First steps in the city of Xining

Cooking lessons

Since yesterday we went to bed at 4 in the morning, dad gave everyone the day off but, hard working as he is, Yang Dong, refuses to take the day off. Like he says: “I’m not here to play, I’m here to film”. So dad tells him to go film the Buddhist temple. Dad and I wake up late. I take the time to hang out and it it’s great. Dad gives me a mission: bring our laundry to the chambermaids, but they don’t understand what I’m asking. Now I have to go knock on Liu Jua’s door who wakes up and comes to help me. Mission accomplished: our laundry, each item counted, will be ready tomorrow. While dad gets ready, we look at the map with Liu Jia to study the route to get from Altaï in China, to Ogly in Mongolia. We even consider the possibility of taking the plane for part of the journey if the road is impossible and if we can’t get there by rail. Dad finally ready, we head with Liu Jia to a typical restaurant from Xining. On the way, we come across a travel agency and we ask about the different flights between Urumchi and cities close to Mongolia. We order different dishes and one of them is much too spicy for me. Luckily, there are really good bamboos and a dish of sheep tripe; a real delight! They serve us some salt-water tea that is so good, I dink seven cups. To believe that I’m becoming addicted to tea, like dad. Our steps take us to a store that sells typical regional things like Yak meat, sabers, but also elements from traditional Chinese medicine. We don’t buy anything, we only look with our eyes…like mom used to tell me when I was little and she didn’t want me to touch the toys that were tempting me. Just next door there is a copy shop and Liu Jia remembers that we wanted to have business cards printed. For 500 business cards, we have to pay 240 Yuan and everything will be ready by 10pm. In France it would take 3 days. Back at the hotel, I write my text and get some rest. Liu Jia arrives with some fruit. I am happy to rediscover the apple, which I haven’t eaten in two years because of my dental retainer, kind of like rings that held my teeth captive, and I devour litchis which I could barely eat back in Paris. After, I talk about traveling with Liu Jia and we enjoy listening to each other speak the other person’s language. I have a very good Chinese accent. Dad calls us to add descriptions to our photos. Once our work done, we call my cousin Aydin who tells us what we have to do in order to send him the photos in the smallest format possible. After, tired from his day without eating, Yang Dong arrives exhausted but still finds the strength to talk with dad about photography and film. That is without a doubt passion! We go down the street to the Internet café to send everything we need to Paris. Since tomorrow will be a long day I go to bed earlier than usual to be in good shape tomorrow.