Winter's gone and the street market eating stalls are spreading
across the pavements and into the roads, all you can eat for 30p. The
knobblies are back on the bike and I'm now starting to find the
goodies squirrelled away on the outskirts of Urumqi.
The Yarmalik Mountains are a minor range that juts right into the city
from the south-west, rising to the height of Ben Nevis. I didn't even
realise they existed for my first two months here: the pollution
generated by Urumqi's largely coal-based power industry was so bad
that I couldn't see them through the smog. There's a military radar
station on the top which I'm steering well clear of, but everything
else is fair game.
Urumqi does have a nascent outdoor/biking scene, logical given the
extensive mountain areas on its doorstep. Unfortunately no maps are
available, so it's really a case of following your nose and seeing
what you find. The Yarmalik summit ridge has a warren of singletrack
dropping off to the east, mainly sheep trails worn into the desert
rubble by Muslim herders that I occasionally pass, squatting on their
heels while they watch over their flocks. Some of the tracks appear to
be military in origin, connecting up foxholes and abandoned gun
emplacements that I guess date back to the dark days of Maoist paranoia
in the 1960s.
http://www.bikemagic.com/gallery/image.asp?sp=&v=7&uabn=173&Position==1&uin==907
As you drop lower down you hit extensive tree plantations. China has
recognised that serious environmental damage has occurred over the last
four decades, with increasing dust storms stripping away vital loess
topsoil. Part of the country's coping strategy consists of planting
huge numbers of trees, to anchor the substrate and reduce windborne
erosion. People from all walks of life get drafted into work squads for
a day and bussed to the countryside to plant saplings.
The lower Yarmalik plantations are walled in, presumably to stop poor
people cutting down trees for fuel, and this caused me no little grief
yesterday. I'd hit the wall and followed it to a gate, which was
locked. The Hound From Hell (fortunately chained up) started barking,
which brought out the hare lipped hillbilly gatekeeper. I motioned that
I wanted to get through the gate. No way was he going to let that
happen, so I shrugged and started climbing over the wall. Things went
downhill quickly at this point - I ended up halfway over the wall,
with the gatekeeper and his shrieking wife grimly hanging onto the
Klein, trying to drag me back. The dog was apoplectic by now, lunging
forward trying to break its chain. A crowd was gathering on the other
side of the gate, emerging from their shanties to enjoy the spectacle
of the red faced foreigner clinging to a wall, swearing profusely at
his tormentors. It was time to bite the bullet and use the magic words:
how much? After bargaining them down from their initial ludicrous
demand to a still-insane 30p, they unlocked the gate and let me
through. Have a nice day, y'all!
The Bogda Shan range lies to the east of the city, serious mountains
rising up to 5500m in height. The foothills are easily accessible from
Urumqi on a day ride, which is where I went today. And to the south?
Desert for 50 km, then the Tien Shan mountain range rearing up to
altitudes of over 4600m. And next week it's my holiday....