GROUP JOURNAL FOR

MONGOLIA  CHINA  KIRGYZISTAN  KAZAKISTAN
Silk Road Tour
Aug.14, 2002 To Sept. 2 , 2002
22 August – Thursday – Mike Compton

The 6am wake-up call that never came and a luggage snafu that had the wrong bags loaded on our bus.  Hot.  Humid.  Hazy.  “Good Morning, Beijing!!”  A quick subway ride to Tienanmen Square.  In his rush to extol the virtues of the Deceased Chairman Mao – who surely ranks 2nd only to Stalin as the most monstrous genocidist in the history of humanity – our guide failed to mention the murder of hundreds - even thousands – of university students in the Square during the pro-democracy rally a decade a go.  Oh, well--- Just add “truth” to the long list of casualties from that shameful episode.

I couldn’t help but wonder, though, what our collegiate fellow-vagabond, Paul Hooper, might be thinking as he walked on ground soaked by the blood of other college students who risked it all for an idea, for a cause – that of democracy and freedom.  That’s it, isn’t it??…  Will I invest my life, or spend it??

Then it was off to the Forbidden City.  It was like walking into a flower that just kept unfolding its beauty. Nothing quite like a sprint through the Temple of Heaven to work up one’s appetite for lunch at a Chinese ethnic minority restaurant.Airport, here we come.  Good bye Beijing.  Hello Urumqi.  Quite a place.  For starters it is a city that wears “time zone bifocals” or lives in a time zone within a time zone.  Don’t ask me how it works.  I’m always late anyway but I’m going to milk this double time zone for all the confusion it’s worth.  I like our guide, Abdullah.  Knowledgeable, personable, forthcoming.  He gives answers to economic, political and social questions that bespeak of a degree of personal honesty and candor rare in a guide.  So many seem to treat group members’ questions as though we don’t know anything about historical or current events and will just swallow their party line.
Our hotel in Urumqi has a level of material comfort I sure didn’t expect to find in these parts.  There goes another preconceived notion down in flames.  I’m not such a “Back Door” enthusiast, however, that you would even catch me making the noble gesture of giving up the spacious luxury of my suite.

Good Dinner.  We had such a good time that a birthday party broke out.  Paul Hooper’s 21st.  Phil said his son had been a great child who tonite became his friend, whew.  Powerful stuff.  For his part, the son said his fondest memories were of a childhood lived out in the company of his parents, brother and sisters.  I think all the rest of us were very gratified at being a part of this special “rite of passage”.

A walk through the town square – can you believe I just called this place a town?  It’s a city of 3+ million folks.  But is has both a wonderful modern skyline and a small town feel.  The town square was a delightful location for an after dinner stroll.  What a neat, family-friendly place.  Perfect weather.  This day which marks the transition into the 2nd half of our trip, might have had a bumpy start this morning…but the smooth landing tonite could not have been better.

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