Seman Kashgar

What must these people be thinking of me? I wondered, as I squatted in the dust of the Kashgar livestock market trying to get a portrait of a distraught camel calf. Uighur, Kazahk, Kyrgyz and Hui ethnicity ranchers (guessing by their hats) stood around Dan and I, watching bemused as we exclaimed over the animals. A few yards farther into the fray of donkeys, cows, sheep and the occasional two-humped camel, a little boy wearing a traditional round-peaked felt hat regarded us in disgust as we t...

Kashkar.

Pretty much the only tourist attraction in Kashgar is the Sunday livestock market. This has been an institution of Kashgar for hundreds of years, emphasising the strategic importance of Kashgar as the hub of 5 or 6 asian caravan routes. It wasn't as manic or as varied as I'd expected, mainly consisting of goats, cows and donkeys. What emphasised Kashgar's strategic importance to me was the number of cyclist's we met staying at the 'Seman Hotel'. Over 20 cycle tourers must have passed through ...

Stepping off the airplane and into the Kashgar airport waiting area is definitely like stepping out of China and into another world. The people here don't look "Chinese" in the traditional sense. More Central Asian than East Asian, the peoples here have intermixed over the centuries with Persian traders and others of European descent to create the ultimate Hapa race (Half Asian People), a theoretical wet dream for any of the multitude of guys and girls who think hapas are the hottest things o...

After three days without a shower and living in dorms and Kygryz homes, even the Seman's bathroom facilities seemed pretty damn luxurious. We all took turns showering and then caught up with the rest of the world on the internet in Abdul's office. I went to go track down my friend Eric who would be joining me through to Gansu after I left Charles and Peter in Turpan. I found him talking to a drunk American girl at John's Information Cafe about random things that drunk people talk about, such ...

Walking around Kashgar made feel as if I was staring at a painting of a forgotten Islamic land at the edge of a desert and the base of the world's tallest mountains. Then suddenly the painting comes alive and I step into it. You find yourself in a world of mosques and tiled buildings. Women wear dresses covered in bright sequins and have all different forms of head coverings. Around town, like much of Xinjiang province, you find the majority of people are not Han Chinese. Mostly you see Uigh...

At the Khunjerab Pass, the land transfers ownership to China, sheep and goats replace Ibex, and the border guards say "Welcome to China." The road widens dramatically, with yellow dividers and white-painted margins. The wide road is the beginning of the story. Pakistan desperately wants help with its infrastructure, especially since less than one percent of its people pay taxes and many use electricity without paying. China desperately wants new routes to the ocean, for global trade. The Kar...

well its been a while so this might be a longer than usual entry.... interweb wasnt exactly readily available once we hit the KKH proper and so theres lots to catch up on. well we left karimabad and cute ali's hotel and headed up the mountain in ehsan's jeep to stay in a place called duikar. it was really only about 10 k's away but all uphill so we gained about 500m in that time. there was the option to camp or upgrade to the eagle's nest hotel - 2 guesses which i went for!! the hotel was qui...

Some random pics of the trip from start to finish....

at the moment I'm in kashgar as you know. and sure what would be the fun in it being an uneventful visit here to this region of china that has already attempted to break ranks and declare itself an autonomous region....so the authorities have decided to change the route of the olympic torch from next week to tomorrow. so today the streets are swarming with military, military police, police, army and every other law enforcement operative you can imagine. tomorrow theres a full curfew from 8.30...