in urumqi

ya'll, we are officially suffering. this hotel is even more impressive (virtually brand new and incredibly modern) than the white swan! and the beds appear to be softer, too! the only drawback is that the internet is a little slow, so i dont think pictures will be happening. not that i have even tried, much less taken any...
we had a nice morning in beijing. instead of paying for an ok breakfast at the hotel, rosa and i went to mcdonalds. we figured if we consumed enough calories, we could bypass lunch. our plan succeeded. rosa is so great; so like me in so many ways. we could both live on bread and fruit. we both love ice cream, we would both rather skip a meal than eat 3 a day. this is only the tip of the iceburg.
the flight to urumqi was pretty bumpy, but nothing i cant sleep thru :). mother, remember that awful stuff in the packaging they fed us between bj and gz when we got jade? they fed it to us again today w/several other unrecognizable dishes. good thing i ate that big breakfast...
when we got to urumqi we were met by a van from the hotel. and THREE guys (4 of us flew today, we will be joined by one more member tomorrow). two to help us get our bags out the airport, one to drive. this is just an intro for things to come. i have been in this hotel only a few hours and have been very impressed. mark waltz should write a chapter on this place in his first impressions book :).
after dinner (buffet here. i had steak, twice baked potato, fruit, bread and ice cream, all of which were very good). we went for a little walk. i could tell our groupies who had never been here before were a little... shocked? it is much different than beijing. rosa and i like it and have been here, so we take it kinda in stride, but you could tell they were a little unsure about things. anyhoo, there is a raisin stand i'll definately be returning. one thing i kinda forgot about urumqi is that everyone looks like me!! i dont stick out like it do in, say, guangzhou.
i think that's all i have to say about today. oh yes! mother, i found LOTS of fruitsnacks. they also have those milk thingies trace came with, but i dont know if he'd still like them? i would like to have some room for something BESIDES fruitsnacks, so i might have to curb my buying. i'm keeping my eyes open for a sword.
best wishes!