Welcome to Xinjiang- time for a brew.

We have now spent almost a week in the Xinjiang region, having travelled from the border to Yining and then Kuytun, Urumqi, Turpan and now Hami. What is China supposed to be like? The North West province which we have just crossed is predominantly Muslim. The road signs are displayed in both Chinese and Arabic. Where did these borders come from? The whole of Central Asia including this part of China shows its nomadic history.

 
We are travelling through China as opposed to following a tourist trail. We see what we see and things are not there on display for us. Whenever time permits though, we take the opportunity to wander round and absorb what we can.
 
The road is basically an express way now. Occasionally it stops and pushes you back to the old road. The express ways are calm, well maintained and the road surface is in super condition. The old roads  are the opposite. So the motorways, especially for longer distances, suit the Harley a little bit better. Lorries can also be very long and difficult to pass as they swerve to avoid the pot holes.
 
Urumqi was an example of a rapidly growing Chinese city bustling with commercialism, whose business case seems somewhat obscure. How many mobile phones do people need? How can you have ten shops selling exactly the same things all next to each other? How does a a five storey luxury goods mall function? It’s clearly the Chinese model and we don't understand it. Tucked away behind the modern western hotels we managed to find a Muslim street selling freshly baked bread rolls. Which will still be there in five years time is hard to judge. We also visited the local museum to see some exceptionally well preserved mummies from 1800BC that had been found in the desert. We had been told of one that was 6'2" tall, red headed, European features and that pre-dated Marco Polo by four thousand years. Must have been a hell of a hangover he woke up with, after stumbling out of a Glasgow pub the night before... What we hadn't been told was that there were two museums in Urumqi.

 
The road is desert with oases. And the deserts are, well, deserted. Apart from whole new cities and power stations being built that will presumably be offered to Eastern Chinese at subsidised costs to help dilute the current ethnic influences in North Western China.

 

 
It is a pretty unforgiving landscape between oases and we must have wanted that silk pretty badly back then to warrant the Silk Road!

 

 
Turpan was extremely hot. Since we arrived early, we ventured out to visit the remains of a 2000 year old mud city. 38 degrees, very hot indeed. Mad dogs and Englishmen... In the evening we watched the Turpan Quinyuan Cup Singing and Dancing competition or at least the first three acts. They consisted of some rather melodious Chinese backing music with young female singers impersonating cats being skinned and stir-fried alive.

 

 
We are eating very well indeed. However if you have not mastered the use of chop sticks, eating in China is a messy business. We are spending a long time washing our rather limit supply of clothing and our pot of Stain Devils is running out.
 
The road to Hami dropped to 44m below sea level according to the GPS today and we are still drawing the same crowds wherever we stop - including toilet breaks. Although motorbikes are not supposed to be allowed on the express ways, we have been waved on with thumbs-up signs by police and toll attendants alike.
 

 
Once you get off the express ways petrol does become an issue. They don't always want to serve motorcycles. In fact we were refused at two petrol stations today before being allowed to fill up at the the third. Each petrol station is guarded by a barrier.  This one had a lady sitting on a chair with a string which she raised to stop us entering. She pointed to a barrier where we had to park the bike.  Paul was given a kettle which he took to the petrol pump 60m away. This is how you fill the bike up. Oh the indignity for a Harley owner!

 

Luckily the bike passed its Chinese MOT at the beginning of the week, as the headlamp has stopped working now/again.
 
I think the most fascinating thing so far is how everybody welcomes us. It makes us wonder how we welcome visitors to our country.

 Paul & Francoise