Today was our last full day in Xinjiang. The biggest event of the day was in finding meals on our own. A lot of Chinese places are closed because of the Spring Festival holiday, so we ended up eating lunch and dinner at pretty ethnic places.
For lunch we ate at a very earthy Kazakh place. We ate la mian, which is so good! It is a plate full of thick noodles and a tomato sauce with slightly spicy beef. We also drank tea out of a bowl, which seems to be the Xinjiang custom.
And for dinner we ate a beautiful Uighur restaurant. Again we drank tea out of a bow. We also had zhua fan and lamb kebabs. My body is being revived with such great meat here.
In between meals, we took a taxi to Da Ba Zha, the Uighur market that Reborn and her friend took us to last week. On the way there, you could still see signs of a city feeling the effects of the July incident. The army has taken over an entire theater, which I assume must be there command center or something. Transports of soldiers in armored trucks patrol the streets. Groups of soldiers with automatic weapons and helmets walk around. Police and citizens in red armbands also add to the watchful eyes on the streets of Urumqi.
And speaking of the streets of Urumqi, they seem really unique to me. One minute you're in China, and the next minute you've stepped foot in the Middle East. People sell big, round loaves of fresh bread on the street, exotic music plays from the shops, and mosques dot the landscape. Many of the Uighur men have mustaches and fur hats. The women wear colorful headscarves and long dresses down to their ankles. Some women have their entire faces covered.
So overall, I've really enjoyed Xinjiang, and I'm so thankful for this opportunity. It's a place less traveled, and it's changing by the day. I'll remember this awesome experience for a long time. What an adventure!
(A mosque and restaurant rolled into one).
(Uighur food: Zhua fan and tea in a bowl).
(With a Uighur and his gigantic hat!)
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