Urumqi

Since the exhausting school year is over, and I have some time on my hands, I want to post about some of the coolest places we’ve been in China.  Up first: Urumqi (Which, surprisingly, is pronounced “ur-a-mooo-che”).

It was a week-long vacation in October.  Our fellow teachers were sunning themselves and relaxing on  the pristine beaches of the Philippines.  We were driving for hours through the desert of China’s “wild west”, a 3-year- old in tow.  Were we crazy?  Probably.  However, we had long looked forward to travelling to Xinjiang province (in the northwest corner of China).  Because of its proximity to Central Asia (all the “-stans”) there are many ethnic minorities living there; including the Kazak and Uyghur peoples, who are predominantly Muslim.  So many interesting cultural influences mixed in with the mainstream Han Chinese.   My husband has lived in Uzbekistan before, so he was looking forward to some good Central Asian cookin’!

Our first stop was the city of Urumqi.  There in the main square, across from a mosque and a KFC, was a 5-story bazaar that was a souvenir-shopper’s paradise!  Merchants sold every type of local handicraft from carpets, to wood carvings, to traditional clothing and jewelry.  Definitely my favorite part of the city!  For lunch, my husband was pleased to find a small restaurant that served  Central Asian cuisine.  He immediately ordered “plov” (rice pilaf cooked in OIL) and various greasy pastries.  It was to be the first of many such meals we would enjoy that week.  So greasy, but so good!  We agree that we have no idea how the Uzbeks and Kazaks live past age 40, with a diet like that!