Urumqi

Trip Start Jul 30, 2008
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Trip End Ongoing


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Where I stayed
Cheap Hotel
(Urumqi hotels)

Flag of China  , Xinjiang Uygur,
Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Our trip to Urumchi was long. Like 24 hours long. But it did include us using Mandarin for the first time. It didn't go so well. All I was able to communicate was hi, how are you, where are you from (used some sign language on that one) and is that your husband (still not sure if it was). We mostly interacted with our poor hard sleeper bunk mate, who was nice enough to offer us seeds to eat, probably in an attempt to shut us up. By the way, the Chinese like their seeds. And their walnuts. Being on a few trains has proved this to be very, very true. We are still working on our form but should be up to pare by Hong Kong. Well, once we finally arrived in Urumchi we were greeted to our first, authentically feeling, Chinese city. Kashkar was a hodgepodge (sp) of differenct cultures, while Urumchi feels more, well, Chinese. Big lights, loud noises and the smell of whatever it is Chinese food smells like. Urumchi was also where we spent the waking hours following the presedential election. Not much excitment as Obama won convincingly and Jon and Russ their respective bets (thank you Montana!). The Chinese we talked to seem not to care either way and only feined liking Obama because that was the name they knew. Now to Tibet, we hope.
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