Made with 26,000 images taken over two months traveling across Tibet, Xinjiang, Yunnan and Sichuan this video made by Abram Hodgens gives a great new take on traveling through these regions of China.
Silk Road Timelapse: Two Months Across Tibet, Xinjiang, Yunan, and China from inMotion on Vimeo.
It is easy to forget that a country with 1.3 billion people and which seems to make a large percentage of the world’s goods from endless factories actually has some outstanding scenery. China’s mountains are largely unknown to foreigners but just look a topographical map of China and you can see there huge areas of wild, mountainous terrain. The obvious range is the Himalaya’s in Tibet and bordering and crossing into Nepal. Other huge ranges can be found in Xinjiang province (the Parmirs, Altai and Tian Chi ranges), The Kunlun range in Qinghai province and the sacred mountains that dot China from Sichuan to Beijing. China.org has a list of it’s top ten here and below are some of the ones we have explored in recent years.
We arrived in Dunhuang today which has given the first access to internet since we left Beijing. Xinjiang Province has had it’s internet cut off since the trouble there in July. The two days spent there are quite possibly the longest amount of time I have spent without internet for many years! Xinjiang doesn’t disappoint despite being very cold this time of year. We headed straight to Turfan, a desert oasis 3 hours drive East from Urumqi. The city of 200,000 doesn’t offer so much in itself but the area and sights around it make the visit well worthwhile. Below is a selection of photos from the last two days.
A good list of places slightly off the usual China trod track! It covers some of my favourites such as Pingyao and Kashgar but all are worthy of the list. And, of course, this gives me an excuse to post a photo of both Pingyao and Kashgar as below – no prizes for guessing which is which!
Other destinations mentioned that I would love to visit are Xiahe and Luoyang.
An interesting story for those with a fascination for the legendary city of Kashgar. Across much of China it has been out with (most) of the old and in with the new since the reform and opening up period got underway. However, there is a growing realization that some of the historical buildings that are not necessarily star attractions should be preserved. The old city in Kashgar may not provide the best living accommodation in new China but should it be preserved for it’s historical value and to comply with the wishes of local residents who’s families have lived here for generations? Read more here..
And for those wondering what Kashgar’s old city looks like a photo below…
