bowls of tea and blades of meat

this is day 1 of my program's week-long trip.

On Friday, we took a plane from Shanghai to Urumqi (Western China, Xinjiang Province). 
Xinjiang hosts its own ethnic group. It was really interesting to see the store signs that had both Chinese characters, as well as Uyghur script, which looks similar to Arabic or Farsi. 
The photo above is from our first meal in Xinjiang. This area borders the Middle East, so the food reflects that. There were so many dishes and they all were absolutely delicious!