Thread by @hard2decide

My daughter & I went to #Xinjiang for a ski trip in Keketuohai #可可托海 in the Altay 阿勒泰 area bordering Mongolia, Russia & Kazakhstan.

I can confirm that
- there is no permit required travel to & within XJ
- extra info required for non-resident staying in XJ hotel

1/18

My travel document is a resident card which effectively like a mainland ID card, my daughter travel with 回鄉證 like millions of Hongkongers thus considered non-resident. Therefore I was able to observe the difference the treatments of different travel doc.

2/18

The flight from Guangzhou to Urumqi was booked on Ctrip app. No special requirement for booking. No special security checks for boarding flight to XJ.

Note to those planning to fly to Urumqi - book seats on the left side window for the stunning views of Tianshan.

3/18

At exit of Urumqi airport, signs in #Uyghur script, Chinese characters & English.

We took the Intercity Exp to the train station, dropped our bags in self-serve storage, then spent a few hours in Urumqi, waiting for the evening train.

4/18

At tourist sites & entrance to large buildings, there were x-ray machines & metal detectors. Very visible security patrolling in pairs in tourist sites & train station.

Below pic taken at entrance to the very nice 海爾巴格 restaurant on the 2-4 floor of this building.

5/18

The ground floor of this building is a upscale supermarket & bakery. 3rd picture is the wine rack at this supermarket.

After dinner we headed back to the train station.

6/18

This train was promoted to serve skiers, thus the specially markings that says "Altay, snow capital of China". Behind the glass is the hard sleeper compartment.

2nd pic is the soft sleeper compartments. Looked to me half the train are skiers. 😅

7/18

The town of Keketuohai was about 55km away from the Fuyun train station.

I rented an SUV on the Ctrip app. They delivered the car to the station & took pic of my travel doc & mainland driver license.

Then I was off to freely roam the roads of #Xinjiang

8/18

The hotel we stayed was the Jeruyih 吉域合涵田 - a XJ brand hotel in the Keketuohai town. The locals are mainly of the Kazak ethnicity.

The hotel require non-resident (aka my daughter in this case) provide more info after check in.

My daughter took this video of her room.

9/18

The addition info request shouldn't be difficult for most travelers.

We received the info request from hotel staff via WeChat, reply back with WeChat over the lunch, then that's it.

There wasn't any form of reporting in person to any police or local authority.

10/18

We later walked around this town of 6000 residents, checking out the coffee shops & home stays.

It seems to me most hotels actually take non-residents. My understanding it wasn't govt designated but willingness of the hotel operator to carry out the extra info gathering.

11/18

As we drove to the ski mountain daily for the week, we saw cars with license plates from many places in China, like Guangdong, Beijing, Zhejiang, Sichuan, Yunnan, etc...

First car of the following video was from Liaoning with license starts with 遼C! Maybe a ski coach?

12/18

On the day arriving Keketuohai, we drove to the ski resort to check out the place.

I first found the scene amusing.

First they don't have enough storage space, & second the area must be very safe for skiers to leave their boards overnight outside!!!

13/18

We were lucky the 2nd day it snowed. It was powder snow the whole mountain, & many people went off track wild skiing.

Keke has the longest ski season in China, thus many professional teams training here still. Like the young girl in pic 4 - hike up 1000m then ski down!

14/18

At the end of the trip we drove 500+ km from Keke back to Urumqi. The first ~30km were mountain roads where we saw wild dog & birds scavenging, plus herds of horses. 😂

The last of the 420+ km are modern superhighway.

15/18

On the highway are many crossings for animals under the highway. I stopped to take some pic

When we were near Urumqi we encountered the first ever police check point this trip. We were to provide the hotel name, schedule for the next day & our phone number. A 10 min stop.

16/18

My last trip to #Xinjiang was in 2003. Much has changed, for the better for sure.

I had wrote about my previous trip below

https://twitter.com/hard2decide/status/1424092815554846722?s=20

17/18

I purposely planned different modes of travel to get my daughter to see more.

I hope my story shows that anyone curious enough is free to go in & roam around in Xinjiang. By plane, car or train.

18/18