There are several sights of interest outside Qiemo, such as a jade mine in the mountains (2 day trip), rock carvings (180 km), and a wild animal park high up in the mountains (3 day trip). What complicated matters for us was,according to a guy at Qiemo tourist bureau: 1) the jade mine is involved in a conflict with some other operator close by on the rights for finds not making tours possible; 2) the wild animal park is on an average altitude of 5000 meters making it very cold and we didn’t bring any warm clothes; 3) the area has been badly hit by flooding and roads are just starting to be repaired.

So, as an alternative we managed by the kind assistant of Mr Xie, head if the local governments  tourism office, to arrange a motorcycle for a day. Mr Xie was by the way very helpful. On our arrival in Qiemo we called him and 15 minutes later he came to our hotel to introduce what is recommended.

With a motorcycle we travelled about 150 kilometer around the city. Going north to a small village by the rand of the desert; west to where the protective green of the oasis ended and the desert began and factories for bricks are located, east and south tracing the river first through green fields and then into the desert. This was the most challenging part with roads in bad condition, shifting between gravel, mud and sand. The fine sand was most difficult and it was a struggle to keep the bike up. On some parts the road was gone and on others covered in water. Back after the adventure and before returning it we had it cleaned up by three people(!). Clean and nice the motorcycle refused to start so there was a period of struggle to get it working again.

Dinner spent at one of the best restaurants we found in Xinjiang. A good tip is to look for the slightly larger ones with lot of activity outside with many different pots on fire cooking food. Then you just look around to see what delicious food they have prepared. In my case I found a pot that had been cooking some bone with meat and had it served on top of a naan bread. Digging in with my bare hands the meat fell of the bones and the bread was soft after laying on top of the meat while being prepared. Another four sticks of kebab also came in and the higher price of 3 rmb was a proof of its better quality. A part from the food, the second best thing is the tea, if not the most enjoyable part of eating in Xinjiang. Large as well as small hole in the wall restaurants, they all serve their own homemade tea. Eating and drinking tea at all kinds of restaurants and even in a family’s yort on 3600 meters altitude, we have not once got sick. Instead we have in each city stocked up on the kind of tea that seems typical for just that area.

Tags: cherchen, motorcycle, qiemo