May Holiday

May 1st is a big holiday time here in China with much of the population traveling somewhere. To help with the mass confusion, we are joining some friends for a trip out to the Xinjiang region of China for about 11 days starting on Saturday.
While preparing for this trip we are getting a little busy and there are going to be no posts at all while we are out of town, so to help tide you over, we will leave you with some cool reading material regarding the province.

Here you can see some good maps of China. We are flying out to the Xinjiang province in the north west. We will be going to the following cities: Urumqi, Kashgar, and Dunhuang. We are taking a 20 hour train ride from Dunhuang back to Beijing. (We are really diggin' those soft sleepers.)

Here are two articles about the region
GoNomad Article: Kashgar, The Market at the Top of the World
NY Times write up (2004): A World Apart on China's Silk Road (though you need to be a registered NY Times reader to see it now.)

You can also check out what Frommer has to say at Kashgar, Urumqi, and Dunhuang.

Happy May holiday!