Hua Rui Mansion 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:

... A route of over 4000 kilometres.<br><br>The Chinese are brilliant at building roads through incredibly difficult terrain - as we saw when we travelled on the Karakorum Highway from China to Pakistan in 2007.<br><br>For this entry I will let the photos tell the story!

... Next on the list was drinking slushies and beer in the park, then KTV. We figured an hour of KTV would probably do the trick, but ended up yowling away for about 3 instead. Finally, after noodles and beer we parted company. I was extremely happy to have met Ma Jun and sad to see him go. The next day, LX and his uncle took me to the airport. I was already out of sorts in the morning. I had had a fantastic time in Xinjiang. I had met so many lovely people ...

... 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 ...

... 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 ...

... no tummy upsets (fingers crossed, touching wood) only a rotten old cold for us both. Two nights in Urumqi will be nice and relaxing.<br>It was a great drive today, a nice short one too. At one stage we were passing through a long, dark, rocky mountain pass and were pondering what was going to greet us on the other side....cows and sheep roaming on green pastures with a backdrop of snow covered mountains ...

... Momo for three nights. She showed me all of the best places in town, and I kept pushing back my departure date. On Friday I packed up the bike and was ready to go, but I just couldn't leave. It was cold and rainy and all I wanted to do was go to another good restaurant and drink hot coffee. I figured I could drive all day Saturday to reach the border, then cross on the last day of my visa. Whatever problems it would cause, it was worth it.

... elle est ecrit depuis 1983 en Arabe utilise phonetiquement. De 1969 a 1983, l alphabet utilise etait le meme que le notre, ainsi les gens peuvent prononcer les mots de mon guide de voyage ou meme ecrire quelque chose que je comprends. Le lendemain, journee pluvieuse, on en profite pour visiter le musee de la region autonome de Xinjiang. Il est renove depuis peu et est tres agreable et complet. Un peu trop meme, il est difficile de rester concentrer jusqu a la fin. Entre autres ...

... way) and Kazachs as well as other races. It was amazing to see really white looking people with lighter hair and eyes - swear, we were convinved some of them were scousers until they spoke! Also more than a little confusing was that being so far west, the province is 2 time zones behind Beijing, but the capital insists on it's time being used for official purposes, and so the whole place operates on two entirely different time zones. We decided against ...

... as the Kashgar for Y120, but it is A/C, and has a good bathroom with mixer taps, an intact WC, and hot water, plus breakfast thrown in. From our 12th floor we get a good view down onto the colourful street and centre divider, and an interesting view down on the decrepit rooftops and communist-era apartment buildings. Urumqi, population 2,800,000, is the furthest place in the world from an ocean (2,250 kms), and is basically a transport ...