Life as an Introverted Expat
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Photo Friday #25
Uygur man in night market area, Kashgar, Xinjiang Province, October 2009
The streets of Kashgar are chaos – motorbikes and taxis swerve among the pedestrians, kicking up dust. Food vendors call out to potential patrons. Kids run down the streets shouting with each other. Buses barrel down the wider avenues, honking at nearly everything. [...]
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Day Trip to Lake Kalakuli
Our fourth and final destination within Xinjiang Province was the Pamir Mountains. The Pamirs are a group of mountains at the crossroads of Asia’s great ranges – the Himalayas, the Hindu Kush, the Kunluns and Tian Shan. Pamir means “roof of the world,” a phrase used liberally to describe the astounding [...]
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Photo Friday #23
Uygur boys in Kashgar, Xinjiang Province, China – October 2009
Playing cards, snacking on popcorn, generally owning the streets… boys are boys the world over!
The Next Bruce Lee? Kashgar, Xinjiang Province, China – October 2009
This boy stopped us on the street and pleaded, “Take my picture!” He then performed various kung fu poses and, [...]
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AKA Kashi
This is China?
Visiting Kashgar was a bit like meeting up with a childhood friend’s little sister. You remember her, and you’re comfortable with her as part of a family you loved, but you didn’t really know her all that well. I lived previously in the Middle East, (my childhood friend) and I remember well [...]
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AKA Tulufan
I’ve been staring at this blank blog post for the last 5 days trying to write something, anything, about Turpan. This should not be difficult. I have tons of photos and tons of thoughts. Everything just comes out so… itinerish. Yes, I did just make up that word. It’s as though the only thing [...]
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AKA Wulumuqi
Urumqi… ooroomchee… I like saying that. In Mandarin it is even more fun: Wulumuqi… wooloomoochee… The capital of Xinjiang Province, there really isn’t anything spectacular about Urumqi. (Other than that name!) It is a big Chinese city, not unlike a thousand other cities in China. There are about 2 million people living there, with [...]
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The PLA Couldn’t Keep Us Away
When the DH and I travel we rarely make elaborate itineraries, preferring to meander around with a few set destinations in mind. I prepare for these trips by reading travel blogs, forums and guidebooks. I get a reasonable idea of what is out there and then we just go and [...]
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Red China on My Mind
I’m back at work and back to the Internet – hurrah! After 6 days in internet-free Xinjiang, I came home to find that my crappy Internet connection in my apartment had slowed to a dial-up era crawl. The good news is that I am at work now, where the Internet is [...]
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A Surprise Holiday to Xinjiang Province
China’s National Day is coming up, which means another Golden Week. Although our school was initially set to work during the nation-wide week-long holiday, it looks like we’ve got a surprise! holiday. We’re thinking about going to the far west province of Xinjiang. Yes, the one that had all those [...]
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Xinjiang Restaurant BBQ Pit
Last Thursday night, the eve before the May 1st holiday, the DH and I ventured over to Linyi’s Xinjiang restaurant for some lamb kebabs. The weather was warm so we were hoping they would have tables set up on the sidewalk, and they did. We had our usual kebabs and naan and [...]
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I'm an American expat living on the fringe of Chinese society. This blog explores life in China, the occasional aviation topic, expat issues, random travel experiences and interesting things I see, read and hear. 
Gabrielle: That is absolutely fantastic news. I am very happy for the...
Jocelyn: Oh, that’s outstanding news! The heavens broke lose and...
Ana O'Reilly: Hola Heather! We can share notes on this trailing spouse...
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DH: I have not heard from work! did they change emails? do I STILL have...