| Page Views: 1,211 Last Visit to Urumqi: December, 2003 | Cold...very cold...but warm inside! by mke1963 - last update: Dec 5, 2004 |
Urumqi - or Wulumuqi as it said on the side of the train to Lanzhou - is very cold in winter. It is the furthest place (in Asia? the world?) from the sea, and the geographical centre of Asia is just 50 km to the south. I arrived on the slightly down-at-heel China Xinjiang Airlines, now part of China Southern, and left on the fabulous T198 train to Lanzhou. |
Many of China's ethnic minorities can be seen in Urumuqi, especially in the Erdaqiao market and the streets around it. However, in ALL the Chinese guidebooks be prepared for constant and wearying messages about how long Xinjiang has been Chinese: to the casual observer it seems paranoid behaviour. The hardy and frigid climate make the people - Han, Uighur, Kazakh, Tajik, whatever - very friendly and everyone was happy to chat to complete strangers in the frosty streets. |
The best time to visit is said to be autumn, from September to late October. Winter too cold, spring too windy, summer too hot. |
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| Pros: | "Friendly people; ethnic melting pot; frontier spirit" | | Cons: | "Climate is usually too hot or too cold" | | In A Nutshell: | "As far as it gets from the beach" |
mke1963's Urumqi Travel Tips
 Comments for mke1963 about Urumqi | | | | |
tiabunna Thu Mar 29, 2007 15:16 UTC
An interesting place and page. Very polar too, with that climate! You'd have to wonder though, why the Chinese, usually very commercial, aren't more attuned to tourism as an industry | saa73 Tue Dec 7, 2004 07:42 UTC
mke1963 very interesting pages on China and particularly this one on Urumqi. Yes I went to the A Fun Ti restaurant in Beijing and had a minor glimpse into Uighur culture, which I never knew existed! | kevarms Sun Dec 5, 2004 14:05 UTC
ROFL! You seem just a little bit annoyed... but have my sympathies :) | iwys Sun Dec 5, 2004 13:34 UTC
Thats' one place I've always wanted to go to. Did it live up to your expectations? |
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