From Chóngqìng, change buses at Héchuān. You’ll be dropped at the town centre bus station, called kèyùn zǒngzhàn (客运总站). Turn right out of this station and take local bus 202 (¥1) to the larger bus station on the edge of town, called kèyùn zhōngxīn zhàn (客运中心站); it’s the last stop. From there, there are three direct buses to Láitān (¥10, 50 minutes, 10.10am, 1.35pm and 4.10pm) as well as regular buses to Lóngshì (¥9.50, 45 minutes). From Lóngshì, minibuses (¥2, five minutes) leave for Láitān from outside the bus station.
The last buses back to Chóngqìng from Héchuān are 6pm (from kèyùn zǒngzhàn) and 6.30pm (from kèyùn zhōngxīn zhàn).
Zhōngshān 中山
%023
Chóngqìng’s once-ubiquitous stilt houses have all but disappeared from the city itself, but visit the gorgeous riverside village of Zhōngshān (中山) and you’ll find plenty of them to gawp at. The old town (古镇; gǔzhèn) is essentially one long street lined with wooden homes on stilts above the riverbank. Walk down to the river and look up at the houses to see their support structures. You can also hike along the other side of the river.
There are a few simple local guesthouses in town (rooms ¥30 to ¥100). Look for signs saying 住宿 (zhùsù; lodgings). Most are small but clean and the more expensive rooms have their own bathrooms and cracking river views.
Several local restaurants and guesthouses will cook up a meal for you. Look for gǔzhèn lǎolàròu (古镇老腊肉; cured pork fried with green chillies; ¥35), héshuǐ dòufu (河水豆腐; river water tofu; ¥7) and yě cài (野菜; a type of spinach grown in the hills here; literally ‘wild veg’; ¥10).
Zhào Shìkè (赵世客 %138 8320 9407; r ¥30-80) is a friendly, family-run place. The best rooms have river views and tiny private bathrooms.
Most residents have turned their front rooms into storefronts. While some hawk souvenir trinkets, others sell locally made products such as chilli sauce or jugs of rice wine. Popular snacks include squares of smoked tofu (烟熏豆腐; yānxūn dòufu; ¥2) and sweet doughy rice cakes filled with ground nuts.
To get here from Chóngqìng, change buses at Jiāngjīn (江津), from where buses leave for Zhōngshān (¥15, one hour 45 minutes, roughly every 30 minutes from 6.30am to 4.45pm). The last bus back to Jiāngjīn is at 4.20pm. The last bus from Jiāngjīn back to Chóngqìng is at 7pm. You can also head south into Guìzhōu province from Jiāngjīn, via Zūnyì (遵义; ¥107, 3½ hours, 8.40am and 2pm), or north to the caves at Dàzú (大足; ¥51, two hours, 7.30am and 2.10pm).
Wǔlóng 武隆喀斯特
%023 / Pop 351,000 (Wǔlóng County)
Head three or so hours southeast of Chóngqìng City and you enter Wǔlóng (武隆喀斯特; Wǔlóng Kāsītè), a dramatic landscape where deep ravines cut through the thickly-forested hills, while waterfalls plunge into mighty rivers, and jagged limestone karst formations rise up towards the sky. Mostly off the map for foreign travellers, the Wǔlóng County National Geology Park is a fantastic place to experience this wild scenery.
1Sights
Wǔlóng County National Geology ParkPARK
(武隆国家地质公园; Wǔlóng Guójiā Dìzhí Gōngyuán )S
About 20km from the town of Wǔlóng, this fairy-tale landscape of river-run gorges, karst peaks, natural bridges and mossy caves lies deep within the mountains about three hours from Chóngqìng. The park has three main areas: Three Natural Bridges, Qingkou Tiankeng Scenic Area and Furong Cave. Most visitors come to Wǔlóng via organised tours from Chóngqìng, which usually stop at the Three Natural Bridges area, home to three magnificent natural bridges you can gaze at from beneath.
Travelling here independently is difficult; the easiest way is to hire a car and driver. If you do, you'll be able to visit some of the more far-flung areas, including the spectacular (and spectacularly neon-lit) Furong Cave.
Three Natural BridgesNATURAL FEATURE
(天生三桥; Tiānshēng Sān Qiáo ¥135)
Towering above huge, hollowed-out karst formations, these natural bridges (you don't walk across them) are the highest in the world and utterly unique; you won't see anything like them anywhere else on the planet. A wander through the mossy, green gorge floor beneath the bridges takes about two hours. A vertiginous glass elevators takes you into the gorge; once down, sedan-chair carriers will try to offer you a lift and electric trams whisk the hiking-averse up the hill back to the bus terminal.
Furong CaveCAVE
(芙蓉洞 ¥120; h8am-5pm)
This vast karst cavern is hung with dripping stalactites and lined with surreal rock formations, all lit up with multicoloured stage lights. Follow a guide along the raised pathway for some 2km, passing stone 'waterfalls' and rocks shaped like dragons or Buddhas.
From the Wǔlóng bus station, shuttle buses run to Furong Cave, or you can take a taxi. Admission prices are lower in winter.
Lóngshuǐ GorgeCANYON
(龙水峡; Lóngshuǐ Xiá )
A tall glass elevator lowers you to the floor of this deep gorge, created by the flow of an ancient river. It takes an hour or two to wander the length of the canyon, exploring dripping caves and traversing elevated pathways over milky green waters. Numerous waterfalls along the rocky gorge walls mean you can expect to get a little damp.
4Sleeping
Though most people visit as a day trip, there are a number of hotels in Wǔlóng city, and many more under construction.
Yúzhū Garden HotelHOTEL$
(武隆瑜珠花園酒店; Yúzhū Huāyuán Jiǔdiàn %023 7779 9888; www.yuzhugardenhotel.com; 16 Furong Xi Lu; 芙蓉西路16號, Wǔlóng r from ¥300)
If you're planning on staying overnight in Wǔlóng town, this international-style riverfront hotel is your best bet. Despite luxury trappings, Western guests complain of hard beds, though that's par for the course in this part of the world. It has a Chinese restaurant, and is an easy walk from other restaurants and a market.
8Getting There & Away
Visiting the park as an independent traveller is difficult. While there are regular buses to the unremarkable town of Wǔlóng from Chóngqìng's Sìgōnglǐ Bus Station, the park is 22km northeast of there and you'll need a taxi to reach it. You'll also require private transport to get around the park, which is massive. Each site also has a separate (and pricey) admission ticket, while the restaurants and hotels scattered around the park are expensive.
The best way to visit is on a day tour. Expect to pay ¥350 to ¥400 (bring your passport), which will include transport, lunch and admission to the Three Natural Bridges and at least one other site, usually Lóngshuǐ Canyon. Travelling With Hostel in Chóngqìng can arrange tours.
Ānjū Ancient Town 安居古镇
%023
First established in 588 AD, Ānjū Ancient Town (安居古镇; Ānjū Gǔzhèn) is a riverfront village of beautifully preserved Ming and Qing dynasty buildings, and once an important centre of culture and scholarship. Today, the village traffics in its own history. Designated an official 'ancient town', its main streets have been refurbished and opened to tourism. Still, you're unlikely to see many non-Chinese faces, and on weekdays you're unlikely to see many other travellers at all. Beyond the city's preserved heart are ancient crumbling lanes where chickens roam, old ladies carry bundles on their backs and the smell of homemade noodles perfumes the air.
Although it is located within the borders of Sìchuān, Ānjū is generally reached from Chóngqìng.
1Sights
Ānjū City TempleHISTORIC BUILDING
This pagoda-style temple overlooking the river is Ānjū's main worship site. It was under construction at the time of research, but still worth a visit for a gander at its dusty deities and the views over the water.
Whampoa Military AcademyHISTORIC BUILDING
Part of the Republic of China's army academy was relocated to Ānjū in 1938. Many of the commanders who fought the Japanese in WWII were trained here. Today you can visit the old stone barracks.
Huguang Guild Ha
llHISTORIC BUILDING
(South St; ¥20)
This sprawling guild hall features regular dance performances on its stage. Further towards the back are a number of rooms furnished with elaborately carved wedding beds and other period furniture.
Ānjū City GatesHISTORIC SITE
Ānjū has nine city gates dating back to the Ming dynasty. One of the most spectacular and easily located is the South Gate, directly uphill behind the tourist office.
4Sleeping & Eating
Ānjū boasts some half-dozen inns, including several in reconstructed historical buildings. No English is spoken. Expect to pay between ¥100 and ¥150 a night.
Restaurants throughout Ānjū serve regional specialities like eel stewed with chilli and spicy cold rabbit, as well as more familiar fare like hotpot, noodles, twice-cooked pork (古镇老腊肉; gǔzhèn lǎo làròu) and 'river water' tofu (河水豆腐; héshuǐ dòufu).
Lung Ying InnINN$
(迎龙客栈; Yínglóng Kèzhàn %023 4585 2888; Xijie; 西街 r from ¥98)
Overlooking the river, this two-story stone hotel has fairly modern rooms and a quiet lobby with windows open to the water.
8Getting There & Away
To get to Ānjū, take a bus to Tóngliáng (铜梁), which takes about 90 minutes and costs ¥30. From here, take a taxi to Ānjū (about ¥20). Hiring a car to take you to Ānjū for the day will set you back about ¥800.
Xīnjiāng
Urumqi
Tian Chi
Turpan
Around Turpan
Hami
Kuqa
Kashgar
Karakoram Highway
Yengisar
Charklik
Cherchen
Hotan
Karghilik
Yarkand
Bu'erjin
Kanas Lake Nature Reserve
Yining
Sayram Lake
Xīnjiāng
Pop 22.9 million
Why Go?
China's largest province, Xīnjiāng (新疆) is the homeland of the Muslim Uighurs and a fast-changing region where ancient and modern grind up against each other in surprising ways. High-speed railways crothere ss the Martian landscapes linking cities in hours rather than days, and the regional capital Ürümqi is a forest of high-rise apartments and glass skyscrapers; while in parts of the Silk Road oases of Kashgar, Hotan and Turpan, life goes as it has for centuries, based around the mosque, the tea house and the bazaar.
Despite the enormous military and police presence here due to several years of ethnic unrest, Xīnjiāng is increasingly attracting visitors for its extraordinary natural beauty and fascinating Central Asian history and culture. In short, a visit to Chinese Turkestan makes for an exploration of China's past and its unsettled multicultural present, or simply a journey into some of the most sublime landscapes on earth.
When to Go
AMar Nauryz (New Year) festivals are held in Kazakh and Kyrgyz villages.
AMay Sunny days and cool breezes make this one of the best times to visit Xīnjiāng.
ASep Sublime autumnal colours at Kanas Lake and Hémù.
Best Places to Eat
AAltun Orda Ōu'ěr Dáxīkè Night Market
A Miss Chen’s Pizza House
A Marco’s Dream Cafe
A Rendezvous
Best Places to Sleep
A Dap Hostel
A Zabay Guest House
A Doppa Youth Hostel
A Turpan Silk Road Lodge
A K2 Youth Hostel
Xīnjiāng Highlights
1 Karakoram Highway Travelling quite possibly one of the most extraordinary road journeys you'll ever do; the mountainous road between Kashgar and Pakistan is Xīnjiāng's undoubted highlight.
2 Turpan Exploring the ancient ruins, magnificent mountain landscapes and Buddhist caves that surround this laid-back oasis town.
3 Sunday livestock market Witnessing Central Asia at its most authentic on trip to this extraordinary Kashgar market.
4 Sunday Market Discovering what's been bringing traders to Hotan for centuries as you choose between silk, spices, jade and carpets at this excellent bazaar.
5 Kanas Lake Nature Reserve Heading into Xīnjiāng's remote north to see the magnificent scenery of this mountainous nature reserve.
History
By the end of the 2nd century BC, the expanding Han dynasty had pushed its borders west into what is now Xīnjiāng. Military garrisons protected the fledgling trade routes, as silk flowed out of the empire in return for the strong Ferghana horses needed to fight nomadic incursions from the north. Chinese imperial rule waxed and waned over the centuries, shrinking after the collapse of the Han and reasserting itself during the 7th-century Tang, though central control was tenuous at best. A Uighur kingdom based at Khocho thrived from the 8th century and oversaw the Central Asian people’s transformation from nomads to farmers and from Manichaeans to Buddhists.
It was during Kharakhanid rule in the 10th to 12th centuries that Islam took hold in Xīnjiāng. In 1219, Ili (modern Yīníng), Hotan and Kashgar fell to the Mongols and their various successors controlled the whole of Central Asia until the mid-18th century, when the Manchu army marched into Kashgar.
In 1865, a Kokandi officer named Yaqub Beg seized Kashgaria, proclaimed a short-lived independent Turkestan, and made diplomatic contacts with Britain and Russia. The Manchu army eventually returned and two decades later Kashgaria was formally incorporated into China’s newly created Xīnjiāng (New Frontier) province. With the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911, Xīnjiāng came under the chaotic and violent rule of a succession of Muslim and Chinese warlords, over whom the Kuomintang (the Nationalist Party) had very little control. In the 1930s and 1940s there was an attempt in both Kashgar and Ili to establish an independent state of Eastern Turkestan, but both were short-lived.
Since 1949, the Chinese government's main social goal in Xīnjiāng has been to keep a lid on ethnic separatism, dilute local culture, and flood the region with Han Chinese. Economically, the ‘Develop the West’ campaign has used the region’s oil resources to ramp up the local economy. But this has led to an increase in Han settlers, which has exacerbated ethnic tensions. In a telling statistic, Uighurs once composed 90% of Xīnjiāng’s population; today they make up less than 50%. But despite the unease and resentment of the native population, Xīnjiāng remained peaceful throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, even as China began to open up to the outside world.
However, in 2008, street protests and bomb attacks rocked the province, and in 2009 communal violence between Han and Uighur civilians in central Ürümqi led to around 200 deaths and 1700 injuries, according to Chinese police reports. Protests, riots and terrorist acts have continued to simmer ever since, though 2014 was a recent high watermark, with a knife attack at a train station in Kūnmíng that killed 29 and injured 143 being blamed on Uighur separatists. The next month, two attackers stabbed people at the Ürümqi train station before setting off vest explosives. A few weeks later, a suicide car and bomb attack on a market in Ürümqi ended with 31 killed and 90 injured. As a direct result, the Chinese authorities launched a huge security crack down, the results of which can still be seen on any street corner in the province. Hundreds of Uighurs were sentenced to long jail terms and dozens were executed.
The current situation remains tense. As long as Uighur resentment continues to be fuelled by what they view as economic marginalisation, cultural restrictions, ethnic discrimination and outright oppression, violence looks likely to remain a threat in the restive province, though as travellers are highly unlikely to be caught up in this, there is no reason to avoid travelling to Xīnjiāng.
Climate
Xīnjiāng’s climate is one of extremes. Turpan is the hottest spot in the country – temperatures of 54°C have been recorded in the summer months – while the Tarim and Jungar Basins aren’t much cooler. Spring (April and May) is a much better time to travel temperature-wise, though frequent sandstor
ms can sometimes obscure the landscape. Winters (November to March) see the mercury plummet below 0°C throughout the province, although March is a good time to catch some festivals. Late May, June, September and (especially) October are the best times to visit.
Language
Uighur, the traditional language of Xīnjiāng, is part of the Turkic language family and is thus fairly similar to other regional languages, including Uzbek, Kazakh and Kyrgyz. While previously written using Latin letters, it is nowadays written using the Arabic alphabet. Learning a few words and phrases will mean the world to Uighur people you meet on your travels.
In general, the Han Chinese in Xīnjiāng don’t speak Uighur, though there is a growing number of exceptions to this rule among the younger generation, as both languages are now compulsory in schools. Many Uighurs can’t – or won’t – speak Mandarin, and even fewer can read Chinese characters proficiently.
English is spoken by almost nobody, even in the hotel industry. Basic Chinese, a Chinese phrasebook or judicious use of Google Translate are your only hope at communication in most cases.
DANGERS & ANNOYANCES
Due to the unrest and terrorism that has been a rare – but recurring – feature of life in Xīnjiāng since 2008, and which most recently peaked again in 2014, the province today has a very visible military and police presence, which can unnerve some. Foreigners are actually of little or no interest to these patrols, whose main function is to deter any public protest in the cities, and to check the passports of anyone travelling by train or bus. It's essential that you carry your passport with you at all times; you're simply asking for trouble otherwise. The main annoyance for travellers is the sheer amount of time that just getting into a train station can take, or the number of stops a long-distance bus is obliged to make, during which Chinese citizens will be required to disembark to have their IDs scanned. As foreign passports cannot be scanned in this way, you may or may not be required to disembark yourself; await instructions at each checkpoint. Note that you may not bring cigarette lighters, scissors or anything that could potentially be used as a weapon, however seemingly innocuous, onto any bus or train.
Lonely Planet China Page 164