Hey...so you have a little extra time here
in Urumqi, you don't want to be sitting in
your hotel room but then again all the travel
guides don't really give you too many options
outside of the Grand Bazaar and maybe some
places a few hours outside of the city.
So what is there to do?
Well, I'm going to introduce you to a place
that I really enjoy.
I always take people who are first time visitors
to Urumqi here.
It's the alleyways north of the ErDaoQiao
market.
The ErDaoQiao market is across the street
from the Grand Bazaar, the more famous place
here in Urumqi.
But really, this is a great place to experience
the Uyghur culture that you're not going to
see in the main streets of Urumqi.
So let's go ahead and take a look inside,
see what you can see.
What I love about this walk down the back
alleys of Urumqi is that you get to see a
side of the city, you get to see facets of
the Uyghur culture that perhaps you wouldn't
have had the opportunity to see on the main
streets of the capital.
So for instance things like the mosque, witnessing
a lot of the elder men sitting outside the
mosque chatting.
Getting to look inside the stores that aren't
necessarily selling things geared toward tourists
but rather practical items like clothing,
rugs, Uyghur medicine and so on.
There is, of course, a lot of the food stalls
that are selling everything from Uyghur bread
to just hole-in-the-wall restaurants that
you can try out.
What I really love is when the night market
comes alive and you get people of all ages
just coming out to enjoy the cooler weather,
especially during the summer.
And that's when I suggest that you make sure
you have some small bills handy because you're
gonna want to try things like Uyghur ice cream
that you see here which, trust me when I say,
it tastes as good as it looks.
You might even want a couple different servings
- and it really is cheap!
You're going to want to try the ice cream,
you're going to want to try the fresh fruit
that comes in from all different parts of
the province and is absolutely sweet and delicious.
You're going to want to try some of the drinks
and the snacks that perhaps you don't know
exactly what it is but you're gonna want to,
you know, give it a go anyway.
There are, of course, things like liver kebabs
and intestine soup that maybe may not seem
as appetizing but hey, at least you can take
some photos.
All in all, it's a side of the city that isn't
geared toward tourists and I think that's
what I love most is getting to see the "real
Urumqi".
So if we're looking here at a map, you can
see on JieFang Lu we've got the ErDaoQiao
market.
The ErDaoQiao market is actually very long
and if you look to the right side there's
a road that goes all the way down on the north
end of ErDaoQiao market.
Youre going to want to take that road, walk
all the way down until you can get to the
first road where you can take a right.
You're going to do so until you hit a hospital.
It's going to be the tallest building that's
around.
That hospital is going to be the marker for
you to turn right into the alley.
And that alley is just going to wind around
for quite a long distance.
That is where you're going to begin your journey
through this back alley of Urumqi.
