Kashgar

We flew from Wulumuqi to Kashgar, and upon landing in Kashgar we knew we weren't in Kansas, I mean China, any more...
Getting off the plane here felt more like getting off my plane in "deployed locations" in my previous life. The ground was brown and the sky was too, from a little dust storm.

We flew into Kashgar on a Saturday, so that we would be in place for the famous Kashgar Sunday Market. So after checking into our hotel we explored the city.

Kashgar was a very important city on the Silk Road. It was here that the Silk Road split into the Northern and Southern routes to get around the Taklamakan Desert to get to the Chinese capital of Xi'an (Chang'an).

This population of Xinjiang is over 90% Uygher. The lay of the land is definitely Central Asian as well. In fact, the movie Kite Runner was filmed here in Kashgar and in the city Tashkurgan also in Xinjiang.

This was the real Xinjiang. So unique, so wonderful. The following are a host of pictures to give a flavor of the things we saw.

Beautiful restaurant, wonderful food here...
Amway... only the best shopping here!

Random street shots...

Shoe repairman...

Fun and games...

A parking lot...

Perhaps a market here for baby carriers?

The plan was for the three of us to have some amount of facial hair to "blend in." I wanted to have my goatee shaved by somebody like this, but then the whole sanitation thing kind of scared me away from doing so...

The main square in town

The entrance to the main mosque

Greetings being exchanged before afternoon prayer at the mosque

Uyghers are known for their knives. My Lonely Planet says that every man carries at least three knives on him. Here Ryan is getting fitted for an ankle-mounted knife...

Great day for a shoe shine

So we basically had forgotten that we were in China, then we stumbled upon this HUGE Mao Zedong statue that totally reminds you where you are...

Wandering into the neighborhoods...

Woodworking...

The wood supply for the woodworkers also makes for a fun jungle gym

Cute kids all around town. They loved posing for pictures and then seeing on our cameras what they looked like.

Drive-bys

I loved this scene of these men sitting here...

After showing them the picture I took, I joined them for a picture. See how well I "blend in" with my facial hair!

Wandering down the alleys. I liked the rooms built over the alleys

Metal workers

Butchers were everywhere. The meat of choice is lamb.

Spices

Uyghers make excellent bread... naan bread similar to Indian naan bread and bagels, lightly salted, crunchy outside and chewy in the middle. I survived on bread during this trip.

Bread oven

A little tomato sauce, a little cheese, and a little pepperoni and we'd be in business!

Dried fruits

Local restaurant

Fabric market

Hat sales... imagine, a world without baseball hats

How do you know if the meat is fresh?

... if the sheep heads are still fresh, the meat must still be fresh as well!

Refreshing drinks

Rain hat

Ryan and Enrique

Locals talking on a street corner...

More games

For a couple of bucks you can go on a tour of the Old Town. This was a very well maintained, still lived-in area of town that made for a fun visit

Enrique entertained the kids with his soccer skills

A view from the Old Town

Unfortunately you can see the "progress" happening here with the old homes being torn down to make room for lifeless high-rise apartments

These gals were fascinating to watch doing their double dutch.

Ping pong

Tea pot makers

Leaving the Old Town area

Doing laundry

These guys were talking about us in Chinese, then I surprised them by talking with them in Chinese. They asked where we were from and I said "Shanghai, can't you read Chinese" while pointing to my sweatshirt. They said they were businessmen from Shanghai so we chatted a bit about where we lived in Shanghai. Then I then busted out my very limited Shanghainese (Shanghai dialect) and they loved it. The guy to my right wanted to take a picture with me, so I figured I might as well get a picture, too.

A view of the Old Town from below

The next day were were off to the Kashgar Sunday Market