Silver Star Urumqi

Yesterday, we visited the Xinjiang Museum where we saw the amazing and intriguing mummies - some more than 4000 years old - which have been found in the area. I found an article in the Independent from 2006 about it, which you can read if you are interested!<br><br>http://www.independe nt.co.uk/news/world/asia/a-meeting-of-c ivilisations-the-mystery-of-chinas-celt ic-mummies-413638.html<br><br>We took a stroll through the Red Hill Park ...

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 ...

... decided to walk about the lake instead of taking a boat with the rest of the tour group and opt out of going to the Daoist temple, which had an entrance fee, but then the tour guide, who somewhere along the way must have taken a shine to us, snuck us into the temple and back on the boat for free! Actually, in retrospect, it was probably because we had already been ripped off at the Chinese medicine shop. Tour guides get commission at those kinds of shops, so I guess she figured we had ...

... of the Silk Road and it was the lure of these ancient trading routes that led us on our first travels here in 2007. And the seduction for this journey was to explore further west along the Silk Road routes from China into Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and then into Pakistan. We were desperately keen to explore more of the painted faces of these fabulous trading routes.<br><br>We used Urumqi once again as a base for our forward travels, this time to Uzbekistan and ...

... Und wann es morgen frueh hell wird). Gruss Ralf P.S. Habe einige Kommentare zu meinem Gewicht bekommen, don't worry, hier gibt es eine Waage und die sagt 80kg:-) Also muss ich die Reise noch nicht wg Unterernaehrung abbrechen (ausserdem goenne ich mir morgen vielleicht das Buffet hier im Hotel). P.P.S. Ach ja, zwei Stockwerke unter der kirgisischen Botschaft war das Einwanderungsbuero von Neuseeland, aber ich habe noch keinen Antrag dort gestellt:-)

... with his friends to ask what there is to see in urumuqi (he had lived there his whole life). they weren't too sure either, but they all agreed that we should eat lamb and drink beer. sounded good. we got stuck in a traffic jam and didn't have as much time as we planned. urumqi, as it sprawls from the airport, seems to be mostly made up of the old buildings that have already been demolished in the rest ...

... These people are Muslim and look nothing like the Han ethnic group, which is by far the largest in China (91 per cent). However, the liberation caused a lot of Han to be moved to Xinjiang, especially its capital Wulumuqi, so this city wasn't much to look at. The buildings were similar to what one would see in any city in China, and ...

... too late and too disinterested to do the museum. It is fairly late, Beijing time, but still hot. Catch the #7,stay in one long stop too far, so walk back through the streets we walked last night looking for food. Found the Bank of China 24 hour section. Had Visa and Plus signs, but wouldn't talk to us. Were directed to the main entrance. MP lined up while DP checked out the internal ATM machines. No luck, no luck with the debit card ...