「早穿皮襖午穿紗，抱著火爐吃西瓜。」當我在吐魯番聽到開車的師傅講這句話，才猛然意識到以前地理課本上面說的是真的，而且到今天當地人都還這樣說！（我在吐魯番那天早上只有10度出頭，中午馬上衝到37，讓我們這些外地遊客立馬決定買幾個西瓜殺來吃！）
5月25日和26日兩天的任務是沿著絲路進行長距離的移動，從喀什經過阿克蘇、庫車、吐魯番一路前往敦煌，沿路也從新疆的維吾爾／伊斯蘭文化逐漸轉變為河西走廊的漢族西北文化，接下來27和28日就待在敦煌看莫高窟等知名景點。2018年走絲路已經比以前容易很多——聽說十幾二十年前的絲路旅遊團非常辛苦，時常得長距離拉車、忍受較低的生活水準；現在南北疆都有鐵路（蘭新鐵路還蓋了第二條），各城市水平和中國其他地方沒太大差異，公交車甚至公共自行車隨處可見，從過去旅行團的艱苦路線變成了適合自助旅行的親民線路。
雖然說在絲路上單人自助旅行已經不太困難，在其中幾個城市我還是加入了旅行社的一日遊行程，前往大眾運輸比較不方便的景點，一方面省錢省時間，另一方面在遊覽車上和其他祖國的同胞們交流，對我來說也是旅遊體驗的一部分。
A Chinese saying about the climate in Xinjiang: wearing jacket in the morning but yarn at noon; having watermelon by a furnace. This is something I had learned in my geography textbook, but now I experienced that in person and heard it from locals in Xinjiang!
My task of May 25 and 26 was to go along the ancient silk road from Kashgar, Also, Kuqa, Turpan to Dunhuang. The on May 27 and 28, I stayed in Dunhuang and visited some worldly known spots there. Culturally I saw a transition from Uyghur/Islam to Han Chinese. Just one or two decades ago, traveling on the silk road meant long bus ride and below average living standard, but it had changed. Now you can easily take train to a city and then transfer to local buses or take a public bike. Now it's very independent-traveler-friendly.
However, in parts of the trip I still joined a tour to visit less accessible places. It helped me save money, and gave me opportunities to interact with Chinese locals, which I also considered travel experience.
* 在吐魯番見到了以前課本上教的坎兒井，使用這種工法其實有個先決條件，就是該地必須是在乾燥地區山腳堆積的斜面上，正好南疆幾個城市都是在這樣的地方。現在坎兒井很少用了，但這種「山腳大斜面」的地形特徵仍然可以在每一個城市見到。
Kan-er well is a unique way to direct underground water out downhill on a slightly tilt land. It's something I learned from geography textbook years ago, but was able to see an actual one and went into it while visiting Turpan.
* 1949年新疆「解放」時，全境的非漢人人口高達95%，現在則大概只佔一半，最主要的原因是：過去幾十年大量的漢人從內地移入並且定居下來，這其中包含跟著中共早期成立的新疆生產建設兵團來的，也有些自己從內地搬過來的。這些人有的已經在新疆待了幾代，也沒有回去的打算，甚至表示習慣了新疆乾燥的氣候，回了老家反而待不住。現在在新疆可以吃到各種我們漢人習慣的食物，其中又以四川菜和西北菜為大宗，反映的正是這些漢人移民的省籍組成。
這個移民的過程還在持續中。某次坐出租車時，身邊的人抱怨著由於政策關係，把戶口遷到新疆很容易，但要搬走則非常困難；在火車站搭車時，也仍然可以看到大批從內地到新疆來工作的工人，大包小包的甚至整床棉被都帶上了，準備搭30小時以上的火車回家；從新疆每天發出直達北京、上海、西安、南寧等地的火車，就是為了把這些人載回家。
Many Han Chinese (the majority group in China) are from other provinces. They immigrated here in the past few decades and have fundamentally changed the original Uyghur-majority population in Xinjiang. They also determined the Chinese food here: Szechuan and northwestern Chinese, which reflect the composition of the Han Chinese immigrants. Even now, the process is still going on. I saw many workers at train stations, waiting for 30+ hour long distance trains to bring them home.
* 目前絲路沿線旅遊的硬體設施非常好，完全和美國或台灣的國家級景區同等，但價格也非常貴——敦煌莫高窟可能是我這輩子去過最昂貴的景區，目前旺季一個人門票是200元人民幣（但我覺得值得，裡面的解說員非常專業，讓人覺得值回票價）；當然這些景區還是多少保留了一些中國特色，例如以昂貴石材打造的廁所裡，從衛生紙架到擦手紙架樣樣不缺，但其實裡面都是空的。
The silk road spots in China today are very modern in terms of hardware, but also very expensive. Mogao grottos are probably the most expensive attraction I've been to in my life - RMB200, or USD33 (even though it's totally worth it). Still you have clues that you're in China. For example, restrooms here are very clean and up-to-date. They even have paper towel and toilet paper hangers, but they are empty most of the time, unfortunately.
* 不知道是否是受到網紅部落客影響，在絲路景點上裡常看到中國本地的年輕女生，穿著顏色鮮豔的民族風長裙，模仿網美們的姿勢拍照，尤其在敦煌地區密度特高。
Many Chinese girls were in eye-catching anthropologie-style dresses, and tried to get nice Instagram photos, just like those internet celebrities. You can see many especially in Dunhuang.
* 此外我發現另一個現象：在中國很多景點會有個特別設立的空間，裡面擺滿座椅，牆上則貼著各式各樣的政令宣導海報，似乎是為了鼓勵國人在旅遊時也可以把握機會學習中國特色社會主義。在吐魯番的火焰山景區，便有著這樣一個「學習十九大會議精神現場會」持續進行著，前方播放著央視的新聞直播間；身為一個心念祖國的台灣同胞，我也在那邊「學習」了一會，畢竟那是整個景區唯一有冷氣的地方啊！XD
Many tourist spots have one dedicated space for people to sit in and learn "Chinese-style socialism", the core value of the China communist party. You can see many posters and slogans there. At one spot, I sat down as a learner with others in this space where the national news channel is on, as that was the only room with AC.
最後，再引用一句這幾天讓人看得熱血沸騰的標語：「火焰山的天氣熱，比不上景區民族團結的心氣兒高！」
To close this post, I'd like to share another slogan I saw this week: "Mountain of Fire is hot, but the passion of ethnic union here is even hotter!"
民族風長裙 在 文藝A字民族風復古盤扣休閒長裙 - YouTube 的推薦與評價
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