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Published: June 18th 2006
Kashgar - main Bazzar
the kashgar market is the bigest we have every been to by far. bigger then the makets of Peru. bigger then the markets of Guatamala and bigger then the markets of Indiathe LAMETAYEL ODAFIM travel store is just 5 minute away from my work and I stop there
once in a while to look at stuff and get some inspiration. A year and a half ago I bought a
few 2nd hand Lonely Planet books. I choose to buy books with exotic names and of places I
will probably never visit so I can read about their history and look at the pictures to see
places I will never see. One of the books I bought was about a highway - Karakorum
highway. In the store I did not even recognize by looking at the map exactly where it was,
only that it was deep in central-Asia. At home I understood it was a highway connecting
Pakistan and western China. on one side a country i cannot travel to and on the other side a
part of china so remote it is closer to Tel-Aviv then to Beijing. well here I am 18months later
and I can describe and show pictures from the Karakorum highway.
when planing our trip, visiting Xinjiang (China's western province - described in this entry
and the previous 3 entries) was marked as one of the highlights but it exceeded all our
expectations. the diversity of the place from the hot deserts of Turpan to cold Siberia of lake
Kanas to the oasis of Kashgar and the beauty of lake Karakul are only the views in which the
Xinjiang experience happens. the views we can share in the pictures. but eyes are only one
sense. the rest of the senses were also enchanted. this we can only try to describe in short
words.
Lets start with the sounds - the quiet of the desert as you stop for a rest on a long drive.
the sounds of wild birds in the parks. the sounds of herds of sheep and yaks in the field
complimented with the sounds of a Sheppard dog or a horse. In the cities the racket of the
markets with vendors shouting, then passing one corner into an ally with silk or cloths and
suddenly everything is quiet and then stumbling into an improvised street show for the
market goers. strolling in old towns and hearing blacksmiths
Kashgar - main Bazzar
tea is abig thing in China. it's main use is to add to boiling water that is avaiable everywhere (trains, hotels, resturants) and is used for drinking water. naturally there are alot of kinds of teas or woodworkers in their shops
hammering or carving . and all around this is music in Turkish, Arabic, Indian and Chinese
sounds. Song birds in cages at the entrance of many shops - not the most environmental
thing - but definitely nice to the ear. and finally, everyone you pass saying "hello"
Or the smells - of animals, kabas, breads, carpets, spices (we smelled and bought Iranian
saffron for the first time), smoke from chimneys, flowers in the wild, noodles.
And the food - fresh breads, kabas, spaghetti noddles, Pakistani food, chickpeas, fresh
fruits all making your mouth water.
And all this setting holds friendly people of different minorities. Uygurs, Kazakhs, Tajiks,
Mongolian, Russian, Uzbeks all talking in there own language that you cannot understand
but that sounds like something you can almost recognize.
Also unique was traveling in a mostly Muslim country and not only feeling safe but actually
feeling strangely familiar. i guess we assimilated much of our middle-eastern surroundings
without realizing how much. we always presented ourselves as Israelis and the
Kashgar - main Bazzar
also you can find in the market quack doctors that give alternative treatments. this guy has a headach and he got a 10min starfish treatment local
Muslims didn't seem to take sides in our own religious war at home only wanted to know
what was happening (if they know about Palestine at all 😊 )
In all, traveling to Xinjiang was a trip to the heart of central-Asia and a feeling of literally
being at "the-end-of-the-road" and the abundance of photos i this blog shows how much we
enjoyed it. We met travelers continuing to Pakistan, Tajikistan of Kazakhstan. But we still
have some exploration to do in in the Middle-Kingdom so we did a U-turn and are heading
back to mainland china.
Hagit describes our Karakorum Highway experience
hello dear Friends.
I have had the most unique experience in the trip so far.we returned
from lake karakul which is on the middle of the Karakorum highway. the highway connects
china with Pakistan. going to the lake means changing the scenery completely; we arrived
Wednesday afternoon from Kashgar which is in the desert, to the lake which is 3600m high
(very cold and windy). the accommodations here are very limited -
Kashgar - main Bazzar
next to him is a man that has leaches on his leg. we dont know what it is good for... most places are Yurts (the
local tent). the first 3 hours after arriving to the lake were a real shock to me since i didn't
understand what we are up to: we are not only going to stay in the yurt - sleeping on the
dirty carpets but, we are going to do it in their own home ( a Tajik family). sleeping with
them, eating with them... and it was cold.
I was depressed and didn't believe the situation i was caught into . all i wanted was to go
back home (Israel), get into my pyjama and drink hot chocolate. i understood there is
nothing we can do to improve the situation (the bus back is only the next day) so i kept
quite... Yaron was afraid that i am panicking and asked me not to divorce him because of
the place he took me to. i asked him not to be angry with me for being upset. i was worried
about sleeping in the yurt with the family, eating the food they make - no running water, no
soap to clean the dishes,
Kashgar - main Bazzar
in this market you can buy everything - here you see buttons smoke everywhere (fireplace that runs on tweeds), going to the
toilets at the middle of the night- there are none - you just find a remote place. we trekked a
Little and than returned for dinner. from that point on, things began to improve for me
(yaron was happy from the first minute - the lake was amazing, and the high snowy
mountains above were beautiful). we entered the yurt and found the wife (Maisha- 18 years
old) preparing dinner -cutting nice looking vegetables, and making her own a dough. than,
she used a special machine (spaghetti machine) to prepear the noddles from the fresh
dough. we ate dinner with her and her 3 years old son (Mustapa) sitting on the carpets. we
tried the local "Yak butter tea" - but didn't like the salty taste of it. after dinner her husband
(Manas 23 years old) arrived and sat with us. it was a nice evening. cold outside but inside
we were using fire to get warm. we spent the evening smiling to each other since they don't
speak English and we don't do Tajik. we went to sleep
Kashgar - main Bazzar
the bazar is not just for buying things. you can also get a haircut and a shave right on the street on the carpets (in our sleeping bags)
with the rest of our new family (we especially liked the baby and played with him). going to
the toilets at the middle of the night ( alone) was a beautiful sight - it was before dawn , the
lake was flat and cool, the yaks were grazing the grass, the sheep were sleeping and clouds
everywhere. at morning, we ate dry bread, drank some tea with the family and let them
taste chocolate chunk cookies with coffee flavore. we took a short walk and then the bus
suddenly arrived an hour before time. it honked, we grabed our stuff, payed and ran to the
bus. the ride back was nice and relatively easy.
For summery - i am very glad we decided to stay at the lake and have this experience. it
was the most unique i think we had so far. mingling with the locals to that extend. we
always try to find the original and authentic and get away from the noisy cities- well this time
we did it, and we did it big time.
Yaron's remark: I must say that Hagit might sound a bit KUTER in this blog. she is really not. she is a GIBORA in the way she handles the difficulties and it is a great joy traveling with here were we on the same trip???
it was a bit difficult writing this blog since we are thinking about home and about those who need health and quite there. but the amount of photos this week shows how much fun we are having
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Lee Kay
non-member comment
My spontaneous reaction to lake Karakul
"Pi Kus-Emek!" (sorry for the profanity, but it looks like one of the wildest, most beautiful places I've ever heard of. Even compared with the much "nicer" Tian Chi.)