Blogs from Urumqi, Xinjiang, China, Asia - page 3

Eine Woche ist vergangen und ich habe mich im Team schon sehr gut eingelebt. Zum Arbeitsort fahren wir jeden Morgen zirka eine halbe Stunde. Zum Mittagessen gehts dann jeweils 5 Minuten weiter nach Norden in eine kleine Siedlung, wo wir abwechslungsweise Reis oder Nudeln essen. Serviert werden diese Grundnahrungsmittel mit einer Sosse in welcher sich wahlweise Fleisch mit Gemüse oder Eier und Tomaten mit weiterem Gemüse befinden. Alles schmeckt wirklich lecker. Die Unterkunft haben wir am Donnerstag dieser Woche gewechselt und wir logieren nun in einem Hotel unseres Kunden, wo wir zusammen mit den Managern Tür an Tür leben. Angeschlossen findet sich eine Kantine und ein Supermarkt. In der Kantine sind wir 3 Europäer "die Attraktion". Da wird zu uns "Langnasen" (der chinesische Ausdruck für Europäer) hingeschaut und gekichert was das Zeug hält. In der Kantine ... read more

So, I'm not lost over here! I've just been surprisingly busy! Since leaving Moncton on June 27, I've been to London, England, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, and to Chengdu and Xi'an in China. Of course, I've been to Urumqi, since that's where I'm living, and I've also managed to travel to Lake Kanas/Hemu Village and Shi hezi, Lu Jiaowan, and Sha Wan in Xinjiang province. I realize I'm a little late in starting this blog, so I'll try to soon post pictures and updates on what I've done so far before I have too many other adventures to keep track of! Even in these six short weeks, though, I've already discovered that there's no place like home. This should be a wonderful year as I get to teach English, live with Chinese girls, and experience tons of new ... read more

Hi Everyone! Well I arrived in Urumqi a couple of nights ago and found my hostel without too much of a problem. Not a bad spot for 45RMB per night. It is right next to a big public square and a park. Good for people watching in the evening. Urumqi is an outstanding city. It is very diverse and you can see 4 different languages on street signs and restaurants. They use Chinese characters, Russian alphabet, Arabic script, and english. Its pretty cool to see. There are a lot of Kazakh people around town and they have a heavy influence on the food. There is also the Chinese muslim population (Uigher) and they have cuisine all their own. So far the highlight has been the food. Everything is different and everything is outstanding. Much different than ... read more

The last week of this month-long trip around northern Asia certainly was the most challenging. After three weeks in Mongolia and Siberia, I had anticipated that Xinjiang would be very different from Beijing or Russia, but I hadn’t imagined it would be such a different world. In ways it was amazing, particularly the scenery on the Old Silk Road, but in other ways I found it depressing. My background is in sociology and I find this blending/clash of ethnicities in China, and the role the government plays in promoting it, to be very interesting. I’ll try to explain as I tell you about the week day-by-day. But first, a little background courtesy of The Rough Guide: “Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region” is one of the most exciting parts of China, an extreme terrain, more than 3,000km ... read more

So they let us back in... After cramming in and out of jeeps and getting pushed through lines at the border, we crossed back into China at the city of Erlian. No problem getting a bus to Hohhot where we had hoped to get a train ticket for that night to our first official stop back in China - Pingyao. Two days and 16 hours on a hard seat on a packed train later, we arrived in the old city of Pingyao. We got in super early and had not really slept, so when a tout with a vehicle offered us a free ride to a guest house we took the offer. Well there were lots of tourists there, but we got a super cheap room - right next to the toilets, yeah right next to ... read more