We intended to return to Zhengzhou and catch a long distance train to Urumqi. But on the internet I found some very heavily discounted airfares (70% off) that were barely more costly than train tickets. So the choice was between a 3.5 hour flight or a 35 hour train journey, for about the same cost. The choice was obvious – the only catch was that the discount flight was from Xian, not Zhengzhou. But that was OK – we caught a 7 hour night train from Kaifeng to Xian, arriving at 6am. There we caught the airport bus and within a couple of hours we were winging our way to Urumqi. The night train to Xian from Kaifeng was interesting – the four-berth soft-sleeper tickets were sold out so we had to settle for “hard-sleeper” tickets. This was a bed in a doorless six-bed compartment comprised of two triple bunk beds on either side with a narrow space between. My bed was at the top, barely 18 inches from the carriage roof and Lee Tuan's was in the middle. Neither had sufficient headroom to sit up – you had to slot in and lie down. If there is a choice of bunk, the bottom bunk is the best as there is at least some space to sit up, but all those had been taken.
Fortunately the air conditioning on this packed train was effective with a vent above the bed, so the air was reasonably fresh although the air conditioning plant made more noise than the train engines. This train had started at a very distant place and would still have a long way to go after Xian. We were boarding it for only a small section of its journey. My bed had obviously been used previously by someone else during an earlier part of the train's journey, and the previous occupant had thoughtfully left behind in the bed an upturned can of soft drink and some pulpy material on the sheets that smelled like apple. In regard to the latter, I decided to leave the analysis there and proceed on the assumption that it was apple – some of the alternatives didn't bear thinking about. All the same, I didn't relish the prospect of sleeping on damp sheets redolent of coke and apple. So I laid the cover on the bed and slept on top; fortunately it was warm enough not to need a cover. This problem resolved, I slept reasonably well, as it seemed did the other five people within a toe's reach.
We arrived at Urumqi in the early afternoon after a pleasant flight from Xian with China Eastern Airlines, and checked into the Xinrong Hotel in the centre of the city.
Urumqi is an interesting place with people of several different ethnic backgrounds. It is the capital of Xinjiang province, home to China's several million Muslim Uighur people. Urumqi also has a large and rapidly growing Han Chinese population. In addition there are many Kyrgyzs, Tajiks and Pakistanis. Although thousands of kilometres west of Beijing, Xinjiang iofficially operates on Beijing time, with the result that the sun doesn't set until 10.30pm at this time of year. It's also now quite hot, and many shops shut for a 2.5 hour siesta from 1.30 to 4pm.
Like the rest of China, there are food stalls and restaurants everywhere, although the cuisine here has a strong muslim influence reflecting the composition of the population. A popular Uighur dish is “La Mein”. The noodles in it are freshly made by a noodle maker in every stall who is very skillful at kneading, stretching, swinging and twirling the dough into multiple metre-long strands. The locals usually have noodles, kebabs and flat round naang bread for dinner. Another common local food is a rice dish similar to fried rice but cooked instead with shredded carrots, parsnips, lamb meat, raisins and dates (without any eggs). The rice is normally eaten in the afternoon. We have been very well fed in Urumqi. In addition to all the great street food close by, the Xinrong Hotel's restaurant serves the best food we've seen in a hotel restaurant for a very long time. An excellent dinner there can be had for about $4 each – a large bottle of good Chinese beer is a mere 50 cents extra!
The road traffic throughout China is chaotic and hazardous but is especially so in Urumqi. Elsewhere you can be reasonably confident that the drivers of the vehicles bearing down on you will at least attempt to stop, and magically do, if a collision appears inevitable. But not, we discovered, in Urumqi. Here, many vehicles and their drivers tear around much too fast, displaying an aggressive traffic body language that leaves you in no doubt that you will be mown down in an instant if you put a foot wrong. Green pedestrian lights are uniformly ignored, and defensive driving seems to be an unheard of concept. The hospitals must have to deal with a lot of unnecessary road trauma cases.
Fortunately the air conditioning on this packed train was effective with a vent above the bed, so the air was reasonably fresh although the air conditioning plant made more noise than the train engines. This train had started at a very distant place and would still have a long way to go after Xian. We were boarding it for only a small section of its journey. My bed had obviously been used previously by someone else during an earlier part of the train's journey, and the previous occupant had thoughtfully left behind in the bed an upturned can of soft drink and some pulpy material on the sheets that smelled like apple. In regard to the latter, I decided to leave the analysis there and proceed on the assumption that it was apple – some of the alternatives didn't bear thinking about. All the same, I didn't relish the prospect of sleeping on damp sheets redolent of coke and apple. So I laid the cover on the bed and slept on top; fortunately it was warm enough not to need a cover. This problem resolved, I slept reasonably well, as it seemed did the other five people within a toe's reach.
We arrived at Urumqi in the early afternoon after a pleasant flight from Xian with China Eastern Airlines, and checked into the Xinrong Hotel in the centre of the city.
Urumqi is an interesting place with people of several different ethnic backgrounds. It is the capital of Xinjiang province, home to China's several million Muslim Uighur people. Urumqi also has a large and rapidly growing Han Chinese population. In addition there are many Kyrgyzs, Tajiks and Pakistanis. Although thousands of kilometres west of Beijing, Xinjiang iofficially operates on Beijing time, with the result that the sun doesn't set until 10.30pm at this time of year. It's also now quite hot, and many shops shut for a 2.5 hour siesta from 1.30 to 4pm.
Like the rest of China, there are food stalls and restaurants everywhere, although the cuisine here has a strong muslim influence reflecting the composition of the population. A popular Uighur dish is “La Mein”. The noodles in it are freshly made by a noodle maker in every stall who is very skillful at kneading, stretching, swinging and twirling the dough into multiple metre-long strands. The locals usually have noodles, kebabs and flat round naang bread for dinner. Another common local food is a rice dish similar to fried rice but cooked instead with shredded carrots, parsnips, lamb meat, raisins and dates (without any eggs). The rice is normally eaten in the afternoon. We have been very well fed in Urumqi. In addition to all the great street food close by, the Xinrong Hotel's restaurant serves the best food we've seen in a hotel restaurant for a very long time. An excellent dinner there can be had for about $4 each – a large bottle of good Chinese beer is a mere 50 cents extra!
The road traffic throughout China is chaotic and hazardous but is especially so in Urumqi. Elsewhere you can be reasonably confident that the drivers of the vehicles bearing down on you will at least attempt to stop, and magically do, if a collision appears inevitable. But not, we discovered, in Urumqi. Here, many vehicles and their drivers tear around much too fast, displaying an aggressive traffic body language that leaves you in no doubt that you will be mown down in an instant if you put a foot wrong. Green pedestrian lights are uniformly ignored, and defensive driving seems to be an unheard of concept. The hospitals must have to deal with a lot of unnecessary road trauma cases.
