It was a smooth flight from Islamabad to Urumqi and took less time than I was expecting. In fact, I had only noticed the local arrival time and somehow missed the flight duration details. The local time was a bit misleading as I later came to know there was only one time zone in China regardless of its huge horizontal expanse. Unlike the US, the locals do not have to bother about any time difference within the country, though cities in the far west have to start and end their day a bit earlier.
So, a traveller to China finds Urumqi and Beijing -- two cities separated by a good 3,000 kilometres -- observing the same time and struggling to adapt to this phenomenon. During my stay in the city, I found fellow Pakistanis offering their fajar prayers around 9am, something they had not experienced in any another country. Later on, I came to know the decision to have one time zone had been taken and enforced by the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) to promote national unity among different regions and ethnicities of the country.
Urumqi had always been one of my dream destinations, with its claim of being the most inland city of the world (being the farthest from any ocean). Being situated on the ancient ‘Silk Route’ further enhances its touristic value. The city serves as the capital of Xinjiang province and links local and international tourists, businessmen and others arriving here to myriad destinations within the country and abroad. That is why one can see people of different nationalities and ethnicities thronging city streets and visiting downtown markets for shopping, dining and sight-seeing.
I had heard about Urumqi from an uncle of mine who had been regularly visiting the place for business since late 1990s and had only discontinued this practice a couple of years ago on account of old age. He told ne Urumqi was a traditional city with lots of souqs, bazaars at open sites and less developed areas scattered across its landscape.
But what I witnessed from the window of my bus was simply amazing. There were a large number of multi-storied buildings, flyovers, shopping malls, under-construction sites, freeways and beautifully landscaped green belts/areas on the sides of the city roads. The city was developing fast and at such a pace that a traveller accompanying me could not relate to what he had seen three years ago. "I can’t believe my eyes. What are they up to?" was all he could say.
Urumqi does receive a large number of businessmen from other countries as well as distant parts of China. Being the capital of Xinjiang province that borders eight countries namely Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Mongolia, it is natural to receive them in hordes -- giving the streets a festive look.
A Tajik businessman who met us at the Grand Bazar shared that it was quite affordable for him to travel to Urumqi from Central Asia by train and sell his merchandise here. On his return, he would carry goods having a ready demand in his home country. He often brings his wife and son along to make work fun and a family affair. The city serves as the first stop for goods arriving from countries such as those in Central Asia before these are transported to other parts of China.
One thing that was quite disturbing for us was that the internet service was dead slow and Google products would not work at all. The firewalls were so strong that hardly any proxy server could help bypass these controls and using Facebook was not even remotely possible. On repeated complaints, the hosts advised us to bear with this as ethnic riots involving Uyghur Muslim and Han Chinese in 2009 and terrorist attack in 2014 had prompted authorities to take such measures.
Urumqi is also an ideal destination for Pakistanis for the Halal food options it offers. Mutton kebabs, pilaf, sesame bread, roasted fat-bottomed sheep (dumba), mutton dumplings (samosas), noodles and traditional Chinese cuisine are the major attractions for food lovers. Interestingly, two Pakistani businessmen who were on my flight disclosed they preferred visiting Urumqi over other business hubs in east China due to the halal food and the Islamic culture of the city. The fact that this is the shortest land route to Pakistan via Khunjerab Pass did not get any mention in the conversation.
Apart from food, the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) Museum which houses around 32,000 cultural relics including archaeological finds from the Silk Route, the Grand Bazar (a traditional Islamic market area), the cultural performances in the downtown locations and a park showing old trees from the desert, fossils from Jurassic Age, stones with carvings from pre-historic era and a collection of rare horses give a reason to tourists to put this city on their itinerary.
The added attraction is that Urumqi is connected with Kashghar -- the starting point of CPEC -- by air, train and expressway; and tourists can opt for the mode that suits them the most to reach this must-see location. A mind-boggling disclosure for me was that the Chinese government has allocated $65 billion for the development of Xinjiang province, and this amount will be spent in just one year as compared to the $46 billion commitment with Pakistan that we are celebrating endlessly.