August 19, 2011
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The Silk Road (Sort Of) Overland
Tuesday 16 August 2011
Again, this has has been another really amazing day. Following the Silk Road, you don’t really need anybody to organise a spectacular tour for you: you just find a list of any Silk Road-related sights in the area and you’re set.This morning, my taxi driver (who arrived at my hotel on time to pick me up) first took me to the ancient ruins of Gaochang, a city dating back to the second century BC. It was absolutely spectacular to walk through these ruins stretching more than a kilometre, looking almost like a moon landscape, and ending with this amazing large Buddhist monastery. I’m also so happy I saw Subashi site outside Kuche two days ago, because it allowed me to be amazed by it then, and then be blown away by this site this morning.
Next, we went to the Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves, situated next to this gorgeous gorge and dating back to the fourth to the tenth century. Only about five caves out of an original 67 caves were open to visitors, and photography was strictly prohibited – just like at the Buddha caves outside Kuche two days ago – but this was still an incredibly interesting and worthwhile sight to visit. Though, when I tried to count the rows of Buddha paintings in the ceiling of one of the caves I visited, I got nearer to 750 than 1,000 (the reason I counted was that the sign in each cave said “One thousand Buddhas in the ceiling”).
It’s sad to see how most of the wall paintings have been taken away by European archaeologists, yet still quite a few remain. It’s also sad to see how almost all the faces of the remaining paintings have been destroyed or erased. My Discovery Channel travel guide says that in the case of this site, it was the Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution in the 60s and 70s who defaced these Buddha paintings, while in the case of the Buddha paintings in the caves outside Kuche, it was when the local population converted to Islam in the thirteenth century that those Buddha paintings were defaced (or later on).
The impact of looking into the ceiling of a cave and seeing maybe only five out of 750 Buddha paintings NOT having been defaced is quite something. I can really feel the anger and rage of the people who did it – whether for political or religious reasons – and it just saddens me. I’m not a Buddhist, but the idea of people destroying images that are considered holy by another religion is incomprehensible to me. It reminds me of the customs official in Saudi Arabia who confiscated an icon from an Indian guy in front of me in the queue. After he confiscated it, he took out a large knife and defaced the icon right in front of the Indian guy. I that case, I could understand the tremendous emotional impact it would have had on this Indian Christian. In this case, I might not feel the emotional impact this ceiling must have on Buddhists visiting this site, but it still saddens me a great deal (as do the cartoons of the Prophet Mohamed).
After a visit to Grape Valley – where the girl offering people different types of local Chinese wine didn’t understand the difference between “sweet” and “dry” – we went to see the Emin Mosque and Minaret, called Sugong Ta in Chinese. A very impressive 44-metre minaret (I wasn’t allowed to climb) and a beautiful mosque. The style was very much Central Asian and not Chinese. Very interesting.
However, the sight that really made my visit to Turpin worth it was the last one of the day: the ancient Silk Road (and UNESCO Heritage Site) city Jiaohe. And – again! – I’m happy I had seen Subashi and Gaochang prior to this, because this place really blew my socks off. These are ruins dating back to the second century BC, and where most of the remains are from the fifth and sixth centuries. Totally like a moon landscape, with the most amazing rock formations. But it is the sheer volume of an entire city in ruins that adds something completely new here. If you’re ever near Turpan, don’t miss this one!
One thing I’ve discovered today is that the South Koreans are into the Silk Road in a big way. The vast majority of visitors to the sights I’ve seen today were South Koreans. In fact, I don’t think I’ve seen a single European or American at any of the places I visited today (though obviously quite a few Chinese). Another way this became clear to me was at breakfast this morning. When I arrived five minutes early for breakfast, there were already a hundred or so South Koreans in the dining room having breakfast. Very different from Bukhara, Uzbekistan, where I was the only one having breakfast while being watched by three members of staff. Once the South Koreans discover Uzbekistan, that will change of course.
My next stop is Xi’an, the eastern end-point of the Silk Road and the final destination of my journey, and this summer’s travel project. My 27-hour train journey to Xi’an, which started at 9.00 PM this evening, is yet again one where I only could get a stand-only ticket. This time, I have been offered a seat in the restaurant car for the night. For USD 5.00 I can sleep with my head on the restaurant table. They are very pragmatic, the Chinese. I like it.
