We hop on our train to Urumqi, China, and are pleasantly surprised to find there is no one else in our cabin. We spread out our stuff, plug in the computer and spend the next 30 hours watching movies, sleeping, eating junk food and watching the desert out the window. On arriving in Urumqi we quickly realize we are now in China. Until now we haven’t really experienced any major culture shocks. Each country has seemed to have flowed quite nicely onto the next, but here everyone stares at you, anything you can imagine is being sold on the sidewalks and the streets are exceptionally crowded. We find the one hostel in the city. It´s nice enough but smells a lot like stale piss and nearly everyone happily spits on the floor, which I hear we
... read more