We are on the mission to find the 'perfect wedding site' and s two days, we have been driving out of Urumqi to visit neo for the pastarby mountains, grasslands, and just seeing where our best options are. While Matt is the official chauffeur of our Ferrari (ok, it's infact a sturdy Beijing Jeep with Ferrari stickers plastered all over it, but hey it looks cool and it can fly like the wind), I have been dubbed Mademoiselle Navigator, equipped with my own GPS gizmo. It's my first time ever using the device but i absolutely LOVE it!!!!! It's amazing to see where you are in the world, and you can zoom in and out, retrace past tracks, see how high you are, how fast you're going, how long until ?, and mark points of interest so you can find them again (we even named some 'piss' and 'shit', you can figure out why yourself). It's like you're a bird and viewing everything from up top, really incredible. I'm totally addicted, and i can see how people do the whole Geo-caching (sp?) thing.. must make a mental note to look into that and see if there is any hidden treasures in Xinjiang, perhaps in the Taklamakan desert.. hmmm, speaking of which, there is to be a rally that goes through the Taklamakan Desert for ten days in the beginning of May. Very very tempted to go, a once in a lifetime chance really... however, we don't want to sign up and realize that it is just this drunken baijiu (strong chinese alcohol that burns everything in its path) party under the stars with bad karaoke singers howling their woes and sins all through the chilly desert night. No thank you, i wouldn't even be paid to do that.
Friday was Matt's Birthday
and we both took the day off to explore the mountains. We set off to retrace the same path we took the Thursday previous with his work team, on an audit trip. On that trip, we got turned around twice due to heavy mud and knee-deep snow. It was pretty insane, and quite nerve-racking i might add, when the two jeeps we were in (there were 8 of us in total) got stuck in the mud right on a ledge of a steep mountain. Luckily there were some bright ideas, great teamwork and a couple of excellent drivers, so we got home alright that night.
On Friday while going on the same route with just the two of us, we were forced to turn around because of the heavy snow and not knowing if there was a 'real' road on the other side of the mountain, we didn't want to chance it. So here we are: in the middle of this gorgeous field surrounded by towering pine trees, no reception on our mobiles, a couple of abandoned log cabins, the bright sun shining down upon us, no shovel, blankets, extra clothes, water (ok, i can hear the lot of you tsk-tsk'ing me right now. Yes, i agree, better planning is in order for next time...) and we're staring at this hill we had to go back on. Going down was no problem as it was a progressive decline on slippery snow, however the prospects of heading up it were grim. We tried, by God we tried, spinning the tires, sliping and sliding up and down and down again. In the end, we had to literally stomp and dance on the snow, losing all sensation in our lower limbs, in order to clear a somewhat solid path for the jeep, er sorry Ferrari, to chug its way back up on the top of the hill. After some much-celebrated effort, we did it!
We made it back to Urumqi in time for a last-minute-planned birthday bash for Matt. Besides the fact that i am one of the worst (or best, depending on which light you look at it) procrastinators, everything turned out well. We spent the night with our Urumqi friends, eating delicious Western food. Pizza, salad, french bread, gumbo!, oh.. and the best was the cake. Moist, sweet and calorie-infused, this was no Western-wanna-be-cake-with-a-Chinese-twist, it was the real thing, and i felt like i was back in Toronto on Queen street in one of those trendy/hippy bars. It's miraculous what food can do to bring you happiness and fulfillment in life. Sigh.On Saturday we went out again to the mountains, this time with Ahati (one of Matt's co-workers) and his wife Marsia, a larger-than-life woman who looks and acts like everyone's best friend. They are Kazakh and have taken it upon themselves to ensuring that our special day will be perfect, full of Kazakh food, music, clothing, rituals... such kind-hearted people. It never ceases to amaze me that there are and will continue to exist people who are genuinely nice. It says a lot about humanity in this world and in the face of diasaster, be it natural or man-induced, it provides hope for the future.
What i really liked seeing was how Ahati and Marsia were so loving to each other. It is certainly one of the odd times where i see a couple here in China be genuinely in love. A pleasant China-surprise for me.
We saw 4 different sites, and we took pictures of each so we can remember them clearly when comes time to select the perfect spot. For me, the vision includes green pastures, mountains in the background, trees, and a stream to chill beer and champagne in, and of course the chance to take a quick dip! The big question is whether or not we want a venue with electricity. We could, in theory, get several generators or even some solar panels. The main thing for us is to be away from other tourists during that time, due to excessive noise from karaoke and baijiu frenzies. Again, no on could pay me to endure that kind of torture, especially not on our W-day.
Have been suffering from a cough that just does not seem to want to leave. I had a sore throat a few days ago, but at least that has subsided. On the flip side, the weather is turning much warmer and you see more people out and about, walking, biking, flying kites - tis nice.But yet i can not forget the fact that i am in China no matter how nice the weather is, what language i speak, what i eat... the simple fact remains that i am in the land where electronic devices are crap quality and getting a 'discount' or 'bargain' actually means you should brace yourself to go back within the week to return the thing you thought would last you for at least a year, if not a week! Poo on Chinese brand electronics. I bought this CD/tape player last week for my classes, and also to tape voice/CD's/MP3's onto cassette. It was a Chinese brand, but i figured it should be ok. WRONG. Within a few days of purchase, everytime the power is turned on, the machine begins to grumble and gurgle as if it were a washing machine. I swear it's either got an identity crisis or it's just really horribly manufactured. Seeing as i don't know the right term or phrases to say "Your stereo I bought last week is confused and thinks it is a dishwasher", I will just tell them "Your stereo I bought last week is crap quality and I feel personally attacked as an innocent customer. Give me my money back." The thrifty shopper in me will never again trust Chinese brand stuff anymore. Ok, now that i've got myself all worked up, off i go to right my sense of justice in this land where obviously quantity overides any sense of quality.
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