Urumqi’s Bazaar

Train to Urumqi

I walked to Hami’s railway station around 0900 after breakfast in my room.  I didn’t have to wait long before the queues formed for boarding the train to Urumqi.

Departing at 1010, time went quickly as I attended to online chores on my phone.  I chose to arrive at Urumqi South where it was a shorter ride to the Jinjiang Inn on Hongqi Road.

Taxi drivers were touting for customers rather than just sit in their cars waiting for people to hop into the first cab off the rank.  I had a bad feel and locals seemed to avoid them, so I joined them by ordering a car on Didi instead.

Arriving at the hotel around 1320, I was able to get a room straight away.  Urumqi is pricey now and I had booked an internal room with no windows.

I headed out for a wander in search for lunch and found some nice old areas, especially the Chinese-style Shaanxi Mosque which was locked up.

Urumqi’s International Grand Bazaar

With half a day to kill, I decided to go to Urumqi’s International Grand Bazaar and not the museum.  I’ve been to enough museums in Central Asia and have seen a fair bit of the region already.

I tried out the metro to get there.  The place was a big surprise to me, encompassing several city blocks of indoor and outdoor space.  Some areas were halfway between a mall and a bazaar but others were more like a real bazaar albeit with a Chinese flavour.  On the streets, there were lots of stalls and there was a carnival atmosphere.

The visit was worth it just to understand the sheer scale of everything in China.  The so-called international bazaar doesn’t seem to be focused on trade with neighbouring countries but as a domestic tourism drawcard.

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Bazaar in a mosque in the bazaar

Tucked in the bazaar was the Erdaoqiao Mosque.  A mosque in a bazaar, I thought.  Actually, looking in through the half-open front door, it was a bazaar in a mosque in the bazaar!

I couldn’t help but to go inside and found that it appeared entirely a bazaar.  What happened to the mosque?  The other half of the door that was closed, perhaps led to a tiny corner that was being used as a mosque?  Or did it lead upstairs to a prayer level?  It’s not something I got to find out.

On the walk back to the hotel, I found another mosque that also had a bazaar in it but this time, it appeared that the upper level is still a mosque.

Street-food dinner 

I finished the day with street-food dinner of fried chicken, a chappati-like crispy bread filled with pickled vegetables and fruit.  I had bought a large mango, a plum 2 nectarines and 2 peaches for CNY12.40 or NZD2.90.  All those items were priced at CNY9 or NZD2.10 per kg.  And the best thing is that all the fruit is nicely ripened, as if they don’t care about wastage and spoilage.