Train stations evoke a very odd sensation in me. It's a mixture of wonder, impatience, sadness, and disgust. Sitting in a corner seat, I seem to sink into the walls as I see everyone else around me process the little nitty gritties of life like chewing on their pistachios or entertaining their children with things happening outside the window. Men from the countryside, grilled to a shiny mud brown stand around scratching their crotches, clearing their phlegm. Women from the countryside sit like trees, roots spread out over chairs like a tablecloth is spread over a table. It's a little snippet of life in the new frontiers as they call it, but then you look up from that one family and then you see another, and another, and you wonder where all these people come from? Were my ancestors really like that? How many of these people are mainland migrants to the new frontiers? How many people are like the crass, unreliable, and stingy people that Tumur, the Uighur driver talked about? The train lets out a long blast and you see 50% of the station shoot up to catch a glimpse of the overbearing train. The doors open for boarding and a horde sprints forward to the gate like a swarm of hungry sharks rush for a crumb of bread. It will take a long period of civilization in order for people to realize that there is no need to rush and that theres a place for everyone. But not all is bad, people are incredibly hospitable when you meet them. My lower bunk mate offered me lots of fruits and cakes and sweets when she saw that I had brought little to no food on the train. They made way for me to eat on the table and they woke me up in the morning. My driver in Turpan brought me to his house for lunch, treated me to watermelons and hami melons. There is no shortage or generosity in people who have less, yet those who have more find joy in calculating every cent. It's an ironic trade off in civilization. Touring Turpan has also been a serious wake up call for me - environmentally speaking. Xinjiang has practically no fresh water source apart from glacial water. It is terribly dry and scorches the land. If the environment continues to degrade, xinjiang will not be able to survive with melting glaciers and hotter temperatures. Melons will not be as sweet and may disappear entirely. China has to take a firmer stand on climate change as we all need to, or parts of this earth will disappear.