Xinjiang is "a bit dry", haha, I like that. I'd love to get out to Xinjiang sometime but there's a ton of other places in China I'd like to go too. It really is an incredible country.

Sounds like you had a considerabley different experience then I had. I first went as a languange student and then ended up teaching English. I also met my wife there, and when we go back we stay with her family; which is always an experience for the typical white guy who grew up in suburban America. Even though I have a degree in East Asian Studies it still blows my mind everytime. I guess reading about a culture in a book and living it are just totally different things.

The Jade Buddha Temple is indeed spectacular, I have been several times. If you ever get back and go to Xiamen check out Nanputuo Temple. It's a multilayered temple complex that winds its way up a mountain. Not quite as spectacular as Yufousi in Shanghai but the location makes up for it.