On the whole, I’m glad I went to Xinjiang. While I’m not inclined to proclaim.that Xinjiang is a “can’t miss,” destination, going there was certainly worth the effort. As you will note from my pre-trip musings, I was a more than a little apprehensive about the idea of placing myself in the, “wild, wild, west,” 2,000+ miles away from my home without a clear plan. Part of my anxiety stemmed from the fact that most of my Chinese friends and acquaintances had painted Xinjiang to be dirty, boring, lawless, and dangerous. They were right about the dirt to an extent, at least insofar as the toilets were concerned, but I found no visible evidence to support the other stereotypes. This may be explained by the fact that Hans and Ouigars (and other Muslim minorities, for that matter) don’t get along very well; to this day, mutual misunderstanding apparently underlies their relationships with one another.

My favorite parts of the trip were: 1) Kashgar Airport; 2) cycling through the vineyards in Turpan; and 3) wandering through hutongs in Kuche and Turpan. I also enjoyed the sand dunes in Dunhuang, but the weather was too unpleasant to warrant a spot among my top 3 experiences.

I regret not finding the time to check out a single alpine lake along the way because I’ve heard that some of them are stellar (and seen pictures). At the same time, it’s worth pointing out that living on the road can be quite draining; this goes double when Chinese trains are the preferred mode of transport (I suppose it would have to triple if busses were involved). In fact, with respect to this topic, one of my travel companions fittingly pointed out, “This type of travel is like work… only more work.”

In terms of food, I learned to appreciate lamb. The chuan’r out there was leagues better than what we get in Beijing and Shanghai. They are bigger, fresher, and use nicer parts of the lamb. As an aside, I observed a correlation between the impressiveness of the cooking setup and the quality of the end product, but your mileage may vary. In general, the lamb was less and less delicious as we headed east (yes, this could be a function of maxing out the lamb tolerance), but Kuche was my favorite.

The best food I had on the trip was the rice pilaf at the place around the corner from the Qiniwah in Kashgar. I suppose I should try to dig up the name, but in case I don’t, it was the first place mentioned in the current LP and it started with an “I”. I was also quite impressed with another LP pick, the Boton Café in Lanzhou; their writers might not wander too far from their hotels, but at least their tastes agree with mine (well, except for the donkey restaurant recommendations in Dunhuang).

Well, that’s about all for now. I’m back in Beijing, which is a lot nicer than it was 2 weeks ago because the dust storms have abated and spring is in full force. I don’t plan on heading back out west any time during the next few months (I think I've earned some Japan time), but will definitely consider other trips in the future.