Blogs from Xinjiang, China, Asia - page 9

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 We stayed in the travel hotel near the bus station which was cheapish, 150rmb double en-suite, and comfortable enough, although there never seemed to be much hot water. The good thing about the hotel was that it was in the Uyghur part of the city. The feel of the city was a little tense as there are a lot of police and army on the streets. Travelling from city to city takes ages as the bus has to stop at every checkpoint into ,and sometimes, out off the cities and towns. Everyone has to get off the bus and have their ID cards checked by the police then everyone gets back on the bus. Anway, back to Hotan. The area along TongBei Lu was amazing. It really feels like we've gone back in time. ... 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

A lovely trip out of the city to the Abakh Hoja tomb. The Muslims here are Sunji Muslims and it was Abakh Hoja who started the Sunji sect. They are fairly liberal with their ideas and some even drink alcohol. The site of his, and his families, tomb is one of the most holy sites to the Uyghers. His granddaughter Ikparhan is also buried here. She lead a Uygher revolt aganst the Chinese. She was eventually defeated and became a concubine of Emperor Qianglong. Her name in Chinese is Xiang Fei, The Fragrant Concubine The tomb itself is decorated in beautiful tiles but as you can see in the photos the tomb and other buildings were undergoing some reconstruction. We took the bus to get there and you have to walk about 500 metres through a ... read more