We’re on a mission to share what travel is really like in the countries that we’re trippin’ through–and that includes sharing the bad along with the good. We admit it: we didn’t like traveling in Xinjiang, China. Here’s why.
If you’re traveling to Xingjiang, or anywhere in China for that matter, make sure to get a VPN before you go. We used and recommend ExpressVPN when you travel to China. Check out ExpressVPN here for the best deals.
We left western China after only three weeks of travel.
The original plan was to travel around western and central China for two or three months. We’d enter from Pakistan, kick it in Xinjiang for a bit, get as close to Tibet as possible without having to get permits or be arrested, then exit through to Kyrgyzstan. We entered with high hopes, excited to explore a country that is so saturated with ancient history it’s fit to burst, that has a culture completely unlike any other in this world.
As the days progressed, we realized our expectations were too high. The China we imagined was far, far to the east, and Xinjiang province was more of a tense territory taken from other countries, rather than a true extension of China. Our days turned into drags, and we spent more time being frustrated, bored, and whinging about lost funds than actually enjoying ourselves.
Where’s the fun in that?
Hiding out in a hostel because sights are beyond our budget.
There was no point in forcing ourselves to enjoy something we found mediocre when so many other places were calling our names. We decided to throw in the towel on China for now, and save it for another day when we have more time, less of a Central Asian agenda, and have acquired several million dollars via a lottery/inheritance from mysterious distant relatives/getting a sugar momma or daddy.
Until that magical moment when we become millionaires (sugar daddies, take note) we’ll stick to blogging. And what kind of bloggers would we be if we left you hanging with a vague “we peaced out because it sucked”?
Please.
We’re not the kind of travel bloggers that spout lies to convince you of our “perfect” lives—we’re here to keep it real. Here are a few more reasons we didn’t like traveling in Xinjiang, China. Keep in mind while reading that these views aren’t necessarily true for all of China–this is just us venting about Xinjiang itself.
Traveling to Xinjiang from Kyrgyzstan? Check out this post on crossing the border between Kyrgyzstan and China!
Despite being a functioning mosque, the Id Kah mosque in Kashgar entrance fee was equivalent to one night of sleeping.
Money in Xinjiang
The Chinese government loves money. They love it so much, they’ll charge you up the wazoo for everything and anything. And I mean everything.
Oh you want to see this purposeless little building? That’s 45 RMB ($6.50) please. An active mosque? 70 RMB ($10). This lovely mountain lake? That’ll be 200 RMB ($28.50).
We don’t mind spending a bit of money on sights, but when you have to empty your pockets for literally every single pointless pebble, we draw the line.
Add in the facts that a train to anywhere costs more than our daily budget, a bed in a dorm costs the same as a three-star hotel in Georgia, and active religious sights actually cost money unlike the million and one epic religious sights in Armenia, and you begin to see why western China wasn’t our flavor of the day.
No love, only stares.
People in Xinjiang
We never felt particularly welcome when traveling in Xinjiang. People’s attitudes ranged from indifferent to downright hostile. The most common response we got when we asked people on the street a question was meiyo!–no, not possible–and a wave of the hand. Begone foreigner! You’re not wanted here. Just give us your money and leave.
Rumor has it that the local Uyghur population is usually very kind, but our experience was different. We never felt particularly welcome walking around Uyghur neighborhoods. In the true old town of Kashgar, no one would respond to our greetings.
People in Tuyoq Valley refused us entry into streets and shrines with cold stares. When hunting for lunch options in Kuche, people just glared at us as we moved towards places to sit, not turning around until we had grown uncomfortable and moved on.
It might be a side-effect of the suppression of Uyghur culture and people at the hands of the Chinese government – which has only gotten worse since we left – or perhaps we’re just scary lookin’ folks. Who knows? Everyone has their own experience, so yours may be different from ours.
The last remnants of the old Old Town of Kashgar, the rest of which has been demolished in favor of a new, more polished “Old” Town.
The Disneyfication of tourism in Xinjiang
China seems hell-bent on destroying its sights. The process for developing tourist sights in the west seems to be:
- Realize something is worthy of tourist visits.
- Build a hideous 5-star hotel right next to it.
- Demolish any authentic buildings around it, and rebuild new ones made to look old.
- Construct a huge fence in a 10km radius around the sight.
- Set up a mandatory bus line from the fence to the entrance of the sight. Charge people 100RMB to ride the mandatory bus.
- Require tourists to have a guide. Make foreigners’ lives a bit worse by making the English-speaking guide 5 times as expensive.
- Install a million CCTV cameras to track tourists’ every movement.
And this being China, some literal Disneyfication as well.
In addition to the charmingly Chinese development process, there’s also the issue of the way the historical sights are presented. Most of Xinjiang, the “far west” of China, is basically land that China laid claim to in recent history. The museums and sights are filled with propaganda, re-crafting Uyghur history and culture to fit the Chinese government’s seemingly happier (and more Chinese) narrative. Xinjiang? Xinjiang is China and has always been China. Uyghurs? No, they are simply Chinese… with a slightly different ethnic background that we will choose to ignore.
Local folks waiting to go to the three–yes, three–security checkpoints to enter the train station in Urumqi.
Chinese officials are mindless drones
What’s the most deadly article you’ve carried on you while traveling?
For us, it’s deodorant.
Forget the pocket knives, toxic bug spray, and baton-like selfie stick–the ever-so-clever Chinese security deduced that spray deodorant was our weapon of choice. Multiple cans of our deodorant were confiscated because ??? We might kill someone with freshness? Craft a bomb with our B.O.-begone? Do I look like fucking MacGyver to you?!
China doesn’t want citizens to be independent, self-thinking, or critical–it would be dangerous for the Party. Instead, it has created an army of mindless security drones who refuse to do anything except following paper orders to a T. And these totally arbitrary security restrictions drove us insane. Even more so than security in Pakistan (and that’s sayin’ something).
Paper says no drinks on the bus platform, so no drinks on the bus platform. The fact that it’s 40 degrees and you’re on the verge of dying from dehydration is irrelevant–the paper has spoken. The fact that there’s a vending machine for drinks on the platform is also irrelevant–you still cannot have drinks there.
Paper says no suspicious objects on the bus. You have shampoo in your backpack. Your shampoo is very suspicious, despite the fact that it is in a bag with conditioner, razors, soap, and other shower products. Suspicious objects are not allowed on the bus, so you are not allowed on the bus.
Paper says groups are not allowed to intermingle at the border. You must stand by your bus, and stop speaking to the person in line before you. Shouted conversations across the compound to said person are acceptable, however–the paper says nothing about that.
Before the rant ends: a caveat about traveling in Xinjiang
Traveling isn’t always going to be fun, and it’s easy to get sucked into a negative mindset. It’s important to remember that traveling is a privilege not granted to many, and we should be fortunate for what we do have, even if it is really fucking annoying frustrating at times.
So let’s end this on a positive note, shall we? Despite the frustrations and pains, there was one shining beacon of excellence throughout our time in Xinjiang: the food.
Yes.
Oh yes.
Yeah baby.
The grand finale: EGGS. AND DUMPLINGS. ALL AT THE SAME TIME.
At least we can say we left China with contented bellies.
Heading to China soon. Check out this post on things to do in China.
Have you ever traveled to a country, only to leave disappointed? Which country? What happened?
Wow, this was very interesting to read!! We have high expectations of China too but now you’re making us doubt whether or not it will be worth the trouble of going there. Eventually we make our own experiences and maybe it’s not like this in other provinces. Although we’ve heard stories about how intense it is and how the system works there. Thank you for being so honest about your experiences!! Yep, it isn’t always sunshine and roses! Hope you’ll have an amazing time in Kyrgyzstan, we’ve heard only good stories about that country 🙂
Heh, we encounter sunshine and roses about… 20% of the time. Knowing how you guys travel, you might have similar experiences (be sure to save up before heading into China!), but then again, the country is so vast and has so many incredible places to see, there’s no way it could all be a letdown.
We will indeed enjoy Kyrgyzstan, thanks! Enjoy your last days of summer camp, if those are still going on, and good luck with prepping for your Georgian adventure!
Maybe pick a place that is similar to other countries, Kunming for example if you like Vietnam and Laos? There will be quite a few similarities and although China is very intense, noisy and shocking at times I think the people (at least in my experience) are great as they are fascinated by people visiting their country. I very rarely had people try to rip me off and it’s very safe to travel around China.
Xian was a particular highlight for myself as was the onward journey through the Hexi corridor on the train to Dunhuang. Once at Kashgar I stayed for a day and then went to Lake Karakul which is beautiful.
Hi Jon,
Thanks ka for the detailed response. We’ve had several people tell us they had a lovely time in China, and especially in the far west. Maybe we were just unlucky in our interactions.
We’ll probably go to China again one day, but we decided we rather spend more time in Central Asia than go on in China, with no regrets. We did think Karakul was gorgeous though, it was perhaps our favorite stop in China.
Cheers!
China is definitely more tense in the west, especially around Tibet and Xinjiang. If you want an easier and more cultural experience with (perhaps) friendlier faces, definitely go to east China, where the larger cities are. I found Xian beautiful and history-rich (the terracotta army was amazing) and also advise going to the province of Fujian.
Hi Sebastiaan ! We met in a dorm in urumqi when you was waiting for Alex. Thanks for your honesty, listening your pakistani tales I didn’t really expect something different from you x)
I will try to complete for readers your post with my own experience from parts of xinjiang you didn’t went to and rest of China. As you went -I’m not sure of that- from kashi to urumqi, you passed through the pointless part of northern taklamakan silk road way , and miss the southern silk road, where people were far more interested on you, and where there were almost no landmarks to visit with an expensive fee (chinese hasn’t yet exploited each monuments and lakes, but that’s beggining). So I recommand people wich want to travel in xinjiang to better go to the southern part of the taklamakan than the northern part, or the north part of xinjiang (almaty region and so on). There chineses controls are worse and more frequent than the other part of xinjiang, but I think it worth it!
Otherwise I agree with most of the things you said and had a similar experience.
I’m waiting for your stories of the next few weeks, thanks for all that, I wish you will like kazakhstan !
Simon from britanny (france)
Hi Simon. Thanks for your addition, very useful to our readers. We thought about going to the southern part but decided our time was better spend in Central Asia. So far we aren’t regretting our decision. Glad to hear from you though, hope you’re doing well!
Hey,
Came across ur blog as we were looking into Georgia and armenia (can’t download guidebook in freaking western china, cos Google is banned..) We were actually in our bed in kashgar doing exactly what you are in the photo thinking about how expensive the mosque was and deciding not to go….I’m glad we went I china, I don’t need to go again. Security esp in West China is out of control, I mean seriously how much damage can I do with a pot of yoghurt). We travelled across China, and the West of China and esp kashgar was our favourite. The rest is manufactured tourism on steroids (nothing is real/old), I’d consider myself a seasoned traveller and I’ve never been happier to leave a country, the locals are generally rude, and many are plain disgusting, everything costs a fortune (except food, which along with cheap best are saving graces).
Enjoy the rest of your travels (we are loving Armenia)
D
Hi Adom,
Thanks for reaching out. It seems China really is a love it or hate it destination. There’s no in between. The food does salvage a lot though.
Hopefully China will realize that it is destroying its tourist industry by hyper-commercializing it. Don’t think that will happen though, sadly.
Anyway have fun in Georgia and Armenia, we loved both countries.
Cheers!
I understand what you are saying but I have to take exception with one point and that’s people not caring in China. I’ve found them to be as helpful as they can be, but you have to remember they don’t speak English so usually the waving away just means they don’t have any idea of what you are asking them.
If you find English speaking people you will find them very helpful usually.
Please don’t let this region of China taint your view of China as there are some truly amazing places to visit. They also happen to be quite a bit cheaper than the options in the West.
China is relatively expensive compared to Asia and the surrounding Central Asian countries but I don’t remember paying that much for a dorm bed on many occassions. They can be as little as £3 a night in some places. Food is 50p for a bowl of noodles etc.
I do agree that the sites and attractions can ruin a budget backpackers life in a few days! I think i paid £30 to climb mount Wu Dang Shan in 2010!
Great blog by the way, and i’ve linked your post about Uzbekistan/Afghanistan!
I very much agree with Jon. You absolutely must learn some Chinese (Mandarin) and then try to visit China. Totally different world! Some are still quite rough around the edges but my time in Beijing regarding the people was great! I had the opposite experience with you. I really hated the food, and I was there for almost three months!
But the people were memorable. I have many examples but one is that I once was lost and this girl took the time out of her day to make sure I got to where I needed to go. So, we asked a taxi driver and he didn’t know. We asked a few more and they still didn’t know. So, she said let’s just go together then she got in a taxi with me and used the gps on her phone to navigate me there. Then, when we get there, she absolutely will not allow me to pay. So, she paid for my cab there (15 min. ride away), her cab back to where she started, and she still had to get to her afternoon class. I was just totally in awe. And like I said, that was just one incident, there were others.
So, for me, China = loved the people, hated the food.
We don’t think you can compare Beijing to Xinjiang, though. The local population there doesn’t speak Mandarin, and they aren’t really Chinese to begin with.
They don’t speak Mandarin? Who told you that? Mandarin is an official language there. Some may not prefer to speak it but most people most definitely can speak Mandarin.
The point I wanted to stress though is language. In their case, Uyghur would probably get you more brownie points since it’s their cultural language but even so Mandarin is far better to know than having only English.
That is one thing I love about the mainland Chinese people, they are so proud of who they are. Most people I’ve met absolutely love China and the Chinese language (NOT Hong Kong or Taiwan though).
Good read you have here. I’ve never been to Western China but I’ve been to the eastern part. If you really want the taste of the Orient, you should really go to the east such as Beijing and Shanghai. Guilin and Xi’an are also great.
But the thing that upsets me about the mainland Chinese people are : They’re not really friendly to almost anyone even if you speak Chinese and if you’re Chinese (I speak Chinese and yes I’m Chinese. Second generation Chinese living in Malaysia to be precise)
You might also want to consider other countries with similar Oriental cultures such as Japan, Korea and Vietnam.
And do visit Malaysia one day 😉
What a shame! I have to admit that I had similar feelings in Xinjiang – I didn’t hate it, but it didn’t leave a great impression on me either. It all just seemed so robotic, to be honest – and you mention that in the post. And the security seems to have been stepped up since I was there.
And paying to get into a mosque??? I don’t think so!!
We had hoped to leave paying for religious sites behind us in Iran. Alas.
Sorry for the experience in xinjiang, the reason of most bad things you experienced in xinjiang is, this place is suffering from islamic extremism. Non-muslims are not welcomed there. I’m a chinese han nationality, I traveled to there at 2012 and I was not welcomed by the muslim nationalities too. You can check out the big thing happened in Urumqi at 2009, that’s why the security was so strict.
It will be totally different if you travel to the other parts of China, people will be well educated and nice, but the Disneyfication of tourism is a common issue in China.
Anyway, welcome to visit China again, please let me know if I can be any help.
Honestly, nothing that influenced our perception of this place had anything do to with extremism. And, considering how the locals are treated by the central government, we can understand where their frustration comes from. But, since this is not a political blog, I won’t go into it any further.
I have to say….many of your problems come from not speaking the language (which I don’t expect most tourists to do, but it does create problems.).
While many of the things you mentioned happen, if you speak the language, it’s a lot easier to get around these regulations.
I currently study in China, and before I open my mouth and start speaking Mandarin, some people will act like this to me. However, as soon as they realize I can communicate, they have no problem and are super nice. It’s frustrating for the Chinese when they want to ask us questions (for example, about your deodorant, something Chinese people do not use and so is probably not familiar to them) but are unable to due to a language barrier.
Again, I don’t expect you to know a language before entering a country, but I think this should be mentioned as a factor in the bad side of your guys’ trip.
I hope you guys give China another chance, it really is a great country!
Cheers,
Chris