Back in Urumqi's Sweet Lovin' Arms

I landed back in Urumqi from the village feeling disoriented and disgruntled, just a few days before the arrival of Christina and Alan. I had been bugging them for as long as I've been here to come visit, to see this crazy never-never land where my feet have landed before it disappears, or I disappear, or both.

Unfortunately, they came at a time when my feelings about the place were at an all-time low, but I did my best to show them around. They had ten short days here, so we ran hither and thither: to a farm in the suburbs, some locals' homes, shopping around town, fancy dinners with fancy dancing, and of course, the infamous death march along a "classic" Xinjiang backpacking route.

This is my friend Nisagul's family farm in an outlying town called Miquan (米泉). We trekked out for the day for a long lunch and a look at Xinjiang cows.

We were treated to a nice traditional Xinjiang dish: 大盘鸡 or "big plate of chicken". It's basically a whole chicken hacked up (bones, head, claws, everything) and pressure cooked in with potatos, peppers, and some spices. It's then served with thick noodles.

So, just in time for C&A to get over their jetlag, we prepared for another little trip out of town. I thought it was to be a 3-day backpacking trip of the sort I had taken before in these wilds. Through some of my friends, I had organized a trip to the mountains with a professional guide and all I knew was that we were going to be going on a classic route, and it may be very very cold. Little did we know....