The ever present Tianshan or 'Heavenly mountains' are always in the back ground. The Heavenly montains divide Xinjiang into half, the lush Northern part and the dry arid Southern part. There is snow on these peaks all year round. This area is home to a hosts of 'Turkic' people of whom the Uighurs form the majority. The Chinese army has a strong presence here because of recent unrests and fighting between the Han Chinese and the Uighurs. The Han Chinese have been pouring into Xinjiang for a long time and have turned this province into another Han settlement to the resentment of the Uighurs.
It's become another Han settlement, much to my chagrin because it has lost its charm. There's cars everywhere and boxy concrete apartment buildings all over the basin. Construction is shoddy and of the worse quality. The hotel that we stayed in has a grand facade but its interiors are bad, water is always leaking in the bathroom, the hot water comes out in a trickle and I had a cold showere every night for 3 nights. The location was great and the price is even better. We got a lot for our money this trip.
What really struck me when I first arrived was the signage, it's in 3 languages, Chinese, Turkic and Russian. It borders Russia and there is a lot of trade with Russia as well as the other 7 countries that borders it.
I was surprised to see Durian fruit this far from the equator. I had to have some.
It's China but it's not China. Uighurs can be seen among the Han people. This is an interesting area.
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