4 Days of 12

September 20: The Old City

We took a tour of old town, visiting a five hundred year old house with a 92 year old Uyger woman.  Old Town is an entirely Uygher population, sorry if my spelling of Uygher changes by the way, there are lots of ways to spell it.  It was kind of difficult to see how the houses were actually set up because all of the houses that were open for tourists to visit were also filled with handicrafts for sale.  I didn't get any pictures with people older than five because the local Uygers dislike having their pictures taken.

After the tour we visited a large Mosque in Kashgar city.  The Mosque is the largest in China I think, though that may be wrong.  I feel bad because my facts on this one are really bad, but I think it can accommodate like 40, 000 people praying but because the women are supposed to pray at home it really doesn't get that full ever it sounded like.

We shopped- Christmas is now over, family- ate at Old Town, watched dancing, got forced to dance, then got on a plane to Urumqi or Wulumuqi.  Every plane leaving Kashgar international Airport was flying to Urumqi.

Urumqi is a city of 3 million people, so really small for China.  It is the largest city in XinJiang province though I believe and is also the capital of Xinjiang.  Our Urumqi guide told us we came at the best time of the year but that "in winter, this city is like a chimney" and what a crummy place to live Urumqi is in the winter because its smoggy and dirty and awful.  Pretty much that's what I got out of her.  She really hates her city in the winter.

12 Days: Day 3

Day 3: Sept 19: "Was that snow there yesterday, no, let's get out of here."

Sleeping in Yurts is uh...not great.  I was freezing when the night started, I woke up every time somebody else did, the planks under me were uneven by about two inches, the coal stove almost went out, and when I went outside to run to the washroom the air was frigid and there was a little snow falling.  That night it sleeted.  That morning a herd of goats surrounded the Yurt and brayed until we had no choice but to wake up.
All the mountains that had not been covered in snow the day before were now white.

Back on the China-Pakistan Friendship Road our bus found itself dodging last nights rock slides until we were finally forced to stop and wait for a bulldozer to push tons of rock into the river.  Waiting for a rock slide to be cleared away while occasionally seeing rocks falling from the mountain we were waiting beside.

When we passed the rock slide we saw a bus full of tourists sitting on the remains of another rock slide, because that is the safest place to be :P there were still a lot of rocks to fall.
Standing on the right lane of the road was a camel, his tail up staring straight at the cars speeding toward it.  It didn't move the closer we got, just stared us down hard.  It's eyes said, "What you gonna do?  I don't give a damn, man, I dare you!  This is where I'm standing and you'll just have to deal with it."
Terror on the high mountain roads finally subsided to the terror of being in a bus in Kashgar City, where nobody follows traffic laws.  We arrived at the Grand Bazaar.  I really don't have much to say about the Grand Bazaar other than it is grand and is a bazaar.  There were a lot of pushy people with a lot of the same stuff.  I got a scarf and a hat and bargained the crap out of both...what I really needed was a belt though.

                                                 Same creepy hotel, different room

          

From the Grand Bazaar, after leaving one of our students behind and not noticing until he called, we went to a Handicrafts Shop where they wove rugs and cut Jade.

 Some Looms and large Jade rocks.














                    Dinner: Mutton Noodle Soup, Mutton Meat Tree, and a terribly sized table.