Xinjiang: Kashgar, Urumqi, and Turpan

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AHH!! This blog is not complete, but I wanted to at least get the pictures up for you to see. Captions and a complete entry are on their way!!!

Dear (no longer) abandoned blog,
During spring break (March 31-April 6) CIEE took us on a group trip to Xinjiang which is the most Northwest province of China. The population there is largely made up of one of China's many ethnic minority groups, the Uyger people. Since Xinjiang (especially the city of Kashgar) is geographically so close to the middle east, the Uyger culture more closely resembles the cultures of the middle east. Also the Uyger people look middle eastern with a dash of Chinese mixed in. Our first stop was Urumqi, the biggest city in the area. We stopped at the city's museum and got to see some of the 2000 year old mummies that have been found in Xinjiang's desert graves. After a few hours we caught our flight to Kashgar which is really close to the China-Pakistan border. In Kashgar we got to experience a lot of the Uyger culture with the help of our guide Ali (who is possibly the best tour guide in the world) Ali took us to see scenic areas, eat Uyger food, visit Mosques in the area (including China's biggest mosque), and visit Kashgar's Sunday bazaar. He taught us how to greet people in the Uyger language, but he also said that it's appropriate to say As sala'amu alaikum and respond walaikum as sala'am which made me feel like the world really is quite small

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Photos

The view from the plane
So pretty :)

Uyger People
This was at our first rest stop in Kashgar. We bought bread and used the most disgusting bathrooms on the face of the earth :\

Yak?
Yaks on our way to a scenic lake in the mountains. One of the guys started chasing one and it fell over, poor yak.

Karakul Lake
A gorgeous lake way up in the mountains. Our four hour drive brought us here, so there are lots of relatively pointless pictures that I'm gonna post from here.

Camel Craziness
I paid a dollar to ride a camel at the lake. Jealous??

Purdy
A camel, a Uyger guy, and gorgeous mountains. What more could a girl ask for?

View from the hotel in Kashgar
On the second day the sand and dust that hung over the city settled and you could see the mountains from our hotel.

Down Camel!
At the gorgeous Abakh Hoja Tomb (the tomb of the fragrant concubine...yeah ask if you're really that curious)

Comments

[your nilofer]

first to comment!
hi babe. lovely pics. of course. why's it called the flaming mountain? and i am SOOOO jealous of your dollar camel ride!!! hope all is well babe. miss you lots!