Category: Xinjiang

I will start by saying that the landscape is breathtaking, the people here are friendly and so excited to see foreigners. One transportation center had a management person not interested in checking our code when we entered but instead wanted a picture taken with us. We waited while his friend came out to do so…I would have taken a picture with him, but I had to use the bathroom…. The young boys we met after eating lunch wanted to practice their English…. The local people we met on the street were excited to see us and take our picture. They said they had not seen foreigners in years.

The farmland houses we saw along the trip to the airport in Urumqi are among the fields of cotton and corn.

That being said, the checkpoints were grueling with the information being asked and the time required. It made the travel time much longer than necessary. I had expected some of this as I have experienced this almost everywhere in the past, but there was a greater level of not knowing how to handle passport numbers or which name is our surname. They write it differently here in China. Our tour guide had all the information written for them at every checkpoint, but they would not use that.

Hotel staff told us opening times for breakfast that were an hour later than when they actually opened. Whether that was to keep us away from other Chinese or a request of the people who were following us, I don’t know but very odd.

The fact that local police need to review our documents after going through checkpoints, everyone wanted to know when we arrived in China, and so many people have pictures of our passports on what could be their personal phone…. Again some of that I’ve experienced before. They seemed to not know which was our entry stamp to China even though it is in Chinese. The checkpoints in Tibet were difficult but at least it was for everyone there.

But being surveilled is not something I know to have happened. Another person in our group saw people scrambling to get in the car as we approached a checkpoint and made a turn. They followed us until the next rest stop. It now appears we have been followed the whole time and by more than one car.

At the rest stop, this guy in the light blue shirt was first to get out of the car and go to the convenience store while we used the bathroom. We bought two containers of melon. We knew there were three guys in the car.

Their car was the third from the back and parked at a different angle from the rest. The UK ex-military guy and I took the melon to the car and asked them if they wanted any. They said no and the two up front were laughing at the whole thing. We laughed and smiled too and said good day. They know we knew this whole trip as we would often turn around because we noticed.

We were waved aside at the last checkpoint not even 40 minutes from the airport. They took pictures of our passports and wanting to look at entry stamps. We had another COVID test even though we had one 12 hours ago and showed them the results. They detained us for some time even though they knew we needed to be at the airport. The guys in the car did their own nasal test and the officer was the one that did ours. Not the medical worker and add you would guess, they never ran the test.

We hardly look like terrorists. I would recommend people coming to see the scenery but not to go here if you are a foreigner. And all of this extra attention happened the moment we landed and we were pulled off the plane. Yes, I know acknowledging their presence may have provoked the last COVID test, but maybe not. We were definitely given the impression from the authorities that we were not welcome here and that really changed how we viewed some things. The local people though gave a different impression.

I woke up in the morning before dawn to run to the village and take pictures of sunrise. Surrounded by mountains, the village can be seen with wisps of fog as the sun rises. It is only 3km away with a nice loop that goes around the village. But it was very cold which was still a nice change from the Guangzhou heat.

Breakfast had some wonderful small dishes of cucumbers, eggplant, eggs, Russian brown bread, baozi, and others. The air was still cool but the sun was warm.

We really wanted to stay longer here. Hemu village was a very peaceful place with beautiful scenery. But it was the beginning of a very long day of driving to begin heading back to Urumqi.

And yes, the car still followed us switching back to the black car (I think they switched to the white car because they knew we spotted them as there was a white car at the Hemu police station – I notice a lot of things when I run). When we stopped to take a picture of the winding road and scenery, they pulled off behind us. Of course I let them know we saw them. They followed us until the checkpoint area where we first entered Kanas reserve.

We passed by Karamy (which is Ulghur for oil), the famous oil city, and travelled along the Gurbantunggut Desert to the Urho Ghost City. It is also known as Wuerhe Wind City. It is a wind-eroded geological area. It gets its name because of the frequent howling winds. They are called Yadan Landforms. The shuttles are little trains. At the various stops you can take pictures, ride camels, or take a ride in a powered paraglide, which I did.

If you look closely, that is me coming in for a landing. There is also a short video of the landing below. A video of the flight is here.

We stayed in Karamy for the night and it was a very luxurious hotel. After a long day of travel and a ridiculous amount of time spent at checkpoints, it was great to soak in a big tub and sleep in a really soft bed.

In the morning, I was happy to see herds of cows and sheep moving outside of the window by the Khazak people.

Today we went to Kanas Nature preserve to view the bays below the lake. You have to transfer to a bus that takes you to the hub of the preserve. From there, you take a bus that goes into a specific direction. Before we left the hotel, we noticed the car. We were really hoping we were wrong, but we weren’t. I positioned myself in the back of the bus to take selfies. It is the black car.

We went to Moon Bay and from there we walked to the next bay.

By this time we were enjoying the scenery but noticed we were still being followed. It really was unsettling. We did not see any other foreigners on this trip and it is really ridiculous considering we are on a guided tour. At Dragon Bay we made sure to look at them. They might as well know that we know they are watching.

In the park they had cool monitors to tell you which bathroom was open. Funny.

Back at the transfer center, there is the car.

We then traveled to Hemu Village where the Tuva minority lives. Very peaceful. We stayed at a place 3 km outside of the village.

We took a shuttle bus to the village to look around and get something to eat. The people were very friendly and wanted to take pictures. They said that they had not seen foreigners in a few years.

We noticed that there were many eagles staying and swooping around. The restaurant owners would take chunks of lamb and throw it in the air for the eagles to catch or glide along the ground to pick it up.

I ate mushrooms and greens grilled on a stick and seasoned with a spicy mix.

I paid to wear a Tuva costume and take pictures. We did have a lot of fun.

And yes, we were still being followed but this time they changed cars (or there was always more than one). They sat in the car for some time. I only had seen the one person but think the other may have followed us into a building on our return to the hotel but just turned around and left again. I know, pretty risky, but we were pretty upset about it all.

Today was to be a shorter drive to get to the reserve. I was able to go for a run and enjoy milder temperatures without humidity. Not too far away, I ran along a Russian street.

Another checkpoint and a few bathroom breaks. This woman sold a variety of yummy grapes and cashews which made a nice snack.

Outside of the reserve we stopped for lunch. From there we would need to go to the main entrance and then have several bus transfers to get into the reserve. But the day would just get really weird from the start. I’m the end we were pretty disturbed.

For an idea of where we are, we are close to the border of Khazakstan and Russia. One of the people on our tour bus noticed that the same car followed us no matter where we were or what buses we had changed to. It sounded unbelievable at the time but we noted the license plate.

We first went to a viewing platform that is 1068 steps to climb. The steps are all numbered. What a beautiful view and it really felt like you were in a European alpine village as the climate and vegetation were the same.

The weirdness really started here. The same car followed us and when we took 2 more buses to Kanas Lake, two men left the car to follow us down. We were not aware of it at that time. Most of us went on a boat cruise of the lake while another went back to a little village in search of coffee. He was the one who noticed one of the men staying at the pier while the other followed him.

On the boat cruise, it was a little sunny. I think it’s great that Chinese women take care of their skin and use umbrellas.

You can rent a scooter to go down to the lake.

The village was pretty cute and many of the houses can be rented.

Back at the hotel, we were pretty riled up. The car followed us to the gate and as there were no other restaurants or places to go, it seemed obvious we were in for the night. The staff were withholding the passports until the police came. We were told that you could not get a breakfast voucher unless you bought dinner at the hotel, and that breakfast was not until 8 am. It was already past 8:30 pm and for the second night I was not happy to be eating so late. I was going to skip dinner having snacked already on cashews.

I did go down while others ate and joined them for a beer. The guide and the driver joined us with baiju. The stuff is nasty and is grain alcohol. We did meet a local Khazak chef from the hotel.

One of our group had a French diplomate visa. They are usually not allowed to be in one of china’s autonomous regions (that includes Tibet). Another is ex-military for the UK. Both kept receiving phone calls throughout. But, maybe tomorrow is another day…..

We started the day early as it would be a long day of driving (over 9 hours). We drive through the Kalamaili nature reserve which is a preserve for arid steppe wildlife. We saw some camels, cows, and donkeys but not much else as there were no places to stop.

There were however many checkpoints to check ID. This was more difficult as they had not seen foreigners in some time and do not know how to enter our information in a Chinese ID system. At one checkpoint, we needed to take a COVID test.

After checking into the hotel in Burqin County, we had a moment to go to the night market. We walked around. The people were very friendly and wanted to take pictures with us.

After such a long ride, we still went back to the van to go to Five colored beach, where the sandstone and mudstone asking the river have beautiful coloring. The nature here is very beautiful.

Back at the night market, we did get something to eat and Wusu beer to drink. Kebabs and nang bread are the specialty. I found fish on a stick.

The next day’s travel is to go to Kanas nature reserve.

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!