This one time, in Urumqi…

Urumqi

Continuing on from my last post about Shanghai, our next stop was Urumqi. I’d describe Urumqi as a giant city in the middle of nowhere. It’s almost a five hour flight from Shanghai, near the borders of Russia, Mongolia and Kazakhstan, and its culture is greatly influenced by its location.

I want to preface the rest of this post with two things:

1. I’m a picky eater. I know this. And I try, I really do, especially when I’m traveling. But, alas, I continue to really struggle with meat. Particularly fatty meat, or meat on the bone, or, heaven forbid, fatty meat on a bone.
2. Three words: Goat’s. Head. Soup.

We stayed at two different hotels in Urumqi, both of which were gorgeous, and very similar. The Hilton was right across the street from the bride’s mother, and was chosen for the location, which made it nice for our specific purposes. For a general visit though, the location wouldn’t be ideal, as there wasn’t really anything to do within walking distance (except a big Buddha, which I didn’t manage to see, so I can’t comment).

The bride’s family was incredibly accommodating and generous, and arranged a couple day trips for us. Urumqi itself didn’t really appeal to me, but it was a great base for visiting around the area. The province of Xinjiang is a vast, varied, beautiful place, and we were lucky to see just a small corner of it.

The Food

Our first night in Urumqi, our hosts took us to a fancy dinner. We went to a nice hotel, took the elevator to the penthouse, then took another private elevator to another penthouse. In a private suite, with a separate dining room, we found what would be the first of many beautiful traditional Chinese meals. It was basically like a movie, where we were big hotshots. It was awesome. Unfortunately, I didn’t take any photos (noticing a theme here, anyone?).

Now, I’m definitely in the minority when it comes to the food here, so rather than my own, I’m going to share the overall reaction:

The food was all amazing!

It was all beautifully presented, and (so I hear), quite delicious. I was able to try a few vegetarian things, and they were indeed lovely, but, unfortunately, I was pretty out of my league with the meat. This basically describes all meals from here on.. So I won’t go into further detail, except for one, because it was extra special. Instead, here is a list of typical dishes from Xinjiang province, influenced by a mixture of Kazakh, Uyghur and Chinese culture:

• Lamb. So much lamb. Lamb stew, lamb chops, lamb skewers. You get the idea. My parents tell me it was the most delicious lamb they’ve ever had, and was universally delicious at all of the meals.
• Whole fish. Head and all, of course. Usually in a sauce, it was met with mixed reviews. One in particular is called Stinky Fish, so… yeah. Apparently it tastes better than it smells. One would hope.
• Spicy chicken. Almost like a chicken stew, with big chunks of chicken, potatoes, peppers, full chicken feet. It was a hit with the parents.
• Random vegetables in a variety of sauces, usually quite light and delicious (this coming from me, not even second hand!). Some of them were well known to me, others I’d not tried previously, but overall it was a nice change from the meat.
• Tea and/or hot water with every meal. Getting something cold to drink with a meal is a challenge, and if our hosts hadn’t been quite so considerate we’d have really struggled.
• There is always too much food. Like, way, way too much. I honestly don’t know how we’re expected to eat it all, or what happens to the leftovers.

Day Trip # 1: Heavenly Lake

On our first full day in Urumqi, we were taken by private car into the mountains to visit Heavenly Lake. It was, indeed, heavenly. Beautiful turquoise blue waters, a temple on a hill, walking paths along the lake.

Apparently it looks just like Banff or Lake Louise, but, not having been there myself, I’m unable to confirm. Regardless, it was a nice relaxing day! Until… Lunch 🙁

This lunch was my biggest failure. It was a lovely meal prepared and served in a traditional yurt, which was beautiful. We sat on little stools as they brought out mountains of food, the vast majority of it meat (surprise!). I’ll admit I was already struggling a little. The lamb was very clearly lamb, with all of its bones and fat and knuckles and whatnot staring at me as the group ate it with their hands. It was really warm in the yurt, and my stomach was starting to rebel. And then… and then… it was brought in. The lamb’s head. On a platter. I can only assume it was the head of the lamb that our party has just been eating. I turned around to see what they were bringing in, and there it was, right next to my face. I nearly died.

Apparently my face looked as bad as I felt, because upon seeing my reaction it was quickly ushered out, followed just as quickly by me, breathing in big gulps of air, being stared at by the other families eating around the courtyard. All in all, not my best moment.

It certainly provided my family with at least a year’s worth of jokes though. Now, every time there is something I don’t like at a meal, they just look at me and say, well, at least it’s not goat’s head soup!* And they laugh and laugh and I remember that I can probably never eat meat again.

*To be honest, I don’t know if it was a lamb’s head, or a goat’s head, or if they’re the same thing. And I certainly don’t know if it was, in fact, a soup. I do know, however, that despite their teasing, I totally saved my family from having to eat the lamb/goat’s various facial muscles. So, you’re welcome guys.

Day Trip # 2: Turpan, the Flaming Mountains and (less than) 1,000 Buddhas

If I had to describe this trip in one word, it would be: HOT

Yes, the caps, bold, and underline are all entirely necessary and not at all an exaggeration.

I should say I knew what I was getting into. Even without research, the place is called the Flaming Mountains, so that should be some indication. As it happens, I did do my research, and discovered that this area, in the middle of the desert, regularly reaches a balmy 50 degrees celcius. How do people live here full time?!?

This area was a main stop on the Silk Road all those hundreds of years ago, which seems impossible, given the heat, but the locals developed an impressive irrigation system that allowed them to not only survive, but even thrive for hundreds of years. A particularly interesting result of this is the grapes. There are vinyards all over the place, producing grapes for both wine and dried fruit. We took a tour of a museum to learn about the irrigation system, and spent some time underground looking around. As much as this is really quite impressive and amazing in theory, in practice it doesn’t really meet expectations, and I was a little underwhelmed. On the bright side, this was where I had my first of many Chinese ice cream bars. I cannot recommend the mango one highly enough. Not totally sold on the corn though..

Next up we visited what I believe to be ruins of a town from the Silk Road era. I’m embarrassed to say that I don’t recall exactly where we were, as it was pretty cool and I’d like to recommend it. Regardless, this was where the heat really started to ramp up.

Picture using your oven on a really hot day. Now imagine opening the oven when it’s at its hottest, and sticking your head right in the blast of heat that comes out. You’ve just experienced the breeze in mid summer Turpan. Good times. So much sweat.

From here we went to the Flaming Mountains. We were in an air conditioned van, A/C blasting on full, and still couldn’t cool down, to give another example of the heat.

The Flaming Mountains are so called because if you go at a certain time of day, generally around sunset, the sand of the mountains appears to be a brilliant red. Add to that the heat glare, and swirls of dust floating off the mountains, and they literally look to be on fire. Maybe not literally… But really close!.. According to Google! Unfortunately, we weren’t able to be there at sunset, as the sun sets quite late this time of year, and we had to get back for a day of wedding prep. It was still pretty amazing though! They have a giant thermometer showing the ground temperature, which was sitting at 80 degrees that day. The air temperate was quite cool in comparison, at around 48.5.

Unfortunately, it was difficult to capture the vastness of the area in photos

Giant thermometer showing 80 degree ground temperature.

Our last stop of the day was the Bezeklik caves, grottos dating back from the 10th to 13th centuries, with the promise of 1,000 Buddhas. Spoiler alert: there were not 1,000 Buddhas. Luckily we had to descend around 1000 steps in blistering heat to discover this (possible exaggeration here, but it was a lot of steps, and I was really hot and tired). From what I understand, there used to actually be 1,000 Buddhas (or some approximation of that number), but over the years they’ve been stolen or broken or mysteriously disappeared. The 1,000 was comprised of paintings, frescoes and statues. In the few rooms we were able to see, only paintings remained, and these were understandably faded. Needless to say, I was disappointed. Perhaps I’d have been more inclined to appreciate what was left if I wasn’t so damn hot, but alas, we’ll never know.

Overall, Xinjiang province, particularly the area within a couple hours of Urumqi (which is the only area I can speak to), has some pretty cool stuff to offer. That said, it’s not a place I’d have gone out of my way to see. If you have to be in the area (for say, a wedding), definitely spend an extra couple days to explore the area! Just make sure you bring sunscreen, so, so much water, and maybe some granola bars if you eat like me.. 🙂