Sandaoling Xinjiang China 17th November 2014

Lunchtime at a local Uyghur restaurant in Sandaoling. The main course was lamb, carrots & rice with lamb dumplings on the side. The chef is hard at it and the dumplings are steaming in the container to the right.

The Autonomous Region of Xinjiang in Western China borders Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan & Afghanistan to the west and south so in many ways is very "un-Chinese". The largest ethnic group in the region are the Uyghur and the main religion is Islam. I recently read that it is actually the 8th biggest country subdivision in the world.