We left Yining on Day 19 of our Xinjiang trip. Our next stop was Kuitun (奎屯, Kuítún), reached by a standing-room train ride. Before that train, we had one more morning in Yining for something we’d been putting off: buying Xinjiang souvenirs to bring home. This guide to Kuitun City Xinjiang covers Liuxing Street’s dried fruit and nut shops, the train transfer, and what a “no seat” ticket actually means. It also covers our stay at Feifan Hotel. Finally, it covers dinner at Bazhen Chicken Hotpot, a Cantonese-style, non-spicy hotpot that stood out against everything else we’d eaten on this trip.
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- Quick facts, Day 19:
- Sultanas at Emeng Dashan Food: 390 CNY (55 USD) for a few kilos
- Train, Yining to Kuitun: 78 CNY (11 USD) per person
- Feifan Hotel, 3-person room: 561 CNY (79 USD) for 2 nights
- Dinner at Bazhen Chicken Hotpot: 228 CNY (32 USD) total
What to Buy in Xinjiang: Souvenir Shopping on Liuxing Street
The classic Xinjiang souvenirs to bring home are dried fruit, nuts, camel milk powder, milk candies and jerky, most of it sold loose by weight in shops along Liuxing Street. So we spent the morning of Day 19 sampling our way along the street before settling on one shop for the bulk of our shopping.
Sultanas at Emeng Dashan Food
11:30am: we picked up sultanas from Emeng Dashan Food (俄蒙大山食品, Émēng Dàshān Shípǐn) in Liuxing Street (六星街, Liùxīng Jiē). Beforehand, we’d sampled from several other shops. Most pile their stock high in packaged and loose form, with small sample containers set out so you can try before you buy. Overall, this shop had the best quality, juiciest sultanas of everywhere we tried.
We ended up buying a few kilos, split into smaller bags for gifting, 390 CNY (55 USD) total. Prices here are listed by jin (斤, jīn), a traditional Chinese unit of measure equal to 0.5kg. We saw a range from 39 to 119 CNY (5.50 to 17 USD) per 500g, depending on quality and grape type.
The Wider Xinjiang Gift List
Sultanas are just one of the classic Xinjiang gifts to bring home. Dried fruit in general is huge here: apricots, figs, dates and mulberries alongside the grapes. Similarly, nuts are another big one, walnuts and almonds especially, usually sold loose by weight the same way as the sultanas.
Camel milk powder (骆驼奶粉, luòtuo nǎifěn) is a popular pick too, marketed as a specialty regional health product. Milk candies (奶酪, nǎilào) show up everywhere as well, a chewy, milky sweet that packs and shares easily. 奶酪 usually translates to “cheese,” but what’s sold here isn’t cheese in the Western sense, so we’re using “milk candies” as the closer description. Finally, beef and lamb jerky (牛肉干, niúròugān, and 羊肉干, yángròugān) round out the usual gift haul, good if you want something savoury rather than sweet.
For a sense of how these prices compare, dried fruit around Xinjiang typically runs 20 to 60 CNY (2.80 to 8.50 USD) per jin, nuts 30 to 120 CNY (4 to 17 USD) per jin, and jerky 60 to 180 CNY (8.50 to 25 USD) per jin, so our sultana price sat toward the higher end for a well-regarded shop.
Buying by the Jin, and Shipping Straight Home
It’s common in China to get free delivery anywhere in the country once you spend over a certain amount. Several Liuxing Street shops advertise this outright, so it’s worth knowing if you’ve already booked your final stop. You can send gifts or bulk buys straight there instead of carrying them around. It also helps if you’ve got family in China you’d rather ship local gifts to directly.
For more on Liuxing Street itself, including the courtyard architecture and other shops along it, see our Liuxing Street guide.
Lunch Back at Blue Lotus Xinjiang Cuisine
Blue Lotus Xinjiang Cuisine is worth a repeat visit. The pilaf and the ambience both held up just as well the second time around. We went back to this same restaurant (蓝莲花新疆菜, Lánliánhuā Xīnjiāngcài), our spot from Day 17. The pilaf comes with a small plate of pickled vegetables: carrot, yellow carrot, radish and a mystery green vegetable.
- Lamb chop pilaf (羊排抓饭, yángpái zhuāfàn): 38 CNY (5.35 USD)
- Diced meat pilaf (碎肉抓饭, suìròu zhuāfàn): 25 CNY (3.50 USD)
- Lamb skewer (羊肉串, yángròu chuàn): 8 CNY (1.10 USD)
- Stir-fried choy sum (生炒菜心, shēngchǎo càixīn): 28 CNY (3.95 USD)
- Rice (米饭, mǐfàn): 2 CNY (0.30 USD)
Interestingly, the lamb chop pilaf costs 13 CNY (1.85 USD) more than the diced meat version, but honestly the cheaper one wins. That’s because the lamb chop only gives you a few small morsels with bones still in. The diced meat version, meanwhile, is boneless with the same rice underneath.
The Standing-Room Train to Kuitun City Xinjiang
A “no seat” (无座, wúzuò) train ticket in China means you don’t get an assigned seat. You’re still allowed to travel in the same carriage class. First, we left the accommodation at 1:20pm and took a 20 CNY (2.80 USD) Didi to Yining station, about 20 minutes. Then we boarded the 2:20pm train to Kuitun, 78 CNY (11 USD) per person, and arrived at 6:10pm.
We only had a seat for about two-thirds of the journey. After that it was standing room only, so we hunted for empty seats in other carriages whenever we could find one. This is genuinely common in China. If seated tickets sell out, you can still buy a no-seat ticket, though you’ll need to hope for somewhere free along the way. Some locals even bring a small foldable stool to sit on in the passageways.
Officially, a no-seat ticket costs the same as a second-class seat on the same train. That’s because it’s the same fare class, just without a fixed seat assigned. You can sit temporarily in any empty seat, but you do need to give it up if the ticket holder for that seat boards. Overall, it’s a normal part of the system on busy routes between Yining and Kuitun City Xinjiang. It’s not something to panic about, though it’s worth budgeting extra patience for.
Settling Into Kuitun: Feifan Hotel
Feifan Hotel sits about 200m from Kuitun’s train station, and cost us 561 CNY (79 USD) for 2 nights in a spacious 3-person room. Kuitun City Xinjiang doesn’t get much English-language travel coverage, so here’s what our stay was actually like. We stayed at Feifan Hotel (啡凡酒店, Fēifán Jiǔdiàn).
The room was fairly spacious, with a separate living room and a large bathroom. One thing worth flagging: the bathroom wall is semi-opaque, semi-transparent glass, so there’s not a lot of privacy between the bathroom and bedroom. Whoever isn’t showering will want to sit in the other room.
Dinner at Bazhen Chicken Hotpot, Kuitun
Bazhen Chicken Hotpot (八珍鸡煲, Bāzhēn Jībāo) is a Cantonese-style chicken hotpot, not spicy, built around Chinese herbs, dates and corn rather than chilli. It’s the name of this specific restaurant, not a nationwide chain. Don’t expect to find it under this exact name elsewhere in China. It sits 15 minutes’ walk from the hotel, in a strip of restaurants.
We went with lúhuājī (芦花鸡), a free-range chicken variety, on a wǔzhǐ máotáo (五指毛桃) soup base, a classic Cantonese hotpot style. In addition, it came with DIY dipping sauce, plus unlimited rice and vegetable refills self-served from a fridge. The spread included Chinese vegetables, mushrooms (enoki, wood ear, king oyster), noodles, tofu skin (豆皮, dòupí) and blood.
Total for dinner: 228 CNY (32 USD). Overall, this was a genuinely different meal to everything else we’d eaten on the trip so far. It’s worth seeking out if you want a break from Xinjiang and Sichuan-style spice.
Street Stall Fruit and Kuitun Day Costs
Day 19 cost us about 891.50 CNY (125 USD) in total, across lunch, the train transfer, accommodation and dinner. On the walk back from dinner, we picked up an Old Man Melon (老汉瓜, lǎohàn guā) and a mix of plums (西梅, xīméi) from a roadside stall. The melon cost 18 CNY (2.55 USD) at 8 CNY per jin, and the plums came to 10 CNY (1.40 USD). However, we saved both for the next day since we were too full after hotpot.
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Lunch at Blue Lotus (2 pilafs, skewer, veg, rice) | 101 CNY (14 USD) |
| Didi to Yining station | 20 CNY (2.80 USD) |
| Train, Yining to Kuitun (78 CNY x3) | 234 CNY (33 USD) |
| Feifan Hotel (1 of 2 nights, 3-person room) | 280.50 CNY (39.50 USD) |
| Dinner at Bazhen Chicken Hotpot | 228 CNY (32 USD) |
| Fruit (Old Man Melon and plums) | 28 CNY (3.95 USD) |
| Total | ~891.50 CNY (~125 USD) |
Accommodation shown here is one of two nights at Feifan Hotel, since the stay spans Day 19 and Day 20. The 390 CNY (55 USD) spent on sultanas as gifts isn’t included in the travel cost tally above.
Kuitun City Xinjiang FAQ
What does a “no seat” train ticket mean in China?
A no-seat (无座) ticket lets you board and travel in a given carriage class without an assigned seat. You pay the same fare as a second-class seat. You can sit in any temporarily empty seat, but you need to give it up when the ticket holder for that seat boards.
What souvenirs should I buy in Xinjiang?
The classic picks are dried fruit (sultanas, apricots, figs, dates, mulberries), nuts (walnuts, almonds), camel milk powder, milk candies and beef or lamb jerky. Most is sold loose by weight, by the jin, in bazaars and specialty shops like those on Liuxing Street in Yining.
Is Bazhen Chicken Hotpot a restaurant chain?
No. Bazhen Chicken Hotpot in Kuitun is a single restaurant, not a nationwide chain. “八珍” is a traditional culinary term meaning roughly “eight treasures.” Different restaurants around China use it as a style name for their own chicken hotpot without being connected to each other.
How much does the train from Yining to Kuitun cost?
We paid 78 CNY (11 USD) per person for the Yining to Kuitun train. We only had a seat for about two-thirds of the journey, and spent the rest standing or seat-hunting in other carriages.
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