Whither Winter VI


View from my Hotel:
Changjiang Road
URUMQI, China
November 8, 2010

I have a better sense which routes I might take onward from Urumqi.

Nisagul is indeed up for taking that trip together to Southern Xinjiang. Near Hotan is a village called "Jiya". That's the location of a shrine where large numbers of pilgrims trek every year. We wouldn't be visiting at the right time for the annual pilgrimage, but she's curious about the shrine itself.

If Nisagul and I do go to Jiya together, we'd have to leave Urumqi either tomorrow or in ten days' time. November 17 marks the holiday of Eid-ul-Adha. She wants to be in Urumqi over that time to celebrate with her family. If we left tomorrow, she could make it there and back again to Urumqi in time for Eid. Or, we could wait until after the celebrations are over to leave.

I was all set to leave tomorrow, but Nisagul found out further details that make me inclined to stay in Urumqi longer. As a tour guide working for a travel agency she knew just the right places to call to get the official word on travel routes I had been contemplating out of Xinjiang:

I'll add some more days to my stay in Urumqi to try to flesh out the logistics of where I go next. Nisagul and I will meet tomorrow for lunch (liver kebabs!) then make a trip to that office to try to get my Alien Travel Permit issued.