China Part 1: Xinjiang (Plus WWS)

Oh, my laptop, how I have missed you.
Now I can actually attempt to organize the oodles of pictures I took on the trip. Guess what the first thing I did after I got home two hours ago was? Workout. All that black coffee made me uber hyper and sitting still has never been my strong point, so you can imagine my agitation sitting on the plane for another three hours... AFTER the 10 hour flight we just got off from Beijing to Seattle. I feel sorry for the people sitting next to me.
So although the main subject of this post is my trip to China, I will add in my workout schedule for the remainder of the week. For the next four weeks, I'll be doing the Iron Body 700 Workout Plan from the Iron Body Club here. Free extreme bodyweight workout videos- honestly, it's a goldmine!!! Perfect for my level; just a bit too difficult so I have room for improvement, but I'm still able to get through the workout.

Now we can move on to my trip.
Let's start from the beginning: The first stop after we landed in Beijing and rested for a few hours in a nearby hotel before boarding our next plane to Urumqi. I need not explain the horrors of airplane food, though I must say that it wasn't half as terrible as I expected it to be.
At the Beijing airport:

Chinese fast food at the airport! Veggie noodles in a very suspicious-looking broth. My motto for eating while traveling: Eat first, ask later.

I don't feel like explaining the interesting middle-eastern influence and cultural blending in North-Western China right now, so if you're interested then go here. In Xinjiang, I visited both of my parent's hometowns, which are next to each other.

Scenes in Urumqi:

And of course.. Ethnic eats

Ladies and gentlemen, I invite you to look below and gaze apon the closest to perfection that humankind shall ever get.

Layers of doughy perfection with meat in between... perfect blend of spices and crispiness. Heaven. Pants. Which one to choose???

The International Bazaar (not the one at the state fair) where Uyghurs hawk their wares.

More eats in Kalamayi:

The Monster mountains. Kind of like the Black mountains in one of the Dakotas. Can't remember which.

Old people rockin' it out: (if you go to any park in China, you'll find droves of senior citizens dancing, singing, and practicing their kung-fu. No joke. I walked past old ladies waving wicked-looking blades every morning in Shandong.)

This is my Xinjiang.