Relaxing day in Urumqi

We decided to make it an easy day and take things slow today, since Mr Lee would be leaving to Guangzhou the next day, leaving me alone in my own trip eastward to Middle Kingdom, and since we had been travelling non-stop the previous days. 

Hence the itinerary would be something simple and touristy; we would go to the local museum to have a spin, and then to the local bazaar to buy some souvenirs. 

Loulan Beauty

Anyway, Urumqi's provincial museum has been rated as one of the best museums in China, especially when Xinjiang itself has so many ethnic groups, such as Uighurs, Kazakhs, Tajiks, Tartars, etc.. Nonetheless, the main treasures of this museum, are actually the  amazing collection of mummies , including the infamous Loulan Beauty. Somehow a facial reconstruction showed that she was actually pretty when she was alive. 

The good thing bout museums in China are that they are totally free since the government offers up to 1200 free tickets per day for all visitors to encourage their people to visit museums. Hence, the first 1200 visitors will walk in free with no charge, regardless of your nationality. Now that's awesome!

Having spent a few hours enlightening ourselves, it's time to head towards the infamous Urumqi Bazaar to shop for some souvenirs. Basically I'm not a shopping fan, and hence there's nothing interesting to relate regarding our shopping experience, except that we ate some melons from the stalls and they are just amazing. The only thing to worry was that whether we would be purging like a leaked water tap that night, and surprisingly we didn't!

Tallest minaret in Urumqi's International BazaarIt 

It was Mr Lee's final day in Xinjiang as he would be flying back to his workplace in Guangzhou the following day. I was kind of sad as I would be travelling alone after tonight, but somehow the excitement overwhelmed me as I would be continuing my journey back towards Xian and there would be still so many things to see and explore!