Urumqui: A Central Asian Hodgepodge, Up to Heaven Lake, Down to Earth

Urumqui lies in the Xinjiang Province in north west of China. Xinjiang is bordered by eight countries (India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Mongolia) and used to called “Eastern Turkestan.” It is home to the Uighurs (pronounced Way-gurs) and a thriving Chinese muslim community (Dungans). While it is the largest land mass, (16% of China) it does not feel like China at all.

We fly into Urumqui in order to make our way down the northern silk road. I have never felt more physically and culturally dislocated in my life. Our hotel is filled with smarmy looking businessmen from Russia, Pakistan and Uzbekistan. Han Chinese people hover around the front desk of the hotel nervously while blue eyed Uighurs covered in dust and grime work on a construction site on the road. On learning that I am Indian, a Uighur who runs the hotel's “travel agency” takes me to a computer excitedly and plays Bollywood videos. I feel I have entered an alternative universe, a surreal Central Asian no-mans-land.

We pass a restaurant that boasts the “best sea food in China.” Arjun and I exchange suspicious glances because we know that Urumqui has the distinction of being the place on earth furthest (2250 km) from the ocean! My sense of dislocation is exacerbated. Urumqui is best described by one word: chaordic (chaos with the semblance of order). There is nothing to do in Urumqui but to embrace this feeling of chaos and order and to watch the interplay of races, faces, attitudes and expressions.

Arjun is ill and decides to rest in our hotel room and so I make the day trip to Heaven Lake.



When I read Vikram Seth's travels a couple of months ago (where he hitch-hikes his way from China to India through Tibet) and read his descriptions of Heaven Lake, something deep within me stirred and I felt an odd spiritual connection, an unfounded limerance towards this place. I am really excited to finally be here.

Imagine many shades of rolling green hills, mountain goats galumphing along merrily, wild horses grazing gracefully, igloo shaped yurts and light eyed Uighur and Kazakh women enjoying afternoon tea... and in the middle of all this beauty, imagine a turquoise blue lake nestled between snow capped mountains and Taoist temples. That’s what Heaven Lake is like. I spend the entire day wondering around the lake, drinking tea in a Kazakh yurt, praying in a Taoist temple and meditating on the tranquility of the place. I eat nans, kababs and polo (pilaf) for lunch.

The next day we leave the place farthest from the ocean for Turfan, the lowest point on the earth after the Dead Sea! Dislocation continues…