Century Prosperous Hotel Urumqi

... game. The highlight of the my afternoon was kicking LX's butt at the air hockey table. Unfortunately that attracted a bit too much attention from the mostly male video arcade hangerouters (on top of the usual "which minority group is she?" curiousity) so, feeling slight unnerved, for the rest the time we spent in there I took to hiding behind Ma Jun and LX while they played some kind of mortal kombat game that they used to play when they were in ...

Finally it was time to go back to Changji. We stopped at a couple of shops (including a farm for deer antlers, boo hiss) on the way back, but arrived a lot earlier than I expected. The tour to Kanas was fun, I'm glad I went on it. Not only was the scenery spectacular, but I was forced to speak in Chinese for the whole time and I learnt how to split melon and pumpkin seeds fairly quickly, thanks to the auntie sitting across the aisle from Lirong and I who kept showering us in the damn ...

... he was supposed to burn for extra luck. When he got outside he was told he needed to burn 60RMB worth of incense, which he declined using the excuse that he was there with his teacher who was a heathen atheist and disapproved of such things. Chuh. He should have been thankful. Another woman was told she needed to burn incense worth 198RMB!!! The priest was not game to lecture me, or flog off expensive incense in my presence. He just looked at my hands and wished happiness to me and ...

... other. I was pretty sure Mum was not going to be able to rest at ease until she managed to hear my voice and know that JV had told her the truth, I really was fine. This made me feel pretty ******, having pretty much sentenced my Mum to 10 days of worry. What a horrid daughter I am. I went out to lunch with LX and some of his classmates at a place that served Hui (one kind Muslim minority group in China) food. After that, the lot ...

... I was coming to was not itself, in fact it was at its very worst, and so not judge it harshly. I thanked him for his concern, told him I was sorry about what had happened to his friend's family and wished him the best. Then I stared down at the desert and tried to stop tears that were trying to creep out of my eyes. Up until now I have been welcomed everywhere I have gone in China. It occurred to me that people who would normally be happy to see me, could well view me with ...

We had looked forward to an indulgent flight with China Southern Airlines back to Urumqi, China from Islamabad.

After nearly two weeks in Pakistan we would have access to alcohol at long last and we were really looking forward to a few days of rest in our favourite Hoi Tak Hotel before we departed for the long trip home to Australia via Shanghai.

Well, we DID have one beer on the flight but sadly we were still harbouring the dreaded Bukhara Belly that had ...

... gets very little international media coverage. That night I went over to the girls' apartment for dinner. A few girls, a few guys, a couple of bottles of wine, and great food led to a late night out dancing. I saw the sun rise before I finally crashed on the living room floor. I woke up too late to get my passport that day. That would be the theme for the rest of the week. I checked out of the hotel and slept on Shamsiya's couch with her ...

... les infrastructures et l economie, les relations entre Uighurs et les envahiseurs Han chinois n ont jamais ete tres bonnes. Il y a eu plusieurs rebellions dont une recente en 1997 pour la separation et la creation d un Uighurstan. Pour eviter tout separatisme, un nombre important d emigrants Han s installe au Xinjiang. De 90 pourcent de la population dans cette province, les uighurs ne sont plus que moins de 50. Leur langue est le Uighur qui fait partit de la famille turque ...

... god knows how many historical sights in 1 day on a tour (with no doubt a few gem and Chinese medicine stores thrown in for a laugh), and limited our historical jaunts to the Emin Minaret (no relation to the "artist" Tracey) and the ancient city of Jiohe. The Minaret is a stunning clay building, which has really stood the test of time and looks in a much better state than a lot of the new stuff around town. The ruins of the ancient city were amazing ...

... and we go. It is a fair walk to our "Peafowl Mansion" (think someone got Peacock and Peafowl mixed up), and takes forever for the desk girl with a little English to sort out our visa details. Needs the help of a mature-age Chinese English-speaking guest to convince her we have 60 days from when we came in. Meanwhile, MP has a fruitless loo search in the lobby, and is pleased to finally reach the room. For Y178, it is not as good ...