宁夏之旅 (一）

“The greatest waste of a brain would be its inability to communicate”

A new year resolution (Being it the Lunar or Roman calendar) would be to pen down some of the experiences I had outside Singapore. Besides releasing them from the confinement of the head, it would perhaps stimulate and provide some travel ideas for the remaining pocketful of those who bother about this blog. (Ernest and Ivy, I know you still RSS this blog.)

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“Staying overnight in a village alone, Walking across the desert at sunset, and experiencing the warmest ties from strangers”

Topping the experiences during Chinese trip is undoubted the 宁夏 leg. Having traveled with Wanying for two weeks, it was scary, yet refreshing, to be alone in a province which sees few outside visitors – 宁夏. This choice was both backed by a desire to explore a territory unknown to most, even Chinese and a dream to visit a desert.

My first reaction upon reaching the Ying Chuan airport was

“Such a rash choice”
I had no idea where to go, what to see and where to stay. Even the lonely planet book has few pages on this province.

Faced with no choice, I head direct to the second biggest city 中卫 where I knew a desert awaits.

Unable to get a taxi, I randomly hopped into a crammed local bus with my two backpacks. Delicately balancing in the mess of people, I nearly fell over a few times. It wasn’t long that a lady offers her seat to me. I swear it was the first time that a female offers her seat for me. With the setting based in such an Asian male chauvinist environment, I felt like just digging a hole in the bus and hide my contracting male pride. I swallowed my pride and sat down, realizing that this act would just hit my pride instead of injuring those around me. Pretending to sleep immediately, I avoided everyone belittering glances.

Upon reaching the city, I explored around for a cheap and safe accommodation. Shuwan’s mother has warned me of the danger that lurks in the province owning from the immense poverty here. Most of the local 宾馆 are not permitted to take foreigners and it takes a certain bargaining and some tricks before I managed to convince one to take me.

This cosy room costs me S$16 a night. Instead of a water boiler or free mineral water, I got

The most economical and environmental friendly source of free water.

Not wasting any more time, I ventured out to explore this city. Despite being the second largest city, the local business environment felt more such a subsistence survival level of commence.

Goods were definitely much cheaper and it makes you wonder the profit margin of the equivalent sold in other cities.

A interesting monument in the city was a few hundred years old Tang Dynasty temple 高庙寺.

Unlike other “preserved” temples in other parts of China, this is one that I can swear by its age. It’s certainly one of the most “raw” temple which I have seen. The entire complex would not be out of place in those ancient dramas often shown on TV. The most captivating was the entire solemn aura that it possess.

It makes me want to don those ancient clothes as I walked around the huge complex.

Another interesting part of this temple was the 地狱. The objective of this scary “ghosthouse” was to force patrons to reflect upon their deeds and know the “world” out there.

I was alone in an eerie basement passageway of an ancient temple, (which I have no knowledge of its history) in a city (which I just heard of that day) and with sunlight dwindling, “scare” might be too mild a word to describe the intense feeling. At that moment, I found myself foolish to be challenging my fear again.

With China’s rapid modernization, the sad fact remains that this ancient temple needs to co-exist with modern anemities.

One day, it might be rendered redundant.

As for food, noodle with strongly favoured sauce is definitely a trait of this place. Because of the mass poverty, 鸡肉 in a 鸡肉面 or 猪肉 in a 猪肉面 is really next to nothing. Seriously, with a huge bowl like this that costs 60 cents sing, one can’t really complain.