URUMQI, CHINA: XINJIANG REGIONAL MUSEUM

Our last stop in China before we headed off to the Stans was Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region and a major stop on the Silk Road. Another HUGE city by U.S. standards, it has a population of about 3.5 million, which makes it the largest city in Central Asia. In the Untied States, only New York City and Los Angeles have larger populations, and yet I had never heard of Urumqi before we began getting ready for this trip. Perhaps part of the reason for its lack of recognition is that it is pretty darn remote. In fact, the Guinness Book of Records says at 1,600 miles from the nearest seaport, Urumqi is the most remote major city (at least in terms of distance from the sea) in the world.

Urumqi's location is marked by red in the map of China below. The Xinjiang Region is the orange area:

Map from Wikipedia

As hard as it is to get there, Urumqi has some amazing things to see. We spent a few hours at the Xinjiang Regional Museum, famous for its mummy collection (known in this museum as "dried corpses").

A limited number of guests are allowed in the museum at intervals throughout the day in an attempt to control the crowds.

There was plenty of English on the signage, but not all of it was intelligible, such as this sign that invites guest to a "Whirling dance at the fingertips skills contributing to a craftsmanship."