Hotan to Kashgar (China)
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Hotan to Kashgar (China) |
| Hotan to Kashgar |
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After having crossed the Taklamakan desert, we
join the Southern string of oasis cities that make up the Southern Silk
road. The journey to the famous Silk Road city of Kashgar was desert only
with, to our left along the way, both the Himalaya and Pamir chains of
mountains. Mount Kongur is the highest at 7719 m !
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Karghilik |
  
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Karghilik is the same as any other city along
the Southern silk road. The main road entering the city leads us to an ugly
Chinese style main street. This main street will be lined with small one
storey houses in which a Chinese family lives and has a small shop or
restaurant. There are always decorated with small boring looking white
tiles. Since the Chinese have taken over this part of Asia, they have
decided to make it Chinese. To do this, they will offer incentives for
families to move to the West : financial incentives or even, we were told,
the possibility of having a second child. Of course, all important posts in
the administration are held by Han Chinese. Most of the big cars are driven
by Han Chinese. In the capital of the Province, Urumqi, their numbers are
quite important. South of the desert, however, more than 95% of the
population is still the local Uyghur. They live in the "old town"
or that part of the city that has not yet been demolished to make it a
"modern city". This part of town centers around the main mosque
and the bazaar.
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| Yarkand |
  
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Besides its bazaar, Yarkand is famous for its
mosque and cemetery. Everything here is muslim style and looks very much
like Central Asia. No wonder as the people are the same : Uyghur, Tadjiks,
Kyrghyz etc. One aspect of Chinese life we had almost forgotten about is the
fact that not all hotels are allowed to accept foreigners as their standards
are supposedly not good enough. This is not good when there is only one such
hotel in the city. No competition... As usual, we would put our guide up in
a guesthouse and ask to stay in the car park. Although initially OK, the
lady at the reception called the PSB (Public Security Bureau) to check if
this was OK. No this is not OK : we should sleep in the hotel as all
foreigners "should" do. Fine. We wish to stay in your beautiful
city so we will pay for a room. No, no, no, the price is foreigners is
different : not 40 RMB as for locals but 160 RMB (= US$ 20 instead of US$ 5)
! After having visited the cemetery, we left and drove to the next city 200
km away... Due to her unfriendliness, we promised this lady she would be put
up on the internet ! Later in Kashgar, we met the MSF (Medecins sans
Frontieres) team who knew of her !
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China's most unfriendly reception lady
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Local children
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Try to fix this one
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| Yengisar |
  
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Yengisar is the Toledo of China : the place
where all the fine knifes are manufactured. Blades are made of steel
(Chinese made or imported from Japan) and the handles are made of iron.
These can be decorated with all sorts of material : silver, horn, pearls...
Everything is done by hand in small shops of the city or everything under
one roof in the the government factory that we visited. This factory had 50
workers, all responsible for one step of the manufacturing process.
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| Kashgar Sunday market |
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Kashgar has had a weekly market or the last
two thousand years... It is said these people know how to bargain !
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| The Great Game |
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The "Great Game" is the name that
was given by the British to the battle of influence between Russia and
England in this part of the world. One remain of this period is the Russian
Consulate in Kashgar.
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| The city of Kashgar |
| Besides its weekly market to which the whole province flocks to, Kashgar is the second largest city in Xinjiang Province. Despite some large Chinese style avenues, it has an amazing old town full of traders and beautiful old houses. It is easy to believe that the Chinese would destroy the whole area just for the sake of building a "better, more modern city". |
  
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Kashgar, old town
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Kashgar, new city (Troopie next to one of China's tallest statues of the Great Helmsman)
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9000 km after our departure from Hong Kong !
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| A few more pages to round up our 6 weeks in China |
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| Driving in China, part II | Vehicles on the road | Car and camping |
We are doing well !
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| Turpan to Hotan | Back to Trip page | The Karakoram Highway |
