Urumqi Travel Blogs

I booked to join a group to to Tian Chi (Heavely Lake) in Tianshan today. It's about 110-120km away from Urumqi in the Tianshan mountains, under the Bogda peak. The bus picked me up just before 10am, even though I was originally told between 9 and 9:20am. Then it went around and picked up another 2…

People I met here who contributed to, and improved my trip: Julia (Russia), Hannes (Sweden), Colin (Canada), Josh (USA), Portia (USA)   I really hate arriving into cities late at night, so i wasn't best impressed to be dropped on the outskirts of Urumqi at 22.30. Colin had a friend of a frie…

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I am working in Beijing as a choral conductor for an international school. It is my goal to see as much of China as I possibly can while I am here...

PUBLIC HOLIDAY STARTS 30 SEPTEMBER Trainticket to Liuyuan or otherwise to Lanzhou http://www.travelchinaguide.com/china-trains/index.htm T296 | 6.47pm - 12 hours to Liuyuan [sleepertrain] Book ticket at hotel for Y30 or CITS www.xinjiangtour.com and is located on Xinhua Nan Lu

We caught a sleeper train from Kashgar back to Urumqi, taking some 24 hours.  Also on the train was a group of people, late teens, who were travelling around the silk road.  The group comprised of the children of parents who lived in China to work, and were from a variety of nationalities…

The flight to Urumqi was quite straightforward. The plane had video screens every few rows, and after the safety demonstrations, we were treated to a short cartoon video, featuring rapping pigs, advising about swine flu.  Helpfully there were English subtitles, and to avoid catching it, appare…

There is, apparently, no town in the world further from the sea than Urumqi, plonked in the middle of Asia fourteen hundred miles from the Arctic Ocean or the Bay of Bengal or the Sea of Japan. Huge, cosmopolitan place, one direct train away from Kazakhstan - Chinese and Arabic and Latin and Cyrill…

Doordat Turpan midden in de woestijn ligt zal eenieder ’s nachts gefascineerd naar de hemel kijken, waar ontelbare sterren fonkelen. Onze laatste overnachtingsplaats in China is Urumchi. Vanuit deze stad bestaat de mogelijkheid om het Hemelse Meer op 2000 meter hoogte te bezoek…

reis door China van januari-april 2000

The drive over the Tian Shan mountains is awe-inspiring.  Nomatic yak and goat herders live in gers similiar to those in Mongolia.  I'm so taken by the view and yet unable to take a decent photo through the window.  We get out for a smoke break (which didn't stop the passengers from …

When you enter the Tian Chi, Heavenly lakes, you notice the tourist yurts all around you at the beginning of the park. They look very luxerious and I even think some have even satelite television. These yurts are typical meant for the Chinese tourists. We go to yurts that are near the lake itself. …

Three separate cave complexes called “Temple of a Thousand Buddhas.” None of them came close to having that many, but then, according to legend, they were stolen by German and French archaeologists 100 years ago. Oh well. One place had an absolutely Giant Buddha carved into the mountainside, t…

I know this is a shock for anyone who knows me, but I am planning something... a silk road trip. I don't have a time frame yet (next spring I hope) but looking for any feedback from anyone. Also would love to find a few places to stay and friendly faces along the way.