This past weekend I traveled with the rest of my Stanford buddies to Xin Jiang. The plane ride took only four hours, which was just enough for a short nap. We arrived at Xin Jiang at noon on Friday. As soon as I stepped out of the airport and into the crisp cool air, a giant smile spread across my face. The sky was blue and the air was clean enough to take in gulps at a time, it was a nice change from Beijing’s pollutant saturated air. Our first stop was lunch at a local hotel. Our hotel was located in Urumqi, one of the major industrial centers in Xin Jiang; its population consists primarily of non-Han Chinese ethnic minorities. There is a contingent of Moslems living in Xin Jiang; as a result of the Moslem dietary restriction against pork, arguably one of the primary meat staples of the Chinese diet, we were given a hefty serving of lamb at almost every meal. Over the course of the weekend we had: lamb soup, lamb chops in lamb soup, sweet and sour lamb, fried lamb, roast lamb, smoked lamb, minced lamb and a few other dishes that were lamb based. Lambalicious…mmm mmm.
Our first stop was to a small village on the border of China and Kazakhstan. The traditional Uyghur people lived in these small huts spread out along the beautiful plains along the border of the two countries. We were invited in to their huts to have some milk, try some of their snacks and to have a little dance party with them. Apparently when it got too cold they moved their huts to the far side of the hills where the wind was not as strong. After we finished the t
our of their huts, we were given the option to walk around or to ride their horses;
after a few urgings from our eager hosts, I decided to mount one of their tamer horses. Riding through the plains with nothing but blue skies surrounding you was enough to make me forget the who, what, where, why and how of the moment—my senses took control and they soaked it all up. My riding companion was a 28 year old man that looked like he was 45—I gathered that he spent more time in the sun than was healthy for his skin; but secretly I envied him for being able to enjoy the awesome beauty of the place everyday of his life. 
He had two children and a beautiful wife—it seemed to me that he had succeeded in finding the good life; of course I was a bit envious, any person in their right mind would be.
The following day was jam packed with a trip first to the ancient city of Jiao He. The entire city looked like ti was constructed with dirt and sand; if an earth quake or a hurricane came by, the entire city would be turned into a giant sand box. Afterwards we went to see the irrigation system that kept Turpan, the city that we were in, the oasis that it was. Apparently the system had been intact for 2000 years and is still functional to this day. Because of their irrigation system they are able to grow some of the tastiest grapes and raisins in the world. We had the opportunity to visit a private vineyard to taste some home grown grapes and raisins; the tastes were so complex that we had to eat one after another after another in order to sufficiently compare them all. The owner of the vineyard had seven children, five daughters and twin sons; this was before the one child policy in China, nowadays they would only be allowed three under their status as both an ethnic minority and as farmers. The owner was so very old, but he looked so happy. Every time I looked at him he smiled and I smiled back as if my face knew of no other way of responding aside from smiling. Like the family that we visited by the border, this man also looked incredibly happy with his grapes and his family. His smiles seemed grounded in a life of happiness, but as the d
eep marks on his hands and dark spots on his face shown, his life was one of many hardships. I suppose happiness never comes easy.
Our last adventure was on Sunday; We were taken to this beautiful lake, called the heavenly lake 天河（tian he）. We hiked for about two hours and got lost many times along the way but eventually we made it to the top; we were greeted by the majestic beauty of the heavenly lake. It was so satisfying to make the climb up having some great conversations along the way and making it to the top to be greeted by a sight that we could never have seen coming. It was great because there was no swarm of red-hat wearing Chinese tourists to mar the beautiful landscape.
It was ours for thirty minutes and we enjoyed every minute of it.
Our trip to Xin Jiang was bar none, the best weekend trip I have ever had. Thank you Bings!
And now for a week of catch up and studying…
our of their huts, we were given the option to walk around or to ride their horses;
after a few urgings from our eager hosts, I decided to mount one of their tamer horses. Riding through the plains with nothing but blue skies surrounding you was enough to make me forget the who, what, where, why and how of the moment—my senses took control and they soaked it all up. My riding companion was a 28 year old man that looked like he was 45—I gathered that he spent more time in the sun than was healthy for his skin; but secretly I envied him for being able to enjoy the awesome beauty of the place everyday of his life. 
He had two children and a beautiful wife—it seemed to me that he had succeeded in finding the good life; of course I was a bit envious, any person in their right mind would be.
eep marks on his hands and dark spots on his face shown, his life was one of many hardships. I suppose happiness never comes easy. 
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