Blogs from Kashgar, Xinjiang, China, Asia - page 3

J’ai beaucoup aimé la ville de Kashgar. J’ai passé la plupart de mon temps dans la vieille ville a coté de la grande mosquée, a déguster (en cachette car c’est le ramadan en ce moment) des pains a la viande de mouton, des pastèques et melons sucrés, et a observer les Ouighours dans leur train-train quotidien. Les hommes portent un petit chapeau carré, brodé, sur le haut de la tète. Les hommes plus âgés ont pour la plupart une longue barbe blanche et ils ont tous les yeux perçants. Les femmes portent des robes et foulards ultra colorés. A Kashgar en été, les jours sont très longs. Le soleil se lève vers 8h et se couche après 22h : longues journées pour faire le ramadan. On dirait que le vieux quartier a été plus ou moins ... read more

Hi All Our first adventure up the southern silk road toady to a town called Yarkand, in Uyghur, ShaChe, in Chinese. Yarkand is on the edge of the Taklamakan Desert and we felt the full force of it's heat today, the sun was really strong. We had a wander around the old town and the graveyard while eating some samsa. Samsa are small mutton pasties baked in an oven. I imagine visiting here for a vegetarian would be a nightmare. Both times that we've ordered vegetable noodles or rice there has been mutton in it. Yarkand was on the end of a trade route that ran from British India, modern Pakistan, over the Karakoram Pass. It was an important oasis town on the southern silk road and today is known for it's tombs. There is a ... read more

Hi All We decided to split up our journey to Hotan with a stop over in Karghilik, in Uyghur, YeCheng, in Chinese. If anyone is going to stay here the only hotel we could stay in was the QiaoGeLi, K2 hotel. The traffic hotel at the bus station wouldn't take foreigners. I probably need to explain who the Uyghers are to some people. They are the ethnic group that live predominately in XinJiang province. They are a real mix of people Chinese, Kazaks, Uzbeki, Tajiki, Mongolian, Russian and even Europeans who travelled up the silk road. They traditionally don't speak Chinese but Uyghur,which is also spoken in quite a few of the other central Asian countries, it is also written in an Arabic script. They were originally Buddhist as Buddhism came from India to China through ... read more

Hi All On our return to the city we had a stroll through the park. We even found some traditional music being played with people dancing. We sat and watched for about 15 mins. We were invited to dance but we politely declined. I must say that most of the people here have been very friendly indeed. After the park we visited the tomb of Yusup Has an 11th century philosopher and poet. He was also an advisor to the king of Kashgaria. The colours of this tomb were incredible. It really is hard to remember that we are still in China sometimes. That doesn't include the absolutely enormous Mao statue in the main square or the masses of police and army patrolling the streets. We are having a great time here and can't wait until ... read more

Hi All, What a really great day. The youth hostel where we are staying organised for us to go off into the desert. This morning Allahjan came in his car and drove us to the Dawakol Desert which is in the far south west corner of the Talakaman Desert. It took about two and a half hours in the car but it flew by. We passed through some small Uygher settlements and Allajan had traditional Uygher music on the car stereo great fun. I never thought that a common language between me and another person would ever be Chinese!! We got by though and managed to understand each other. Allahjan acted also as our guide and showed us where to go and even tried to negotiate discount for us on the camels and cars. The camel ... read more