Urumqi

We flew from Shenzhen in southern China to Urumqi. Ate delicious roasted whole sheep from ethnic Uighur street vendors. The city of Urumqi is overrun by Han Chinese, with only a minor Uighur presence, but in the Uighur neighborhoods the atmosphere is middle-eastern. Turkish music CDs are sold by every street vendor. We had a good chat with a nice Uighur man who works for a government bank but also owns a small restaurant.

The second day we hired a taxi with several other Chinese travelers (one from Wuhan, and another from Chongqing) and visited Tianchi Lake (Lake Bogda) at the foot of the Tianshan Mountains (Tienshan), one of the highest mountain chains on earth. Not far from the lake is Mount Bogda (5445 meters above sea level), but we couldn't see it due to cloudy weather. The scenery, hiking, and horse-back riding were fantastic. We rode horses owned by local Kazak herders. I was surprised that they look much older than their age, probably due to constant exposure to the harsh desert climate.