Day 368: An Actual Solid Itinerary For the Week

Beijing – Urumqi, China

Despite my constant refusal, my cousin Xiaoyun in the Xinjiang province booked me a flight ticket from Beijing to Urumqi.

I’ve had wanted to visit them in Xinjiang since I’ve never met this part of my relatives before. However, I couldn’t for the life of me get hold of a train ticket to go there. Flight ticket cost a whopping USD 300 one way and even if I got there, I’d have problem coming back to Beijing. Yet, Xiaoyun convinced me that securing my train ticket back to Beijing would be a mere matter of a finger snap.

In any case, my flight ticket was booked on their end and all I needed to do was to get to the airport, show my passport and board the plane.

Three and and half hour later, I arrived in Urumqi at midnight. Xiaoyun and her husband Baoming and daughter Wenwen picked me up. After a quick introduction, I was brought to a hotel where I’d be staying the next three nights. I was also briefed on my itinerary for my next few days.

Xiaoyun would have a driver pick me up the next morning and bring me to a desert town of Turpan for a day trip. The second day would be another day trip with my private driver to a mountain area called Tianshan Tianzi. By the third day, they had booked me a 4-day tour 15 hours away to northern Xinjiang.

So much for a budget backpacker eh? Private hotel room? What what. Private car and driver? What what? And all paid for? That’s where I got a bit uncomfortable… My relatives insisted that I paid for nothing, not even for my meals and admission tickets. All would be taken care of and I was to just enjoy myself.