Traveling to popular destinations in China can be a challenge, but traveling off the beaten path is a whole other story, even if you speak Chinese.
I had a week off of work and decided to travel north to the Tianshan Mountains. I had heard stories of a high mountain lake where you could camp out in Kazak yurts.
Getting there was a challenge, but after two days of trains, buses, taxis and hitchhiking, I made it. I explored the lake, stayed in a Kazak yurt and ate Kazak food. It was a good thing that it was relaxing because returning home would be even more of an adventure.
I had made it down relatively easily and had a night to spend in Urumqi before my train the next day. My plan was to stay in a hostel, but when I got to the place, all I found was a restaurant. In China, businesses can change very quickly. One day you could be eating at your favorite restaurant, the next day it’s a pet store or vice versa (but I avoid those kinds of restaurants).
It was starting to get late, and because I didn’t know of any other hostels in the area I decided I should find a cheap hotel. Finding a hotel was easy, the problem was the price.
Everyplace I went was more expensive than the last one. I searched until it got dark with no luck. I figured I would have to just pay. However, the last hotel I tried was run and operated by Uighurs (a Muslim ethnic group) and was much cheaper. So I got a room and went to sleep.
I slept well until 4 a.m., when I was jolted awake by loud banging on my door and people yelling in Uighur. Whoever was banging then ran down the hall banging on the rest of the doors. Then my door opened.
I ran to the door. I saw that it was one of the Uighur hotel maids so I opened the door to find out what was happening. I forgot that I was just in my boxers, and she was a conservative Muslim woman. She blushed and covered her eyes while frantically yelling in Uighur and pointing down the hall. Then she ran off.
At this point, I was pretty confused about what was going on. But when I looked out my door and down the hall, I instantly realized: fire!
Down the hall, thick black smoke filled the passageway, and I saw people running out of their rooms to the stairs. I ran back to my room threw on my clothes, grabbed my backpack and headed out.
Eight flights of stairs later, I was safely on the ground and out of the hotel. I ran past a group of Chinese firefighters who were heading upstairs. They were similarly dressed and equipped as American firefighters. What was different though was the one firefighter standing guard outside. He was equipped with a riot shield and a bat to keep the Uighurs back.
Because of recent tension between the Han and Uighurs this was normal procedure. The firefighter was Han Chinese, and he looked more scared of the Uighurs than he was of the actual fire.
After an hour, the firefighters came down and said some of us could return to our rooms. However, I decided that it was time to check out and get some breakfast – and maybe learn the Uighur word for fire.
David Scott, a 2008 Durango High School graduate, is teaching English in China’s far western province of Xinjiang (New Frontier) in the city of Korla. He can be reached at darysc24@gmail.com.
