Du Shan Zi Hotel Urumqi

... into a magical Christmas card scene - as the blurb says:<br><br>"Nestling among Alpine scenery, with melted snow as its source, lies Heavenly lake. Its crystal clear waters are surrounded by green pastures dotted with the yurts of nomadic Kazakhs, and the silvery mountains soar into the blue sky, their slopes full of fragrant pine and juniper"<br><br>I couldn't have put it better myself! <br><br><br>So, let the photos tell the story:

After breakfast, we left for Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang Autonomous Region. It was a most exciting drive; through the Gobi Desert, in very windy, stormy conditions; on a fantastic highway [312] which stretches all the way from Shanghai to the border with Russia in the ...

... 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 ...

... Chinese people show their affection through food. She was pretty keen on me and wouldn't take no for an answer. After I got back, LX and his friend Ma Jun (who is Hui) took me to a Hui market area selling traditional foods. The food was good but we got harassed continuously by two wasps that were pretty keen on sharing our meal with us. Plus I got stared at a lot again. After being mistaken for being Kazak or Russian (?!) for the past few days, I was not particularly phased, but I ...

... to go via Urumqi again and then catch a local bus back. I was busy chatting to LX about plans to go to Kanas lake the next day, so I didn't notice the police officer who got on the bus to check ID until he was right next to me, at which point I gave him a perplexed glance for interrupting me. I must look intimidating when I am annoyed because he ran off the bus without asking for my passport, while I looked at his retreating figure feeling slightly sheepish. Mum told me last time she saw ...

... her to help me send a message to my Mum telling her I was fine, could not call out and to tell her the hotel number. JV was one of the few people in China who knew for sure where I was, which was why I called her. I didn't want to go getting even more people worried about me being here in Xinjiang. She readily agreed, but unfortunately while I could talk to JV and JV could talk to my mum, Mum and I still couldn't manage to talk to ...

... surfing on their couch for the night. She told me that the relay was in the other direction, so I started walking back the other way. By this time I had probably been outside for an hour or so. While I was walking back the way I came, the road was opened to traffic again, and the crowds of people went back to their daily routines. Frustrated, I started following the people with flags again, since they were walking so fast. I followed them ...

... Central Asian Hotel. Quand, on recoit enfin notre visa, on retourne a la station de bus et on saute dans un bus couchette vers Kashgar 24 h plus loin. Le trajet ne s est pas trop mal passer grace a mes boulles quies qui m ont evite de me reveiller au cris des bebes.

... Kazakh section, Uzbek, Tartar, Uygur, Kyrgyzstan and many more. Most of them I had not heard of but they all resembled each other in some ways. The second floor of the museum had mummies from 3500 years ago. It was amazing how well preserved they were. You could still see the fingernails, the hair on their head, the eyebrows and eyelashes. They even had two mummies that were children. We flew back to Almaty and Guzel's family was waiting for us. I went to Talgar to meet ...

... t you tell the WHOLE train". The man in our carriage and the lady and daughter are sitting there through the whole thing as well. Eventually Dianne can take it no longer, and bursts into tears. Eventually attendant decides that 20 Yuan will fix the problem. Spend the next couple of hours till we can get off the train sitting quietly wishing I could be made invisible. This was the beginning of the end for us as far as China was concerned ...