Tuesday, February 17, 2009

BOB GAMBOL, NOMAD, SEEKING EXOTIC CHINA

Everyone tells me they love my excerpts from Bob Gambols backpacking trip. Bob is in China walking and hitching, avoiding the ordinary, finding the extraordinary. He got a connection out of Lanzhou to Urumqi the Western terminus of the Chinese rail near Kazakstan on the Russian Border.
“This connection was a 3½ day trip, which took three engines to get it over the hill. It had a diesel engine, one coal fired engine and one steam engine, but the smoke in there from the coal was horrible. Plus everybody smoked cigarettes. The smoke was so heavy I had this artist I befriended make me a No Smoking sign. But, when I’d put up the sign they’d all vacate. Later I got friendly with a Chinese Fuller Brush man and he told me my no smoking sign was offensive because everyone thought I was contagious. What it actually said was, Stop Smoking. I Cannot Breathe. They thought I had a disease", Bob chuckles.
“On this trip, I befriended a conductor and I admired the pin on his hat and he gave it to me. That is a souvenir I really treasure, the insignia of the Chinese Rail System.

To be continued...

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