Under control

Eastern Turkestan (Xinjiang) under control

We go to meet Liu Jia and Yang Dong and go to a beach well known for its sand that has virtues against rheumatisms and articulations. Many people bury themselves in the sand to get better. Then, we discover people buried in the sand that dad photographs. Back at the hotel, dad stays in the room to work while I go eat and to an Internet café to send my texts. I write every day and it becomes a pleasure to do so. I bring back the skewers and bread I bought for dad before eating. Three Ouigour sit in front of me and I begin to talk with them. I learn that to say a person comes from a county, one adds “De” at the end of the country’s name. Liu Jia is pressing me to leave while I’m learning something about one of my family’s language. She tells me: “it’s midnight”, I look at my watch and say: “We have time since in Xinjiang, it’s barely 10pm” (we changed time zone). Finally, we leave to go to the cyber café and there, the people refuse until I tell them whi I am, and they let me go in. But the place’s manager throws me out before I am finished. So, we go to another cyber café that refuses to let me in but accepts Liu Jia; that’s when I understand that foreigner’s aren’t allowed in. She only had to load her photos and I have to send my texts for the blog. I ask her if she can do it for me, but she doesn’t understand. So I get up, leave and go see the third cyber café. When Yang Dong sees me leave, he follows me and tries to help me get into the cyber café but it doesn’t work. So we go back to see Liu Jia. Thanks to the kindness of the people at the cyber café, I can do what I need to do in five minutes: I send mom my texts to have them proofread and translated into English. We then go back to the hotel and tell dad about this adventure.