Sights and Sounds of Urumuqi, XinJiang

I have always wanna go to XinJiang. I knew that it would be the land of the Fatimas, the Alis ie the land of our Muslim friends. I have been surrounded by Muslims all my life...my neighbours, friends, my own brother, my niece, nephew, my sister-in-law and her family etc etc. I always feel 'at home' amongst them. There's always this 'connection' that I don't think most of my Chinese Singaporean friends have; strange it may sound.

XinJiang did not disappoint me. Chewy Chew and I enjoyed the streets of Urumuqi so much that we hardly talked. We just walked, smiled to ourselves and totally soaked in the sights and sounds of the city. Occasionally, he gave me the, "Is this really China?" look. And I returned with a, "I know, I know." look. We felt we were in Turkey, Central Asia and at times Russia. We thoroughly enjoyed the city that we spent an afternoon just exploring and getting lost in the Bazaar and the streets surrounding it. We even enjoyed the XinJiang ice-cream at a Turkish looking side-cafe and watched what is to us, a very non-Chinese world, go by.

Tian Chi was just breathtaking. It reminds one so much of Swiss Alps. Yes, Swiss Alps. The kebabs, the snow, the sun, the Han Chinese and the XinJiang Chinese somehow managed to exist harmiously in this place. We were told one could ice-skate here during winter. That would be gorgeous. Imagine an ice-skating ring thats totally natural. Yes, you would be surrounded by Alphine peaks, snow-capped mountains here.

This place can't be China. :-)