Hi ! Thanks for your emails. 

As you read in the subject, we are now in Xinjiang, the western-most province of China, also the largest, where the Silk Road runs. To be precise, we are now in the town called Yining (if you look it up on the atlas), which is where the border with Kyrgystan is. 

Since our last mail from Beijing, we took a train from Beijing to Xi'an. Xi'an, also known as Chang'an, was the centerpoint of the Silk Road during its heydays (the Tang dynasty if I am not mistaken). It was once the most
important city in China, many times greater than its counterpart Rome (told by a tour guide, need to be verified) at that time. That's why Xi'an is now known as the 'historical city' of China.

What's so great about Xi'an? Well, both of us are not too familiar with Chinese history, so the main reason we came here is because we could not get a direct train to Urumqi, so had to use Xi'an as a transit point. Second reason is to see the Qin terracotta warriors (bing1 ma2 yong3)... the REAL thing, of course. Oh yes, Xi'an is also where Qin Shi Huang built his empire. 

There's an interesting Hui Muslim culture here in Xi'an. We spent some time jalan-jalan around the Muslim settlements and visited some ancient mosques. They seemed to be happy to know that the Islam in Malaysia is pretty similar to theirs. Then we went to the most famous restaurant to try out the most famous dish of Xi'an ... yang2 rou4 pao4 mo2 (in simple terms, sup kambing with roti naan).

From Xi'an, we took the longest land journey of our life ... 43 hours of train, to arrive at Urumqi. An hour after arriving in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, we were on the bus again, this time 19 hours of bus ride, to come to Yining, with the bus rosak a few times on the way. Wow, geng leh. I also didn't know I can tahan so long. On the train, we had some nice Chinese 'neighbours' who were very friendly and gave us lots of information about Xinjiang and China. Even explained to us the sights that our train passed along the way. 

Why did we come to Yining ? Well, it was purely coincidence. We met a pakthor-couple of university students, who happened to stay in the same hotel as us in Xi'an. Then we got on the same train to Urumqi. During chatting, they learned that we were going to Xinjiang for travelling, so they invited us to their home in Yining. So that's how we landed here. Nice little town ... not much pollution. But getting a bit sien already. Last night they brought us for a big makan (15 dishes on the table) at a Chinese restaurant. We ate many of the pig spare parts (Han food)... kidney, heart, ears, leg, meat, liver... hehehe. Then we went makan-makan on the streets, where we ate the kambing spare parts (Uyghur food)... lungs, intestine, hooves, stomach ... there's even kambing head (whole head) on sale, but we dared not try. Another Xinjiang delicacy is kambing BBQ (very cheap, about 25 sen each), eaten with roti naan and ice cream. That one also they brought us to try. Wow!

Xinjiang is a very very big province. Getting from one place to another place is very far. So we spent lots of time on the road. And during the journey, most of the places are dry and barren, with stones, rocks, and sand... also known as the Gobi desert. So, the towns in Xinjiang are actually large oases, surrounded by vast barrenness which extends far into the horizon. Life is really tough out here. 

One thing interesting about Xinjiang is its people. Walking on the streets we could see ppl who looked like of Central Asian origin (deep eyes, high nose, fair skin, sharp chin), quite unlike the Han Chinese (flat flat everywhere). So, feel a bit funny guai4 guai4. Those are the Uyghurs, Kazaks... not very sure. Many of them are Muslims, so we get lots of Muslim foodstalls. They even use Arabic writings. 

An interesting incident happened while I was typing email in the Yining XinHua bookshop. A curious salesgirl saw me typing in English. Then she came near and stood behind me, watching me type. Then she began to interpret for me what I have typed! It went like,"You're telling them about your stomachache izzit? Now you're telling about the SaiLiMu Lake izzit? ..." Oh, her English was pretty good for a Chinese. And she was courageous indeed to ask,"You don't mind me reading your email hor?". What can I say? "Err... OK ler... since I am not typing any loveletters."

Tomorrow we will be going up to a lake in the Tian Shan mountains, and maybe spend a night there. Will tell you guys more about it later.

Till then, take care.

Alvin & Julia : please convey this back home.

Cheers,

Michael
Count your blessings !