interactions with people.
My friends met me at the internet cafe once they were ready and we set out to wander the streets of Cherchen. Andy had found some fresh sesame nan, so we got a few and munched on that. We stopped at a music store, because music always trumps food when it comes to priorities and picked up some traditional Uigher music cds. There Mike met an interesting, assertive character who shall be referred to as the Low Rider for her interesting bicycling techniques. She joined us as we explored the market, funny babies with poop ready pants, and settled down for food at a restaurant.
After that we walked down the road through some neighborhoods with beautiful, ornate, wood doors and brightly painted metal ones. Along the way we met many friendly people, and walked through some corn and sunflower fields before making our way back to the hotel.

There are lots of cute and funny little kids here. Often, little ones, seeing us foreigners will shout out "Haaalllooo!" with the happiest little smile you have ever seen while walking past with their moms.

The little boy in the last pic of the third image met us at lunch. He played with us all during our sit at the restaurant. When we walked outside, he picked out a special booger from his nose and then hugged a leg off each of us..well except the Low Rider. He pulled away from her. She likes kids..but I'm not sure they like her :).

We rested a bit, then head out to get Andy from the internet cafe and check out some music at a club with the Low Rider. The music was fun and seeing some people dance was also cool, but it was a monday night and the place was fairly empty so it lacked a certain energy.
Andy, Omar and I head out to explore a little further outside. We came upon an open area full of pool tables, food stalls and people enjoying the night. We tried some iced, yoghurt flavored with sugar and pineapple juice that we added.
We met a very sweet Han Chinese woman who was born in Cherchen. She explained and translated for us with the Uigher shopkeeper. She talked about how her family had moved there from across China for better economic opportunities, then also mentioned a 24 hour ice cream parlor. She had no idea how much joy that brought us. She'd probably never seen 3 grown men so excited about ice cream. We got directions, then walked over to it, only to find it open, but all out of ice cream. This was worse than the time we found the ice cream machine shop, full of wonderful ice cream dispensing machines...but no ice cream.

A little broken hearted, we decided to return the following day. After a long dark walk, we got some sleep.

In Korla

2008-07-27T19:52:00.000-07:00

In the morning we dragged ourselves out of bed for some complimentary breakfast. There were sesame breads with bean paste, eggplant, tofu, milk, vegetable dumplings etc, all very good. Next we grabbed bus tickets for the evening. That's what it's going to be like for a while, as we travel through towns, not necessarily known for points of interest, making our way west.

This town is known for the oil industry. Most of the shops we saw were all selling machine parts etc. The day was somewhat relaxed. We left that night for Cherchen.

Korla

2008-07-26T19:44:00.000-07:00

I went to out hunt down an internet cafe while the guys were sleeping. Phrase book in hand, I walked the streets, each person pointing me in the general direction until I found it. After updating some blog stuff and sending out some emails, I head back to the hotel and waited for the guys who had left in the meantime. The came back with bus tickets for that evening.

We had planned to go see a glacier that Tasawar had mentioned and we also wanted to see Tasawar again and meet up with Ubul, a drummer we had met in Beijing who was coming back to this area that day. At that point we were running low on time and could not get in touch with either, so we just relaxed for a bit then caught the bus to Korla. Thus began out turn south across the province, to eventually reach Kasghar.

The bus was very nice, and the scenery outside was breathtaking. We passed all kinds of rocky mountains, gravel trails, desert sand with rock formations poking out etc as the sun made the sky and clouds glow orange and pink as it sunk ever lower. Eventually we were driving in the dark, along a highway with virtually nothing around. We made a few stops along the way before reaching Korla in the dead of night.

There were still some general stores and hotels open. We trudged around with our backpacks, comparing prices, but ended up staying at the only place that could accept foreigners by law. I think it may be a licensing issue or something.

So, at around 2am we waited as the guy at the counter of our hotel filled out forms with our passport info...very...very...slowly.

Finally we went up to sleep, agreeing to get the passports back in the morning.

Tian Chi

2008-07-25T19:30:00.000-07:00

Mike was feeling tired, so the rest of us hired a car and went out of the city to Tian Chi (Heavenly Lake). The drive out took us past barren desert and rock, past some Kazakh Yurts, and a river until we arrived up in the mountains. From there we walked up many, many stairs, following a beatiful river, up to a waterfall, a gorgeous greenish blue lake, and up to a second larger lake with boats. We wanted to continue up to a small structure at the top, but ran out of time. We ended up walking around a narrow trail with a guide rail, around the second lake, before we started back to the bottom. It was a tiring walk, especially since we never really get a chance to fully recover before the next walk. There's too much to see and too little time. It was amazing to be up in such a beautiful place. We spent time on the way up resting at spots and just taking it in. The waterfall, the lakes and river were all very soothing, and peaceful.

From there we returned to the hotel, got Mike and met up with a Pakistani man named Tasawar, whom we met on the bus the day before. He met us at a restaurant near the hotel. Mike stayed back to rest and we went to the Uigar market again, for some more ice cream. We checked out some musical instruments, talked at length to Tasawar who spoke Uighar also. After that we checked out a large department store much like one you would find in the US. It was fun trying to explain that Andy wanted to buy a towel. After being led to many other things, we finally found one. I met a super cool robot on the way out.

We thanked Tasawar for his hospitality then grabbed the bus back to the hotel for some sleep.

Urumqi

2008-07-24T19:12:00.000-07:00

The next morning, still enroute to Urumqi, I awoke to sleepy eyed children stumbling out of bed, tiny toes all over. I joined the herd, borrowed some toothpaste and cleaned up a bit. My pal Li Zhou, hooked me up with some green tea that he had generously purchased for me and we listened to some music on our headphones, hoping to make it through the day as the little savages woke up.

Lots of terrifying giggling followed. Omar and I escaped for a while to the next car, but the evil little cats found us, popping their little heads in one by one, creeping up behind me and delivering painful blows to my back. I held back my tears, trying desperately not to cry in front of everyone as they set their sites on a new prey. We were sitting in the aisle, outside the compartment of one of the blue shirted train staff. He made the mistake of leaving his door open while reading a newspaper. The cats were jumped through the doorway, looking under his bed, on top of it and all around, asking tons of questions and settling in next to him. He was clearly in shock. Fearing for his life, he played it cool, then bravely tried to shoo them away without any luck. They giggled and ran around his compartment before leaving when they felt like it and slamming his door shut behind.

They joined Omar and myself in the hall for a bit, and I had to subdue them with some tickling, before they ran off again. Finally we reached the train station at Urumqi. We said our goodbyes and I exchanged info with a college professor and Li Zhou, the high schooler. One of the friendly kids offered to help me pull my heavy backpack down. We went out the platform and the herd lined up for a headcount. Omar, Andy, Mike and I waved good bye and head out. It was raining a bit as we walked down into a Muslim noodle shop. The locals stopped and watched us. Two kids with aviation suited ears stood newspaper hawking forgotten and watched us. They unfroze when I pulled out my camera. We ate some food, then grabbed a bus to another part of town to look for a place to stay. Prices varied a lot so we kept looking until we found a cheaper place. The room was being cleaned so we left our backpacks with them and head out to see the city. We walked around a bit, then hopped on a bus to the Xinjiang Autonomus Region Museum. The museum had amazing exhibits on the wide range of diverse people living in the Xinjiang province. From European/Russian looking Tartars, to Mongols, Han Chinese, Uzbeks, Uighurs and many more. Exhibits showed beautiful handicrafts, clothes, musical instruments and other cultural effects from each of group of people. Other sections of the museum showed excavated remains from ancient civilizations, including mummies. All in all, it was a beautiful museum though it underscored the reality of the province.

From there we head over to the Erdaoqiao Market, which is surrounded by Uighur neighborhoods. On the bus, we befriended some Uigher students who showed us the way as well as a Pakistani businessman working in the area. We went with the students, down to the marketplace. We had heard some nasty racist things said about the Uighur people that really made us mad, before we got there. Various negative attributes were prescribed to this entire group of people by some other people at the museum. I actually met some Uigher students while sitting in the lobby of the museum as well and they were, as most people tend to be, very warm and gracious. The students we met on the bus, were likewise very warm and friendly to us. Certainly you have to take precautions whenever you are in a new place and with new people, but that goes equal for all people, and you don't want to become so paranoid that you fail to see the beauty that exists in the wonderful people you meet along the way.

We looked at music instruments and I saw that a few things I negotiated down in Xian had starting prices of half of what I haggled down to. It was a fun marketplace, with so many diverse people, as we had seen in the exhibits in the museum. This area had a very different feel with signs in Chinese, English, Uighur and some Russian. Four scripts and a multitude of ethnicities, styles of dress etc poured in from all around. There were some mosques, and a beautiful square.

We looked around for some fresh nan, but all we could find were stacks of cold, hard bread at all the shops we went to. Finally, we walked over to an area that was full of outdoor eateries and asked around. Many people did not speak Chinese here, so we had to try and use Arabic and Farsi words with some English and lots of hand gestures and funny faces to try and communicate. People were very friendly. We ate some amazing watermelon and I picked up some traditional music cds. Mike ate some spicy noodles and chickpeas, with flavors quite unique from what we had sampled in other parts of China thus far. At the noodle stand, we finally managed to explain that we were looking for fresh nan, straight out of the tandoor (clay oven). He talk to another kid who had his own stall. Finally the kid at the other stall decided he was going to take us. He walked us all around, weaving through crowds, as we struggled to keep up, until we had walked across a good cross section of the amazing Uighur neighborhood and arrived at a nan shop. They had closed and the boys working there smiled as our nan hunter friend explained what we were after. After much talking, they agreed to bake a batch of smaller sesame buns. Omar tried really hard to get them to make a few nans, but they weren't having it. It was a tremendous amount of effort to start the tandoor, and prepare it for baking bread. Three boys, in a rythmic patterm dunked their head and arms into the firey tandoor, placing the dough balls on the inner walls. They joined us outside after getting the whole laborious process started. A crowd of people formed around us as we spoke to the boys inside and outside the shop. We greeted them with a Salam (Muslim greeting) and that helped to endear us to them instantly, but perhaps more than that just our silliness made them happy. Omar and Andy decided to learn how to count in Uighur. None of these kids or adults spoke Chinese. They looked at us very confused as we explained 1-2-3-4-5, counting on fingers and they laughed and repeated, until finally some people in the crowd figured out what we were after and they taught us.

It made everyone really happy, as we waited for the buns to cook. Omar pulled out a page of Uighur phrases from his book and tried them out, much to everyone's delight. People laughed, but the crowd was actually very friendly. They warmed up to us kids, and lots of little ones crowded around and watched. We kept watch of our things as you need to in any crowd..though I still lost my camera that one time in Mongolia...but people were genuinely curious. The boy who brought us about a mile to the nan shop refused any food or anything in return. He simply helped us and then sped off on his way back to work. The kids at the tandoor didn't try to make any extra money off of us, or be mean or anything but the nicest hosts one could ask for. The humored our silliness and we all spoke to pockets of the crowd in our broken words and smiles.

Eventually the bread was ready and we had 5. One of the boys at the tandoor offered to take a photo of the inside of the tandoor for me and I gave him my camera to do just that. The people were so friendly do us and asked for nothing in return. We offered some entertainment, but that was really all they wanted. One man even offered to let us stay with him, though we graciously declined. One new mother, with her seven month old baby in hand spoke Chinese and communicated with Mike. Andy shared music on his laptop, and had a huge crowd of kids around him and a generously lent hat from one of the children. These were not people who had much in the way of monetary riches, but they were some of the warmest, sweetest people we could ever hope to meet. I think often if you put out a good feeling regardless of whether you feel you are getting it back or not, it brings out that in those around you. It doesn't work every single time, in every situation, but it is the only way I know to make being amidst strangers so enjoyable.

We made our way to the bus station, exhausted, with the help of the Chinese speaking mother with her cute baby in her arms, and the kind man who had offered us his hospitality. We said goodbye and hopped on the bus. Finding the tiny hotel at night proved challenging. We all had some idea, but it took us a long time to trace our steps back and find the landmarks we needed to get there. Eventually we did, only to be told that we had been given the room in error.

Foreigners were not allowed to stay in that hotel, and so we would have to find some other arrangements. They refunded our money and graciously called around to try and find another place. We went off in search of places, carrying our heavy backpacks, but their suggestions were outragiously expensive. Apparently it is common to run into the situation where lower cost and lower quality hotels are not allowed to house foreigners, likely more out of maintaining an image than anything.

So we pulled out the lonley planet guide, called a place near the train station and found rooms at low prices that allowed foreigners. The place is the least nice place we have stayed at. The bathrooms have friendly short doors so you can talk to your neighbors while handling your business, but the halls are dark and instead of keys, you get tags that you show the floor attendant who unlocks your door. Still, thanks as usual to Mike's hard work and Chinese language skills, we got out of an annoying situation and found a decent place to sleep at night.

Train Ride

2008-07-23T19:11:00.000-07:00

The next morning, we caught an early morning buffet before running off to the train station. There were older people playing badminton with children along the way.
Each town have visited has its own feel to it. Lanzhou felt laid back and more comfortable than some of the other cities we visited on this trip.

We boarded the train with no idea what was in store. Early on, we noticed that there seemed to be lots of children in this train car. In fact there were probably 6 children to every adult on it.
Securing train tickets last minute is difficult and necessary in many of the places we are travelling. These tickets ended up being in the same car, but in seperate bunks. I traded my seat with a lady so she could be with her daughter, and ended up with an older couple below me and children all around. I was in the middle bunk on the left out of 3 bunks on either side bringing the total to 6 instead of the usual 4 that were on previous trains.

I stared out the window, sitting in the narrow train aisle for a while, watching the mountains push off into the distance and turn to flat planes. After a while, I climbed up to my middle bunk. Just as my head touched the pillow a stream of children came racing into the compartment. Some had tried to speak to me earlier, but I smiled and explained that I didn't understand Chinese. Now all these kids were back, led by their solution; a little bespectacled girl with braces. She said hello as ten or twenty faces giggled. She asked if she could get a picture with me. I smiled and agreed. I climbed down and sat on the lower bunk with an older lady already sitting there and the little girl's aunt squeezed in with children in the aisle. The little girl grabbed my arm and posed with a huge smile much to the glee of the army of children. A few cameras were passed around for photos including mine. She said my smell was nice, but I think she meant smile...long train rides don't do much good for smells.

I laughed so hard while the kids were taking photos. I pointed to "I don't understand" in the Chinese phrasebook to the girl's aunt. The kids were all excited (I think in general), and the little heartbreaked said "I love you." Hahahaha! Limited english is so cute.
I figured there could be no more cuteness to top that, so I went to back to bed and managed to stay there for a good 8 hours or so.

I was wrong. I awoke and the kids had mobbed my friends. There was an intense game of cards at one aisle table with Andy and Mike, a happy kid we named Sgt. Bellpepper and many other smiling faces with random missing teeth. There was music playing through the train speakers and Omar was teaching kids math and learning Chinese. The aisle was packed with nervous kid energy. It was too much cuteness for so small a space. My English speaking pal it turns out loved everyone else too, and though I was a little devastated, I managed to pull myself together and sit at on of the aisle tables. The party train slipped past flat, dry land with mountains in the distance. Every so often, a vendor squeezed down the packed aisle hawking drinks, books and food, as tiny tots squirmed past through spaces that did not exist. The staff on the train was actually smiling (except the dining car, they were not in service as usual).

I stared out the window a bit, then pulled out my phrase book and spoke to a high school boy named Li Zhou.

He was very quiet, but helped me with some pronounciation. Through him and Mike I learned that the kids were returning from a field trip to Beijing back to Urumqi, where they lived. Li zhou liked Chinese rock music, had a twin brother and sister, and gave us the name of an ice cream parlor in Urumqi. The kids were very sweet and bursting with energy, excitement and kindness.
I heard Andy and Omar start some music down the aisle and joined them. We soon had kids giggling and clapping around us. Two tiny, shy, cat like girls kept running up and then running away. They were trouble. Andy pulled out a Chinese wind instrument and we sang with that for a while. At one point, a boy with broken glasses jumped in and shared his talents on Andy's Chinese instrument. He was very good and had a few little girls chasing after him after his performance. It was so much fun singing and playing with these kids.

The train stopped at a number of stations along the way, where we bought instant noodles, tofu and one time ice cream which we shared with Li Zhou. After the music, the little cats became bold and approached me with evil little smiles. They struck terror in my heart with swiping claws and evil giggles. To hide my fear, I started drawing one of them. That made them curious. Four tiny eyes watched me. Finally, I added a super cool handlebar mustache (always a crowd pleaser) and some chin hair, but the little cats didn't approve. This is always a challenge when travelling. It is easy to offend one from another culture, unintentionally, through no fault of your own, with only the best of intentions through what seems to oneself to be a good gesture of friendship.

They made little frowns and threatened me with some harshly shouted Chinese. Petrified, I handed them the pen and notebook, begging for mercy (sure, I towered over them even sitting down, but these things were ferocious!).

They scurried down the hall, then returned after a bit having added some flying hair and funny teeth to the drawing. I guess once the rage subsided, they decided to draw some pretty birds, fish and a sun on the following page, before the madness took hold again and they came charging back at me, told me what was what and handed me their evil creations.

Andy came to my rescue by becoming the human chomping machine, with long arms as chompers. He sent them running back down the hall, only to return, then flee many times after.
Just to note, Sgt. Bellpepper, (the gentlemen in the green wahaha shirt) is a fascinating card player. He is a thing of wonder to behold when he plays cards, climbs bunks or squirms away from little girls who try to make him sing. Eventually the savage little beasts turned to slumber and so did we.

Lanzhou

2008-07-22T19:09:00.000-07:00

The next morning we caught a train to Lanzhou. We arrived in the afternoon. Just behind the train station, you can see beautiful mountains. We grabbed our things and trudged across the street to find a place to stay the night. After some searching and bargaining, we ran into a man who ran a hotel down the street. He showed us the place and we took it.

After cleaning up we walked around to explore the city. We ended up grabbing a bus to the Yellow River. The sun was setting and it was an amazing sight.

Along the boardwalk, there were many families with children. Many were learning to rollerblade, or just playing.

A little further, there was some Chinese music playing with a group of mostly older women and some men being led through a synchronized dance by a very enthusiastic, talented, dancing man. We sat and watched for a while. It was so peaceful there, watching people relax along the Yangtze. Omar and Andy joined the dancing for a bit.

Later, we grabbed some chocolate cake, having failed to find an ice cream parlor. Having gotten our chocolate fix, we went back to the hostel to sleep

Terracotta Warriors

2008-07-21T18:51:00.000-07:00

The guys woke up around noon, giving me plenty of time to update the blog etc. It rained all day. We head out to the bus station and caught a bus to see the museum of the terracotta warriors just outside the city of Xian. Early in the trip we suffered a setback when Andy forgot his oreos on the bus. Inspired by the Terracotta Warriors and their participation in the 2008 Beijing Olympics the group managed to put it behind us and continue. We started with the museum and worked our way up from Pit 2, to Pit 3 and finally the massive Pit 1. Each one made us more excited to see the next. It is a fairly mad creation, but the scale of it is quite amazing. I liked the horses with their riders and chariots most. The museum itself is really nice, though the hawkers try a bit too hard. On the way out you pass a ton of stalls selling all kinds of souvenirs and just when you think you have passed through them, there is a huge barrage of hawkers standing with handfuls of trinkets that you have to navigate to get to the buses. Afterwards we head back to Xian.

Mike and Omar decided to stay in, while Andy and I head to the South Gate of the walled city where we were told there were some music performances. The rain probably prevented any street music that night, so we met up with a bead maker whom Omar and Andy had met the night before. We walked down a lane of empty western looking bars before we came upon a more traditional looking establishment. We went upstairs to a room with a stage and enjoyed various traditional music performances, along with some food. I had some mushrooms with peppers and rice. The bead maker had engraved two flutes with Andy and Omar's names as a gift for them.

We spent some time trying to play them. He showed us how, though Andy had better luck. I managed a sketch of a man who was like a one man band with a leg playing percussion, and a long string insrument with snake skin on it as well as other small instruments on each limb. He seemed to tell an interesting and humorus story, but your guess is as good as mine. We jumped in a cab and head back after the show ended, thanking our host graciously. I spent a few hours that night updating emails and photos. The hostel owner; Bob was interested in some of my animation work so I shared that and he shared some beautiful photography of his own from trips to Southern China.

Xian

2008-07-20T18:30:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Xian in the morning, then walked a long way from the long distance bus station to the hostel with our heavy backpacks. After cleaning up, we entered the city walls and made out way past lanes on the outskirts with old buildings marked for demolition, to new shopping centers by the belltower until we reached a lane that led into the Muslim Quarter. Apparently there have been Muslims there since the 6th century when Arab traders travelled the silk road, bringing their religion. A number of them settled down there and thus began the Islamic influence in Xian. The lanes had tiny mosques, many general stores, restaurants, food stalls and places to buy souvenirs. We stopped at a very Chinese style minaret complete with a loudspeaker for the Muslim call to prayers.

As I was photographing the minaret, my friends ducked into some place and I lost track of them. I looked around, walked up and down the street and no luck. We all know how to get back to the hostel and that is always a good fallback plan for if and when we get seperated, so after a bit of searching, I just continued down the street, and looked at shops. There were little terracotta warriors, paintings, sculptures and all kinds of other souvenirs. I picked up a few things bargaining to less than half the stated price, wondering how bad I'd still been had. As I came upon older Chinese women with hijabs I found that they were very happy to learn that I am Muslim. I saw interesting mixes of Chinese and Arabic calligraphy. Eventually I made my way the the Great Mosque, where as a Muslim I got in for free. Nice to get that special treatment in a positive sense now and again :). The Great Mosque is a large, very Chinese style structure. It is interesting to communicate with some Arabic with the local Muslims. A few words that we use when referring to religous functions that are in Arabic were easy to communicate.
I walked all the way through, and offered some prayers. Most of the mosque us a long courtyard with little alcoves and towers.

As I was about to leave, I as reunited with my friends. We hung around a while longer, then asked around about good food places. A boy named Abdul Rahman offered to show us the way to a good place to eat. We invited him to join us and made our way to a shop down several lanes for some bread bits in soup with beef. Abdul Rahman told us about his studies and the general history of the local Muslim community, all through Mike's translation skills. This area has more breads similar to naans than other parts of China we have seen thus far. Andy was in pretty bad shape from being sick, so he just drank some tea. He decided to stay with Omar at the mosque for a while, as Mike and I walked back through the city.

We walked passed all kinds of shopping plazas, and drank some plum juice on the way back. Later on, after several wrong turns, we made our way back to the hostel, having explored a chunk of the city.

Leaving Beijing for Xian

2008-07-19T20:07:00.000-07:00

Some days you just work on resting and getting ready for that next overnight bus. We took it pretty easy in the morning and then trudged around with our heavy backpacks to metro to bus to finally overnight bus from Beijing to Xian. It was a pretty comfortable sleeper bus, as far as they go..best we have been on yet. I was expecting worse, bracing myself for it, and was very relieved. We stopped at a food place around 11pm and grabbed some tofu and peppers that were really good. The buffet looked somewhat ancient and the staff told us they had no plans to making more, so we opted for fresh food as always. They were very nice and as usual very confused and happy at Mike's Mandarin skills. As always, he helped us get some much needed food, before we piled back on the bus and continued along the road to Xian. There were some Chinese music videos, much like ones in other countries playing on the bus and some bizarre movie with recognizable European and American actors about these two people from medival times who come to the present and wackiness ensues. It looked fairly recent. Mostly I tried to sleep.

Great Wall of China

2008-07-18T09:12:00.000-07:00

Andy and Mike were busy with their individual plans. Andy had an interview to conduct. Omar and I had plans to go see the Great Wall of China. We are starting to get the hang of getting around. It helps that I have a lonely planet guide that has the names of places which I can point to written in Mandarin. Besides that, it tells you which bus to get on etc. The public transportation in this town is great!

We grabbed some food, and I finally gave up on being vegetarian here, having starved, and stopped eating many vegetable meals halfway through realizing they had pork in them, or eating horrible, nutritionless garbage for too long. I already lost five pounds, so enough of that. The next areas we are going to in China as well as the next few countries will all be brutally tough to find vegetarian food in, so no more.

I started with a fish fillet sandwich at the McDonalds...

So...anyway, after that Omar and I head over to the metro, on to the long distance bus station and off to the first town on the way to the section of the Great Wall that we decided to visit. We stopped in the town and then hired a car to take us to the wall. It started pouring as we approached, but this was our one chance to see it. It actually worked out beautifully. We got there and it was pouring. After purchasing tickets we went to get on the cable car, but it was not running due to the rain. We didn't know how long it might be and we only had a few hours to check things out before it would close. So we decided to grab some junky umbrellas and walk up the stairs with our tired bodies. One step at a time we made it up to the top. The shops below as well as the drink sellers on the way to and on the wall tend to quote very high prices. ALl you have to do is tell then how much you want to pay and then walk away if they refuse. They would say something ridiculous like 15RMB for water, and I'd tell them I'd give them 3 and start walking away when they said no. There was hardly any customers there, so I got my water at the normal price each time. Omar and I made it up to the top and it was gorgeous. I thought the Forbidden City would interest me more than the Great Wall, but it turned out to be the opposite. The Forbidden City was very repetitive, whereas just driving up into the mountains then up the stairs to the Great Wall was an amazing site. It stopped raining as we reached the top of the Wall. The view all around was stunning. The wall wrapped over hills far into the distance as far as you could see. Layers of fog revealed mountains in the distance. The sun started to creep out from behind the clouds as we walked over many more steep steps, over the wall and made our way to the tram going down. We hopped on after a while, grabbed some quick souvenirs after bargaining the price way down (not down enough apparently) the same car that brought us there and hopped on the bus back the Beijing.

As we reached Beijing, satisfied that we had maneuvered our way around without Mike's invaluable skills and knowledge we hit rush hour. People were pouring out of buses and the crowds were quite amazing in their size. It still wasn't that bad getting to the metro and packing ourselves in to get back to our hostel, but it was interesting to see so many people. We walked back to the hostel, sat for a bit, then explored the many shops that lined the way to the music cafe we had been to the previous night. There was a Mongolian music performance there that night, so we decided to walk around there until then. Omar started playing different percussion instruments to the delight of a music store owner and his customers. I took some photos then head out to find an internet cafe to send out a birthday message.

I checked out the toy stores while Omar jammed and gave someone a tabla lesson. We ended up grabbing some seafood at a restaurant, before I went to the internet cafe and Omar went to see the show. I finished up at the cafe and went to the show also. The place was packed and I caught the last four amazing songs of the performance. I managed a sketch in the crowd, but I didn't see Omar or Andy. I bought the group's cd and returned to the hostel, where I met up with Mike and went to sleep.

Forbidden City

2008-07-17T08:56:00.000-07:00

The next morning we got up to a slow start. Mike and Andy were busy with other plans, so Omar and I set out on our own. We grabbed some food (fries, milkshake and ice cream for me) after the usual hunt for stuff we could eat. Then we went down to the metro and head over to Tianmen Square. As we walked through, a lady came up to us and asked us if we'd like to see an art gallery. We said sure, and walked to the gallery, which was one of the stores inside the path to the Forbidden City. She was very nice, and explained some of the cultural context of the paintings. She said she was a volunteer. We looked at the gallery, appreciating the information she told us about the pieces. Finally we had walked through the gallery and she asked us which piece we wanted. I thanked her and told her I could not really carry any of these pieces with me.

At that point she transformed. She was not happy. Omar and I spotted a South Asian couple (first I had seen in China) so as she had her little internal meltdown, I introduced myself to them and we traded notes on Indian grocery stores and restaurant info. In the middle of this, psycho art lady starts staring me down and pointing at the door. Omar and I glanced at her and I was annoyed so I told her to wait. I took my time talking to the South Asian man before I walked out.

Even the sales people at the stalls in the middle section were extremely pushy and annoying in selling their over priced garbage. Thankfully, once we entered the Forbidden City, there was none of that. We purchased our tickets and walked through many large open areas, taking in various museum exhibits along the way before reaching the living quarters in the back. By then it was time to close, so we started making our way back. It was cool to check out, but much of the architecture is more of the same. The large open spaces must have been very impressive when filled with armies long ago. As we walked past the gallery, some other guy asked if we wanted to see the art gallery and I let him know we had already been tthrown out.

Afterwards, we walked around some of the streets around that area, before walking around the Performing Arts Center and then taking the metro back to the hostel. We met up with Andy and the hostel and a fellow traveller who was visiting from Zimbabwe. Mike returned, but was too tired to go out with us, so the rest of us walked down the street towards a music show Andy and learned about along the way. The street we walked down was an interesting mix of young hip clothes and toys like you'd find at Giant Robot etc with interesting and pricey cafes as well as small general stores, and little hole in the wall eateries with old and young people hanging out. It was a really interesting place. We walked past all of that and turned down narrow lane past a large traditional style building. It was dark so all you could make out was a huge looming silhouette. The lane opened into a small park, with buildings that looked like temples on either side. People were hanging out in the park. We walked into a cafe where a band was setting up for a performance that night. It felt like a really nice, intimate music venue in Los Angeles. We grabbed a table toward the front and waited for the performance to begin. It was a lot of fun.

The musicians were mostly from in and around Xian as was the style of music. They played from 10pm to 12am and I managed some sketches of each of them which I gave to them later in the night. During the break Omar and Andy got to talking to the percussionist who was visiting from western China. We didn't have a common language, but another girl from Xian helped translate. The percussionist and the a group of girls in the audience who knew him were all muslims from the areas we are travelling to next. We went back in, enjoyed the rest of the show, then hung out. Andy talked to the girls in the audience and got some info on the places are travelling to next. One was studying to become a tour guide so she may help us once we get to Xian. We may meet up with the percussionist in his town as well. Omar and the percussionist jammed together, trading rhythms from their respective countries. They could not speak to each other through words very well, but that didn't seem to matter when it came to music. It was a lot of fun to see them interact that way, and they both left having really pushed themselves playing. We all walked out around closing time, and head back to the hostel to bed.

It's 4am in Beijing...

2008-07-16T22:30:00.000-07:00

We reached Beijing at 4am, without having gotten any sleep the night before. It was still dark out as we walked over in a daze to a McDonalds (the only place to eat at that hour). We all washed up a bit and sat there quite out of it for a while. We had to wait until 6am for the metro to start running so we could rush over to the embassy district and hunt down the Uzbekistan Embassy to get visas for our planned travel there later in the trip. We weren't sure where it was because they did not answer their phones and several addresses were listed online. It was only open from 9am-11am and we needed to get the process started quick during the week, so we would not have to stay too long in Beijing and have to cut out days from the rest of our trip. So, with that in mind, we hopped on the metro with our heavy backpacks and trudged all over, after getting bad directions from all sorts of people. Finally we came upon the German Embassy and from there the Uzbekistan embassy, having walked all over, up and down all kinds of stairs etc with our heavy backpacks for a couple of hours. We got to the embassy early and put our things in a pile on the sidewalk. I slept on my backpack for a bit as we waited. Finally the opened and we spent some time on filling out the applications and getting it all taken care of. Thanks again to Mike and Andy's preparedness, we got it all done on the spot. Afterwards we went back to the same hostel we had stayed at last time we were in Beijing just before going to Mongolia. This time we didn't have a reservation, but after being hassled a bit by the kid at the desk, we got a 3 bed room and Andy got a bed in a different room. We washed up and hung out in the cafe for a while. I updated some blog stuff and just relaxed. I figured I would just sleep at night. Sunny and the rest of the kind staff at the hostel cafe asked if we would perform there again like we did last time. She was very sweet in expressing how much they all enjoyed the music we played last time. It was a pretty spontaneous performance, but it had been lot of fun. We agreed to come back after dinner and play. In the evening, Andy, Omar and I walked around a bit. We found a really good restaurant and ate a bunch of food. The kids working there were all young college students who were extremely friendly and happy to talk to us. Two kids in particular were really nice to us, so we invited them to the hostel cafe to check out our music performance there later that night. We got back and Andy and Omar grabbed the guitar and bongos which we took upstairs to quickly figure out a few more songs. We really had not had no to prepare, and the guitair turned out to have one really messed up string that Andy frantically tried to clean up and make useable. Omar and I head down as it was time to start, and Andy was still working on the guitar upstairs. I sat down with my laptop and the cafe was packed with people, as a note had gone up on the board that a World Music performance was to take place that night, or maybe they all just happened to be there. I don't know.

Andy finally made it down having miraculously made the guitar barely useable and we started playing. The crowd this time was less attentive. Last time we were just playing around and soon everyone just turned and started watching us. This time it was much louder and we had no mics just like last time, so we really were not loud enough for that setting. But there were groups sprinkled in the crowd cheering and clapping. More important than that though, what really made the night for us was that, for one, the cafe staff were really happy, and the two kids from the restaurant were there from the very start of the performance. After a few songs, they asked me to sing a favorite song of theres, so I pulled up the lyrics and we all sang it together. It was so much more fun to include them and sing together rather than just perform to them. They suggested another song that they taught us and we sang that together too. That was the best part of the night. It's what really made it worthwhile, was to interact and give thanks to these two kids that went out of their way to be nice to us at the restaurant. We sat around and talked to people, including the two kids late into the night. They wanted to know about our travels and told us about the beautiful parts of China they were from. Finally we all exchanged emails and called it a night.

Border Crossing

2008-07-15T00:29:00.000-07:00

Woke up in the train. The door out of our compartment was stuck. I remember half asleep watching Omar struggle with it a bit before giving up and going back to bed. I tried with similar results. I looked through the slit in the side of the door and saw some Mongolian men hanging out in the hall, looking out the window. I knocked on the door and pulled at the lock a bit and they kindly came over and yanked it open after a brief struggle. I thanked them, my eyes barely opening and we both nodded in agreement at the crappy lock we agreed not to lock again. I walked across about 8 cars to find an open bathroom to wash up. I came back and rested. We all spent time in the hall, watching the barren landscape roll past, talking to other passengers like Jaigal. I played some chess on a Mongolian chess set with Omar before we got the word that we would arrive in Zamanud momentarily. We quickly grabbed all our stuff and rushed to the nearest exit where there was already a line of people. As soon as the doors of the train car opened we made a mad dash out, across towards the buses. A guy with a jeep offered to take us across the border (this is normal practice) for 80 RMB (Yen) so we hopped in and he stepped on it. Basically, we needed to get through customs on either side of the border and try and make it to the train station on the Chinese side in time to get a train ticket back to Beijing. We had lots of competition for this goal, so there was a rush. We went to the Mongolian exit authority, jumped out the jeep with our things, ran through procesing, back on the jeep and throuhg a number of similar forms and lines, in and out of the jeep until we reached the train station on the Chinese side of the border in a town called Erling. We jumped through some hoops to change our Mongolian money (which is really hard, if not impossible to convert anywhere else). At the station it turned out there were no more trains out to Beijing until the next day, so we went over to the long distance bus station. Thanks as usual to Mike's language skills, we were able to purchase overnight sleeper bus tickets to Beijing. We grabbed some food, then hopped on a bus full of beds that was a lot nicer than the one we took with Kim Jong's brother from Anqing to Beijing. We had saved a lot of headache coming back by not having to wait for the insanely slow process of changing train wheels at the border, and not having to deal with the horrible staff on the train, but we were in for a new fun adventure on this bus. Every time we crossed from one province to another, as well as several other checkpoints and stops, the bus was boarded, IDs were checked, everyone given a once over and then we'd start moving again. This happened all night, so just as you'd fall asleep, the bus would stop and the conducter and some security people boarding the bus would have a flashlight, all the bus lights would come on and people would start demanding your ID. After they were done checking the IDs (often off the bus), the conductor would spend another 20 minutes yelling out people's names to return their IDs. So, we didn't get much sleep, much as we tried. We talked to a Mongolian man who was a fashion designer, working in western style leather clothes in Beijing. Many people on that bus went through this process on a regular basis, as they were Mongolians travelling from Ulanbataar to Beijing on regular business. As annoying as not being able to sleep was, the ride was much less painful than the train going from Ulanbataar from Beijing, thanks to the absence of "Pork Rind Face" and the rest of the wonderful train staff.

Leaving Mongolia

2008-07-14T18:39:00.000-07:00

Woke up in the ger, used the outhouse across the dirt road (much nicer than all the public bathrooms), then relaxed and watched the sky. The guys woke up and we had some breakfast. Sola returned to get us. We saw a group of 60 and over Korean women tourists doing some cute little marching exercises, having a great time with big smiles on their faces. We sang all kinds of silly songs in strange voices on the ride back, to amuse ourselves and every now and then Sola too. At the hostel Sola said she was very happy and we all felt a good about the short time we spent together and a little sad to be parting. We got back with Mike who was still sick, as was Andy. We checked out, put the heavy bags in the hostel storage, then got a ride to the State Department Store with the hostel owner (he had some bank business to do near there, regarding the travelers check Andy gave him). At the State Department Store we met up with a Mongolian friend of Andy's who had just returned from Washington after a a few years of not seeing Mongolia. She was really surprised at the rapid expansion of buildings and cars in Ulanbataar.

Omar and I were a little messed up from not eating properly the past few days, so Mike kindly suggested that we go to the one vegetarian restaurant that we had been to a few days ago. It meant Omar and I could eat a much needed, proper meal. I ate two. After, we head back to the State Department Store to look at last minute souvenirs. I picked up a bunch of Mongolian artwork, showing examples of a some different styles I really liked. Andy's friend left to go spend time with her parents, and we met up with Hulga (a talented Mongolian musician we met at the Black Market, who told us about the Naadam Cultural Festival). We sat down in a cafe and talked for a while. He had invited us to a traditional music show the previous night, but three of us were already leaving for the gers. Mike had enjoyed the concert with him the night before. It was good to hear his perspectives on Mongolia and music. He gave us a taste of some demoes he was working on. I hope to hear the finished songs when they are ready. We sat for a couple of hours before he kindly dropped us off at the hostel. We grabbed our bags and the hostel owner offered to drop us off at the train station. I have to say, I really appreciated how nice both these people were to us. They really went out of their way to help us and make us feel welcome, as did several other people on the trip. He even helped Andy get his train ticket, and Hulga came back to give us Andy's camera which he had left in Hulga's car. We thanked them both and walked to the platform ready to board.

After a while, we boarded, and met some new people. Andy wasn't sure if he'd leave with us or later when we bought tickets, so his ticket ended up being in a different car. We had a Mongolian man named Sik with us, and made friends with a guy named Jaigal (or Jack) who accidently sat in our compartment with us for a while before realizing he was in the wrong one. He spoke some english and turned out to be a huge death metal and hard rock fan. He was 38 years old but had the crazed energy of a 16 year old. It was a lot of fun talking to him because he was so excited and kept laughing and explaining Mongolian history, culture and relations with interesting animated hand gestures and phrases. It was hilarious and made the trip so much more fun. He went to his compartment, but hung out with us a lot. Sik was quieter, but polite and smiled. Andy joined us and shared his Khumi (traditional Mongolian throat singing) skills to the delight of all, including an older woman from next door who watched from the hall with a big smile on her face. The six of us sat around talking, laughing etc. They shared some Areg with Andy and Mike and chatted for a long time. It was funny talking about all these bands with Jaigal. I had a headache again and didn't feel too great, so I climbed up and slept on the bunk above. A little later, Andy and Sik swapped compartments, so Andy could stay with us and we all went to sleep in our respective compartments.

Tsuralg, Mongolia

2008-07-13T18:20:00.000-07:00

The next morning, I spoke to an American girl at the hostel in Ulanbataar named Micky. She had been in Mongolia for a while and was now working for the art council.

Andy, Omar and I decided to take a trip through the hostel. The thing with Mongolia is that visiting there is really about going to the other areas and exploring the countryside. We didn't have time on this trip so we focused on Naadam in Ulanbataar, getting the sick well in our group and not getting rest sick. We did want to explore the rest and hope to do so sometime in the future, but for this round we hired the hostel owner's sister in law to drive us out to a beautiful if tourist centric scenic area called Tsuralg. She didn't speak english, so we played her Mongolian music tapes, with genuine interest in exploring local music. We left the city, passing increasingly sparse populations, until it was all open land with gers in the distance.

We drove up a dirt road by some rock formation until we stopped at a cave. Sola (our guide and driver) let us out at the side of the road and the three of us, Andy, Omar and I (Mike stayed home sick at the hostel) climed up into a cave with some Mongolians. We talked for a bit to the group in the cave then climbed out and continued by car to a huge turtle shaped rock formation.

We bought some ice cream and brought back some for Sola, which was reciprocated by her with some choco pies. Up until this point she really did not speak to us, but from here on out she started to enjoy herself and open up more. It's no fun to take someone on a trip and make them feel like they are just there to facilitate you. It's so much better to try and make it fun for everyone involved. We checked out some art shops and the stall of an artist named Chimid. Omar and Andy bought some nice sketches by Chimid of the surrounding landscape and Mongolian ger life. Chimid was very warm and appreciative. By this point Sola had joined us, rather than staying by the car or off somewhere.

We drove further to a spot where Sola pointed out rocks on the top of a mountain that seemed to depict a person reading a book. Thankfully we drove past a fancy hotel with a golf putting range and stopped at a ger camp. Local families rent out extra gers for tourists from inside and outside Mongolia. While that is not the same as getting to know a family and spending time with them in a non tourist area, it seemed a good first taste to suit our limited time in Mongolia. The family rented a ger out to us and brought in some tea and food. We ate, rested, I did a quick watercolor sketch and then a fifteen year old boy came with some horses for us to ride. Sola took one horse,

Andy, Omar and I each got on our own horses. Sola and the boy led Omar and my horse respectively on the way, but Andy managed to handle his. They were very tame horses, if a bit stubborn at times. We went down across a river, then into the woods, slowly making our way over varying terrain. The boy didn't speak much as he led us to his home, where his father and younger brother sat with their cattle. Sola milked a few cows until she had filled a bucket with frothy milk. I wanted to try, but I don't think she understood. She really enjoyed it. Next we sat down in our riding guide's ger with his father and younger brother and were treated to some milk tea and yogurt with biscuits. We asked the family if they knew any songs. Andy and Omar used some Korean which Sola could understand having spent time in Korea to communicate and Omar had also picked up some good Mongolian phrases. We asked if the family knew any songs. They said no, so we just started singing some for them. They smiled and clapped along. After a few, Sola and the shy children started to sing. Sola sang some really beautiful Mongolian songs and the boys giggled shyly and added a word here and there. Finally it was time to return to the ger we were staying in, so we rode back. This time I rode the (very tame) horse by myself, with some prodding from the boy when it would go too slow. On the ride back, we all sang songs. The boy opened up and we even had him and Sola singing parts of Junoon's "Saeen." It was great to see everyone opening up and connecting like that. There's a really sweet feeling in sharing that music together. We heard a number of beautiful Mongolian songs too. Seriously though, we need to work on some new songs.

Back at the ger, we ate some dinner and then sat outside with some Mongolian men waiting for their own food. They were pretty friendly and Andy shared his Khumi (traditional Mongolian throat singing) which they really appreciated. Omar joined in, using a bottle for percussion and I joined in with some singing also. Some people formed around us and it was fun to get people clapping and singing a few verses in languages they did not know as we tried to bridge the gap between their language which we did not know and our own. We asked them to sing, but no one did. I had heard that Mongolians love singing songs together, but no luck. Finally it was time for them to eat, so they all went in their gers and we went to ours to get some sleep. It turned out, the party was just starting for everyone else and we heard lots of singing and talking early into the morning. Though we tried, we weren't really able to connect all that well to most of the people at the ger camp we stayed in. People were amused by our music, but that didn't really connect them to us on a level much beyond just some tourist showing up at a tourist place, but it was a good time.

Resting and the Lemons

2008-07-12T03:46:00.000-07:00

With two of us sick and rough traveling behind and in ahead of us, we decided to take it easy. I updated my blog and relaxed until evening. We walked to the State Department Store, where I replaced my stolen camera. We stopped at the pharmacy where I was very entertained by Omar and Andy miming their symptoms and the medicines (motion sickness pills and antibiotics respectively) they wanted to a non english speaking staff. Lucky for them, a Korean Air hostess walked in and helped them out with her perfect english and mongolian.

We walked around looking for traditional music performances, but could not find any. Instead, we checked out a fun Mongolian band called the Lemons at the Grand Irish Pub. It was fun and I managed a sketch. The set was short, but I managed to sketch two members, before the place closed and we walked back to the hostel.

Naadam

2008-07-11T03:03:00.000-07:00

Next morning we went to the Naadam Festival. We wanted to go to the opening ceremony, but the hostel wanted to sell them together. So we went to the stadium, figuring we would take out chances there. Along the way, most places were closed. We met some tourists from Holland and walked with them to the Naadam Stadium. Along the way I photographed some interesting graffiti and old trains. At the stadium there were many people all around. We managed to get all 4 of us tickets to the opening for a good price by bargaining just before it began. We quickly rushed into the stadium, and I realized that someone had likely picked my pocket and my camera their own. I felt crummy about it, but I still had my video camera, so I shot some memories with that and tried not to think about it too much. Being there was more amazing than owning a camera. There were lots of acrobats, dancers and parades of archers, wrestlers, horsees and performances with Buddhist masks and music. The crowd was excited and you could tell there was a lot of pride and love for their own culture. The crowd dispersed considerably once the preliminary wrestling began.

We watched for a bit and then walked outside the stadium, looking at stalls. Andy and Mike drank some Aireg (traditional fermented Mare's milk drink) and we hopped on a bus to the valley outside the city where the horse racing and cultural exhibits were taking place. Out the window, the cityscape turned to green hills and gers in the distance and after a little over an hour we were there.

Mike got in a long line for food. Omar and I sat down in the grass and a soon a couple of teens on horses dropped by to say hello. We traded broken english back and forth. They were nice kids and after a bit said goodbye and rode on down the hill. Andy joined Mike (still in line) while Omar and I walked off to look for the cultural area we had heard about at the market. As we approaced a circle enclosing a bunch of stalls, we heard a man calling for us to come over. We went over and a Mongolian man and his wife and mother or mother in law asked if we were Muslim, then invited us to join them. They offered us some food, though we had to decline as it was not vegetarian. We talked for a while with the couple. The husband worked with a lot of Muslims in Malaysia and he mentioned that there were some Pakistani businessmen in Ulannbataar who imported second hand Japanese cars which were put to use by the Mongolians in their capital.

His brother had just finished up some beautiful paintings of horses along the circular enclosure for the Naadam Culture Festival. Suddenly people started walking to the trail below to watch the young horse riders race past. The crowd cheered and we watched for a while before walking back to Andy and Mike. They were still in line, but understandably frustrated and angry at this point. They had been cut many times and once by a family where the father wanted to fight with them for being upset that they were cutting on front of them in line. Fed up, they left the line and walked with us to the Culture area. We missed the two live traditional music performances, but managed to check out booths for traditiional games, felt art making, traditional music where Andy sang with a Tuvan singer. At the felt art making booth, I spoke to a young Mongolian girl who suggested I should make a piece. As an artist I really wanted to try it, so I purchased some tokens and came back to do just that. While we were waiting, the girl asked how I liked the event, and my only problem was I could not find any food I could eat. She walked over and grabbed a bag of chocolate from her stuff and gave it to me. We talked for a bit while waiting for the felt artist to be free so she could show me how to make a piece. Then when the artist was free, the girl kindly held on to my bag for me and I went to work with this artist. The girl provided some translations between me and the artist. The artist was a really nice woman. I suggested we make flowers, so she started making one on one side of the wool sheet and I made one next to it.

She took her time and very sweetly explained by example how it was down. We used soapy water to make the fluffy wool manageable. She shaped an firey flower with some great color mixing. During the process she was a little uncertain at my flower. Without the stem it looked like a colored blob. She said "This one my flower, that one yours." and I couldn't deny that it looked pretty strange. I managed to pull it together once I added the stem and she could see where I was going. Then she complimented it and asked which I liked better. I felt that they were both best together. There is nothing like the connection you feel when you create art together. It is such a beautiful and joyous experience to just enjoy creating something with someone in such a free manner.

We both had so much fun working on it together, we exchanged emails and I asked my Mike to take a picture of all of us together. That experience is what travelling is all about to me. Connecting with people all over the world is simply amazing. Andy, Mike, Omar and I walked around some more as the boothes closed down one by one. We bought tickets for the evening music show and just hung out, talking to event organizers from the Mongolian Arts Council etc. I did a quick sketch of the beautiful sky and hills. Living in the city it is easy to forget how amazing it feels to be surrounded by such beauty and to breathe such clean air. Andy, Mike and I walked to the traditional Mongolian games stall, which had long since closed. An old Mongolian man in traditional dress with endless patience played a game where he flicked a plastic disc off a rectangular piece of wood to try and hit two tiny ankle bones on a chest across from him.
We watched for a while as he kept getting closer. After each try, he walked over and picked up the disk, only to return to the tiny stool and try again. Finally, he invited us to try by motioning to us. He replaced the ankle bones with a larger target of a row of plastic cylinders. Without any common language he patiently showed us how to do it. Andy tried, then Mike. I watched and learned from each. Surprisingly I managed to hit it within a few tries and then Mike and Andy tried again until they got it too. We thanked our host and walked to where the concert would take place later. We met up with Omar and bought tickets.

The concert began as the long Mongolian sunset began. We sat in front and I knocked out some sketches of solo and collaborative Mongolian and Korean music performances. We talked to the organizers a bit afterwards then hopped on the performers bus back to the city.

Ulanbataar

2008-07-10T22:38:00.000-07:00

Took it easy today. A slow start to regain som energy for the Naadam festival which begins tomorrow. We walked toward the National Musical Instrument Store. There were some interesting buildings along the way, met an Indian American from Berkley named Jaspal while passing the parliament building, shortly after my encounter with the Duracel (yes duracel) bunny. He was working on medical research in Mongolia, helping people to make use of technology in remote areas. We ate at a Ukranian restaurant where vegetarian means big pieces of meat.

It's hilarious to try and explain to cab drivers how to take us back to our hostel. It is by the train station, and we usually say choo choo, and then Omar drew a train. It cracks up even the most serious cab driver every time. So far we keep making it back to the hostel using that method.

I lost my photos from this day because my camera was stolen the following day and I had not downloaded them, so here are photos by Omar of our adventures that day.

Ulanbataar Arrival

2008-07-09T22:03:00.000-07:00

Day startedwith us still on the train to Mongolia, but now on the Mongolian side. Flat desert land changed to flat grass land over time. We could see some horses, sheep and a few gers and shacks along the way. It wasn't until we approached Ulanbataar that we saw some small buildings. Little Chengaiz dropped by a few times and Andy played some Sepultura for him on my ipod and headphones. He liked the headphones. As we neared our destination, he sat looking very pensive out the window and shyed away when I took a photo. We spoke to the Mongolian ambassabor to Turkey (or maybe he just worked for the embassy there, not sure) along the way. Eventually we reached there, and I felt a bit better. We were all relieved after the 30 hour ride.

Mongolia is fascinating. As far as I know, Ulanbataar is the only city and there is diverse scenic beauty to be had all around. This city is in the middle of gorgeous grassy mountains. We washed up at the hostel as the rain died down. After we walked around waterfilled potholes with a girl from the hostel. We grabbed some food at a vegetarian restaurant and then took a trip to the Naran Tuul Market, which was like a Jumma Bazaar (Friday Market in Pakistan). We had been warned by the Mongolian Ambassador to Turkey not to bother going there because of pickpockets and it was dirty, but we went anyway. It was interesting, with all kinds of household goods, clothes etc. We saw a traditional street performer singing, and Andy tried out some of the Mongolian Fiddles (he actually has one at home so he knows how to play it). It was fun to see him play and to see the surprise and delight of the people selling the instruments. They were happy to tell us about the instruments. On the way out, we were very lucky and ran into a group of people promoting Culture Naadam, Nomad Arts Festival. We are here in Mongolia to check out the Nadaam Festival, which is the biggest cultural celebration in Mongolia. There are many related celebrations going on throughout the town and many people from all over the world are here to enjoy it. It starts on July 11th.

The people we ran into were promoting an arts and music focused Nadaam event where there will be horse racing, archery and perhaps wrestling, but there will also be tons of musicians and painters..I can't wait!

We walked back to the State Department store; a 7 level shopping mall and checked out some things there before grabbing some food across the street and taking poor sick Andy home to the hostel. The taxi ride home was pretty entertaining. Omar ended up drawing a crude looking train after we spent about five minutes saying choo choo to try and explain that we wanted to go near the train station.

Finally we got home, checked some email and crashed.

The people here are interesting. My first impression is of a sort of macho attitude and at first people did not seem to smile, but then some did later on. There seems to be a strong connection maintained to their culture, though pop and hip hop is a strong influence here as well. The weather is cool and the scenery is breathtaking. The traffic is very slow, but people do seem to stop at lights, and there is a better chance of a car stopping for a pedestrian here than in China.

Beijing to Mongolia

2008-07-08T22:32:00.000-07:00

The next morning we got up too early and head over to the train station to catch the train to Ulanbataar, capital of Mongolia. The diverse scenery of China along the way was fascinating. There were all kinds of small industrial and farming communities. As we travelled further, the landscape transformed from grassy fields and rocky hills to flat, barren desert with sparse vegetation and back again. The wait staff on the train was horrible. One guy, my friends had nicknamed "pork rined face" kept messing with us. The staff in the dining car were always hanging out refusing to serve food (at least whenever we went there) and coupled with the 30 hours of travel it made for rough going. Andy and I felt sick. My head really hurt and I felt weak. All we could eat was ramen and chips etc. We made sure to stock up, but after a while you really want something with more substance.

There was this hilarious little Mongolian kid who spoke some English, Mandarin and Mongolian on the train. He'd come by and visit, and each time we'd wonder which split personality would be on exhibit. Sometimes he was really nice, and polite, saying sorry, as he squeezed past other passengers hanging out in the hall. Other times you could say something to him and he'd get this adorably evil look on his face and just keep telling people to shut up (not so cute). That's when I'd worry that little Chengaiz would lunge forward and drink my blood at any moment.

Apparently the tracks are different on the Mongolian side versus China. So once we reached the last border town in China, we stopped for 5 hours, going through Chinese customs, and a lovely train wheel replacement process that involved lots and lots of ramming. Most of the passengers were let off before this began, while those of us who were foreign to China or Mongolia were forced to stay on the train as our passports were scrutinized by customs outside. No one told us anything as we waited, My friends and I were the only ones in our car left with "Pork Rind Face" who slept in his room and told us we could not get off the train. The cars were disconnected as the laborious process of replacing wheels took place.
I felt pretty miserable at this point, and we were all pretty irritated.
Eventually, they were letting some people from other cars (we could see out the window) out. "Pork Rind Face" tried to tell us we still could not leave and by this point we realized that this jerk was trying to give us a hard time for nothing, so we just got off. We walked over to the general store at the station in the middle of the night. It was all pretty surreal. All the foreign passengers were emerging from the cars at last as the rest of the passengers reboarded with bags full of food from the store. We stumbled to the general store with Celine Dion blaring from speakers all over the station.

We grabbed a whole bunch of food and sat outside in a daze with all the other foreigners. Finally, it was time to reboard and we got back into our "cells". My head hurt really bad and I felt weak so I tried to sleep. The guys for some reason thought it would be great to play cards with the neighboring Mongolian girls so they all squeezed into our compartment, woke me up and scrunched me up into half the bed. I tried to keep sleeping...but it was pointless. They played for a little bit then decided to call it a night. Just long enough for me to be wide awake as the lights went out and they were all ready to sleep. I was really angry and let my frustration out on the guys. My head pounded pretty bad, and I really wasn't in the mood to be anywhere at that point. It probably wasn't the best time to get mad, but sometimes that's just how goes.

On the plus side, I did my first watercolor sketch of the trip today, before I started feeling terrible.

Beijing and the J-Pop Sensation!

2008-07-07T22:24:00.000-07:00

Our bus reached Beijing in the morning. We grabbed some food by the side of the road, outside the bus depot and walked to a bus stop that took us to the center of the city. Andy saw some funky looking hairdressers with big J-Pop hair hanging outside a barbershop and decided to get a hair cut. He and Omar went there while Mike and I walked further down the narrow lane to an internet cafe to get directions to our hostel. We came back to the barbershop and witnessed the beginnings of Andy's transformation into a J-Pop sensation (he's been on Japanese TV you know)..but these things take time, so we left Omar to document the process and Mike and I grabbed the metro to the hostel. Beijing is a strange city of facades from what I have seen. There is rapid construction of new traditional looking buildings and accents to stores all over. The shopekeepers seem trained to sell to foreigners, but there is a complete lack of warmth or reality. For a city with such a rich cultural history, it is sad to see it become this for the Olympics. We'll have to explore some more when we get back, but that is my initial impression. We waited for Andy and Omar at the metro stop, but gave up after a while to grab some noodles. I'd run out of clean shirts, and you really can't reuse once worn clothing in this humid heat, so I just walked around like that.

While we were eating, Andy and Omar walked passed the restaurant. We got them and they grabbed some food too. After, we went and to the hostel where everyone else cleaned up while I checked email. Andy and Omar found a guitar and bongos in the hostel cafe and started playing music. I joined them with some singing and we entertained the other travellers in the hostel cafe for a while before heading out to walk around. The area we were in was surrounded by trendy, over priced shops that were fairly devoid of customers. People were walking around, but I didn't see many buying. I don't know who these stores cater too. I assume to foreigners. We met an interesting girl working at a music cd store who told us about a lot of different types of Chinese music. Communicating was interesting because Mike was not with us and she hardly knew any english. We managed to write notes and use hand gestures combining Andy's knowledge of Japansese (I guess some of the characters are common) to get some information.

We walked on and passed some tattoo shops and more expensive boutiques before settling on a place for dinner. We managed to order some vegetarian food and struck up a conversation with some guys at the table next door who looked like they could be in a band. Turns out they were. One of them spoke some english (his nickname as he told us was Paco). He was really into all kinds of music and their band played rap/rock. They also had a shop we visited with their own label of "urban" style clothing just like the U.S. He told us about a huge rock show like woodstock for Chinese Bands that takes place in October in Beijing. We got his info and will try and check out his band when we return to Beijing.

Afterwards, we walked past the Wu Mart and tons of trendy stores to make our way back to the hostel. We walked over to the hostel cafe and found it full of foreigners again. Omar picked up the bongos, Andy the guitar and we played music deep into the night, and talked about all the cafe folks about Mongolia, shared experiences, the joys of travelling etc. It was a pretty diverse group. We have not run into any Americans on this trip though we have come across Europeans, and some Chinese travellers. It was really fun playing to that crowd late at night. Since I could communicate to them in English, I was able to tell them about the songs we sang and about some of the wonderful experiences we had enjoyed in Anqing.

We went to bed later than we should have as usual, but as usual, it was worth it.

Jiuhuashan to Anqing to Beijing

2008-07-06T22:03:00.000-07:00

The next morning we head put early in the morning without hardly any sleep. The bus took us down the mountain, and on to another bus back to Anqing. It broke down and we hung out for an hour until it was repaired and we could continue. Back in Anqing a few random people welcomed us back knowing we had left the day before. Somehow word got around. We called a friend of Mike's to meet, but it did not work out, so we trudged around. Walking past a shoe shop we heard some really cool music, so we stopped in and asked them if we could copy it. So we did, and the store staff were quite amused. We grabbed some food, hit a squawking zombie filled internet cafe. The resthouse owner came with is to revisit Kim Jong at the bus depot to help us get a good price and see us off. OUr friend from the Suzuki shop dropped by with some food for the trip. The people in Anqing were the best. We head out very grateful to them on a bus with beds, thankful to a Korean dictator for securing us 4 spots on the bus, driven by his brother who squawked at people on the bus until his voice went hoarse. Tiny kids were crammed into the aisles along the way. Mike was cooked in the back of the bus, before I took his place and sweat more in that shirt than I have ever sweat in any shirt over and over without washing before.
We made friends with the sweet kids on their way back to their families from school, on break. They were patient with our weak Chinese and we traded snacks. Mostly we tried to sleep, stopping once for a quick bathroom break and once for food in the middle of the night. Passengers were nice and tried to make sure we all knew when to eat etc.

17 hours is along time to soak in your own sweat in a cramped dirty bed on a bus.

Anqing and Jiuhuashan

2008-07-05T21:39:00.000-07:00

Woke up and organized some photos while the guys slept. We left some laundry and heavy backpacks with the hotel. They kindly offered to handwash the clothes for free. We grabbed some hot fresh noodles next door where a little girl sat shyly looking over at us..except when the camera was on her :). We grabbed a cab and started out towards the long distance bus depot. We passed some beautiful gardens enroute. On the way Andy spotted a tower in the distance and we decided to take a detour there. It was a large Buddhist temple and monestary. Just past the entrance statues in the second room there were some amazing towering goldden Buddhas. This place had a real sense of peace and holiness to it. More so than the one in Shanghai to me. There was an amazing garden in the complex and the tower ticket taker was happy to tell us more about this beautiful place. Some students introduced themselves to us and then came up with us up the tower. The wind whipped harder the higher we went, but the view all around was wonderful. The students asked us questions. Some entrancing singing led us around the corner, to two seated women slowly singing "". We sat down with them and Andy asked them to write down their chant for us. The were glad to share and before we knew it, were sitting in a row singing together. A few other people around the temple came down and sat with us. After singing for a while, we stopped and they insisted that we eat a melon like fruit. Coincidentally the ladies had purchased four that day and there were four of us guests. They insisted on each of us having one. We peeled the fruit and I cut mine up to share with the students and temple people and singers. I really had to coax people into taking a piece, and in the end only a few students out of all the people ate the fruit with us. The women said it was fate that they should buy 4 fruit for the 4 guests they were to meet later that day. We said goodbye and head back to the bus station from which we head off to Jiuhuashan. Mike as usual went in line to figure out and deal with our ticketing needs. Tickets had run out, but Mike figured out a bus route. We jumped on the first bus which I think called the next one and made it wait for us. We just jumped from one to the next several hours later from which we got on a third bus up the mountain to Jiuhuashan.
The view coming up the mountain was gorgeous. You could see temples dotting the mountains above. Once there we got a place to sleep and walked further up the mountain. Beautiful temples were everywhere. Many had swooping, more traditional looking roofs. There was a bronze/gold colored tower further up. Exhausted before we even got there, we trudged up and met a monk by some more temples before we continued up to the tower. We lazed around took in the serenity of the tower temple. As the sun went down, the commando monk from earlier came by and hung out for a bit. We started back to the town below before it became dark. The town was well lit and full of tourist shops that sold low quality tourist trinkets as hawkers tried to rip us off. It was kind of annoying and we all had a negative feeling about the town. It was safe and clean, but the people working there just put us off in contrast to how beautiful the temples were.

Anqing

2008-07-04T21:33:00.000-07:00

Arrived in Anqing via overnight train from Shanghai and met a bank employee on the way who was returning home. He told us about a tower but said there was not much else to see in Anqing. We got there off the train, tried to get tickets to Beijing for later, but only expensive 1st class tickets were left so we avoided an annoying ticket selling guy in the crowd and walked out of the station to check on buses. Mike met a famous Korean dictator who happens to drive buses in China (see picture). Mike's Mandarin is the whole reason we can communicate with people and get so much out of this wonderful trip. All praise Mike and his amazing Mandarin abilities. He's the best! Kim Jong graciously said that all we need do is call him and he would make sure there was room on the bus for all four of us. Special treatment for the rare foreigners to come to Anqing. Across the street Mike and Omar went to negotiate a hotel while Andy and I walked a bit further. A small mob of curious and friendly people came out of the woodworks to see us. They all wanted us to eat at their place and stay at their hotels. We figured it was the usual trying to sell you stuff thing, but these people really don't get many foreigners in town so more than anything they wanted to talk to us. So Mike and Omar joined, with the hotel owner they spoke to down the street in tow. We all sat down as they prepared some food for us. It took a long time and we talked for quite a while. They were very friendly, but we really wanted to get on with it and do things. We were also wary of intentions. We ate, paid for our meal, then walked over to the hotel. It was small and nice. After bathing, resting and hand washing clothes we went off to explore the town a bit. A couple of hours exploring later found us at a restaurant eating some of the best food of the trip so far. Across the street, the young owner of a Suzuki repair shop came over having seen us through the window eating. He wanted to take us out that night. After a bit of talking we asked about live music and found the closest thing...karaoke :). We agreed to meet later. While walking back a young guy asked if he could take a picture with us. Andy and Omar lifted him up and his wife took a photo. He dropped us off at his hotel in his car. Turns out he is a school teacher like Omar. Once we got back, we saw a huge crowd by the train station. After asking the teacher and our hotel owner, we found out it was local Anqing Opera singers doing a traditional street performance. The four of us were very excited and ran over there. As soon as they saw us, they asked us to play some songs. Again, they don't get many foreigners here. We agreed to sing a song. We have no instruments on this trip, so we just play with what is available. In his case, there were some interesting string instruments with bows and the women were amazing singers and performers. They gave us stools and sat us in front of the crowd with a great view of the performance. Honestly, in a situation like this I usually question the intentions of people involved just to be safe, but these people wanted nothing. They were just sweet and genuinely happy to see foreign guests and wanted to welcome us. After a few songs by them, we were extremely honored to go up and play. Omar grabbed a stool, Mike a small wood precussion intrument and Andy bravely borrowed a string instrument he had never played before. I setup my video camera as the guys setup, then joined them, kneeling next to Andy.
I looked out at the crowd of young and old Chinese people of Anqing. They were so warm and sweet to us. Smiling and curious at these new guests. We started with a song we had played at the store in Shanghai. Usually I look down and away from the audience in the rare instances that I do sing in front of any number of people other than the bandmates..I'm really not a performer. But that evening, I just had to look out at them. I can't even describe in words how heartfelt that experience was. Watching a crowd of kind and appreciative people welcome a bunch of weird strangers into their town and listen open heartedly to our music in languages they didn't understand was a moving experience. As we played, one by one a bunch of little kids squat down on their chubby little legs behind the video camera, watching the lcd screen with eyes wide open and cute little ears sticking out. There were probably 5 or 6 of them. Now and then one round little guy would put his little mitt in front of the camera to see his hand in the screen. It was so adorable. The people were so supportive and the opera singers asked us to play more. We probably played 4-5 songs in multiple languages. It was such a surprise. None of us expected such a spontaneous thing to happen. Then we had to leave to meet our Suzuki friend to go for Karaoke. Our host insisted on paying our way into the club. We went in and sang a bunch of songs in a private room, before checking out the automated rising and tilting dance floor with a fun live band and a great dj. The crowd was really friendly and kept giving us thumbs up as we danced. It was pretty funny. The moving floor was crazy and the energy in the crowd along with the music made everyone push until they could push no more. As the club closed we walked outside, tired and happy. Suddenly, we saw some kids running away, leaving a kid holding his head, crumpled on the floor. We went over the check on him. There was blood all over his arm and head. He was dazed. Some shirtless kids starting walking back towards him. My friends and I motioned for them to leave him alone. Thankfully they left. Some other kids came by and called the police. We took off, having done what we could for the kid, but it was a really sickening end to an otherwise great day.

Shanghai 3

2008-07-03T11:06:00.000-07:00

Woke up at the hostel in Shanghai. Surfed the net, uploaded photos. The guys woke and went to get train tickets and drop off out heavy backpacks. From there we went to Duolin Rd which has many statues of famous Chinese political writers near their former homes. We checked out an excellent contemperary painting exhibit and many antique shops with Mao buttons and illustrated books. We walked down the street Andy tried out a Hulusi (interesting wind instrument) at an instruments shop along the roadside and I checked out some interesting inside painting done intricately on the inside of glass snuff bottles and spheres. Exhausted, we began walking back, when I saw a man in the distance down the narrow lane we were travelling. He had a long whispy beard and hat which looked like he might be Muslim. So we stopped in to say hello and find out. We walked closer and he saw is from acorss the street and waved for us to come in. We had just eaten, but agreed to order a small dish we could share. Our host and his family were so happy to see us (two of us are from Pakistan). He told us he was indeed Muslim and from Qinghai in the west of China. He had a large picture of the Khana Kaba in Mecca and one of a large Mosque presumably in Qinghai inside his tiny retaurant. We ate some tomatoes and eggs. After the meal we went to pay and they refused to take any money from us. We walked out to thank the owner and saw that he was performing wadu (ritual washing before Muslim prayer), so my friend Omar and I asked to join him in prayer. His brother Hasn and he (Isa as in Jesus) brought out 2 prayer mats, a cloth sheet and a towel for us to pray in the dining area (with the tables pushed to one side). Andy and Mike sat on one side and the entire family watched as Isa, Hasan, Omar and I prayed together. No language in common, but a shared religous tradition.
It was a pretty amazing thing to share, and our way of connecting and thanking them. We talked a bit with Mike as translater before saying goodbye. We walked on, jumped on the metro and came back to the train station. By then we were hungry for dinner and grabbed some dumplings. Andy surprised us with some ice cream from a Burger King and Omar brought some coffee. Outside I saw this cute chubby little guy playing some stick ball on his own. His mother, a vegetable seller asked me to take his picture and I gladly did and showed it to her. She was happy, but did not want to be photographed herself. We got on the overnight train to Anqing.

Shanghai 2

2008-07-02T19:00:00.000-07:00

I woke in the morning in Shanghai and sent a few more emails. Then we left our heavy backpacks at the hostel and took smaller bags out. We grabbed train tickets to Anqing from around the corner and then took a taxi to Qibon. We walked around lanes and alleys of a bazaar that reminded me of streets in older parts of Karachi and Lahore, but cleaner, and not all broken. I saw an amazing artist gallery of an apparently well known Chinese sculptor on his 100th anniversary (I'm assuming he is no longer living). There was a tribute gallery from his students as well. I also some art books and spoke to a man named Aaron about them. I greeted him with a "Nee how" and he assumed I knew mandarin and started speaking...but when he saw the confused look on my face, he switched to some pretty good English. I spoke for a bit then ran ahead to call my friends back to check out the music instrument shop next door. We returned and Mike broke a guitar string while tuning. Andy played Guzheng (kind of a tabletop string instrument). Omar grabbed a stool and started drumming after hitting different parts of it to get a feel for the sound. I drew a not so great sketch of them as they jammed on a song we had played before much to the delight of the woman who owned the shop and Aaron from next door. A crowd gathered in the narrow lane in front of the shop and people enjoyed seeing them play music and seeing me do my crude little pen sketch on a scrap of paper. I gave the sketch to our gracious hosts then joined the guys on a song. It was such a sweet experience to break out of that tourist looking to buy something and store owner looking to sell something mode and to just share a beautiful moment using music to communicate. The people were so sweet and gracious, it was very touching and beautiful to be there and share that. They refused to let us pay for the broken string.

We exchanged contact info (I gave them my cards with the watercolor sketches on them) and we walked on across a canal with interesting boats on it and head over to the Buddhist Temple (7 treasures). Entrance fee was 5 rmb (less than a US dollar) paid to a sleeping attendant woke as soon as we snuck, I mean walked up to him. The temple was a beautiful tower in a larger walled
compound, with a garden and building with statues dedicated to military heroes. We walked up the tower, each floor with what I believe was a representation of the Buddha as people bowed down, lit incense, and walked up. Mike met a group of mostly younger girls who started asking him questions about us. They in in turn told us more about the temple. They joined us for a bit and asked for all of us to take pictures with their family out in the garden. We did and they were very sweet, and seriously had crushes on Mike haha. We went to a pool with statues of the 7 treasures before saying goodbye many pictures later and checked out the military heroes statues before heading to a restaurant outside for another amazing vegetarian meal.
We rested there a few hours before grabbing a taxi to M50, an industrial complex converted into an artist area. We knew we had arrived when we started seeing tons of amazing graffiti along a long stretch of wall. We got out at a gallery and started exploring. This was the most amazing creative arts place! Many excellent galleries. The spaces were as fascinating as the art in them. Tons of variety. It was truly humbling to see the excellence of contempary Chinese art along side some foreign art. There were younger people spray painting more great graffiti on designated walls. We spent a lot of time exploring before sitting in a beautiful coffee shop to decided a route to walk, following the Souzhu canal to the Bund.

Along the walk we got to see some old housing amid colossal apartment complexes and old shops in grimy streets. We freaked out a lady at a recycling center we happened upon in the dark by standing around and discussing with each other as Andy wanted to ask to take pictures for his sustainability research. He wanted to explain to them what he was doing, and create some dialogue with them, but we spooked the lady who seemed to be in charge, so when Mike went to ask her, she freaked and yelled at us and told us to leave...so we did. Andy did manage to chat with a friendly police officer about a pile of metal scraps down the street. Our interest in it fascinated many passers by too :).

We kept walking and passed through what I think were some old buildings from the French Concession before finally making it to the beautiful night view of the Bund. Beautiful light and a mixed bag of architecture. Another amazing meal before we head back, exhausted to a bus..which died and let all of us out followed by a taxi home. Exhausted..what a day!

Shanghai

2008-07-01T18:26:00.000-07:00

So...the format of this blog is going to change for a bit. I'm travelling through China and a few other places, so I'll be posting some travel stuff for the folks back home.

I flew out of Los Angeles on China Eastern Air. They were really nice, my friend Omar had forgot to ask for a vegetarian meal so the flight attendant gave him hers, but it wasn't vegetarian so no luck. Oh well he got stuffed with some extra bread. There was also a funny video for the passengers to do some excercises before we landed as the flight attendants acted them out and we all followed along. Nothing like a plane full of people with their arms sticking up with a cheery flight attendant running through cute little excercises. After 13.5 hours we arrived in Shanghai around 6:15pm on July 1st.

The airport was really nice, and lucky for us, it very empty. We grabbed our stuff and hopped on the #6 bus toward the metro. We had directions from my friend Mike to our meeting point, but Omar and I have no Chinese language skills so it was a bit tricky. I memorized the characters for the place we were going, to see if I could keep track. We asked a few times, but it was tricky
to communicate. Finally we asked again after travelling for a long time and not hearing our stop called out. The ticket taker and driver just nodded and laughed, repeating the names of our stop then dropped us off several blocks before our stop :(. So we "talked" to some very nice people at a convenience store who did hand gestures to tell us where the metro was. Very appreciative, we head there, hopped on the metro and went off to East Nanjing Road, where there are all kinds of trendy stores. We met lots of people who wanted us to buy stuff. We waited for our friend Andy, but he wasn't there, so we grabbed some food using a piece of paper that said Buddhist Meal in Mandarin (courtesy of a friend of Omar's in LA). Vegetarian food is a somewhat misunderstood concept, but we were able to find it. Waitre staff etc at restaraunts are so nice. They wait at your table and serve serve serve.

After eating we head over to the metro stop again and waited. We met an intereting kid who kept telling us (in a very robotic tone) "Hello, I am a child of fifteen years old. I want to talk to you. I don't want any money, just to talk to you. If you won't speak to me I will lose hope in society. Can you buy me some food. If you cannot by me some food then you can give me some money. Maybe 10 rmb. I am just a child. I am not trying to sell anything. All I want to do is talk. Look at me when I talk to you." Omar felt guilty and kept looking at the well rehearsed "child" until we just ignored him and kept walking away..he ended up walking away eventually Omar and I sat down as everything closed and a large cleaning crew started hosing down the walkways. The metro closed and we figured our friends were a bit late and would come by taxi as we had planned as a backup.

Finally Andy walked over in a dress shirt and tie and the three of us traded stories and sat around. He started teaching us some Mandarin in a robotic sounding tone. We cracked up
and so did some Chinese folks sitting behind us. After a while we saw Mike in the distance with his huge red bag. Omar ran over and grabbed him. It felt surreal that the 4 of us had met up across the world like that, and everyone was very relieved.

We grabbed a taxi, with the most hilarious female taxi driver. Mike sat in front as he speaks Mandarin and told her where we were going. Andy chimed in with some Mandarin bits here and there with Mike's help. She had this really joyful laugh, even when she yelled at some other driver to go die when he got stuck in the road for a bit, blocking us. We got to the hostel which was amazing and threw our stuff down before running out to Mcdonalds (only place still open and close by) and grabbed some food before coming back and collapsing to sleep.

Who dis?

2008-06-26T23:46:00.000-07:00

Okay...I don't remember who these bands are...but I have scanned and uploaded my backlog of sketches. Been working on animation only lately..but I think I'll be sketching again soon!

Saul Williams

2008-04-26T23:52:00.000-07:00

Saul Williams at the Troubadour.

Rockstar Part 4

2008-03-26T23:39:00.000-07:00

Last of the Rockstar set.

Rockstar Part 3

2008-03-23T23:35:00.000-07:00

Rockstar Part 2

2008-03-21T23:25:00.000-07:00

Rockstar Part 1

2008-03-19T23:04:00.000-07:00

I started to get bored with the watercolors. Not because I feel like I know a lot, rather I just needed a change of pace. I brought in my tablet pc (which I could draw on directly) for this session and created these in Painter and Photoshop. It was actually very difficult to do these very quick sketches. Everytime I switch to something new, there is a learning curve. That is obvious in the varying quality of these sketches.

Sailor Part 2

2008-02-13T22:41:00.000-08:00

The rest of the Sailor sketches from this session.

Sailor Part 1

2008-02-11T22:37:00.000-08:00

Here are some sketches from a Drawing Club Session.

Drawing Club: Mime

2008-02-03T19:51:00.000-08:00

This weeks theme was a Mime. We had a very talented professional Mime who came and posed for us. His name is Mark Wenzel and you can see more of him here. See what other artists came up with here.

Drawing Club: Silent Film Actress

2008-01-27T19:42:00.000-08:00

This weeks theme was a Silent Film Actress. Take a look at how others interpreted it here.

UCLA Indian Classical Students Show

2008-01-21T18:24:00.000-08:00

Did some sketches in the dark at a cool little show put on by very talented traditional Indian Classical music and Dance students at UCLA.

Andal Tiruppavai Vaibhavam

2008-01-15T16:41:00.000-08:00

I went to the Andal Tiruppavai Vaibhavam Sangeetha Upanyasam by Thiruvaiyaru Sri S. R. Krishnan. Say that three times as fast. During the sound check the musicians sounded amazing, but the actualy performance was more of a lecture without any music. I'm sure it would gave been interesting, but I don't understand Tamil, so I did some drawings, and after two hours left. Still, it was very nice of the host family to open their home to complete strangers for enjoy the performamce.

Drawing Club: Matrix Part 2

2008-01-13T20:29:00.000-08:00

Drawing Club: Matrix Part 1

2008-01-11T19:50:00.000-08:00

Drawing Club: Santa Claus 2

2007-12-25T19:30:00.000-08:00

The rest of my Santa sketches. See what the other artists came up with here.

Drawing Club: Santa Part 1

2007-12-21T17:58:00.000-08:00

Look, it's Santa!

Drawing Club: Bladerunner Part 2

2007-12-19T19:20:00.000-08:00

Here are the rest of the sketches from that session. Check out some of the other artists' work here.

Drawing Club: Bladerunner Part 1

2007-12-12T19:06:00.000-08:00

This Bladerunner theme was a lot of fun to draw.

Drawing Club: Leyendecker Part 2

2007-12-05T08:12:00.000-08:00

Here is another batch of sketches from the same session. See what other artists came up with here.

Drawing Club: Leyendecker Part 1

2007-11-29T15:46:00.000-08:00

Here are the first set of drawings from the Leyendecker theme at the Drawing Club.

Odalan Bali: An Offering of Music and Dance

2007-11-21T10:00:00.000-08:00

I went to an amazing show called Odalan Bali: An Offering of Music and Dance at UCLA's Royce Hall. During the first half I cobbled together this sketch of a very small fraction of performers on stage. During the second half, I sat in awe of the amazing dancers and muscians and drew nothing.

Drawing Club Salome

2007-11-20T09:08:00.000-08:00

Once a month, the drawing club has a Sunday session, which is a single pose for 3 hours. This week the theme was Salome and here are my experimentations. See what my amazing fellow artists came up with here.

Drawing Club Boxer Part 4

2007-11-19T19:11:00.000-08:00

Eventually, I hope to bring more of this quality to the sketches I do at shows or out and about. These drawing sessions help a lot, because we have such hard working models who hold poses. It becomes a lot more difficult to capture that essence elsewhere, when people are in constant motion. See what some of my fellow artists came up with at this session here.

Drawing Club Boxer Part 3

2007-11-18T19:02:00.000-08:00

As usual, you can see multiple interpretations of most of the poses from this session. When I really get going, I just let go and speed up to reduce the amount of thought I put in each. For me, I find the work gains more spontaneity as I feel the work instead of thinking too much about it. Working this way creates more excitement for me, which I hope translates into the work. All of this, is of course pulled from the amazing energy that the model provides.

Drawing Club Boxer Part 2

2007-11-17T18:52:00.000-08:00

Second set of drawings from the session. All watercolor and calligraphy markers. This was a very productive set for me. Productive = oh so much fun!

Drawing Club Boxer Part 1

2007-11-16T10:21:00.001-08:00

Here are the first set of sketches from this weeks drawing club session.

MIA at the Wiltern

2007-11-13T10:33:00.000-08:00

Saw MIA again, this time at the Wiltern. It was a bigger show than the last one. I managed a few sketches in the dark. Sometimes you draw just for the sake of doing it. I liked the ones from last time more, but these were fun to do, and the show was great!

Drawing Club Country Girl Part 2

2007-11-11T11:02:00.000-08:00

The second set of drawings from the drawing club. Take a look at the amazing work that some of the other artists produced at this session here.