Kashgar,
Xinjiang Uygur,
China
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
After arriving from Pakistan I had spent a few days in Kashgar taking in the sights and drinking alcohol freely again after the hardships of Pakistan. I had decided to take the Southern Silk road out of Kashgar which skirts the Southern edge of the Takla Makan desert. This route links several scattered Oasis cities together. It is very infrequently travelled by outsiders today. It seemed a fairly easy trip as far as Charklik, but after that my guidebook the Rough Guide gave only the barest of indications of the route to follow and was very vague about journey times and schedules. The Rough Guide book said that from Charklik it was possible to hire a private car on a trail across the Lop Nor desert to a town called Shimien Kwang - an asbestos mining town. Apparently there was then a minibus to a town called Hotaugau which was attached to the main bus network, and from where onward buses to Dunhuang, Golmud and Xining departed. This was pretty vague and there was no mention of what time the minibus departed Shimien Kwang for Hotaugau, the prospect of spending the night in an asbestos town didn't exactly enthrall me.
Two americans had decided to travel as far as Khotan with me, from where they would the bus which travels directly across the centre of the Takla Makan to Korla. We had a big feast at an upmarket Uighur restaurant in downtown Kashgar and then had a few beers at Johns Cafe outside the Chini Bagh. Although the food at John's place leaves something to be desired, its a good place to meet people and Jenny Hu the Manager is very helpful with information and bookings.
