We returned to Urumqi last night after a tiring 13 hours on the road. From Kanas Lake we travelled to Buerjin in a minibus with nine young chinese men who were travelling as a group. They had two spare seats and invited us to go with them. We arrived at a hot Buerjin around lunchtime with the intention of waiting there for eight hours until the overnight sleeper bus left for Urumqi. But as soon as we arrived in Buerjin several drivers approached us with offers to various destinations. One was going to Urumqi and already had two passengers and was looking for two more. He offered to take us the 630km for 220 Yuan each, and he accepted our counter-offer of 200. So within 15 minutes of arriving in Buerjin we were again on the outskirts of the town, but this time streaking towards Urumqi in a big black comfortable taxi. The only downer was that both the driver and one of the passengers smoked like chimneys and they wound down the window every time they lit up, with the result that the compartment was filled with hot air, dust and cigarette smoke several times every hour.
We passed through the giant oilfield again but this time in daylight. It was an impressive sight; as far as the eye could see in all directions there was a spider web of electric wires, towers, oil pumps, pipe networks, tank farms and oil refineries.
The day was windy and very hot and we encountered several dust and sandstorms when passing through the desert country, one reducing visibility to just two or three metres in front of the car. Fortunately the driver was careful and he drove fast only when it was safe to do so. We arrived in Urumqi at around 9.30pm tired and hungry, and we were very glad to get out of the car and book into the Xinjinxing Hotel on Renmin Road in the city centre.
