Marco....

Iron works district of the old town in Kashgar

I'm going to tell a story. A long time ago there was a devil living in the Bin River in Kashgar. And there was a village nearby that was constantly harassed by this devil. One day, the devil threatened to flood the river and destroy the village and so the villagers sacrificed a young girl to appease it. One year later, Sulaiman, a young villager, stood out bravely to rebel against the devil. After seeking the advice from a local elder, Sulaiman trudged over mountains and across rivers to obtain some sacred iron ore from the snowy peaks of the Kunlun Mountains so that he could use it to forge a huge iron wok. Sulaiman tricked this devil into getting into the wok and the devil was so exhausted from trying to escape that he died. This wok was so big that it eventually formed the terrace of the village as the village became more prosperous without interference from the devil (I'm pretty sure this is how Burlington was formed too). Since then the village became well known throughout the region for its iron works, even to this day.

I saw this story on a sign in some back alley of the iron works district of the old town when I was walking through today. It looks as if it was made at one point to aid in tourism but the location appears to have left it in neglect. Anyway, the iron works district was very cool. Shopkeepers and blacksmiths still work with primitive tools as they chisel away at different metals to make wood burners and knives and tools. They display their handiwork outside the shops and work in the open for potential buyers to watch.

I spent the day today solely taking pictures and film clips. I went first to the old bazaar which, as advertised, was the real deal. Just as Kashgar used to be a main trading hub on the silk road, merging wares from China, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and India, so too does it feel today. Pretty much everything is sold in this market. And a lot of the goods were clearly products of different nearby regions. I and a friend from the hostel, Chen, walked around the market this morning taking photos of carpets, silks, boots, hats, and spices. But - massive disappointment - no sheep skin boots. I'll manage.

Persian rugs for sale at the Kashgar bazaar

Then I wandered around the old town for the rest of the day making particular note to poke into the quiet, neighborhoodly, alleyways to get some good photos. Most of the buildings were constructed with this pink, clay/mud substance and the alleys are almost monotonously this color. The exception were the doors. Each door was painted with its own unique and vibrant color. Sky blue, turquoise, cranberry, etc. and although the rest of the building's facade was bland, the craftwork of the door was particularly impressive. Also, since the walls of the alleys were bland, clay surfaces, they were graffitied everywhere with chalk drawings. They look as if kids just took chalk and drew pictures of people and dogs and flowers. The weird thing is that the pictures were just a little too detailed to have been drawn by young children and were often followed by words written in Arabic script (Uighur).

Chalk graffiti in an alleyway

Tomorrow I am back in planning mode. I've got one more day in Kashgar before I head on. I think Turpan next. I'm off to the train station tomorrow to check out my options...