China Travel Forum

[Kristie]

Hi. I'm planning to visit Xinjiang in a few months and keep long tour; I hope to be there 18-20 days during the last week of September and first of October. For reference, I'm hoping to do the following route:
Urumqi
Burqin --> Hemu --> Black Lake --> Kanas Lake
Turpan Basin
Urumqi
Kashgar
Karakul Lake
Kashgar
Yarkand
Khargilik?
Hotan?
Urumqi
But I still have a ton of scattered questions that I haven't been able to answer via LP, TT, or random google searchings...any help would be hugely appreciated.
How is tourism in Xinjiang during the October national holiday? Is there a noticeable surge in travelers, and does transit sell out ridiculously far in advance like it does in the eastern parts of China?
Has anyone broken up the Turpan/Urumqi-Kashgar overland trip by stopping in Kuche, Korla, and/or Aksu? Was it worth the extra time (and potential ticket-buying headache) to do so? (Especially Kuche. I haven't read enough about it to try to guess its level of appeal.) Or would you recommend express busing it straight to Kashgar?
I read that there's an overnight bus to Burqin and that I'll have to take a taxi or minibus to Kanas Lake from there.. but I'm more interested in driving to Hemu Village, staying overnight, hiking or horseback riding to Black Lake, staying overnight, then riding to Kanas Lake, staying overnight. Is this possible (especially at the end of September)? Is it a miserable and grueling and freezing experience? I don't speak Chinese, and I'm a pretty young female traveling solo, so I think I might need a guide to do all of this.
Can anyone recommend an individual guide, either based in Burqin or Urumqi, who speaks at least a little English and can navigate with me through the above route? Oh, and uh, how do I get back to Urumqi from Kanas?!
Is there any way I can avoid going to Urumqi so many times? I was thinking, if I can find a good tour guide for Kanas Lake, maybe I could arrange for him/her to take me directly to Turpan? Is there a train from Turpan to Kashgar? I'm guessing it will be sold out way in advance, being that I'll be making that trip on October 1. True?
Will buses still be running to Karakul Lake in early October? Will the yurt hotel still be open? How in the world do I get *back* from Karakul Lake to Kashgar? Is hitching my only option?
Has Hotan become as Han-ified as it sounds? If I'm not interested in seeing silk factories, are there any other reasons to make the trek out there? I'll be in Kashgar for the Sunday market.
I'm trying to figure out how to get back home to Shanghai via Urumqi. My last destination of choice will be Yarkand, so is it easiest to bus 60min to Karghilik (thoughts?), then bus to Hotan, then bus to Urumqi? Or fly Hotan to Urumqi? Or just backtrack to Kashgar and fly or train from there?
Thanks very much for any help!

[Valerie]

we went on a local tour to Kanas from Urumqi - day 1 was from Urumqi to Burqin (via the eastern highway) stopping at a couple of places on the way - overnight Burqin - then 3 days at Kanas and surrounds - then back to Urumqi via the western highway through Karamay, again with stops along the way a couple of times. It was great - accommodation at Burqin was in a good hotel and in "bunkhouses" at Kanas village - men in one, females in another. We "leaned" on our guide to take us to a Tajik village out from Kanas - a memorable visit. I'll check my diaries for the company name, if you like.
Good luck.

[kammal]

Hi,
stopped in Hotan, Yecheng and Shache (I think it's called) between Urumqi and Kashgar. Good places to spend a few days exploring. I especially liked Yecheng with the old streets and mosques. Have a nice trip.
How is tourism in Xinjiang during the October national holiday? Is there a noticeable surge in travelers, and does transit sell out ridiculously far in advance like it does in the eastern parts of China?
Unikely, that masses of Han Chinese will decamp for Xinjiang, and the numbers of foreigners in places like Kashgar are well down on last year due to problems in Central Asia (eg Uzbekistan).
There isn't really a need to book way in advance as October is definitely not peak season in Xinjiang. If you were in Kashgar/Urumqi for the peak season (Jul-Aug) then it would be wise to book the sleeper from one to the other, assuming you want the slower train, which is half the price of the normal express and therefore gets snapped up by backpackers. For october, booking the previous day will almost certainly be enough. Moving on from Turpan is tricky as the train station is over an hour's bus trip out of town, in a godforsaken hole called Daheyan, where you don't want to spend any time if you can avoid it. It might make sense to use a travel agent in Turpan in this instance (you wouldn't want to get to Daheyan and find there's no sleeper tickets that day). For Turpan to Urumqi it's much easier to go by bus for reasons stated (and it's a lot cheaper too).
One problem you may have is with the Jiayuguan ticketing mafia. Anything to do with trains that originate or terminate there seems to be a problem caused by deliberate policy. In practice this can mean it is very difficult to buy tickets from intervening stations where the train goes through Jiayuguan. When I got to Dunhuang I tried to buy my onward ticket from the train station (well out of town, like Turpan) but they refused. Even though I was asking 3 days in advance. I got a chinese girl to ask for me but still no joy. When I got to Dunhuang an agent got me the same ticket that the train station refused to sell (travel agents will buy up whole carriages and then sell on the tickets). I was also stuck in Lanzhou for a day for the same reason - couldn't get an onward ticket to Yinchuan.