Wuhuan Sportsman Home 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 ...

... 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 ...

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 ...

... trip. LX pretty much bullied the travel agent, Lirong, into going on the tour to take care of me. I am not really sure how he managed to do this, but she gave in. She'd never been to Kanas before and business was lousy (riots and all that) which meant her boss was willing to let her go for free. Besides, LX had pestered her to the point where she was worried if anything happened to me up there, he'd be out for her blood. After scaring the living daylights out of Lirong, we went out for dinner.

... Jinan, I had been short on sleep every night, almost died of exhaustion after hiking Huashan and had felt quite off in Jiayuguan from the difference in food and water. I was a bit worried. I went back to the hotel room to rest. Boiled some tap water and drank it, which turned out to be a mistake. Tap water is supposed to be safe in China if it is boiled, but the stuff in Xinjiang is quite hard. I learnt this the next day from a ...

... seeing. The biggest tourist atraction in the world, the Great Wall (Guiness record by number of visitors), is amazing. We had pure luck to visit its most touristic part at Badaling on Sunday in summer time (the worst time to see it, when one really feels there are actually 1,3 billion Chinese) and had it for ourselves. Look at the photos: no Photoshop used... The best thing in Beijing was the vast Summer Palace with its gardens, temples ...

Well I finally got here! Didn't actually believe that I was going to make it until I was on the flight from Beijing to Urumqi! Until then I was still expecting something to go wrong! I was met at the airport by a lovely man named Roger and taken to my new home for next year! Luckily the new home i was slightly cringing at is the wrong ...

... The day before was so hot, that I was starting to feel slightly sick, as I seemed unable to stench my thirst, no matter how many 5-litres kettles of tea I was drinking. The mere idea of eating, on the other hand, was giving me nausea. My friend's sister offered me some drug for the stomach, but I still couldn't eat anything at the breakfast. I just forced down some pieces of nan (unleavened bread like you can find it ...

... across the trailer, with the largest at the front. Most of them are made to jump, reluctantly, a metre down to the ground. We watch one particularly large and well-conditioned bull (who had a blindfold on - so he wouldn't know what he was being made to do?) hurt his leg in the process. Obviously no-one has taken responsibility for building a ramp to speed up the process and protect the valuable animals. One particularly large bull ...