Blogs from Hotan, Xinjiang, China, Asia

This was yesterday, a Sunday, so to be leisurely. We strolled to the neighbouring open People's plaza, passing about 30 employees of a neighbouring shop, limbering up on the pavement outside to lively music and working on the corporate bonding and zeal for a day's trading. The very large plaza was colourful with bright lights and a fringe of floats, many of which had been sponsored by local businesses; the area was dominated by a large statue of Chairman Mao and a local Uighir male (with full beard and moustache), holding hands. The symbolism reminded one of a recent re-enactment between USA and a representative of the UK. Beyond the plaza we indulged in coffee and cakes, explored some more and then set out to find the bus station. We had carefully armed ourselves with a ... read more

Hi All We stayed in the travel hotel near the bus station which was cheapish, 150rmb double en-suite, and comfortable enough, although there never seemed to be much hot water. The good thing about the hotel was that it was in the Uyghur part of the city. The feel of the city was a little tense as there are a lot of police and army on the streets. Travelling from city to city takes ages as the bus has to stop at every checkpoint into ,and sometimes, out off the cities and towns. Everyone has to get off the bus and have their ID cards checked by the police then everyone gets back on the bus. Anway, back to Hotan. The area along TongBei Lu was amazing. It really feels like we've gone back in time. ... read more

Monday September 4th Tienh wanted to wake up at the crack of dawn the catch the first bus but her plan, thank god, collapsed when she woke up at 8:30. We packed quickly and made it to the bus station. We managed to catch the 9:10 bus. I bought some bread thingy and juice before heading on the bus. We met a chinese guy who had been on our bus from Dunhuang. Tienh talked with him for a while and at some point he started speaking french to me. He had lived in Paris for 5 years so he could speak it pretty well (as well as english). We spoke a bit but I wasn't too talkative that day. The ride to Urumqi was only about 2:30 and a half, a split second compared to the ... read more