Silk Road - Xinjiang Urumqi II, modern or Erdauqiao

As everyone thought Xinjiang as the most western province, land lock, mainly cover with desert and plateau, it is a natural assumption that it will be original and authentic. My first impression when I arrived at the airport 5 nights ago, the check in point after custom was human-less.  When I got to the boarding gate, there was only a scanner hang there, I scanned my boarding pass, walked in. Get you start thinking, right.  Well, believe it, Xinjiang is one of the richest province even it is land lock.  On top, most petroleum, largest land, least population (less than the population of the city of Shanghai alone), making every head worth more.

Our 1st night, we were looking for the "old" Urumqi, you will find it at Erdaoqiao.  Here, is best to come at night, making the bazaar looks mysteriously Ali Baba time. The Islamic architecture is unique to the culture and ethnic of Uyghur. When we were there, there was a performance - a stunt man was walking a wire from one building to another in the middle of the square.

More than just an old market, Erdaoqiao is like a cultural center.

The rest looked a bit like Kaxgar.

Well, back to the modernity.  The signature landmark in Urumqi is Hong Shan - the red mountain. You probably can see it from every angle in the city. A quick hike will bring you to the top, there, you will be able to see Urumqi from a whole new perspective.  How modern is Urumqi? It was catching really fast.

Far end tall building in development, front is the completed one.

We were talking to a local about the fast development here and she said - that tall building was not there 2 months ago and it would be completing in a month time. The completed one was not there a year ago.  Imagined, back then was 2004.  The city looked fast track. We also found out from the local that the hostel we were looking for up and down the street for many times, was torned down a couple months ago, making room for more new buildings.

However, even with the fast development, Urumqi was a very nice city to visit.  The one thing I couldn't help but to notice was almost all the public city bus drivers, are women.  It shown how hard was the lady worked here. In fact, we were told that there were more women working than man.

It was only 1 weeks, we both started to feel like we didn't want to leave.  Every stop in Xinjiang was a charming spell, comes with feel and thought.  As its name said so, Urumqi is the "beautiful pasture". 
We were not leaving so soon yet, we would be heading north to the border of Russia.

End Note - My sister, who has been following my blog, told me I have many photos of everything but not enough photos of myself.  Normally, photos of the journey are what I am interested in.  But for Urumqi, my friend had been really good in capturing some of the moments.

Hong Shan - spectacular city view of Urumqi.

Surprising modernity.

A day that my mood was light and good.

Zoom in you will see, all the lovers come here, lock theirs heart for each other.