The journey begins

Since I only have 21 days, while my faithful travel companion Mr Lee only has 10 days to spare (he has to entertain his harem in Guangdong), so we had to come out with a win-win situation for both of us. Having achieved a consensus without the means of violence, we decided to start our journey from Kashgar first, where all the exotic stuffs are, and eastwards to Xi'an, while my companion Mr Lee will leave me in Urumqi on the 10th day. Sounds fair, isn't it? Well, mainly he was worried bout Xinjiang being too wild for me to backpack alone. Ah, where do one find such a loyal travel companion?

Anyway, I left KLIA2 on 21st of September (Saturday), heading to Xi'an, on an Air Asia X flight. Initially I was a bit apprehended, as I haven't used Air Asia for a long time. Well, I've always thought that flying, for long journeys especially, should be comfortable, and if one has to fly uncomfortably just to save costs, might as well don't fly! Anyway, Air Asia X hasn't disappointed me, and my 5 hours journey was quite OK. 

I arrived in Xi'an around midnight, probably the last few flights of that day, and the  Xi'an Xianyang International Airport was kind of empty already. Mr Lee, who has arrived 3 days ahead and went to Holhot to visit his Mongolian concubines, had agreed to meet me in at the arrival terminal on that night, as we would be crashing in a nearby hotel. So, I was like walking up and down, left and right, in the airport looking for him, wearing my shorts, while the temperature there was started sinking to 12 degrees Celsius. Not bad after all eh? What irritated me most was that there were mosquitos here despite the cool temperature!

Having waited 30 minutes outside the arrival hall, on a bench with a bunch of chain-smoking Chinese folks, my friend finally arrived after his 12 hours of train ride from Holhot to Xi'an. So, we headed to the nearby hotel to crash as both of us were exhausted already, and we had an early bird to catch later in the morning. 

So, 22nd of September was a whole long day of flying and transit-ing in the airports. We started our first flight at 8.30am, from Xi'an to Lanzhou, which took us around an hour. I almost got arrested on the plane while snapping a photo on board, despite my phone was in flight mode. Apparently, China's civil aviation disallows usage of any electronic devices on board! A bit primitive for a super nation I would say. 

Halal food on board

Lanzhou International Airport was quite crowded already when we arrived there. We were welcomed by a parade of shops selling exorbitant souvenirs and gifts, which most of them intrigued me. You would never know all sorts of things they sell there! Eventually, in order to stop  the locals from gawping at my sexy legs, I reluctantly changed into my faithful cargo pants. I guess only tourists wear shorts in China! I always get hungry flying, and I was so tempted to try the famous Lanzhou Beef Noodles (兰州牛肉面), but it was a bit too overpriced so I had to keep myself distracted. Mr Lee, who has been visiting China very frequently, let me know that there are zounds of shops selling Lanzhou Beef Noodles, each claiming to be the original one. Oh well, it seem like I would be having many opportunities ahead to savour it. 

Translated as Dog Poo Candy.

Finally we were lady bored hanging out in the lounge we decided to walk outside the airport. I think Lanzhou has a sour reputation for being the most polluted city after Beijing herself, which explained the haze outside the airport. Lanzhou airport is almost kind of far from the city itself, which killed our hopes of making a short visit to the city centre while waiting for our next flight at 3pm later. 

Our next flight from Lanzhou to Urumqi Diwopu International Airport took around 3 hours, and was bit exciting as we arrived a bit later than expected. However, the view from the plane was awesome. The snow-capped peaks reflected with the golden sunset, contrasted with the red iron-rich terrain below it, was simply awesome!

Arriving in Urumqi. Sunset. 

With only 1 hour to spare before the next flight to Kashgar, we dashed towards our next plane upon disembarking, only to know that it has got delayed for an hour. Phew, what a close shave! What stirred me most is that now we are in Xinjiang, the security measures here are of course stricter than the other parts of China. I have no idea why they would want to scan my soles, unless someone has hidden weapons there!

By 8pm, we boarded the last flight for the day, and flew westward to Kashgar. Exhausted with the transit-ing, I was still somehow excited as I hadn't really explored China yet today. Ultimately we arrived in Kashgar at almost 11pm, and I didn't feel like I was in China anymore! The Uighurs look very Central Asian, not like their Oriental Chinese cousins. We got a cab, and headed to our hotel in the Old Town area of Kashgar. By the time we settled in our hotel, it was way past midnight.

Exhausted, yet thrilled. I got stranded for almost 16 hours today, and flew around 3730 km on 3 different flights! Hopefully it was worth it!