Day 73 Tashkurgan to Kashgar 9th Sep 09

The scenary along the highway

Checked out about 0900hrs and headed to the bus station to wait for our bus ride for 5 hours to Kashgar (Kashi in Mandarin) The bus came and left the station at about 1000hrs and we were on our way. The bus was very clean and nice and we were the only tourists on the bus. We were expecting that the bus would stopped for breakfast or lunch but we were wrong it didn’t stop for breakfast or lunch and we only have left over peanuts and water with us.

About 2 hours later the bus stopped at a custom check point which we had to get down to get registered. Only manage to buy 2 local pratas and some biscuits to eat. But was good enough. The bus pass Kara Kul Lake which we actually planned to stay for a night in the local yurts but after seeing it didn’t appeal to us to stay and furthermore we hear that people has had trouble flagging down any transport to Kashgar the next day.

We arrived outside Kashgar City about 4 hours later with the bus stopping due to a puncture tyre. Didn’t know what happen but luckily they had a reserve bus to come pick us up about 15mins later and dropped us at the bus station. We tried to figure out how to get to the Seman Hotel for a while but gave up and took the taxi for Cny5 = SGD1 to Seman Hotel. It was about 10 mins away from the bus station, we checked in to a double room with communal toilet for Cny50/night = SGD10/night and went out to look for lunch.

Must try beef noodle!!

The tasty beef noodle!!

Walked around this very city looking place and saw that many of the restaurants serve Muslim Food and was really excited. We walked along and saw a beef noodle shop with the Muslim Food signage and quickly went in without much thinking. We entered the shop and went to the counter and ordered the clear soup beef noodle. It only costs Cny4 = SGD0.80 per bowl and for additional beef it costs Cny7 = SGD1.40. It is really tasty with the special concocted chilli.

Ice Kachang Kashgar Style

Chairman Mao Square

Mr Chairman Mao

Continued venturing thru the town after our late lunch. There are so many shops along the road. Many are selling clothes and shoes and they have big supermarkets around. There is also many construction going on the area. We walked on to look for the old city and ventured to a huge bazaar selling textiles, spices, local handi crafts and many many other things. I bought a local made shirt with rose embroidery and Ramli bought a traditional Uyghur hat to add to his new collection.

Local Salads

Busy road

The Uyghur man with the tradition Muslim Hat

Uyghur Man selling Figs

The Old Town

The old city is an eye opener, there are so many street hawkers selling food and their wares and when they want to approach you to buy their things they would just shout “Oi!! Or Hoi!! And point to what they are selling.. The most interesting is the naan like bread they are selling, they made some which look like bagels and had some so big and flat it looks like trays. They also have local cold noodles or mix salad on carts..

Peaches

More Non

Tree growing out of the house?

We walked around absorbing the local atmosphere and slowly headed back to the hotel to rest as it was getting dark. We will continue tomorrow..