I NEEEED TO GO TO SLEEP, BUT....here I am

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It's 12:30 am and we leave at 6:30 am tomorrow for our trip to Xinjiang. The itinerary is so exciting and the place seems so exotic, that I've got to get it down:

We leave tomorrow (March 31) and fly to Kashgar. We arrive at 5:30pm.
April 1 - Go to the Karakul Lake surrounded by magnificent snow-capped mountains. Optional activity: horse or camel riding.
April 2 - Visit Kashgar's famous Sunday Bazaar (It's famous throughout all of China. I'm thinking about buying a rug. Seriously, I am). Visit Abakh Hoja Tomb & the largest Mosque in China. Walk around the Professional Art Street & ancient local residence and garden.
April 3 - Visit the Taklamakan Desert! Optional activities - they mentioned something like sand skiing/snowboarding? It could be anything, I'll get back to you on this one as well. Holy crap, the desert. By the way, my lonely planet guide warns about severe sand storms this exact time of year. Our trip leaders confirmed the sand storms. I bought a really cool headscarf thing for protection?
Then we fly to Urumuqi at night - The province of Xinjiang is so big that we can't take an overnight train from Kashgar to Urumuqi, we have to fly instead. (Kashgar? Urumuqi? By the names of the places alone, I'm already in love! And I just tried to look up Urumuqi's weather on world weather.com. It felt like the randomest thing ever).
April 4 - Travel to Turpan. Visit Caiwobao lake, salt lake, Gaochang Ruins, Flaming Mountains, Desert Art Museum (?), Sugong Mosque, one of the biggest engineering systems in old China - Karez Irrigation and the Astana Graves.
April 5 - Travel to the Heavenly Mountains and Heavenly Pool. My tutor Jill was looking over my itinerary after she taught me how to say desert, and she seemed really excited that I was going to get to see the Heavenly Mountains and Heavenly Pool - apparently they are also really well-known throughout China.
Back to Urumqi to visit the international bazaar.
Come back home on April 6.
Aah! Can't wait!! This experience could be anything. At our pre-trip meeting, they did make a special announcement for the vegetarians (aka, me. and maybe the kosher kids) to try to bring some food along with us. Apparently, eating there may be a challenge. But I'm pretty sure I'm up for it.

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