Urumqi is famous in its claim to be the most inland major city in the world and the farthest from any ocean. There are three major ethnic groups here. The Han Chinese which is the majority ethnic group of China, the Hui which are Han people who are also Muslim, and the Uyghur Muslims which are a Turkic ethnic group (pronounced weeger). This last group has much of the world watching what China is doing with this ethnic minority.
We arrived early as you never know what documentation you will have to provide unexpectedly and often. We had time to wait in the airport lounge. Never mind it is not even 7 am.
A view of Xinjiang from the plane. This province is large and covers 1/6 of China.
We arrived in Urumqi. Besides COVID policies, foreigners must produce documents and be registered in every city due to political tensions. I am fine with that even though it is tiring. When I arrived in China in 2018 it was closed to foreigners. Upon arrival, we also had a COVID test before leaving the airport. Every city here will require one. We found out that other planes with foreigners on our tour did not have to provide documentation…… And their health code does not work with foreigner ID, so teaching test results will be tough.
After checking into the hotel, we went for a walk towards a Ferris wheel we had noticed. It was a beautiful long walk along the streets. It is hot in the sun but very little humidity and a nice breeze.
At Hongshan park, we strolled through the gardens and by a temple…..
…….rode the ferris wheel (this first picture is our hotel on the left side of the picture)…….
…….found another temple known as the Temple to suppress the dragon which was rumoured in folklore to have caused a deadly flood 200 years ago……
……. And rode the luge.
We met as a group to go to the cultural emporium to look at Muslim food and other goods. Despite letting others through with the same specific travel code, it looked like they were not going to let us. There were some arguments and eventually they relented. It is unfortunate that there is more anti-foreign sentiment going around again…. Checkpoints were everywhere.
Many of the shop keepers were very friendly.
Many different parts of the animal are used in dishes including sheep lung.
I stick with the naan bread and the local beer.
A mosque and other different architecture.
Back at the hotel, we needed another COVID test to enter the next village. Travel is seriously more difficult now than ever, but this is a place I have been wanting to go.
As China is only one time zone, this is the view outside at 10 pm!
