News, views, and travel reviews from a couple of expats crazy enough to relocate themselves to Xinjiang, China - essentially the middle of nowhere. There’s plenty of places to travel, plenty of controversy to cover, and plenty of Chinese cultural idiosyncrasies to reveal.

• Buying Train Tickets on Spring Festival: A Migrant Worker's Guide
  Tue, 6th Jan 2009 18:00 EST
  
  Getting your hands on good train tickets in any major Chinese city during the Spring Festival is without a doubt one of the most difficult tasks known to man. Right...
• Xinjiang Picture of the Week: Kashgar's Old City
  Mon, 5th Jan 2009 18:00 EST
  
   A humble home in the heart of Kashgar's Old City.  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  If...
• How to Send Mail to China for Half the Price
  Sun, 4th Jan 2009 18:00 EST
  
  The following article is just for fun.  This method of sending mail to China at half price, although proven to work, was stumbled upon completely by accident and should not...
• Will 2009 be an "Explosive" Year for Xinjiang?
  Fri, 2nd Jan 2009 19:00 EST
  
  While comfortably sitting in front of a computer screen in the Times Online London offices, columnist Michael Binyon has decided to inform me that my home here in Xinjiang, China...
• Best China Blog Awards Voting 2008
  Thu, 1st Jan 2009 11:31 EST
  
  As some of you have already noticed, this blog has undergone some major renovation over the past month. I've been trying to add a hint of professionalism in the...
• A New Year for Far West China
  Thu, 1st Jan 2009 11:29 EST
  
  Happy New Year to everybody!  My wife and I rang in 2009 without too much fanfare here in Xinjiang and are happy to have the next three days off from...
• Marco Polo's Xinjiang Lake becomes World's Largest Fertilizer Plant
  Sun, 28th Dec 2008 20:30 EST
  
  Lop Nor is not a very well known area here in Xinjiang, primarily because most of the attention is directed to it's larger neighbor the Taklamakan Desert.  It's not a...
• From Xinjiang to Your Computer Screen...Merry Christmas
  Sat, 27th Dec 2008 10:41 EST
  
  Merry Christmas to everybody!  Just wanted to say that even though this was our third Xinjiang Christmas away from family, we were still able to manage to have a good...
• Christmas Morning on "Xinjiang Time"
  Sat, 27th Dec 2008 06:32 EST
  
  "If the Lord really wanted us to enjoy the sunrise, it would come no earlier than 10 a.m." Reader's Digest, May 2008 If you've ever thought something like that before,...
• Playing Basketball in China: Politics Still Applies
  Sat, 27th Dec 2008 06:32 EST
  
  It's a game that every person who works in business will have to play in some form or another, but it's a game that is especially popular to play here...

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