Xinjiang

I'm in the extreme northwest of China now in a province called Xinjiang (literally New Border), after a stop-over in Mei's hometown of Wuhan where I did the obligatory visit to Dong Hu (East Lake), and "Yellow Crane" Tower. Apart from visiting the tourist spots one other highlight was having a meal for under $NZ1, I was also forced to utter Mei's famous words "So Cheap!". Of course it wasn't my choice to have the meal at that particular restuarant (it was actually more of a stall, offering full meals), the Taxi driver place me there promising clean, healthy and tasty meals would be delivered. The meal was none of the things he mentioned... but hey it was cheap and I'm still alive :D

Another thing... I can actually see blue skies in Xinjiang!! There is very little pollution here, and dust storms tend start from here and blow into China. If it wasn't so damn hot here (40 degrees today) I wouldn't mind actually spending my whole trip here.

Anyway.. the idea is that the next week or so is spent here looking at various scenic things and mixing with the local Kazakh, Islam and Turkish cultures, oh.. and eating obscene amounts of meat (its a regional religion for all cultures involved). My gym instructor and I are going to hate myself after I get back :(