If you were to blindfold and airdrop me I would think I was in Iran. This is not the China of Bejing and The Great Wall. Breakfast was in the arabian style hotel again with lifesize aladdins lamps in the dining area. They were also making fresh noodles in the kitchen.There are two time zones in Xinjiang. Officially all of China is on Beijing Standard Time. However locals have adopted Xinjiang local time which is 2 hours back. You have to be careful as all officia...

If you were to blindfold and airdrop me I would think I was in Iran. This is not the China of Bejing and The Great Wall. Breakfast was in the arabian style hotel again with lifesize aladdins lamps in the dining area. They were also making fresh noodles in the kitchen. There are two time zones in Xinjiang. Officially all of China is on Beijing Standard Time. However locals have adopted Xinjiang local time which is 2 hours back. You have to be careful as all offici...

My adventure to Xinjiang began at Daegu Airport. I always have window seats when I travel but for this flight they only allowed seat selection at the check in and they had all gone. This is also the first time I have taken an international flight from Daegu airport (the last time was domestic to Jeju and Incheon).Gate 1 is sectioned off by a glass wall for international departures and has its own duty free shop, while gates 2 and 3 are for domestic flights. Since...

My adventure to Xinjiang began at Daegu Airport. I always have window seats when I travel but for this flight they only allowed seat selection at the check in and they had all gone. This is also the first time I have taken an international flight from Daegu airport (the last time was domestic to Jeju and Incheon). Gate 1 is sectioned off by a glass wall for international departures and has its own duty free shop, while gates 2 and 3 are for domestic flights. Sin...

During my first trip to China in 2010 I was surprised to see halal muslim restaurants all over Beijing and Shanghai with Arabic writing. These were indigenous chinese people, not arab migrants. This was even more pronounced in Xian which had a large muslim quarter, street bazaar playing turkic music, and chinese style pagoda mosque. I had no idea there were this many muslims in China.In Shanghai I had some freetime so was able to leave the tour and found a Xinjia...