Urumqi
MAY 27 - We flew from Beijing to Urumqi (pronounced
uh-ROOM-chee), the capital and largest city of the Xinjiang Uygur
Autonomous Region. Xinjiang (pronounced SHIN-jyang) is the westernmost
province in China, a dry region dominated by the huge Taklamakan
Desert and rimmed by agricultural regions. The province is bordered
by Mongolia on the northeast, and on the west by Kazakhstan,
Kyrgystan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.
Until the 1950's the city of Urumqi was dominated
by Uygur (pronounced WEE-gur) people, an ethnic group of Turkic
descent with aquiline noses and very western features. After
a wave of government-sponsored relocation, the current ethnic
makeup is 40% Uygur, 40% Han Chinese, and 20% other ethnic minorities
such as Hui (Chinese Muslim), Kirgiz, and Tajik. Most signs have
large Chinese script and small Uygur script.
Welcome to Urumqi! At the airport security check,
you're greeted by a shark tank.
 
The Musueam of Xinjaing Uigur Autonomous Region has
thousands of historically significant relics, including ancient
mummies such as the Loulan Beauty which establish a European
presence in the region as much as 3,800 years ago. The exhibits
are temporarily housed in the building pictured on the left.
The new museum, right, is scheduled to open October 2005. You
can read more about the museum here,
and more about the controversial mummies here
and here.
A view of Urumqi from the hotel window. On our return
through Urumqi, several of us ate in a large, outdoor food and
beer area under the big camel mural. I had a huge bowl of soup
with 3 kinds of noodles, surimi, squid, quail eggs, tomatoes,
and greens. Cost: 75 cents.
Our first taste of Uygur food, and one of many, many
Lazy Susans we would see on this trip.
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Above: Mike gets the best seat on the tour bus.
Right: Bill points out a very subtle sign.
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On to Kargilik...
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