Taipei Suites Hotel Xinjiang Urumqi

... in the world.<br><br>25th October:<br><br>Our last day in China, and we ended on a high note with a journey into the snow-capped mountains to visit Heavenly Lake, 2000 metres up in the Tian Shan mountains. We had read about this lake in 1987 in Vikram Seth's travel book From Heaven Lake. We had never imagined that one day we would visit it ourselves! We were so lucky. Two days before it had started snowing, and the whole area had ...

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 ...

... so much beauty... I was not ready to leave. I was glad I hadn't listened to the people who told me to stay away and glad that I had not been scared off. I had gambled and it had paid off. Xinjiang is one of the best places I have been to. But perhaps most of all, I was really bummed to have to say goodbye to LX. Somewhere along the line, he went from being my student to being my friend. A good friend. And goodbyes always suck. Goodbye Xinjiang. Hello Sichuan.

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 ...

... close to our hotel and near the usually relaxed and beautiful Renmin Square).<br><br>Strategically located at the hub where the Trans Siberian railway departs in the north for Russia and in the south to the frontier city of Kashgar, Urumqi is a city of some 1.5 million people. In the distance is the magnificent snow capped Tian Shan Mountain Range. The city lies in a formidably cold and hostile desert landscape, yet the city looks thriving and prosperous. The ...

Huckleberry and Finn ;) Stories of China Finally our own travel blog! The weather is getting less cold every day, we're however still mostly retreated in our warm colorfull appartment, away from the noise, greyness and dirt in this grey corner of the world ...

... came on swords with giant pieces of meat. it was great. also served was a bowl of fresh yogurt (to wash down the lamb?), a spicy liang cai, and a cool briyani kind of rice dish with, of course, more lamb inside. What's the downside? no beer served inside! we got bottles to go on our rush back to the airport, which involved, among other things, driving on the sidewalk to get me back to the airport in time.

... city itself was a cradle of filth and the snow really was black. The few ice sculptures they had were sorry chunks covered in grime. The redeeming things about the place were the market, the Xinjiang Minorities Street, and the excellent food. There's a lot more to say about the Uyghur people, but it must wait until the Kashi entry.

... between paying the 3 % on Visa, and 0.75% on the Traveller's cheques. Decide we need the TC's more than the percentage points, so get out another Y3000. All of this is in 100's, so we now have quite a wad in the money belt. Get lost walking out a different door to the one at which we first arrived, so do a lot of excess walking in the savage afternoon sun. Overshoot the Email Cafe we are looking for, but find it following the ...