The Silk Road, China (Part II)

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Hi again,
Arrived to Urumqi, a little more relaxed (and a little exhausted), and decided to keep on traveling on the Northern Silk Road. There are two main roads heading west - one north of the desert and one south of it. Another long bus took me all the way to a small town called Korla. Spent the night there in a dirty hotel, and continued the next morning in a short train ride to Kuqa.
Kuqa is another small city, with a glorious past from the ages of the Silk Road, and perhaps with a less glorious future. The city has two parts, old and new, but instead of having an old center surrounded by a newer city, it has two separate parts - east and west.
The new city is interesting with modern buildings, modern parks and squares, but a very nice and colorful bazaar, that reminded me of the market in Istanbul (not for the first time, and I guess not for the last time...).
Suddenly I saw an old lady selling all kinds of boiled beans from big jars. A closer look revealed that one of those jars contained humus beans! I tasted them, and they were the real thing. I asked her about the other form of humus - using every acting skill I could bring out of myself - but she just didn't know that there is another way to eat it... So I took some beans instead.
At night, like every night here in Xinjiang, went out for a shish-kebab dinner. This is where you can meet the other travelers, also trying to enjoy the food they were missing for so long while traveling in China. Met some people I have seen before on the trip (happens a lot in China - there aren't too many travelers), and got some nice tips about the places I am about to see in the next few days.
The next day was Friday, and there is a big Friday market in the old part of Kuqa. In the morning we went to a small village near the city, walked around the fields and between the houses, saw some small mosques, and enjoyed watching the locals. Around noon we went to the old part of the city, where the big mosque is, and where the market is. Since it was Friday, the mosque was full of people, and the square in front of it was also full of people praying. The site was amazing, and once again I realized that this is not really China anymore.
The market itself was very busy. The faces, the smells, the noises - are really hard to describe. I tried to add some pictures that can pass a glimpse of the experience. O have been to many markets in China before, but this is really a new and a different experience. Very different than the markets in the villages that sell everything you need to survive. Here you can also buy things you don't NEED. You can find things you just WANT to have.
From here the road leads further west, but that story will be told later.
Until then,
R.

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Photos

Here we are in the center of town
Did I mention that this is not really China anymore?

Pool tables
Well, I guess we are still in China...

IP phones
IP phones are all over China, but this is just too surreal.