China Trip 2016 (2)

My home province is called Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xinjiang).  Here is a facebook page by an American who lives there  https://www.facebook.com/farwestchina/. For people who don’t know, it is far northwest part of China. It has many ethnics and Muslim is the main religion in that area. It was over five hours flight from Shanghai and over four hours from Beijing.

 

 Shihezi, where I grew up

We only had two weeks at home in Xinjiang. The time just flew by no matter how hard we tried to slow it down! I always pray for God to bring people who are searching Him to us before I go to China. A couple of months before we took our vacation, a high-school friend (Lan Fang) suddenly came to my mind. She was two grades higher than me and lived in the same dormitory room in high school for a year. Besides being poor like I was, she had a step-father who treated her whole family badly. But she was kind and diligent in everything she did. One of our mutual friends’ mom had compassion on her and often brought her some food back then. The only thing I knew about her later was that she worked for a factory after she graduated from high school. Then we completed lost contact with each other for twenty six years. I just thought about her so strongly that I began to search for her. Through our mutual friend’s mom, I connected with her by Wechat in May. She asked me to call her as soon as I got to my parents’ home. I was eager to catch up with her (instead of my old friends as I did in the past). At the same time, I prayed for her and I had a strong feeling that there might be opportunities for us to share Jesus with her. I copied all my Chinese Bible study materials and ebooks onto an 8G thumb drive (I had to delete some hymns to fit in) and bought a Bible stories book with CDs for her before we left Dallas.

 Lan Fang and me

  

 I called her as soon as we arrived at my parents’ house. She asked us out for dinner. I brought her some gift from America but left the thumb drive and Bible books at home because I didn’t know whether she would be interested in them. During the dinner, she told me she had a wonderful job and a happy family. Then she asked me whether I became a Christian in America. I said yes! The rest of the dinner was surrounded by religious conversation. She told us she had an Indian friend who was a Christian; she told us our mutual friend and her family became Christian except her dad (this I already knew); and she showed great interest in knowing more about Christianity! After dinner, I told her I had the Bible study materials on the thumb drive and other Bible books for her but I didn’t bring them. She said she would meet us at church the next day to fetch the Bible study materials. Her eyes exuded the hunger for learning and the excitement. She met us at church the next morning. We sat outside because the church was overflowing with people. She started asking me questions about being a Christian and baptism (what and why and how). The lady behind us tapped our shoulder and signaled us to be quiet and listen to the sermon. We stopped talking. In the end, she asked us whether it was possible for David to baptize her before we left! We planned to take a three-day vacation with my parents the next three days. I told her we would contact her as soon as we came back from the vacation to Yili. 

After we came back from our trip to Ili, we started looking into the places for her baptism. The water of the outdoor swimming pool and the river was too cold; we couldn’t find a hotel bathtub. Finally my parents’ farm bathtub would be the only option. When I told her that, she told me she already bought a big plastic bucket/tub for her baptism and it would be delivered to her apartment that afternoon. We went to her apartment and talked to her more about being a Christian and the meaning of the baptism. She was baptized Saturday afternoon- the day before we left my home town. She wanted to ask her son and her husband to become Christians with her. But they needed more time. During the baptism, she told us she totally lost all her sensation and hearing. She felt like she was dead. Then she realized she was alive after she got out of the water. We told her that was exactly what baptism represents: death to self and new life again! She was so excited and thankful! She said she felt like we came all the way from America just for her and she thanked God for giving her a new life! This reminded me of the story of Peter and Cornelius in Acts 10. God definitely worked in Lanfang’s life. Several days later, Lan Fang told us that our mutual friend’s father became a Christian on the same day as she did! Lan Fang's family bought a house in Xi'An where they wanted to live after her retirement. She said there was a big Christian church right next to her new house!!

While we visited my mom’s church – the only church in my home town, we unexpectedly met an American couple Jeff and Melissa who were helping with the children during the service. In the past, the kids were all staying with their parents or grandparents outside the church. Jeff and Melissa started children's class about two years ago. They were professors in the local university (teaching Agriculture and English). We could tell everyone there loved them. They introduced us to a guy who was recruiting for Dallas Theology Seminary.  Lan Fang wanted to help them with the children's class too.

The children's class

Mr. Bai - the recruiter for DTS and his sisters

It was packed inside the church building

People sat outside around the church building

Growing up, I never went sightseeing around my beautiful hometown. This time we decided to have a mini-vacation with my parents. We picked Ili because it barely could fit in our three-day schedule. We looked up the weather. It would rain for all three days. But I decided to go anyway. We headed off on Monday with my two brothers’ cars (one of them was just out of the repair shop). The first day was uneventful. We drove to the Sayram Lake (aka Sailimu Hu or 赛里木湖), Ili, Xinjiang. It’s both the largest and highest alpine lake in all of Xinjiang, but that doesn’t matter to travelers as much as the amazing views. Sayram Lake is surrounded by grasslands, guarded by the snow-capped TianShan and covered by an endless blue sky. As an added bonus, the road which passes through the Fruit Valley (果子沟) between Yining and Sayram Lake boasts one of the most incredible bridges in all of China. The entire road is a feast of visual beauty. We stayed in Yining that night. It started raining right before we got to the hotel. 

The lake and the views on the way

The bridges we drove over

The next day, we spent the whole day driving to one of the most famous grasslands called Narat Grasslands. The scenery along the road/Ili river was picturesque. We saw the beautiful river winding through and the smokey mountains in the distance and massive grassland in between. We also visited the lavender fields. Right after we checked in our hotel, it started raining hard. We stopped at a restaurant to eat dinner. On the menu, it has a great selection of dishes. After we walked in, we realized we were on the mercy of the restaurant quickly: there was no price information on the menu; the waitress wouldn’t write down our order (saying that she could remember our order of 9 dishes while in fact my brother found out she never went to school and didn't know how to write); they didn’t have any vegetable dishes we ordered (because they buy vegetable at the farmer’s market after they take the order. But the market was closed when we walked in at 5:30pm). We wanted to find another restaurant. But we were not sure there was one better than this. That was an unique experience for us.

The restaurant that ran out of the vegetable and the waitress who couldn't write

We were afraid the rain would ruin our third day. We prayed that God would allow us to see the Narat Grasslands since we drove for 2 days to see it. To our surprise, God stopped the rain the next morning. We went ahead to the grassland. The grass and the flowers were freshly washed. The scenery was breathtaking! I wish we could spend more time there. We briefly got on one bus line to take one of the four tours available so that we could head back by noon (The tickets were good for two days and we surely hoped we could use that …). The weather was perfect – the sun even came out briefly! We left the grassland by noon. As soon as we got into the car it started pouring again. We headed toward the mountain road. The clouds and fogs rolled over. Emily and Andy said they wanted to bring some of the clouds back home. They did catch some :-). There are a numerous grasslands surrounding Yili that are both beautiful and in many cases more remote and quiet. Stay in a yurt, hike, ride a horse, participate a local ethnic festival…there’s plenty to do! We just didn’t have time this time. I know David and the kids would love to do that if we have another chance in the future.

When we got out of Narat Grasslands, we were told the road back home G217 was closed because of the mudslide caused by the rain previous night. They suggested us to go back all the way to Yining (G218/G312). But it would take 12 hours to get home. Our GPS told us to take the shortcut through the mountains (about 6 hours). We followed our GPS and took the shortest route G 216 instead. It turned out to be a big mistake.

Not long after we got on the unpaved Route 216, my brother’s car had a problem – it started having a sharp cranking sound (I thought the repairmen didn’t do a thorough job when the car was repaired a couple of days ago) and our car lost it tire cover because of the bumpy dirt road full of pit holes and rocks. My brother tried to fix the car problem himself because we were in the middle of nowhere. It started raining and getting cold. We decided to get help. Finally David flagged down a truck that happened to pass by. The driver told us the closest town would be 170 miles away either direction and it was impossible to get help on a road like this. But he told us he knew a Muslim guy down the road who only knew how to fix a tire. He didn’t know anything else if it was not a tire problem. And we might not find him because it was in the middle of a Muslim holiday. All the business were closed. We decided to try. On the way there, we prayed the whole way for God to send us someone who could help us and that the problem was the minor one so we could continue our journey. When we got there, the guy took off the tire and checked on that. It turned out to be that a rock got into the tire! He took the rock out and charged for two dollars. We thanked God for answering out prayers!

We were hoping the road would get better as we moved on. But it turned worse! Emily and Andy were with my parents in my brother’s car in the front. They didn’t even have a seatbelt. David and I followed behind with my sister-in-law and niece. We drove over a running creek that cut through our road. The rain got heavier as it turned darker. The heavy fogs rolled in constantly. We started having difficulties seeing the road even the windshield wipers were on the max speed and both our windows were rolled down. The road became narrower and steeper. It wound endlessly through the mountains. We had to stop several times because we couldn’t see the road and it was too dangerous. There was no cell phone signals. My brother waited for us once he found out we were not following. We prayed constantly while we inched ahead. We drove 19 hours on that dangerous mountain road. Nobody dared to relax for a second except Emily and Andy who were sleeping on my mom’s laps. Finally we decided to rest in the car for three hours because we didn't know how long we had to drive on that road. Everyone was extremely tired. Our clothes were all cold and damp. By the time we got out of the mountain road, it was around 9:00am. All the restaurants in the first town we stopped were closed because of the Muslim holiday. We were very hungry, tired, but relieved, thanking God for keeping us safe and sound! I was too nervous to take any pictures during the mountain road. The only thing I remembered was the white mountain rocks and the dark slippery road and the steep cliffs. And I was sure that was an “Once-In-A-Lifetime Adventure”! Later on, we were told we just traveled “The road of Death”. We passed the “No. 1 Glacier” and “The Tiger’s Mouth” and “Icy Daban” (4820m Mountains in the Clouds). All of us were so nervous and stressed for the entire road. We thought we would never get out of there. My uncle told us we were lucky to drive during the night. If we did during the day, we would be scared to death even though the view was unbelievable!

The lure of a shortcut led us into an unwanted detour. But God was definitely with us in that dark rainy foggy night - none of the things we worried had happened during those difficult 19 hours: falling rocks; running out of the gas; car problems ... After we came home, we read about cars falling down the valleys even during the day.

This was the last town we passed before we got on the mountain road. We wished we stopped there to have lunch because we didn't have anything to eat for the next 23 hours! (When we got out the mountain the next morning, it was a Muslim holiday so all the restaurants were closed.)

The tire that had the problem (We waited in the car for help because it was raining and very windy and cold outside)

The guy who fixed our car

I guess he was the owner of this road-side motel?

The dangerous mountain road started

We drove through a running creek

The road got narrower and narrower (without any type of rail guards). This is a picture of it during the day

David saw a burnt truck and an abandoned car down the side of the road within 30 minutes of drive. It probably was the same one like this (picture borrowed from the internet because we didn't stop to take a picture of it)

The cows walked freely in front of our cars before we got on the mountain road

It got darker and darker. The rain came tumbling down. The fog rolled in waves after waves... We hoped the road wouldn't last long. But it lasted forever ... This picture was before we got on the mountain road.

These two pictures were taking after we rested for three hours (around 6am in the morning) in the car. We got out of the mountain three hours later.

None of us had any picture of the mountains at night. Below are some pictures of the views if we traveled during the day that I found on the Internet

Josh, an American who lives in Xinjiang wrote about his experience traveling on the route G216 during the day: http://www.farwestchina.com/2016/05/xinjiang-road-trip-highway-216.html I really enjoyed reading about his journey after we came back.

We saw many military trucks before we got on the mountain road. Later I happened to read an article about it - the Chinese government sent lots of soldiers to maintain the peace during the Muslim holidays. These trucks were heading toward the southern Xinjiang where the activities levels were high.

After the short trip, we went to my parents’ grape/dates farm for a day. We visited our old houses where I grew up (two of them were gone already) 

This is the first house where I grew up ... It was renovated later. I still remember the rabbit holes all over our floor and the oil lamps we used inside the house.

The third house that I lived in

The bed I and my sister shared

Visiting the house my parents built after we left our home

Picking sweet juicy peaches and other vegetable

The grapes were not ripe yet. Most of them would be in season in late July

Ripe grapes and dates

We left my parents Sunday afternoon. My cousin picked us up and took us to Urumqi where my uncle lives. My aunt’s family happened to be there that night after their vacation. We had a great time catching up with each other before we took off to Beijing the next day. Unfortunately I hurt my toes seriously when a steel stool dropped on them when I lifted two stools up together at lunch. I immediately sprayed some essential oil on them when they started turning black and getting swelled up. It definitely helped.

 Urumqi used to be a crowded and enjoyable place at night. But since there were some terrorist activities during the past several years, all the public gatherings were forbidden after 10pm each night. What a pity! To refresh some memory, I found some pictures I took there in 2007.

We ate here ... My mouth still waters when I think about it!

Inside the mosque at the downtown area

Xinjiang - a beautiful place! This experience will forever stay in our memories.