(Obviously, China is not burdened by a foreign rulership sucking the last drop of blood and ounce of treasure from its residents. - CL)
....While June to August is high season for Xinjiang, everything is remarkably affordable.
Our two-bedroom space capsule by the waterside at Sayram Lake cost $220 dollars a night. That was the most we paid on the trip.
The bed and breakfast places as well as Holiday Inn type hotels cost between $50 to $70 dollars with free same-day cancelation and complimentary breakfasts.
Free self-help laundry services are available in all the placed we stayed.
Incredibly, accommodation at low season is 40 to 60% cheaper.
A sit-down meal costs $7 to $10 dollars per person with drinks. A half-pound naan, a clay oven baked flatbread, cost less than $1. Turpan grapes, the best in China, cost $2.5 per kilo. Gasoline is $1 per litre. Diesel is 85 cents per litre.
On my last driving day from Sayram Lake to Urumqi, the total toll for the 580-kilometer 4-lane express way is RMB205 ($29).
The rental cost of my Great Wall Tank 400 Hi4-T hybrid, with a range of 850 to 900km full battery and full tank, is RMB220 ($32) per day, inclusive of insurance.
Prices of things in Xinjiang, like the rest of the country, are easily affordable. Retail prices for home electronics have stayed the same for at least a decade; car prices have actually dropped by 20 to 30%.
