Airlines CAAC, 62 Youhao Lu (10am-1.30pm, 4-8pm; tel 0991/2641826), northwest of the post office. Take bus #101 heading west along Guangming Lu. Siberia Airlines (9.30am-1.30pm & 4-7pm; tel 0991/2862326) has an office in the Overseas Chinese Hotel on Xinhua Nan Lu. Kazakh Airlines has an office in the consulate.

Banks and exchange The Bank of China (Mon-Fri 10am-2pm & 3.30-6.30pm, Sat 1-3pm) is at the junction of Renmin Lu and Jiefang Lu.

Bookshops The impressive Xinhua Bookshop is off the square opposite the Bank of China. There's no English sign; look for the department store facing the large glass pyramid, and the bookshop is next door. English novels are on the fourth floor.

Cinema There is a cinema (Chinese-language only) on Minzhu Lu.

Consulates Kazakhstan maintains a consular presence in Urumqi at 31 Kunming Lu, a small street east off Beijing Bei Lu. They are open for visa applications and to sell airline tickets from Mon-Thurs 10.30am-1pm (tel 0991/3825564).

Internet There's a lovely Internet café at 18 Youhou Bei Lu, with eight terminals available, run by two friendly and hospitable women (daily 10am-2am; ¥10 an hour).

Post and telecommunications The main post office west of the northern end of Renmin Park is one place to make long-distance calls. More simply, however, you can buy and use telephone cards in the lobbies of upmarket hotels (including the Holiday Inn and Hongshan).

Travel agents There are seemingly dozens of these in the Hongshan Hotel. You can take your pick, though the Heaven Lake International Travel Service (CHTS) in room 219 (tel 0991/2816018 ext 219) has pleasant staff and offers a pretty cheap, all-inclusive package to Lake Tianchi. Urumqi CITS is located in the building immediately south of the Holiday Inn.