text: Most street festivals are happy to throw a few cuts of meat on a barbecue, or perhaps even have a hog roast. In one corner of China, however, a full camel in a giant oven is the order of the day. The 450kg (990lb) beast was coated in a lurid yellow marinade before it was lowered by crane into a 6m-tall tandoor kiln, the People’s Daily Online reported. Scroll down for video . Preparing: The camel is first coated with a yellow marinade before being put into the six-metre kiln . Spectacular: The camel is hoisted out of the kiln after being roasted on the street of Jining in northwest China . Ready: The feast was prepared by Momin Hopur, a local celebrity chef and fourth-generation grill master . The chef and his apprentices took five days building the special kiln, which then had to be warmed up for 48 hours . Momin Hopur, a Uighur celebrity chef, spent five hours cooking the camel at the annual Apricot Tourism Festival last week in Yining County in north Xinjiang. The kiln was built specially with more than 10,000 bricks, yellow mud and salt. Hopur and his apprentices spent five days erecting the cooking device and warmed it up for 48 hours before the big day. “The brick kiln was pre-heated for 48 hours,” said Mr Hopur, who is the fourth generation of a family of grill masters from Bachu County, according to Tianshan Network. “Before the camel was roasted, it was marinated with a special seasoning containing 36 herbs then it was covered with sesames,” added Mr Hopur. Meal was served at 2pm to hundreds of long-awaited customers. Highly anticipated: Hundreds of customers line up to buy the roast, which took five hours to cook . Delicious: Hopur and his team serve roast camel to a crowd who waited for as long as three hours for a slice . “I’ve never seen a camel being cooked like this,” said local resident Kurbanjan who – after waiting for three hours -- was the first in the queue to buy the roast, which was made with a marinade that included eggs, flour and 36 herbs. “After I tasted it, I found it really tasty,” added Kurbanjan. This was the sixth camel Hopur had roasted during the festival. Chef: Delighted by the popularity of his roast, Hopur is to transport 20 more camels the festival in Jining . Popular: This is the sixth camel Hopur has roasted during the festival . Delighted by their popularity, the local celebrity chef has decided to transport 20 more camels to Jining to feed the festival goers. “I haven’t slept for three days as I need to give constant attention to the temperature of the fire, but I’m very happy to see that people like my camel,” said Hopur to China News Service. The Apricot Tourism Festival opened on April 3rd and is set to last for 10 days.
target: Camel weighed 450kg and had to be hoisted into the kiln by a crane .
  Mysterious marinade contains 36 herbs as well as eggs and black pepper .
  Chef spent five days building the giant kiln with more than 10,000 bricks .
  First customer had queued for three hours for a portion .
  The street feast is a part of a tourism festival in Xinjiang in northwest China .