The streets of Old and Old New Kashgar

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June 27th 2013

Published: June 28th 2013

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bo on the go

Map Kashgar

showing old town and new old town

Saturday morning saw me wandering the streets of Old and New Old Kashgar, refer map

Kashgar can be seen as several distinct areas, there is some of the Old Town left, There's the New Old Town, then the larger high rise city and the New City of Kashgar under construction. Several years ago the Government started making a concerted effort to knock down the Old Town, as unsafe buildings and where high rise apartments would be a much more efficient use of city space, which brought some strong resistance into the streets. A compromise of sorts was reached and a New Old Town area was designated, two and three story buildings leaving areas for street markets etc and leaving a small area of the Old Town standing. The pace of change did not stop just became refocused on the New City. China is committed to bringing millions of its citizens into the middle classes every year, a program that will continue for the very success of Chinas Rebuilding, they have let the Uyghur people move along at a slower pace.

I entered the Old To stroll the quiet alley ways, getting glimpses of a centuries old way of life

3931_oldkashgar[1]

through open, wooden, some intricately designed and colourful double door ways. I felt a bit invasive in this quiet area of town but received the odd smile from the occasional resident so relaxed into a stroll peering into every nook and cranny. There were a lot of crumbling buildings but also some reconstruction which showed that the place was not a totally lost cause. Emerging back into a large, bustling, noisy intersection was a rude shock. I strolled around some high rise apartments and glass towers to feel the difference before camping under a tree with a cold drink to watch the world go by, tractor transporters, scooters, wow a whole family of 5 on one scooter, the ever present multi utility trike transport, the younger hip people and the more traditionally garbed not looking at all phased by the heat as I was.

The next area was New Old town, the streets a hive of activity, little shop fronts, lots of similar little shops gathered in the same area, hand engineered tool shops, wooden spindle making shops, hand beaten pots and pans’ street with somebody in each small shop or on the street beating a piece of

Old town houses

tin into shape. I felt very comfortable strolling around and nobody seemed to mind at all me gawping and taking photos. Perhaps timely to reiterate about how safe it is to move around alone. There is absolutely zero aggression, angst, hostility from the smallest village to the largest city all over this vast country. Hamish ( Bro ) mentioned that it is perhaps a mechanism of so many people living on top of each other. Anywhere in these vast cities any time of the day or night I feel safer than I would in any part of Auckland.

Up and down these streets was a lot of construction, DIY in the little shops and face lifts for many of the building frontages. Busy community streets where you could see that the constant chatter, interaction, food carts, prayer stops, gossip are all part of a good day.

A quick pass through a large market, plan is to hang out here on the Sunday, I am told it’s the main social day for family and friends, young and old, making it the busiest day of the week.

Please join me for a fun day at