In kashgar and a long shower after, evening was spent tasting a lot of different local specialities and deserts. Despite all warnings I went with a traditional uighur drink made from ice collected in the mountains and then mixed with yogurt and honey. Very tasty in the summer although the cleanness of the ice can be questioned.

The normal things has been done so far, walked around in the old town, bought knife in local market, visited tomb of famous concubine to a Qing dynasty emperor, bought tea of mixed healthy herbs, saffron and black tea etc etc.

Rumours confirmed. After eight hours, upon reaching korla, we were asked to board another bus. As we were the only ones going to kashgar the driver felt it was easier to pay another bus  that had seats available and then reach their end destination by a shortcut across the desert to hotan instead of the long way via kashgar. We had to wait for two hours but it was arranged smoothly after three police officers came and separated two guys using rocks in a fight.

Roads were not the Chinese style highways I expected. Only to korla, thereafter it was road under construction and we had some bumpy 20 hours. I had to limit the food and fluid intake for two reasons. Toilet visits were made each 4-6 hour and toilet standard where we stopped can easiest be described as terrible. In the places without buildings to hide in, the ground was covered with remains from earlier travelers….

Around midnight there was a longer stop and food could be bought.

Turpan to Kashgar on a sleeper bus with at least 24 hours to go. Hopefully all the way but rumours say that they might change the route halfway depending on how many want to go all the way to Kashgar. We will see…

With a privatecar and driver, a full day tour was arranged around Turpan. It costed us more than 300 RMB, a bit more than reasonable but we were not in a good position to bargain and missed that another place offered it cheaper. It was still a good daytrip with five stops – the flaming mountains, bezeklik caves (although we didn’t enter but instead climbed the mountain behind), Tuyoq, Jianhe ruins (impressive!) and then a natural Karez in a village.

It was a hot day, around 39 degrees, and no shadow. Drank two liter of water and had some great laghman noodles for lunch (in Chinese lamian).

Evening spent planning next leg and then dinner at local nightmarket. It was confirmed that a lot of roads are closed and under construction so can only hope they are repaired done when we get there.

The plan keeps changing as the map of xinjiang with roads that I have used is changing after finding out that road after road seems to be closed down due to landslides or flooding.  Original plan of train to kashgar is still on and then down to hotan. Thereafter we have to improvise how to cross the desert and get back to urumqi as roads eastward seems to be closed and whether the road to yining across the west mountains is open or not on the way back after crossing the desert. We will find out.

Today the roadtrip around taklamakan desert started with a bus ride to turpan, a legendary oasis on the old northern silkroad, the third lowest depression in the world (154m below sea level) and the hottest spot in china with highest recorded temperature of 49.6 degrees celsius.

Turpan is at first sight a slow and boring city but with famous attractions close by.

The de facto time difference of two hours but still official Beijing time makes the days feel very long. Which of also makes you do more. After settling in we had time to walk around in the city and visit an old mosque in its outskirts.

First day in Urumqi and the travel as a digital nomad has started. Before we left I managed to arrange a 500mb data plan for 50rmb per month with China Mobile so I hope my HTC desire will come to good use (if I only manage to charge the battery every evening). With me I also carry a Kindle DX, Nikon D2X and Holux 241 GPS Logger.

Arriving in Urumqi, a noticeable change is the weather, about 25 degrees and a bit chilly in the evening. A welcome change from Shanghai’s close to 40 degrees.

First evening was  spent at Wuyi nightmarket together with a bunch of travellers that in fact all had just resigned to go out travelling for a longer period of time. The dinner consisted of MEAT. I wouldn’t be surprised if they used all parts of the sheep, and I mean ALL parts of the animal. Barbecued heart is for example not that much different from any other piece of the animal, only the consistency. Although tasty but just eating meat gets boring and some vegetables or noodles soup would have been nice to it.

Ready to go for a month in xinjiang

Not only has my website had a slight makeover, this summer I decided make some career related changes as well . After spending some time in Shanghai as consultant focusing on high tech companies and online solutions, I two and a half year ago joined a bank starting up branch in Shanghai. With a role as relationship manager I supported mainly SMEs, already in China or entering China, with financing solutions, cash management setup and advice in general. Being a small branch I also became deeply involved in the internal processes improvement, new products and strategies for China etc. With time the challenges changed and I felt compelled to go out and find new ones.

So from August I am now re-focusing on China based projects, consulting startups starting up or companies in need business process re-engineering or assessment of China strategy among many things. I am also open for new projects and opportunities so feel free to let me know.

First out is though vacation and a one month trip to Xinjiang is about to start on August 12.

Some photos from my last visit to an old “water town” in Suzhou.