Blogs from Hami, Xinjiang, China, Asia
November 1st 2008
Hami, famous for its melon. Normally the locals would start planting Hami melon in spring & harvest in Summer. I was in Hami for a very short stay, actually transit on my way to Urumqi. Just like any other cities / towns in China, development can be seen everywhere. ... read more
August 19th 2008
One lazy day in Tiger Leaping Gorge (Yunnan province), we started planning our next adventures. As we consulted our guidebook and prepared to travel further south, a nice British lad suggested we check out Xinjiang. Xinjiang - the Chinese province that borders Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Mongolia, and Tibet and houses the Taklamakan and part of the Gobi Desert, along with the southern reaches of the Siberian Taiga. Why we hadn't thought of this earlier was beyond us, but from that moment forward, our sights were set on the Northwest. Some of our most memorable moments from our travels in Northwest China included a camel trek complete with desert camp-out under the stars, a trip with our first Chinese tour group to the breathtaking blues and greens of Kanas Lake (northern Xinjiang), a TOTAL ... read more
June 29th 2007
A hot and monotonous bus journey got us to Hami, and the initial response we got at the PSB seemed to indicate we weren't going to get a flat-out rejection. After waiting around in one building for half an hour, we were given a lift to another one (conveniently closer to our hotel) by an unsmiling man whose shake of the head and glance at the clock when he looked through my passport started to create doubts in my mind as to whether we were going to have some success. He led us to a seating area and then presented me with a melon - unfortunately not one of the variety for which Hami is famed, but a kind gesture nonetheless. The end result of our visa extension application could have been worse. The woman apologetically ... read more
