Tuman River Hotel Kashgar

... Onder de arm ermee en nee niet al na 1 minuut weg halen Mira, netjes 2 minuten volmaken. Ik heb 32 graden maar dat blijkt prima te zijn. Hebben we last van hoest of loopneus? Nee meneer de douane, geen Mexicaanse griep&#8230;yeah, daar is de stempel! Nog even wachten op het mannetje dat de prikkeldrempel naar beneden kan doen en China here we are!<br><br>Meteen verandert het straatbeeld. Ezels en paarden zijn omgetoverd tot brommers en motoren. Zelfs de schapenhoeders hoeden hun ...

... leave it behind me and hope that this bizarre capitalist-communist empire might transform itself before all of the ethnic minorities it has tried to subsume have lost every trace of their culture and language. I am also prepared to be denied a visa in to China in the future; I've failed at censuring myself. <br><br>To close this segment on a positive note, Michael and I were out walking in Kashgar in the evening. The usual column of army vehicles and machine guns ...

... eight) were there at the same time! We met a crazy Czech guy who had cycled from Prague across the deserts of Kazakhstan, who was stopped so many times for passport cheques and bribes that he developed an approach of immediately announcing to any guards that stopped him that he was lost and broke and thank goodness he had come across them for help. Amazingly this had worked and a few guards had even laced his hands before he took off. An American cyclist on a ...

Unfortunately, the title refers to us arriving on July 4th, the USA's independence day, and not to any successful revolution against Beijing in Xinjiang.<br><br>We departed Chongqing for a multi-legged flight into Kashgar. We flew from Chongqing to Lanjou, then to Urumuqi, then finally on to Kashgar, at the western end of China.<br><br>Arriving in Kashgar we made our way to the hotel, located on the grounds of the old British Embassy, and checked in. <br><br>The following day, we headed ...

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... and my Galapagos neck in the mirror, I realised that I was indeed looking at no other than the real Bride of Frankenstein*<br><br><br><br><br><br>* Before we travelled to Central Asia we knew about the term coined Absurdistan and the associated tiresome and frustrating bureaucracy. And we were well aware also that on nearly every hotel or airport check in desk we would be greeted by a ferocious woman of Russian descent, equipped with dyed dark cherry red hair and curiously ...

... or even slightly perturbed. They watched on passively as the guards became even more frantic in their search. Eventually the car was declared danger free and we were told to move on. Apparently the Kyrgyzstan passenger would be too late to pass through the border before it closed for the day. Well, that was one plus for us.<br><br>We were quite perplexed as to the rough treatment the authorities dished out to our driver. After all, he and our guide were ...

... and unpredictable border issues and the added worry of having to stay with the tourists for the night should there be any problems with the Chinese drivers. And that was without having had to camp at Tash Rabat for the night!<br><br>Torugat Pass is a three point border &#8211; two border controls some 12 km apart with a security station in between. We could well understand why the border officials looked so grim. These poor souls are posted here for months on time ...

"But we don't need a tour," Dan told the man again. The would-be guide was still puffing from his mad dash to work on his bicycle. He arrived at the Kashgar Old City ticket office a few seconds after Dan had bought the tickets and immediately started talking. I tried to stay out of it by messing around with my camera, hoping this guy was no more pushy than most tour guides. Not that we have anything against tour guides, but we had decided to go to Kashgar's Old City in ...

... stop was the cooler, covered avenues of the Kashgar Grand Bazaar. Reputedly once the largest market in Asia, it's still a fun though scaled-back experience. The sidewalks outside were overflowing with people. Sellers spread carpets, baskets or boxes out to hawk locally-grown fresh and dried fruit. Others held fistfuls of hangers, trying to entice us to get skirts or underwear. Unfamiliar household appliances caught our eyes--could it be a donkey brush? A child's toy? Later ...