古城新绛

I spent 13 days in late Sept 2013 and found the scenery there (North Xinjiang) most varied and impressive, compared with all those scenic places that I have travelled around the world. The trip involved very long journey time in very remote routes (we have travelled over 3000km in this tour) and sometimes you do not see anybody for many hours of travel. There are many sunrise and sunsets to see enroute and one sunset will allow you to see the reflection of many suns on the water but I did not get to see this one for myself due to the fact our tour group had to leave early for transportation reason. You will see endless grasslands, hundreds of sheep, horses and camels in the field, more than I saw in my New Zealand tour. The rivers, lakes and mountains are just magnificient. The toilet facilities in some areas are non existent because the places are so remote and you have to do it behind a hill etc. We got used to such outside solution after a while with men on one side and women on the other side, unseen from each other. It is the most concentrated and fruitful trip I have ever done. It is a pity that not many tour groups will go to this part of China as it is too remote and involves hardship for some.

We went to Xinjiang for almost 2 weeks from 8 August 2013 to 20 August 2013. We got our own airtickets at China Eastern Airlines. As there are no direct flights from Singapore to Xinjiang, we transit at Guangdong. The flight plus the transit took almost the whole day. We flew off at 8 am and arrived in Xinjiang, Urumqi at 9 plus pm And as there are hardly any package tours from Singapore to Xinjiang as well, we book a local package tour through this agency called China Travel international Xinjiang Ltd and they provide us with a van and a driver. They settled the itinerary and the hotel arrangement for us and we paid about $10,000 Yuan per person. The driver serves as a part time tour guide as well.We went through many places in Xinjiang and the scenery is just beautiful and the air is so fresh. Xinjiang has so many resources, be it precious stones, oil, gas, fruits, cotton, lavendar and etc. Yet the people there are still poor compared to Beijing or Shanghai as all the Xinjiang resources are pulled back to the central Government.The people in Xinjiang are generally still very honest and down to earth unlike other parts of China where they constantly try to rip off the tourists. I remember that our van broke down at Turpan outside a residential area. They were harvesting their rapes and a lady came out of her house and offered us a plate of grapes! We were touched by the hospitality. The travel journey and duration of time is really long. It could take as long as 7 to 8 hours to travel from one destination to another and dinner is usually very late at 9 plus. The temperate can varies drastically from one place to another. I remember that it was 2 to 3 degrees when we were up in the mountain and when we travel to another place in the afternoon, the temperate hit 30 degrees over. So a thick jacket is still required at times. My travel mates really suffered through the cold when they did not bring a thicker jacket and warm clothings.The food is really tasty there as we mostly ate the muslim food. I will strongly recommending trying the mutton. The mutton there is really tasty with no odor smell. We don't see many foreign tourists visiting Xinjiang maybe because the tourism there is not as advanced as other parts of China. Xinjiang is not suitable for backpacking and it is not easy to get around from place to place if you don't speak mandarin. The younger generation may speak English but not all the people there can communicate in the language. The tourists are mainly from other parts of China. I also find the travelling expenses rather high in China now compared to 15 years agoNevertheless I will strongly suggest a visit to Xinjiang before it get "polluted" like other parts of China as well.

This region , in the extreme North West of China , constitutes a unique experience ,with its wild landscapes , a population of Kazakhs , Russians , Arabs , Mongols and all possible cross-breeds , populated by a Muslim minority named Uigur . The ancient city of Kashgar is wonderful , with its old buildings made of mud and bricks , its narrow steep streets , houses built such in a way to look like they are airconditioned in the hottest weather , a Sunday market attracting hundreds of thousands visitors . The desert , the nomadic people , the mountains , everything gives the visitor the feeling of being in a different China .