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Ürümqi, China
43° 47' N 87° 35' E
Oct 03, 2005 08:28
Distance 2414km

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Other entries in Urumchi

uigurs

Text written in: English

we actually wanted to take the trans siberian railway back home as most of you already know. but the russians in beijing don't give tourist visas to non chinese residents anymore. there is only one travel agency in beijing that can still arrange russian visas and they know that they are the only ones what you can see in their very inflated prices.

so we decided to change our plans and took a plane to urumuqi and will travel along the silk road back to beijing from where we will take a plane back home by the beginning of november.

urumqi is the capital of the xinjiang autonomous region that celebrated its 50th birthday on the 1st of october. this region is home to many chinese minorities many of them with an arabian touch. walking down the streets you see blond people or asian looking people with blue eyes, lots of arabic writing and minarets. many people are not speaking chinese but the local language and there are kebab stalls at every corner. this is a very refreshing change after seeing mainly chinese people during the last months and in addition to that  the people here are very friendly.