Last Taste of Urumqi

Having just barely survived the fervor of the night market, the group slept in Saturday morning and then met in the hotel dining lounge for a 2 hour breakfast. We extended our meal for two reasons.
1. The food was pretty tasty with both Western and Eastern styles available (a very special treat - there was even something that tasted like bread pudding!) and
2. We were losing the first member of our party as soon as the meal was over. Yup, Will thought he needed to go back to work on Monday and it would be best if he had a day to rest from his vacation so he could actually function.

Between breakfast and our departure that evening, we decided to hit a few more things in Urumqi. First we checked out the "Museum of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region". In this museum we saw a history of the silk road and the Xinjiang region which included details explaining how China had controlled this area continually since… well since about forever, or at the very least, 2300 years ago. This was supported by the fact that every hundred years or so a new structure for the local Chinese authority would be built in the Xinjiang area. Its hard to adequately capture the slant on this history as the Chinese government strives to definitively prove that they have a right to the Xinjiang land and people. A historical picture that is somewhat contested by the local Uygurs and much of the archeological information. This is not to totally disagree with China’s governing of the region today, but the idea that China has been in solid control of the area and is responsible for of their major advancements in the last 2000 years seems to be a bit of a stretch. Especially if you consider the incredibly well preserved mummies that have been found in the region. There were at least 4 of them at the museum and they are of Indo-European ethnicity, not a Chinese in the bunch. The mummies are so well preserved that you can still see their clothing, hair, and even the designs painted on their faces.

The museum also had a section on some the ethnic minorities of Xinjiang including a few life sized yurts. We were suspicious of them though since none of the mannequins who were set up to use the yurts looked the least bit cold. Clearly it was an idealized representation.

After the museum we decided to have one last taste of one of our favorite Xinjiang dishes, da pan ji (literally: big plate chicken). This is a delicious meal of a whole chicken cut up and cooked in a pressure cooker with spices and potatoes and special Xinjiang goodness. Once the bulk of the meat and potatoes are gone, including the chicken feet (Olivia’s plate) and chicken head (garbage pail under the table), the staff brings out a huge dish of thick wide noodles and dumps them into the remaining gravy. Although the 5 of us who were left were barely able to finish the immense meal we realized we just had to make up for stuffing ourselves by going for some local ice cream. (If you have not yet noticed, ice cream was a big deal on this trip.)

We had read about an amazing ice cream parlor that served pistachio ice cream. Our first day in Urumqi we found the place but discovered that the old ice cream parlor was gone. The new ice cream place served a lovely vanilla flavor with the option of a cherry or mulberry topping. It was quite good. In fact, it was so good we had made a special point of the fact that we simply had to go back there before leaving town. So we did. On the way we stopped and bought some snacks for our overnight train ride (including more raisins) and some small wheels of local cheeses. By small we mean 2 inches in diameter and about 3/4 inches thick. We purchased goat cheeses of various ages, mare cheese, and some regular old cow cheese (we think). They were all pretty strongly flavored and of the remaining group only Cara was interested in eating the stuff.

Although we had barely 30 minutes left before we needed to be back at the hotel to pick up our stuff and head out of town, we did manage to make it to the ice cream parlor and order one last round for the road. As we were sitting there savoring our dessert, the owner came and sat down with us and started a conversation concerning ice cream machinery, flavor options, and the Haagen-Dazs competition. He was a very nice and interesting man but unfortunately we had to rush away before we could help him choose the appropriate ice cream making machine from his catalog. Still, what a great final taste of Urumqi.

After that, we still somehow managed to roll ourselves back to the hotel, pick up all our bags, and catch our overnight train for Dunhuang. We’ll tell you all about the donkey’s there in our next blog.