So, every May myself and Beryl celebrate May Day by jumping on a plane and going on a 5 day holiday. In ’09 we went to Luoyang, In ’10 we went to Qingdao and last year we headed to Urumiqi in Xinjiang province. Xinjiang is the most north-westerly province in China. It borders lots of countries including Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. 45% of the population are also Uyghur. A minority of Turkish-speaking Chinese who are mostly Sunni Muslims. The whole area is a totally different side of China. Here are some photos from our holiday…


One of our reasons for choosing Xinjiang and Urumiqi as our destination: Beryl has family there. Here’s Beryl with her brother. I just realised he doesn’t have an English name. Will have to get on that. Suggestions in the comments. (His Chinese nickname is Mao Mao)

Grrr!

  

Some…stuff.

There are lots of rich people in Xinjiang’s capital of Urumiqi. The vehicle of choice seems to be the Hummer.

A shot of an Uyghur family.

The city of Urumiqi is surrounded by mountains and the Gobi desert.

A snap of the aforementioned mountains I snapped from the back seat of Beryl’s uncle’s car.

  
So, B’s uncle works at a snazzy restaurant. This means we got to eat there for free. They had some western food. I indulged.

Nom nom nom!

B and her brother.

B enjoying the live music in the lobby of the 5 star hotel.

The next morning we headed to a small mountain park for some exploring.

B was snapping away too.

Some nice flowers.

  
Snapping away.

  
Lots of signs were in Chinese and Arabic.

Beauty!

A brilliant view from the top.

The sky… so blue. Honestly bluer than England on an average day.

This guy had the right idea. Doing Tai Chi looking down on the city.

Click to make bigger.

  

A great backdrop.

China is so vast and different. Never ceases to blow my mind.

What a cloud.

Beryl snapping…

…this photo.

Then wearing it.

Some interesting terrain.

  

B pole-posing.

Me pole-posing.

Chillin’

  

After that, we headed to Mos Eisley. Oh, no. It’s not the famous star wars location. It’s the Gobi Desert. We went to a hot-spring resort in the middle of the desert.

B, her bro and her uncle.

Interesting hotel design.

Interesting.

Desert, desert, desert… snow-tipped mountains!

That water was HOT!

Looking out over the desert.

We had an impromptu photoshoot.

This huge swimming pool was full of hot-spring water. I swam in it at midnight. Quite an experience. Although it tasted DISGUSTING!

  
We were right on the border of inner Mongolia, you can see the tent-thing that shows that. It has a name. I’ve forgotten it. Oops.

  
Then we headed to a place called “Heavenly Mountain.” Wow, what a road!

Again; China has every kind of landscape imaginable.

Just…wow.

  

Stairway to heaven?

“Heavenly Lake.”

Taken from the plane.

  
When you’re 1.55meters tall, these bulkhead seats are like first class.

It was a great, great trip.Lots, lots more pics, here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/akira2506/sets/72157628831912889/

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