Jiayuguan, China, 27/06/2009,
 
Hello,

My plan was to visit the NanJiang railway (The line between Tulufan/Turpan and Kuerle/Korla), for which I had chosen Baluntai as “base camp”. Things didn't go as planned though... On the train from Jiayuguan to Hejing (Train 1067, passing the Nanjiang line in daylight...) I decided to take some pictures of the cool landscapes, but they had mounted metal bars on the windows to prevent them from being opened for more than about 15 centimeters... I managed to take some pictures though, but soon a policeman appeared, telling me to stop taking pictures at once! He said the whole mountain area is a very important military region, with military forces ready to react swiftly to any attack (!?), and that only after Hejing I could take pictures again... I reluctantly obeyed him and stopped taking picturtes (After all, pictures taken from a moving train are never much more than snapshots...) but dismissed it for myself as being exagurated, and imagined that the guy was simply paranoid...

Arriving in Hejing I searched a bus going to Baluntai, and soon arrived at a place where several minibusses were standing, which would depart when full... Soon we could depart with one of them, but not before the driver and someone who also wanted to get in the bus started a s serious fight just outside the bus... (There was a grim atmosphere around that place...)

We arrived in Baluntai after a hectic ride (Overtaking slow trucks at full speed in curves, etc...), and tried checking into a hotel (On the opposite side of the tank station, a yellow building...), where they charged 120,- RMB for a filthy, smelly and very basic room... (I could only bargain him down to 100,- per night, he refused any offer that was lower...) From my room, I had a nice view on the station though, and the sound of the passing “watermelons” was very impressive, but the the windows were so filthy that I couldn't even see it clearly!

Next day I searched a taxi, but all of them charged crazy prices, like 400 to 500,- RMB for a day, and this for only the lower parts of the line! (Between Baluntai and Shengliqiao!) Non of them wanted to go below 400,-! Eventually only one guy agreed to drive for 300,- RMB, and fortunately he was a good driver with a jeep... The weather was sunny (With amazing dark blue skies and only some little clouds...) but incredibly hot by the way, with one hour in the burning sun enough to cause serious sunburn, even after using factor 15 sunscreem!

Photography was not going so well either by the way, with 90% of the trains going in the downhill direction before noon, when the sun is in the right position for uphill trains (I had found a very nice spot to photograph uphill trains...), resulting in only one relatively OK video recording in almost four (!) hours... Apparently, there had been a sandstorm in Tulufan the night before (Indeed, I noticed very strong winds there the day before, the whole carriage was moving sideways in the wind during the service stop at Yuergou...), causing a lot of trains to be held there untill the storm was over, and these were now all coming over the pass...

Local railway staff was very friendly by the way, which unfortunately cannot be said about the other people in town... Only once in a while a local smiled back, after I had smiled to them and nodded hello, mostly I got a very awkward and somehow negative appearing looks back...

And eventually things got even worse...

On the way back to Baluntai in the early evening, we were stopped by the police at the entrance of town. The officer was friendly, and said hello to me in a friendly way, asking me if I could come and register myself at the police station. Well, OK by me, but I told him that it is the first time that I have to register at the local police station in China, so I asked him why I had to do that... No clear answer came, until we arrived at the police station. There the guys were not so friendly anymore, and seemed straightout rude and angry, mostly to my driver, which I didn't find appropriate! And I also told them so... It turned out that the whole Tianshan area, from Yuergou to Hejing, is closed for foreigners, and even a very sensitive military area! (Apparently, some locals went to the police to complain about a foreigner in town taking pictures, so the police waited for me to come backl!) According to the local police, it is even one of the most sensitive areas in China! After some time, I had to give my memory cards to them, on which they deleted all pictures with bridges in it (Even a picture of a stupid hanging wooden pedestrian bridge in a very bad shape!) (How strategically important...), and so on...

After some talking, I made it very clear to them that I understand that they have to do their job, but I said that I refuse to leave the police station before they can tell me how I can find out weather an area is closed or open for foreigners! They said it was common sense, but of course I didn't buy that! Also I told them that you can access high resolution pîctures of the whole area on Google Earth, and then their ridiculous answer was “Google is Google”, we have no business with them... They said I can find a list of closed zones on the internet... But even here, they didn't want to give me any details! Eventually, I took a paper out of my bag, and wrote “http://” on it, requiring them to fill in the exact location of that list! First they refused to do so, but then I sat down and crossed my arms, signing them to fill in the URL, or I would stay in the office! I told them that because of my job for the railways I am used to striclty following the rules, and that I want to do the same in China, but in order to be able to do that I must first be able to know what the rules are of course. Furthermore, it was my seventh time in China of course, and this was the first time something like this happened to me! After some discussion among the officers, one of them (The friendly one...) finally took the paper and completed the URL! I was very dissapointed though to see that he just filled it www.baidu.cn... After my reaction, he grinned nervously to me... Then I gave up... (I don't think such a list exist on the net...)

It seemed they understood my situation, because suddenly one of the “rude guys” smiled and said that he was being fair to me, because he should normally go much further with the whole thing, and he also said that if I wanted to visit the area again, I should go to the police in Kuerle and ask for a permit to visit this area... Apparently, this seems to be the key to visit the line officially, even though I have no idea whether they would approve such an application...

So beware if any of you intend to visit the NanJiang line in the future!

I am now on the way to the Jitong line in Inner Mongolia by the way, for some similar diesel action... The NanJiang line offers more spectacular action (Up to four diesels working one train, a lot of classic green DF4B's, and much higher mountains...), but eventually I think I prefer the Jitong line. Taking into consideration that the NanJiang line is far more difficult to reach for photography and the general bad atmosphere around the line (I already felt as if I was doing something illegal before I got to know that this was really the case!), I prefer the now very nice atmosphere around the Jitong line. The irritating sellers and photo maffia are all gone now, and most people there look genuinly happy to see a foreigner again! Furthermore I find the landscape around the Jitiong Line in (late) summer much more appealing and colorful, even though the snow capped mountains around Dewentuogai are a fantastic sight too... And personally I'm a big fan of DF8B's (The thundering sound of those noisy beasts is amazing, and the dark blue engines with the round roof design are in my opinion rather photogenic too...), and seeing and hearing two of them slowly dragging an enormous 5000 ton coal train towards Shangdian is simpy breathtaking, and this kind of action is only offered on the Jitong Line... On the Nanjiang line, trains are shorter, and seem to be running much faster in comparison...

The Nanjiang line is a great line though, and something I liked very much was the continuous action on this line! Regardless my bad luck before noon (With almost all the trains running downhill...), the waiting time was almost never more than 15 minutes! That's unbelievable!

Best regards,

Joeri Vanvaerenbergh