Best of Kashgar

I'm going to try and make this a thing. Just sort of do a recap, a "best of", for each major place I visit through photos. So instead of writing much, yesterday was all planning anyway (and I basically finished my Chengdu film - to hit Vimeo shortly...), I'll just post some of the better, more captivating photos taken in Kashgar. If it works, I'll do this for other places as well.

First, though, I woke up leisurely yesterday morning knowing that yesterday was a planning day, made some coffee and read through the CNN headlines on my computer. I cam across this interesting piece on China:

 http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/21/travel/gallery/china-new-year-stats/index.html?hpt=ias_t2

It basically is a photo slideshow of the insane figures for the numbers of travelers and how they travel in China during the winter holiday period (which is now). Basically describing how impossible it is to book any kind of ticket for anything around this time. Well, this obviously freaked me out a bit. Here's my predicament. I leave Beijing on the train that takes me to Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia and eventually on to the trans-Siberian in Russia on Feb 9th. And there is only one train per week. If I miss that train, it voids my Russian visa because a stipulation for that visa was that I plan, to the day, where I go, how long I stay in each city, etc., and that I buy my train tickets across Siberia ahead of time. And I won't have enough time to apply for another Russian visa if it voids because my Chinese visa is set to expire as well the following week (and you need at least 3 weeks of normal processing time for a Russian visa). Right, so, basically this article sent me in massive prep mode and I wound up buying every ticket from here to Beijing, which is good because now I know I have a way to get to Beijing to make that train, but is also bad because now I am not free to wander about, place to place, as I originally intended. No matter. Here's my new route according to the tickets I bought:

Kasghar (leaving in 30 minutes)
Turpan (Xinjiang)
Dunhuang (Gansu)
Lanzhou (Gansu)
Beijing

I'll have one or two days in each spot with a day or so of travel in between. I'll describe in detail in later posts why I chose these places. Sorry, I'm rushing a bit - gotta make that train!

Here is the best of Kashgar, in photos!

My arrival to Kashgar

The largest statue of Mao Zedong in China

Camels at auction

All Uighur men wear a hat similar to this

My lunch, called yappon, basically rice pilaf with mutton

Local mosque in a back alley of the old town

Silks for sale at the bazaar

Xinjiang is well known for its unique type of naan bread

Building facade in the old town

Watermelon for sale in the night market

All manner of spices are sold in the old town

The Uighur version of "chai" or "raze"

 See you in Turpan!