We landed at Urumqi Airport at 11pm, and finally got off the plane at 11.05. Then we had to get an airport shuttle bus thing to the terminal, which got us to the terminal for 11.10. We had been quite worried about how cold Urumqi was going to be by this point, seeing as we had gone south for winter, and sure enough, we could see snow and our breath all around us as we VERY impatiently waited for the bus to go. Now our phones were working again (they only work in the province in which they are bought) so we gave Catherine a ring and she and the gang were all in Fubar waiting for it to turn midnight, and wondering where the hell we were! At baggage claim, we successfully shoved everyone else out the way - nobody seemed even slightly fussed that it was New Year but for us it's a pretty big deal. Especially for Liam, him being a Scottish barbarian, as it was Hogmanay. If we missed it we were not going to be impressed. We got in a taxi and soon we were on our way. Everything seemed to be working against us, but at least we were nearly there. It had been me that had originally thought we were going to miss New Year but now I was fairly calm, but Liam was getting in a bit of a tizz thinking we'd not make it. But we did! At quarter to twelve we reached Fubar and went straight to the bar so we'd have a drink to see in the new year.
It was all very traditional with kisses on the cheek and Auld Lang Syne; it felt lovely and homely. Then we danced and danced! And as we live in an area with two time zones (Beijing Time and local, Xinjiang Time) we then celebrated Xinjiang New Year two hours later. I was still awake at 8am too and so I got to see in the British New Year before I turned in.
Photos (I swear none of us had consumed ANY alcohol in ANY of these photos):
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