Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang

Around the newly developed International Bazaar

Urumqi is Xinjiang's capital and a major Central Asian city. Despite being the city with the furthest distance from the sea, Urumqi is anything but isolated. Arriving from the east through the Gobi Desert the city seems to just appear out of the nothingness. This feeling however quickly evaporates once you are drowned by the sea of skyscapers and its millions of inhabitants.

We stumbled upon a Pakistani restaurant and loads of men in shalwar kameez.

It's a thoroughly Chinese Han city and there's little to suggest that this is the capital for the Uighur Autonomous Region. Much has been blamed on the China's policy of "planting" Han Chinese into the region to strengthen its grip on the oil-rich province but despite that there are still pockets of Uighur communities. The city feels just like another Chinese boomtown but with a twist of Central Asian influence and I thought that this a wise move by the government to encourage the traditional Uighur architectural style to dominate in the newer developments. On the facade, Beijing seems to give quite an autonomy to the province. Although this could easily be dismissed as merely token (possibly induced by tourism) but more importantly it's a gesture that acknowledges Xinjiang as a homeland for the Central Asian minorities. Yes there are problems and hostilities from both sides at the moment but maybe a new way forward is slowly forging towards a new Xinjiang one day.

The night before Usman fell ill...

We had an okay time here, there's not much to see but the Central Asian flavours felt here was a welcome change from the previous provinces that we've been to. Usman fell ill for a couple of days so I was left to my own devices most of the time. He was down with a mild fever that rendered him lying on the bed motionless. He recovered after a day but we agreed that he needs an extra day of rest. But it was fun to try and explore the city on my own and have only myself to blame whenever I got lost.

Inside the International Bazaar.

Urumqi's modern city centre was a bore and the touristic Uighur market was too fake but straying from these, I found colourful bazaars in the alleyways which reminded me of Morocco. However several days spent here, I realised that I'm completely bored of hopping from cities to cities and knew that I must get out and see some wilderness.

Wuyi Lu Night Market