Kashgar Hotel

... maar daar verschijnt uit het niets een hek en een stopbord. Ik krijg op mn donder dat ik niet ben gestopt bij het stopbord maar ben doorgereden tot het huisje waar de mannen in de groene pakjes zitten…Het blijkt de Kirgizische grens en het gaat verbazend snel! Paspoort laten zien, stukje doorrijden, even wachten en binnen een kwartier tijd hebben we de stempels te pakken, wauw, Kyrgizie heeft de recordtijd te pakken ;-). Geen autopapieren hoeven laten zien en geen ...

... at the same time. Even in Tashkurgan, the air was thin, making our walk through the ruins of an ancient fortress seem kind of dream-like. We descended into a stunning green valley with a river running through it, and yurt camps set up along its shores. Interestingly, this was also the site of a scene from the Kiterunner; just down from the fortress is where Amir-Jan and Hassan carved their names as "the Sultans of Kabul" into the pomegranate tree. Coming back from ...

... and caution was palpable. <br><br> <br>We spent our two days mainly in the old town, walking the streets to see the copper beating, wood whittling, bread making, shashlik grilling, clothes selling activity that filled the old dirty streets. We visited the main mosque; a simple, peaceful building different to what we had expected, with much less decoration than the churches we are used to in the West. The main square, apart from the soldiers situated en masse at the ...

... the government is now jamming cell phone signals in Kashgar and probably throughout the province. <br><br>All shops remained closed on the second day after the disturbances, and there were large groups of men gathered on streetcorners. We decided the wisest thing to do&#8212;considering our appearance&#8212;would be to remain at the hotel and keep a low profile even doing that. We spent the day in the room and visiting the hotel&#8217;s restaurant and café. Our flight departed on the ...

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... historical cities in China is being demolished, Xinjiang and Kashgar will never be the same again.<br><br>An afternoon thunderstorm forces us to take shelter at a local salon. The owner tells me a massage is only 10 yuan for 30 minutes. I decide to get a 15 minutes massage to wait the rain out. The 15 year-old kid has some strong hands, it's was a bit awkward but fun nonetheless.<br><br><br><br><br><br>

... cultural stronghold that underpins the fight for independence of what they regard as their native East Turkestan. After all, these ancient buildings have withstood the wrath of many an earthquake during Kashgar&#8217;s long and tortuous history.<br><br>During our travels to far west China in 2007, we spent four wonderful days in this fascinating city. For us Kashgar is very special. Today, and despite the changes it still embraces the romance of a true frontier city with a long ...

... money at the Chinese border side of the Pass but with time running out that possibility was diminishing by the minute. It was also looking uncertain as to whether we would make the Bank of China in Kashgar some two hour&#8217;s drive ahead of us before the bank&#8217;s closing time that day. <br><br>To further complicate the situation, we were due to catch an early morning bus the following day from Kashgar to Tashkorgan on the Pakistan border - where we knew ...

... of the Chinese drivers to the Kyrgyzstan border are Uighur which may explain the difficulties they encounter in delivering and picking up travelers to and from Kyrgyzstan.<br><br>To cross Torugat into China, we had to arrange for a Chinese driver to meet us. Foreigners are not allowed to use the public bus. This we did before we left Australia through the travel agency Silk Road Adventures (ilyar@china.com) who also organised all our Chinese border paperwork and ...

... watches, the knock-off Nikes and Adidas shoes and believe that we were seeing the same dusty market hundreds of years ago-the camels to be taken on a caravan across the desert, the lambs and cows a measure of personal wealth, even more than they are today. I was reminded of a State Fair in the US, though there doesn't seem to be any ribbon-giving here. Children clung to their sheep and cows, begged their fathers for a few coins to buy an ice cream with. Dan and I picked our ...