Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region
“Where should we go for National Holiday? We could finally do Xinjiang…”
My boyfriend and I, a few months before we went to Xinjiang Autonomous Region.
China has 56 official ethnic groups. For the most part, there are Han Chinese in every province making up over 90% of the population. Then you’ve got the recognized autonomous regions with diverse and fascinating minority groups. These include (but aren’t limited to) Yunnan, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang.
We were planning what to do for Chinese National Holiday (first week of October). Our list included a number of provinces, but we both knew that Xinjiang and Tibet were top priorities. If you’ve read my Tibet blogpost, you’ll know that Tibet was still off the table. We also knew that with Covid popping up at random, going to somewhere as strict with the pandemic as Xinjiang could mean a cancelled tour at any moment. We had friends who had been recently and were sent home just two days after arriving. Even avid solo-travellers I knew struggled to maintain patience.
After some um-ing and ah-ing, we decided to bite the bullet and book a tour (with Wanna Travel). Now Xinjiang is open to foreigners, however navigating it is much easier in a group. Xinjiang has a ridiculous amount of police checkpoints and city border controls. There are also limited hotels that accept foreigners. So, in a group, your tour guide is responsible for documents and makes the process quicker.
From what I saw, if you have no time constraints you can slowly navigate Xinjiang on your own. BUT Prepare your patience for all the checkpoints and understand that being a foreigner = restrictions.
Xinjiang is HOW big?!
Making up 1/6 of ALL of China’s land, Xinjiang is the biggest province
and has an area of 1.6 million square km. Visiting Kashgar, Turpan and
Urumqi, we got to see just a fraction of it.
Tash in the Kash(gar)
October quickly arrived and we were off. Incredibly, the journey took over 7 hours (Shanghai > Lanzhou > Kashgar), and we were still in the same country! Interestingly, we had to close the shutters between Lanzhou and Kashgar to avoid any sightings of military zones within Xinjiang. We arrived in Kashgar and immediately felt like we were somewhere different entirely.
On arrival we boarded a bus to get our compulsory Covid test done and meet our tour guide. After leaving our things in the hotel, we had the evening to explore on our own. Obviously, we headed straight for Kashgar Ancient City. Here we witnessed the true Uyghur architecture and customs. Dried fruit, lamb and pomegranates – need I say more? We were in snack heaven!
The lower section of the city was predominantly market and tourism orientated. Venturing up some stairs, we found ourselves in the alleyways of local homes. It seemed a lot of children were surprised to see us there, which meant a lot of warm smiles and greetings. The architecture and rugs really resembled scenes in Turkey and India – we had completely left the China we knew.
Oytagh Glacier
130km along the Sino-Pakistani highway and we reached the Oytagh Glacier park. The scenes that greeted us on entrance were the last thing from snow and ice. Quite literally, dry, red, rocky mountains stretched along the road ahead. However, we eventually turned a corner and caught a glimpse of the glacier on the horizon.
Scenes here were a complete contrast to 30 minutes down the road. And what a road! The walking trails to reach the snowy peaks were unfortunately blocked off, and we had limited time to explore. Nonetheless, the scenery was peaceful and the air was clean – a great start to the trip.
After we finished up in the glacier park, we headed back to town and returned to the ancient city. Though we had been there the day before, it wasn’t difficult to get lost once again in the maze of walkways between the local homes and markets. Once again, merchants shouted to entice customers, artists sat painting on corners and daily chores were being completed all around us in a a chaotic yet rhythmic flow. We happily observed the movements of human life here as we came to grips with the fact that we were finally in this place we had only dreamt of visiting for so long.
WORLD’S TALLEST NATURAL ARCH
The following day, nice and early, we headed 70km away to Shipton’s Arch. Along the way, the roads were lined with farms and a whole lot of nothing. Habitable towns are far and wide in this vast region.
We reached the carpark and the scenery resembled Mars. Low dirt hills surrounded us. We began the hour long hike uphill. The walk itself is easy enough, but the rocky terrain calls for careful footing. We ascended the seemingly endless steps to the viewing platform and were mind blown!
Shipton’s Arch, named after a British consul who wrote of it in the 40s, is HUGE. Also, very windy. From the top, holding your hair tame, you could see through and down it with a view of the dry Xinjiang plains stretching far into the distance. We found a quiet spot overlooking the valley and took in the serenity before heading back down to the bus.
So far, I’ve failed to note the rate of Covid tests we were doing. We were at day three of the tour, and had already completed three tests. Things were strict. On the way back to Kashgar, a livestock market was on the itinerary. For many on the trip, this was a highlight.
Now the following will give you a good idea of just how difficult it can be traveling in Xinjiang mid-pandemic.
20 minutes away from the market, the guide received a call from a fellow guide informing him of a new case in the North (1000km away) and therefore, city-wide panic and closure of the livestock market. Instead, we visited a local produce market where we could witness the regular daily food and garment trade. It was here that a tour member asked about the ‘Green Mosque’. This was not on the agenda, so if you are on a tour and find you have too much free time, I suggest requesting this site.
Apak Khoja Mausoleum
The ‘Green Mosque’ suggestion turned out to be the Apak Khoja Mausoleum (not a mosque). There happened to be a sandstorm this day so the town was shrouded in dust. Incredibly, the mausoleum’s main structure was no less vibrant with its bright hues of greens. We were lucky enough to witness a traditional Uyghur dance routine performed in stunning outfits.
TO THE FLAMING MOUNTAINS
Remember the size of Xinjiang? For the next leg of the trip, we needed to board a flight to the capital, Urumqi (2 hours away). Helping to explain the not-so-cheap tour price, this flight was included.
We arrived in Urumqi late at night, and quickly realised there wasn’t much to do on foot. To our great surprise, we found a restaurant with a menu of Russian dishes. Myself and a fellow Russian speaker on the tour were able to chat to the Uyghur staff fluently.
The Uyghur people have sub-categories of ethnic identity, such as Turk, Kyrgyz and Kazak. To this day, the Russian language is learnt and known by some.
We didn’t stay in Urumqi for long, and I wouldn’t say there was much of an appeal to do so. The city resembled those we’d seen in other provinces in China. We wanted to see what this part of Xinjiang was famous for – the desert!
The following morning, we set off for Turpan. The drive took almost the entire day (I told you – Xinjiang is BIG), which meant we had a few hours in the evening to see the city before bed. We found a standout restaurant with local cuisine that I’d highly recommend to someone in this city.
The hottest & driest place in China
With an early rise, and using the Flaming Mountains as our guide, we drove toward Turpan’s Tuyugou Village. This village has a 1700 year old history, and is still home to 200 odd families. This is the hottest and driest place in China, receiving only 10-15mm of rain per year. The buildings of this village are built from mud and rely on the rain to stay away so they don’t collapse.
The trip had been fairly chilly so far, but we really felt the heat here and layers were shedding by the minute. Wandering through the homes that were now abandoned was almost like an obstacle course, ducking for low entrances and climbing through the window cut outs. By skirting around the back of the main trail, we found the road leading to the existing residences. This was a great way to see the dunes from a less visited side (especially for photography).
As I mentioned, we reached the village by following the Flaming Mountains. So, on the way back, we stopped at a viewpoint to see them in all their glory. Unfortunately, time was limited, so I sprinted off ahead of the group to reach the cliff edge of the dunes. What I saw from there was incredible. Bright contrasts of green, blue and oranges – the trees were able to grow in the shadows, a river flowed far below and the dunes surrounded the whole scene.
After another few hours spent on the road, we reached the final stop for the day. Touching on what I mentioned at the beginning of the post, if you are traveling Xinjiang on your own, as I had once planned to do, you really need to have a lot of time to cater for the distances. The day ended at the Emin Minaret, with a stunning sunset settling behind the impressive structure.
Because we were covering such enormous distances, we were stopping at military checkpoints very frequently. In this journey to and from Urumqi alone we had our passport checked with a cheeky side of Covid test about four times.
Gaochang Ruins
Adding to how lucky I was already feeling to be exploring this part of the world, the next day was my birthday. Checking out of Turpan, we set off for Gaochang Ruins in the historic Silk Road city of Gaochang. Now this place was impressive. These are the biggest ancient ruins in all of Xinjiang, and it was obvious why. Entering the park, the remains stretched far ahead. We wandered through a maze of archaeological structures, some in ruins and some intact. What a birthday treat!
That evening, we did the hefty drive back to Urumqi. In total, we had spent a massive 20 hours on a bus in the past three days – Xinjiang, is huge. The last major part of the itinerary was Heavenly Lake. This place is famous, and if you look up images, rightfully so.
Just our luck – it started snowing.
Almost at the end of this leg of the trip, we got the dreaded call that informed us of Heavenly Lake’s snow-related closure. Xinjiang famously is home to an abundance of lakes. We hadn’t seen a single one, partly due to many not being open to foreigners, and partly due to the fact that we were relying on seeing this one. Instead, we settled into the hotel, bought passes for the outdoor hotsprings + some beers and celebrated my birthday sat under falling soft snow in the steaming baths.
We did some basic sight seeing in Urumqi the following day, though most things were shut thanks to the incredibly uncommon October snow. The true standout of the day was the local restaurant we visited before the flight back home.
