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Kashgar Travel Blogs

Background: For centuries China stood as a leading civilization, outpacing the rest of the world in the arts and sciences, but in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the country was beset by civil unrest, major famines, military defeats, and foreign occupation. After World War II, the Communists under MAO Zedong established an autocratic socialist system that, while ensuring China's sovereignty, imposed strict controls over everyday life and cost the lives of tens of millions of people. After 1978, his successor DENG Xiaoping and other leaders focused on market-oriented economic development and by 2000 output had quadrupled. For much of the population, living standards have improved dramatically and the room for personal choice has expanded, yet political controls remain tight.

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By xmingf
September 15th 2009

Xin Jiang, Nationality vs. Ethnicity Asia » China » Xinjiang » Kashgar

Karakul Lake

Kashgar, the city that used to be central Asia's nexus on the southern silk road, now borders Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Tajikistan. While Urumqi is the official provincial capital , Kashgar is the Uighur's unofficial capital in Xin Jiang. Kashgar's population is 94% Uighur, with the rest made up by Han (4%) and other ethnicity. Tajiks are Shi'ite, while Kyrgies and Uighurs are Sunni. The latter two have some inter-marriage, but overall it's a very separated community. Similar to Tibet, the entire region here is high altitude, averaging 3200m, with highest inhabited zone at 4200m. Our [View Full Entry]

By around_the_world
May 4th 2009

Kashgar, the gate to Central Asia! Vibrant & colourful! Asia » China » Xinjiang » Kashgar

Id Kah Mosque

10am, Kashgar wakes up…Vibrant, colorful, multicultural, Kashgar well deserved its reputation of “gate to Central Asia”. The name of the city had somehow always brought up a sense of adventure, mysterious journey where nomads & traders stop in this oasis before heading to the Taklamakan desert in the east or down west toward Pakistan and Afghanistan. Nowadays, Kashgar still plays its role as an oasis along the Silk Road and is a live testimony of past and present glory. Grabbing the now usual freshly baked nan on the way to the old town, I was quickly to l [View Full Entry]

By around_the_world
May 4th 2009

Karakoram hw, simply unreal...driving on the highest paved road in the world... Asia » China » Xinjiang » Kashgar

Along the Karakoram Highway

Hitting the road again...but not any road, THE Karakoram highway, also known as the highest paved international road in the world, an adventure in itself! This road built by Pakistan and China connects Kashgar to Islamabad, reaching the altitude of 4600 meters, and goes through the border area where Pakistan, Tajikistan, China, Afghanistan are all within 250 km from each others. Sceneries...well, the word in itself sounds weak to describe the unbelievable diversity of landscapes, lights, colors, climates & the speed to which all those could change for better (and sometime w [View Full Entry]

By karstan
October 28th 2008

Week Two - our travels to the Far West! Asia » China » Xinjiang » Kashgar

Our Travels to the Far West (of China) Ariel Grostern Aug 24, 2008 (with Editing by Karen Stanger) hello everyone, Happy group email, from Kashgar, Xinjiang province, China. Technically, we are still in CHina, but other than the chinese writing accompanying the arabic script, and the occasional Han Chinese face, you wouldn't be able to tell. Our first impressions upon arriving here were arabic script, non-Chinese looking people (middle-eastern looking, afghan/Pakistani looking, Caucasian looking!), the use of donkeys and Vespa-type scooters (vs. electric bikes), and the sale of bage [View Full Entry]

By travellers2
October 1st 2008

Of border crossings Asia » China » Xinjiang » Kashgar

01 Osh bazaar

On September 10th, we left the idyll that was Arslanbob for Osh, 2000km to the south, and the 2nd largest city in Kyrgyzstan. We travelled with an Irishman and a Scots man( there must be a story there..). Sharing a taxi that took us through the Fergana valley, a very wide, flat area of fertile, productive land. It was very hot, hazy and humid, and we were relived to reach Osh after 4 hours in a car that sounded as if it were in its death throes. Whilst planning the journey, our impression had been of an exotic city steeped in [View Full Entry]

By old swat
September 15th 2008

The land of Mao no more! Asia » China » Xinjiang » Kashgar

Ann on the sleeper train.

In Kunming, after the operation with was, in hindsight, successful, I was kept in the Nr 1 Peoples Hospital for three days for observation, mostly on a drip and with a batch of pills periodically. On the second day I was allowed to walk in the passage and on the third day, a Saturday, I was discharged. Ann took care of the finances which amounted to R30.000 or 3000 Euro and that included a batch of pills for one month. We went back to the youth hostel where Ann prepared to go, for a few days, to the Tiger Leaping [View Full Entry]

By JulieandAlex
September 7th 2008

Biking Uighur-stan Asia » China » Xinjiang » Kashgar

Lesson 1 Scaring Asian children sounds like a lot more fun than it's worth. Every freaking time I'm playing with children on this continent and I slyly work out trying to scare them - playfully, mind you - something goes wrong. On two separate occasions in Thailand and Laos, I tried to scare some children with whom I'd already been sharing gringo-play-time ("gringo" works in any language, btw). Both times they cried. 90% of those times, I looked like an idiot. The other half, I looked like an asshole. Let's not forget that one of those bawling yard-apes so HAPPENED to [View Full Entry]

By turkishraf
September 2nd 2008

The Sinkiang Executive Asia » China » Xinjiang » Kashgar » Taklamakan Desert

Fitzherbert sees a bird as Cisca looks on

PEKING CAPITAL CITY Captain Riyadh put us firmly down onto China. Once he had made contact with the runway at Peking, we began what I call "the Qatar airways roll out". Always long, always quiet, and nearly always with no reverse thrust. We had been on the A330 for over 9 hours. I had slept for five and watched master and commander for the last two. The whole experience had, as usual for Qatar Airways, been utterly painless. We were back in China after a break of three months. With the exception of Olympian fever, or should I say fervour, nothing [View Full Entry]

The Central Asian Mosque in Central Kashgar.

Modern Communications in Chinese Turkistan

By turkishraf
August 29th 2008

Sinkiang Comments Asia » China » Xinjiang » Kashgar

The Mountains of Turkistan

This last post about our journey through Sinkiang attracted many comments. Some of them were from Chinese people, some from Uygurs and some were from foreigners. I was surprised by how many comments this attracted, I was also surprised by how many of the comments might have been deemed offensive. I didn’t take offence, but I did think that some form of explanation might not go amiss. My blog is a form of diary, it chronicles my experiences and those of the people that I travel with. This goes out to all of my friends and some people who share an [View Full Entry]

By JulieandAlex
August 28th 2008

As promised, the MOST chinese thing... Asia » China » Xinjiang » Kashgar

....I have ever done! SO, if you've finished my last post, you will recall that we went on an awesome 4 day hike in the mountains aroud Urumqi (that culminated in a 7 hour hike with my 30 pound pack on the last day). After this, I was understandably sore. I mean like, walking funny kind of sore. my calves were tight and aching and my thighs were killing me, even when I was just standing! The guys were feeling the same way, though they weren't QUITE as whiny as I was, and we decided to get massages the next day. [View Full Entry]

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