(Without rush) and the pace back East

I have been on a fascinating 10-day holiday trip with two colleagues around the western province of Xinjiang. We flew to the western-most commercial airport of Kashgar and from there hopped around from site to site by car, train and airplane, slowly making our way back towards the Northeast. We have seen amazing landscapes, mesmerizing historical and cultural sites, rode a camel and ate lots of mutton. However, the part of the trip I want to highlight is the music we encountered on most of our stops.

It looks like music has been a vibrant form of expression for a very long time in this region at the centre of Asia, a real crucible of cultures and religions. Already in the 3rd century AD, the buddhist frescoes of the Kizil grottoes depicted heavenly angels and local dignitaries playing all sorts of instruments to accompany the Buddha's ascension to nirvana.

Whether we were in Tajik, Kazak or Mongolian regions, there was music playing in the shops along the streets or from the tea rooms and bars. All markets had at least one shop selling instruments. Local tunes were often transformed by a beat box into a modern pulsing house number; we heard the local language being adapted to rap-style rythms.

In one of the ancient tea houses of Kashgar, a group of what looked like just friends of the tea house owner took their instruments out of their cases and gave the tourists and usual patrons an impromptu concert of traditional music.

In the 10th century Bezeklik grottoes, frescoes once again showed more musicians playing all sorts of instruments at the head of the reclining Buddha. Outside the grottoes, an old man kept the tradition going and invited one of us to improvise some music with him.

Is it not fascinating to witness the importance of music recorded in this region throughout the ages?

Go West
Pet shop boys, Discography: the complete singles collection, Parlophone

Photo of Julien with Tajik drummer: Frédéric Bessat

It's just another brick in the wall

Chinese tourists generally tend to congregate in photogenic places to take pictures of themselves, which they then post on their online social networks. 

Most Chinese tourists therefore try to cram as many photogenic spots into their travel plan in order to assemble as many tiles as possible to construct their online photo wall.

 

 The Great Wall of China undoubtedly has many photogenic spots along its 5000 km. It also flanks or bears many challenging trekking trails for hikers based in Beijing. 

 In line with the Chinese practice of picture tourism, here are three individual bricks I gathered from the the Great Wall:

1. The Western-most beacon tower overlooking a large ravine in Gansu province.
2. An unrepaired Ming dynasty section of the wall North of Beijing perched on top of a mountain ridge.
3. The Eastern-most beacon tower plunging into the sea in Hebei province.

And there are many more more-or-less photogenic Great Wall sites for me to explore all around Northern China. 

Another brick in the wall
Pink Floyd, The wall, Capitol.