Kansas National Park (喀纳斯)
Waiting for the tour bus at 0659hr. This tour bus would be our form of travel for the next four days.
5 June 2019.
We were given an address to go to the next morning. It was in front of China Southern Hotel, which was walkable from our Hostel but we took a cab for 10 yuan due to our heavy baggage. The advantage of group tours is that we can cover further distances at affordable prices and also, with everything prepared and laid out for its participants, we need not do any planning. For our last four days in Xinjiang Province, we could now both sit back and enjoy wherever this mini tour bus brought us to.
The cost covered all aspects from food, accomodation, transport to entrance tickets. As we were foreigners, we had to pay additional fee for accomodation as not all accomodation options in China have the license to host foreigners and those that are able to are usually more expensive. We had a mini 18 seater bus and a driver allocated to us for the journey. Our tour guide was from Fujian province and he was a little too honest about his background. We drove from place to place in silence, our tour guide being as much of a tourist as us without providing briefings etc.
If you are interested in arranging transport to Kansas instead of joining a tour, there is a route to try. On our trip to Turpan, we exchanged small talk with a Chinese man who happened to work as a tourist bus driver. He was having a four day break from work and was heading home from Urumqi to his hometown in Korla. Below is the route he recommended for those interested in making the trip to Kansas with self-arranged transport:
Suggested Kanas Itinerary
Train to Beitun
Bus to buerqin (1 and a half hours)
Buerqin to jiadengyu 35rmb (4 hours)
Stay at jiadengyu
Setting off from Urumqi at 0705 hr, we had a long drive ahead of us. Upon exiting Urumqi City towards the North, there would also be countless checkpoints along the route. Almost all the time, we had to alight from the minibus with our passports whilst the rest of the tour participants waited for us in the bus.
Checkpoint. 0937 hr. This Police Checkpoint had felines in its premises.
Entering Karamay City. 1346hr. We were stopping for lunch at this restaurant which seemed to cater to tour groups.
Given a card in exchange for lunch, cooked in distinctively Uighur style. 1448 hr.
Scenic views along the way.
We passed Buerqin (布尔溱), a town famous for its iconic Russian style architecture at about 1900 hr. One thing I learnt that day was that all passengers must alight when the bus stops for refuel.
Rainbow Beach (五彩滩). 2018 hr.
Dinner at You Yi Feng Hotel (友谊峰大酒店). 2240 hr.
Back to our tour experience, our tour guide knew nothing about Xinjiang which was alright, but he went further to lament about the fact that he was allocated a tour group in an area he was unfamiliar with rather than finding out more about the place in the following days. In all honesty, it was unfortunate for our tour guide who in addition to the fact that he was handling a tour group for the first time in Xinjiang, was allocated a group with us both “foreigners.” Checkpoints are widespread across Xinjiang and my travel buddy and I frequently alight from the mini bus for document checks whilst the other tour members waited for us. Our tour guide would accompany us with wads of papers in his hands which showed details of the tour, transport and accommodation that were required for tours with foreigners abroad. We could tell that it was troublesome for the group to have us and our presence did create stress for our tour guide who would make runs to local offices to settle our documents. Nonetheless, we tried our best to be as accomodating as possible.
Disagreements broke out by the second day when the tour guide abruptly changed our accommodation venue which was supposed to be in the picturesque Russian Town of Buerqin as agreed in our contract to another district called Habahe which many of us had not heard of. It wasn’t his idea, it was obvious that it was the tour agency office at foul play but both himself and the driver had to bear the brunt of it all. The change of accommodation from a well known location to a lesser known one happened twice and our driver had to drive additional hours to accomodate to the sudden requests from the office which no one agreed with. We were on the road for at least 8 hours per day, the Northern territory was huge and the journey was made a little more unbearable with an inexperienced tour guide who would not admit or rectify his faults.Our tour guide had developed a cold halfway into our trip, everyone wanted the tour to end. Knowing that the change in accommodation and the extra runs our tour guide had to make could very well be because of our presence, although no one had explicitly stated so, we were rather conflicted and kept quiet, taking everything in as part and parcel of experience.
We reached Habahe at around 2300. Whilst the rest of the participants checked in at an inn and rested for the night, we had to change our accomodation as the hotel the tour guide arranged could not accept foreigners. Aware of our restrictions, we had requested for our accomodation to be arranged before we arrived so that we would not end up waiting for them to shift us to another hotel. Nontetheless, the boss of the inn brought us to Zijin Hotel in a cab. We bathed and slept at 0200 hr.
Rest at Zijin Hotel for the night. 2334 hr.
6 June 2019.
The next morning, we were ferried from Zijin Hotel back to the inn where the other participants were having breakfast. We set off from Habahe at 0730 hr. This day, we were on track to Kansas National Park.
Breakfast at the inn. 0704hr. On the right, the view from the window of our accomodation. The buildings here seem more Russian than Chinese.
Our first attraction of the day, White Sands Scenic Spot. Having been to Kumtag Desert in Turpan, felt that this was more of a repeat experience. 0924 hr.
Scenery en route as the driver blasted Chinese oldies in the minibus. 1000 hr.
Checkpoint. 1127 hr.
Scenery en route.
At 1338 hr, we pulled into Kansas National Park. The area is huge, including many other attractions we were not aware of. There is an internal shuttle serving the National Park which we all hoped on, it takes an hour from to get to the first attraction site from the car park where our mini bus dropped us off at. One attraction within the National Park I really liked was this little village which name I never got to know. The weather was rather erratic at this point alternating between sudden rainfall and clear skies.
Little Village. 1440 hr. I had not planned for this when we considered Kansas and am more than glad we were able to experience this place!
There seemed to be public transportation available in the village. The village is rather modern, albeit lying against an envious backdrop of lush greenery and snow covered peaks. The local Tuwa people were putting up performances with other minorities like the Mongolians and Kazazhs for tourists whilst a lot of these dwellings were inhabited by Mainland Chinese citizens who moved here for business opportunities.
Lunch at 1504 hr.
This was what we came to Kansas for. To see the iconic bend in the Moon River (月亮湾). The highest point within the National Park is called Guan Yu Tai (观鱼台) which we unfortunately did not get to visit as time was tight.
1844 hr.
Dinner and rest at a homestay. 2258hr. It was cold and pitch black outside.
7 June 2019.
Breakfast, 0726 hr.
Stopped by this store selling local products. Unlike other tours where we would usually browse around when the tour guides brought us to shops, this time everyone was making purchases! I bought 75 yuan of milk related souvenirs. 0744 hr.
We were on our way to Hemu Village (禾木乡), claimed to be one of the most beautiful villages in China. There is also an internal shuttle bus that takes an hour from the parking lot to the entrance of the attraction itself where the ticketing area stands. Alas, when we got there at 1000 hr, it was both rainy and windy. The sun only shone when we took the internal shuttle from Hemu Village back to the entrance parking lot. It was all about luck!
We heard from the locals that there are more Uighurs residing in Southern Xinjiang Province. In the Altay Region, North of Xinjiang Province, the Kazakhs (哈萨克民族) and other minorities (Tuwa, Mongolians, Hui Muslim people) reside however in Hemu Village itself, 80% of the population consists of the Han Chinese who rented local shopfronts and houses from the local minorities to run their businesses. In Beitun itself, there are more Han Chinese.
We left Hemu’s entrance parking lot at 1500 hr. Our driver allowed us to stop to take photos at the surrounding scenery before leaving.
The highest point in Hemu Village. We sat overlooking at Hemu Village below. The weather wasn’t letting up still. 1221 hr.
As quick as anger came, everyone was also quick to forget. Food arranged on Chinese tours are usually tasteless and once, our tour guide arranged for something different for lunch which brought a smile to everyone after a long morning. Our tour guide had compliments rained on him, it was heartening to see smiling faces in the course of the trip. Something interesting about being part of an official Chinese tour group was realizing that the Chinese had either Apple or Huawei phones. Everyone took pictures wherever we went and the image quality of the Huawei P30 is honestly superior. The older generation preferred Huawei, the younger ones preferred Apple, my OPPO felt like a stranger. They were also extremely generous. Once, some of us broke away to eat BBQ. It was a feast I could not stomach well but the bill totaled to a hefty amount of 1000+ yuan which was paid by a lady who refused our Alipay transfers.
The weather did not hold up well during our tour. Sudden rain and clear skies were common and we arrived at most tourist destinations and hotels in the rain. At 2123, on the way to beitun, sawa man sitting down with a hoodie over his head in jeans… as the bus passed him, there’s a cemetry behind and then the bus past vast fields without either signs of life or vehicr nearby. What was he doing there?There’s a youth hostel in Kansas
Lunch within Hemu Village at 1258 hr.
Leaving Hemu Ticketing Entrance when it is bright and sunny. This is the weather we hope for in the next visit! 1440 hr.
Back to Buerqin for dinner, 1900 hr.
We stopped at another restaurant for dinner. This time one of the participants had a craving for rich meats which were usually not served as part of a tour packages. Persuading some of us to join her, about five ladies went to a nearby restaurant for dinner on a self-funded basis. We ended up being treated by this generous lady in the end, there was fish, lamb skewers, and other meats which I honestly wasn’t a fan of. Would have personally preferred the tour dinner but the lady seemed in need of company.
Dinner at Buerqin, 2021 hr.
Our accomodation that night was Beitun. We arrived at a hotel at 2227 hr which rejected us two again, they called a driver to sent us down to 速8酒店。In our tour group of 11, we had paid the most to the tour agency. Most paid an average of 1200 and some paid as little as 950. The difference in cost for us was presumably on the basis of accommodation where we mostly were put up in an international hotel instead of the Chinese hotels the members were put up at. Not all hotels in China accept foreigners and the cost difference we paid was understandable however, our tour guide did not make the necessary arrangements beforehand thus each time when our tour group arrived at a Chinese hotel late at night after a long day, my travel buddy and I would wait in the lobbies for nearly an hour for a vehicle transfer to an international hotel in the vicinity whilst the other tour members retired to their rooms to rest. We reached our designated hotel around 2330 hr.
At around midnight, we heard a knock on our room door as I was in the shower. We had just transferred here (速8酒店) after the other tour members retired to their rooms at their hotel an hour ago. My roommate peered through the door hole to find a Chinese policeman who patiently stood outside whilst I rushed myself out of the shower room. He had heard about our check in and simply wanted to check on our passports and take pictures of us. I was drenched like a rat, smiling into his phone camera along the corridor feeling rather awkward. I decided to ask about the probability of buying a local SIM card in China these days. His reply was that I would not be able to buy a SIM card anywhere in China unless I was here on a long term visit.
Our hotel at Beitun was just opposite a Police Station.
8 June 2019.
Simple breakfast at 0714 hr. We would be heading back to Urumqi today, with a few stops in between.
A National Park which houses trees that were at least a thousand years of age. 1156 hr.
Lunch at 1230 hr.
Passing by the city of Karamay. 1657 hr.
The outskirts of Urumqi City. The sheer numbe rof giant power plants left a deep impression. 2120 hr.
After a long ride, we reached Urumqi at 2256 hr. Everyone was tired, including the driver who had driven non-stop the entire day. Still, he extended a helping hand in retrieving everyone’s luggage. We slept at nearly 0300 hr that night.