China – Xinjiang province (Xinjang)
W Urumczi, capital of Xinjiang province, the westernmost province of China, on the border of Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Mongolia, Russia and Kazakhstan, nothing was like that, as in the south - in Yunnan or Sichuan, where I traveled in 2014 year. Winter with temperatures reaching -20°C, cuisine based on dumplings, skewers and naan pancakes, and also the language - there are two languages in this province: Chinese and Uyghur, written in Arabic characters and script, both equally incomprehensible to me.
What surprised me most was the ubiquitous inspections - at the entrances to stores, parks, housing estates or bus stops. To get to work, you had to come at least 20 minutes earlier, to pass all the checkpoints on the ground floor of the skyscraper. It was not possible to bring liquids or other items known to airport restrictions. Here we all had a constant "airport high" - every day, everywhere and endlessly.
At work, and sometimes even on the street, I felt like committing seppuku - although it's not Chinese, an old Japanese tradition. Chaos, typical chinese, he attacked me from everywhere – a kaleidoscopically variable work schedule, noise, jostling in the streets – and these two propaganda songs, that echoed non-stop from every alley, shop and elevator. I can still hum them when I wake up in the middle of the night - that's it, it seems, that's what it's all about. After a mad sprint to find an apartment, I managed to stay on the 20th floor, leaving all that cattail at the bottom. I could rarely admire the Tianshan Mountains on the horizon, because they usually drowned in a suspension of smog.