Picture of the Week: Ghost City in Winter

 Ghost City in Winter

Traces of snow still linger between the gigantic land forms towering above us and a light mist covers the low sun like a veil. The patches that have melted reveal lines of frozen droppings left by a camel caravan that had passed through who-knows how long ago. Usually a wind rushes through this city of rock producing a moaning whistle from which this place got its name: The Ghost City.

Thankfully there is no wind today, making this winter expedition bearable. There aren’t many places to take visitors in the dead of winter when it drops down to -26 Celsius regularly. Still, we had to try something, so when my family decided to visit us last month for the Christmas holidays we took them here and to my surprise it ended up being a memorable and beautiful trip.

The New "Ghost City" Wrap at KFC

I had a great time at KFC the other day.  I'm not a regular there, even though it is the only link to the west that we have here in Xinjiang, but I found myself doing some shopping nearby so I thought I'd drop by for a quick visit.  Pretty much the only thing that I find worth ordering at KFC is the Mexican chicken wrap, called the 墨西哥鸡肉卷 (pronounced "muwah shee guh gee row jewar").  It's really not too bad, even if it is overpriced.  I have no idea if they even sell this item in American KFCs because frankly I've never stepped foot in a KFC in the U.S. - this is one of the many embarassing things that living in China can lead you do.

So as I confidently walked up to the counter the other day I was more than ready to order exactly what I wanted.  I've done it many times before and have become very quick and fluent saying the Chinese phrase for the only item I order here.  "I would like the Mexican Chicken Wrap, please!"

Unfortunately, over the past month, I've also become very quick and fluent with another phrase, 魔鬼城 (pronounced "muwah gway chun"), a nearby park of crazy looking rock formations known in English as "The Ghost City".  I'm sure you can see where this is going.  Because the Chinese words for "Mexico" and "Ghost City" both have three characters and both begin with a similarly spelled first character (I know, I know...different tones), I could easily justify my brain making this simple mistake.

I could...but I just couldn't stand allowing it to remain a simple mistake.  Upon ordering a "Ghost City Chicken Wrap" instead of the normal "Mexican Chicken Wrap", the woman taking my order looked at me quizzically and asked me to repeat my order.  Why couldn't she understand me, I wondered?  I had spoken clearly and correctly.  So I repeated myself, this time slowly.  Again, she looked at me weird and asked me one last time for my order.  Out of frustration I spoke loudly - a bit too loud, maybe - alerting every person in the restaurant that yes, I want a ghost chicken wrap, and yes, I have no idea what I'm talking about.  All activity stopped as everybody strained to find out which creative genius would actually order such an item and then snickered as they realized it was just a crazy foreigner.  Thanks to the fact that I actually pointed to the picture on the last try, the woman understood that I was making a mistake and input the order, quietly repeating the correct way to say the wrap with a "you've-got-to-be-kidding-me" smirk on her face.  I don't blame her.

So although stepping foot in a KFC here in China should be embarassing to any foreigner, I now have to say that ordering a tourist attraction chicken wrap might take the cake.

Visiting the Ghost City 魔鬼城

What do you get when you combine two Americans, six Filipinos, a bunch of cameras, camels, dinosaurs, and a big red bus? Answer: quite a party!

Destination: The Ghost City
Location: 100km north of Karamay (about 1 1/2 hours by bus)

This "city", which is more of a geological park, got its name from the sounds that are made when the frequent winds whistle and howl through various rock formations. This location has been made famous by various movies which have shot scenes here, only one of which you might know - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Having personally never seen this movie, I don't know which part was filmed here, but we have now seen where they did it! How exciting.

Ok, first, let me back up a bit so I can share a few stories and pictures. All 8 of us (Tiff, me, and the 6 Filipinos) decided a couple weeks back to take a tour to the Ghost City during the May Holiday. Last year we got a full week off for this holiday - a bit like Spring Break in America - but this year the powers-that-be decided that too much time off at once was bad for business, so they cut it to 3 days. The tour we bought included three places - a river valley, a dinosaur park, and the Ghost City. All of us boarded a bus with about 25 other subdued Chinese people who were just a bit uncomfortable with the loud atmosphere we brought. Example: all of us singing a karaoke song to pass the time on the big red bus. You don't have to be Chinese to understand why that would turn heads.

Our first stop was a river valley that wasn't much to see except for one thing - trees. We actually saw Chinese people taking pictures hugging trees! Why? I mean, we have trees here in the city, but these were old trees, trees with big trunks, and they took pictures because this was the first time they had seen a tree so big that two people together couldn't put their arms around.

Stop number two was a dinosaur park - a park dedicated to the site where dinosaur bones had once been excavated a few decades ago. Were the bones on display? No. Did they show where they were unearthed? No. Was the entire park shaped like a big dinosaur with fake dinosaurs walking around everywhere? Of course! The redeeming part of this park was the many and different places we could take pictures and goof around. Check out the slide show to the right of this entry for examples of these pictures.

Finally, after a short lunch, we made our way to the Ghost City. We made a quick stop to ride some camels and the rest of the time was spent walking around the park and snapping many pictures. There's really no way to try to describe to you the enormity and beauty of what we saw, so I think it's best to let pictures and one video do the trick. If you're receiving this via e-mail and can't see all this, log onto the website for better results.