Travels with Li Dongni – Xinjiang, China (October 2011), part 2

Ancient cities, temples and towers

Gaochang city

Gaochang, located near to the modern city of Turpan (or Tulufan), was originally constructed in the 1^st Century BC – an oasis in the Taklamakan desert (see my first Xinjiang travel post) for travellers and traders on the Silk Road.  It now exists as an expansive ruined site, with the mud-built walls and buildings serving as impressive and ghostly remains of a once great settlement.

The best way to see the site is by donkey cart, and there are plenty of locals at the entrance ready to haggle with (though when we were there they were seemingly led by some twelve year old gangster-kid who was busy bossing everybody around and strutting rather too much).  Our transport was provided by a friendly old chap with a slightly moody donkey, who took us to the centre of the ruins and then back again once we had wandered around for a while.

While exploring the ruins, we came across a one of the local inhabitants – a sand boa, which was halfway through devouring a bird when we came across it.  A local guy (who we think worked at Gaochang though it was hard to tell) started playing with the snake with a stick, and it soon abandoned its meal.  It slithered away but we came across it about an hour later cooling itself down behind a rock.

Sanpu temple

This was one of those sites that makes me remember why we travel independently and not with travel groups, as it’s not open to the public yet but our driver knew some of the locals working on the site and they let us in for a wander around.  The temple is close to Gaochang, and part of the wider city remains.  It’s actually pretty easy to climb over the low boundary walls though, and we soon had a group of local kids following us, wanting to have their photos taken by the foreigners.

The site is currently having wooden platforms installed, and will soon have interpretation.  As it stands, it’s an impressive temple monument that will surely be a feature on the local tourist map and bring some revenue to the local community.

Astana cemetery

Astana was the cemetery site for the city of Gaochang, and the source of the well preserved mummies now on display at Urumqi museum (see my blog post here).  The cemetery contained people from all walks of life and social classes and was used from AD273 to AD778.  It covers over 10,000 square kilometres and houses over 1,000 burials, though only about half of these have ever been excavated.

The site now is a strangely desolate landscape, but a handful of the underground tombs are unearthed and visitable via long staircases.  Photography is forbidden inside the tombs, so I’m sadly unable to share the wall paintings inside, but suffice to say they are fascinating examples of Buddhist art.  One tomb even has a mummy in situ, but it is in a very old display case and in drastic need of some TLC.  I fear that the mummy might not last much longer without some curatorial intervention, and it exists in stark contrast to the condition of the mummies in Urumqi museum, where this one should undoubtedly also be.

The site also has a rather intrusive modern reconstruction of a platform over a tomb, Chinese zodiac statues, and a large statue of Fuxi and Nuwa, the Chinese mythological creator deities, with serpent tails entwined.

Jiaohe city

Jiaohe is one of those fantastic archaeological sites that, because of its setting, is never forgotten.  When I first saw a model of Jiaohe in Urumqi museum, I instantly related it to the Jewish fortress of Masada (taken by the Romans in AD72).  Jiaohe sits atop a sheer 30 metre cliff-top, with a river running around each side of it, as the site map below shows.

Jiaohe was an important place on the Silk Route, and between 108BC and AD450 it was the capital of the Anterior Jushi kingdom.  It continued to be an important site under various Dynasties until its abandonment after it was destroyed by Genghis Khan’s Mongols in the 13^th Century.

The natural defences meant that Jiaohe didn’t need walls, though it had large gates protecting the routes up the cliffs.  The city had an organised layout with eastern and western residential districts, and a northern district reserved for Buddhist temples.

Kezikalahan war signalling station

When you go travelling, sometimes it’s the small sites that you’d never heard of that leave the biggest impression on you – often far more than the famous sites do.  It’s one reason why we prefer to travel independently rather than with organised groups and tours.  This mud and timber signalling tower dates back to the Han Dynasty (206BC-AD220), and is apparently the best surviving example of the many such military structures built in Xinjiang.  It sits in a rather featureless piece of open, sandy landscape close to the edge of a cliff (at the base of which a road seems to be in the early stages of being constructed).  It’s a plain structure with the remains of a wooden platform still visible on top (though the wood could be any age), but it stands so prominently in the landscape that you can’t help but be impressed by it – and feel sorry for any soldiers stationed on the top of it for any length of time!

Subash

Subash (sometimes seen written as ‘subashi’) is a difficult site to label, but I suppose ‘monastic city’ is as good a title as any.  It was originally constructed in the 1^st Century (Han Dynasty), but continued in use until the 13^th and 14^th Centuries, when the rise of Islam saw its decline.  It reached its zenith in the Tang Dynasty (618-907), and the monk Xuanzang (of ‘Journey to the West’ fame), stayed at the site for 2 months.  At its height it was home to 10,000 monks and exists today as an open site with well preserved ruins, which are fantastic for exploring.

When we visited, there was a rather eccentric old lady there who I suppose was acting as a sort of site warden, but basically just sat at the entrance and was keen to sell us things when we were ready to leave!  The gods on offer were in a series of backrooms which seemed to double as store cupboards, and heaven knows where most of the stuff had come from (though she kept claiming that things were much older than they obviously were, no doubt assuming that all westerners are gullible fools)

One rather nice touch was a small alcove inside one of the temples which has become a makeshift shrine for tourists, and is now full of incense, candles and money left as offerings

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Travels with Li Dongni – Angkor, Cambodia (April 2008)

Treading very Khmer-fully...

I was very fortunate, when my wife was working in Bangkok, to be able to fly over to join her and do some travelling in South East Asia.  I may write a post in this series about some of my Thai experiences, but the one I’d like to focus on here is the brief trip we took across the border to Cambodia to see the Angkor temples.

Although world famous and hugely iconic, I have to confess that Angkor was a place I always assumed I’d never see.  One of those ‘amazing, but too exotic to realistically expect to go to’ kind of places.  So it almost took me by surprise when my wife suggested that we go.

The flight to Siem Reap was easily the scariest plane journey of our lives - on a small propeller plane through a thunderstorm.  You know it’s bad when you see the stewardess’ deathly white hands gripping the seat while her face turns green…

Once we had arrived safely and recovered from the terror flight, we hired a tuktuk and driver in Siem Reap for a few days to travel around as many of the temples as we could in the time available to us.  Incidentally, according to our driver, a cavalcade we saw whilst driving around was carrying the king of Cambodia but I’ve no way of knowing if it was true.  To be honest, in my ignorance I didn’t even know Cambodia had a king!

The temples themselves are quite surreal, mainly due to their architecture and jungle settings.  They were built in the 12^th Century, and as you can see from the map although Angkor Wat is the most famous temple, it is only one of a whole series of them in a relatively small area, and not even the largest.  We did manage to get to a good percentage of them in the time available to us though.  The architecture of the temples is uniform but distinctive, especially the conical towers (which represent Mount Meru from Hindu mythology), the large, serenely smiling faces and the carvings of the lithe ‘Apsara’ dancing girls.

As we approached Angkor Wat, it occurred to me that I didn’t know what I was expecting to find.  I knew broadly what it would look like, but it was the rest of the setting that intrigued me.  Would the temple be an isolated building or just one element of something much bigger?  Would it be remote and virtually lost to the jungle or almost ruined by commercial enterprises trying to make money off tourists? (actually, if we’d have encountered a 5* ‘Angkor Wat Ritz’ outside I think I may have turned around and gone home right away!)

As it was, the first element we encountered was the large moat surrounding the complex, which we drove around two sides of, catching occasional teasing glimpses of the iconic towers.  We knew we’d arrived at the front gate when the tuktuk stopped and we were instantly swarmed by the ubiquitous local children selling souvenirs.  After managing to escape the throng (with my wife slightly peeved at my substandard haggling skills) we started to explore the site.  My earlier questions about the size and nature of the site were soon answered, as the scale of the complex revealed itself.  The outer walls, corridors and libraries extend quite a distance, as you work your way towards the glorious main temple, which dominates your vision.

There are traces around Angkor Wat of more ominous events.  The signs warning you not to stray too far off the footpaths in case there are still landmines are a chilling reminder of the troubles Cambodia has experienced in the recent past, and these are echoed by the equally disturbing sight of bullet holes in the walls.

Also present are the signs of cultural vandalism – looting of statues (or bits of statues) to feed an international art market that all too often does not care where its bits of unprovenanced art come from, as long as they look good in a display cabinet.  It’s a big problem across South East Asia, especially in the poorer areas, where the temptation to get money from such vandalism outweighs the ethical considerations and greater needs of heritage conservation.

As with any heritage site, managing to visit at a time when it’s not swarming with tourists enhances the experience significantly.  Some of the temples are naturally more off the beaten track, and their tumbledown nature with the jungle all around and giant trees growing seemingly out of the ruins can really provide a sense of being the first person to discover them.  It’s a magical feeling that few other heritage sites I’ve been to in the world can match.

Two particular moments of the trip stand out for me.  The first was the decision we made to get up at 4 o’clock to go and watch the sun rise over Angkor Wat.  Although unfortunately it wasn’t the most dramatic sunrise I’ve ever seen, it was a relaxing experience, and the silhouette of the temple was dramatic against a deep blue sky.

The second memorable experience occurred quite by accident.  We were at Pre Rup temple when a tropical storm hit (well, it certainly rained a lot at least).  We were at pretty much the top of the temple, with the forest stretching out on all sides around us when it hit.  The scene was dramatic enough to be memorable as it was, but it was made especially so by the local children.  As I mentioned earlier, arrival at a temple means being surrounded by local kids trying to sell you things.  These tend to be more obstinate at the bigger sites, such as Angkor Wat, but more laid back at smaller sites such as Pre Rup.  As we were pretty much the only visitors there at the time, the kids has been in a good mood, trying to sell us stuff, but also asking where we were from, what London was like, and generally being bright and inquisitive kids.  When the rain came, they all put down their wares and started to play on the temple, splashing water at each other and running up and down the steps (those steps are steep too – health and safety over here would have had a fit!).  So there we were, sat at the top of an ancient Cambodian temple, surrounded by jungle, with the rain lashing down, with local kids playing on front us, grinning and waving (and occasionally threatening to splash us with water).  I genuinely couldn’t stop smiling at the thought of how different this was to my normal life at home.

Of course, some kids can always find time to relax...

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