To the left is a lovely view from our 25th floor hotel. Apologies for the dirty window.

Update: what a difference a day makes! The new panoramic photo shows today’s view. Urumqi is one of the 10 most polluted cities in the world, as cited by Tsinghua University. We had a strange deja vu when we arrived in Beijing a few years ago the day before National Day on Oct. 1. The same dramatic transition occurred miraculously, as if God opened up the skies!

Beijing and Taiyuan beat Urumqi for the record. Three million people here are the same number in population as Tashkent. Interesting to compare the two. Note the mountains in the background.

Status Report on photo uploads: between 4 devices (a computer, I pad, and 2 cell phones), we have not managed to figure out why the photos are not loading properly as they have in the past. I am going to abandon ship on the Day 48 posting.
The technical problems getting access to the internet continue to persist. It’s a connection between the host editor, wordpress, and the website that is not allowing the pictures to link. Thanks for your patience.