ReidaBlog

After two long days we said goodbye to Abdul and went to sleep with plans to fly out to Turpan early the next morning. However we woke up to:

Kashgar airport in a sandstorm

All flights were canceled and we were told to check back later that afternoon to see if there would flights that night.

***I won’t bore you with the details but let me just say that China Southern is the WORST AIRLINE IN THE WORLD. Don’t fly them…seriously, they suck.***

Well, our plans were pretty much screwed at this point (reference China Middle East part I where I mention that Ralf had us on a tight schedule). But there was lots still to see in Kashgar so he called up Abdul who said he could meet us in a little while. We took a taxi to see a local tomb and arranged to meet him there.

Tomb and me, beautiful spring weather.

I wonder if the people who carved this have a severe case of cognitive dissonance.

Sign says “No taking pictures”, that’s right I’m a rebel. In fact later in the day Ralf and I would do much worse (but I’m not sure yet if I’m going to post those pictures since I want to be allowed back into China someday).

Actually a pretty nice building but like much of what we’d see over the next couple of days, these buildings tend to be pretty recent reconstructions.

Abdul told us we could head out into the desert and see the original site of Kashgar (couple thousand years old) which was about 50 miles away and abandoned when the source of water dried up.

After a long drive through the oasis and out into the desert we came to:

One of two remaining structures

Not a lot of blowing sand but still tough to see, car about 100 yards away.

Ralf and I at old building. On the way out to the ruins Abdul’s younger brother turned off the highway and drove through the desert for maybe about 1/4 mile. At which point you arrive to find the place sealed off by barbed wire. No signs or other people around. With the sandstorm reducing visibility it was cool if a bit spooky.

Here’s the other building for the sake of symmetry

***Picture I decided not to post would go here. Bad Reid, bad. ***

Doesn’t mean ’stay out’ unless there is a sign.

American decides not to promote social harmony.

Trusty steed

Abdul, me, and his younger brother.

Before heading back to Kashgar to visit the famous but touristy Sunday market, Abdul wanted to take us to a real non-touristy market. Going through the villages you’d see this structure over a lot of the roads.

Used to grow grapes which would probably make some interesting wine if this wasn’t Muslim country. Instead grapes into raisins.

A real working market

Ralf and I would see several of these on the trip. One of the amazing elements about this part of China is that it is still not really connected to the rest of the country (i.e. no roads and only one train line) so it is hard to ‘import’ massed produced factory goods low cost. The result is that most stuff is made locally and by hand. Probably not going to last much longer though so see it while you can.

Cobblers

All locally grown

Tinsmiths

Carpenters without electric tools

Ass

Dumpling things cooked on the side of the oven. I think most were lamb filled but all were really tasty. Not sure if I mentioned how good the street food was…really good. Plus for some reason the locals loved selling food to Ralf and I…probably because we were overpaying.

I saw barbers giving straight razor shaves and mentioned I was thinking about getting one. When Abdul heard this he immediately took me over, talked to one of the barbers (most Uighers can’t speak Mandarin), and before I knew it I was sitting on a stool in the middle of the market, crowd gathering around to watch the foreigner get shaved.

Before

Did I mention no shaving cream?

Uses water from a dirty bucket to wet the beard and then rubs it in.

I was holding pretty still

After - smoothest shave I’ve ever had

Abdul tells us there is a live animal market just down the road so we head that way.

Getting passed by local traffic

American commercial hegemony

Rock salt

Entrance to livestock market

2 dudes

When Ralf showed them their pictures on the display screen they went crazy with laugher and wanted tons more taken. But they would never smile in the pictures. Meg was the first to convince me that the easiest way to make friends in out-of-the-way parts of foreign countries is using the screen on the back of a digital camera.

Living lamb kabob

All the sheep were shaved prior to going on sale. One of the few places we saw women at the market.

A guy trying to sell me a lamb with Abdul translating

We then headed back to town to go see the Kashgar town market where Ralf turned into happy snappy.

Cotton…so soft

Still not sure what “Health stomatological OPD” is or why they need a sign in English

Paid the right amount this time

I think the merchants could have made more money charging tourists for photos than selling their goods

Best lamb I’ve ever had. Restaurant had a sign saying no photos but Ralf thought that was silly and figured they wouldn’t say anything to westerners.

At the end of the day we find out there are still no flights so we need to check back the next morning. We say goodbye to Abdul again then check into a hotel.

Me in the shower…is it just me or is having a window from the shower into the room kind of naughty for this part of the world?

Next day…sandstorm…no flights…check back tonight. So we call Abdul who says, “Come over to my house and relax.”

Reid and a traditional spread. How many of you have been invited to hang out in your taxi driver’s home?

The funny part was that his wife was home and we’d hear her but never saw her. Middle east.

So Abdul says there is a town, Yarkan, about 3 hour drive that has a palace we could go see and on the way we can stop at a place famous for making the knives all the men carry.

Knife factory, hand made of course

Ralf and I at the “palace”

Which apparently was built all the way back in 1992.

Somehow Yarkan was missing from my history class, I must have been absent that day

World weary Reid finds an ironic pattern for Muslim cemetery

Sultan’s tombs, probably circa 1993

Real blacksmith

Yes Virginia those are twigs used as scaffolding

Traditional pharmacy ingredients…seriously

Want to buy a lamb head?

SARS in training

Intestine shop and German

Apparently when the sun goes down the market turns into a disco

Been there, done that

Not sure I saw too many people who had chosen bottom left or right

Is it just me or do little kids and cats both treat foreigners the same?

Then it was time to start the drive back to Kashgar for (fingers crossed) a flight back to Urumuqi. Picture this: sandstorm, rain, 50 feet visibilty, big trucks and donkey carts, speeding taxi, ipod plugged into the stereo playing extremely loud social distortion with a cab driver bopping his head to the music while randomly honking the horn. I love to travel.

Couple of picks from the drive:

Family of 4. Notice she is side-saddle holding a baby. I love travel.

Dude, that is a camel pulling a cart!

Did I mention 50 feet visibility?

Well, we eventually did get out that night. The rain washed the dust out of the air and we arrived in Urumuqi around 2am. Had to fly to Beijing at about 8am. Got to the airport to find out our flight was…wait for it…canceled. Ralf and I pushed our way to the front of a line like good Chinese and made a fuss until we got on a plane back to civilization.

Did I mention China Southern is the WORST AIRLINE IN THE WORLD?