This trip comes under the category of self-inflicted, since no-one forced me to come. It was essentially a week travelling around Gansu province (Xinjiang’s smaller, more Chinese, more polluted sister): sleeper train to Lanzhou, a few nights each in Huining, Tianshui and Lanzhou itself, and visits to several other places along the way.

We started with a 6am coach from Karamay, Tom and I on different coaches but reunited in the Pollo restaurant at lunch (a pleasant surprise). I spent my time on the sleeper studiously ignoring everyone (a feat, because I was surrounded by students). They would not go to sleep. The next dawn lit the carriage’s condensation-rimmed windows to one very under-slept English teacher, and some far-too energetic students who briefly slept for a few hours. A few times I’d drifted off only to be woken by a camera flash. Only once before have I been this angry with my students.

Lanzhou was grim, like the aptly-named Yellow River running through it. We visited a waterwheel complex by the river (used to lift water for irrigation, rather than turning a millstone) where the teachers gathered in the cafe area for beers. Completely justified. After lunch at the Apollo Hotel (complete with female Greek-style statue outside) it was back on the coaches to reach Huining, famous for its schools. Not a typo.

An ungodly early start the next day allowed us to visit three middle-schools. At the first, I found myself in front of the town leaders doing calligraphy (help); at the second we watched some incredibly intricate morning exercises (they all looked so depressed); and at the third we were treated to a full-on marching band playing the national anthem. Last visit of the day was to the ‘Outside of School Student Centre of Teenager’. No? Me neither. Next day saw us visiting a museum about the Red March; Tom and I staying in the gift shop to prevent students from buying strong spirits. This was followed by a four-hour journey to Tianshui and a visit to an ancient complex of houses (which were actually 10 years old). Before dinner we enjoyed watching fish die in the polluted river (unrelated note: Tianshui means ‘Heavenly Water’ in Chinese).

On Sunday we walked around the Maijishan Grottoes (towering Buddhas carved into a cliff and accessible by wooden walkways, which only recently gained safety rails). It was surrounded by forests of dappled green which I failed to do justice with my camera. After a return to Lanzhou, we visited the nearby Liujiaxia Dam for a whistle-stop tour – literally. The security going in was intense, and the tour itself lasted less than five minutes, but wearing a hard hat was fun.

Tom and I gave a lesson one evening to occupy the students. Fed up with hearing, ‘Teacher, this is interesting,’ all week, we taught them eight new adjectives using an English to Chinese word-matching exercise in groups. Unfortunately we did things in the wrong order, so it was too easy, but I think they enjoyed it. That night, Bunny (a colleague) took us to try Lanzhou street food. I think she needed a beer after a week of dealing with unwell or unruly students, confiscating items and worried parents on the phone. I don’t think she’d got to bed before 4am once. On the last morning we visited Gansu museum (which most students found boring, preferring to sit on their phones), and at lunch I finally noticed what was wrong: despite having sixteen adults, we only ate at a table for eight. I think this is the most fraudulent I’ve felt so far, being honoured with a seat at the teachers’ table over other (more qualified) adults – but we have been accepted without question.

—TJC

Featured image: a man climbs down the Maijishan Grottoes, southern Lanzhou.