May 10 Urumqi - getting there!

From the train the countryside looked a bit like parts of the Aussie outback

At this station, which was larger than many, food vendors lined up to serve passengers.

What a night! We struggling up 3 flights of stairs with our luggage and once on the train spent an hour with transport police on the train trying to make them understand why we, just two people, had paid for all seats in a 4-berth cabin (and them trying to put people in the seats we had paid-for). Fortunately we were rescued by a delightful young doctor who came to our aid to translate and work the necessary magic. We spent that night intermittently plucked from restless sleep by strange clunks and jolts as the train rushed through tunnels and over mountains. Once we swept into blessed daylight, we rattled along through countryside which at times was very reminiscent of Australia in its dry vastness. We passed wild Bactrian camels, horses and shepherds with small flocks of long-haired sheep, past cultivated fields of rice and vegetables. And as we travelled further into the desert, the white skeletons of windfarms crowded the horizon for hours - hundreds of thousands of turbines. 

The further northwest we travelled the more desolate it seemed to us - and then we hit the mountains. We travelled between mountain ranges topped in the late afternoon with rose-tinted snow - quite lovely. The lowland between the ranges, however, remained dry - we were travelling through part of the Turpan Basin one of the hottest places hereabouts. This basin oasis is of historic significance as it was once an important resting spot for caravans travelling the old Silk Road.

We passed lots of cultivated land - market gardens perhaps

A fascinating trip. Away from the larger towns, the dun-coloured land was pockmarked with slashes of green cultivation and snaggled clusters of mudbrick buildings. It was a journey through land scape where we felt quite at home. We arrived 36 hours later somewhat sleep-deprived in Urumqi in the province of Xinjiang, formerly the Western Regions - at the wrong station for our arranged pick-up. You’ve got to laugh! Language, or rather a lack of the right one, ruled the day! But we did get picked up - in the end!

We saw quite a number of oil derricks

The mountains were snowcapped pink as the sun went down - beautiful!

Lots of stone quarries dotted our route

The view from our hotel room in Urumqi - we had made it!