Xinjiang: Urumqi and Kashgar

We left Sydney on Southern China Airlines, stopping overnight in Guangzhou where we slept in the luxury 4.5 star airport hotel for the reasonable sum of US$80. From there we flew to Urumqi in China's Xinjiang province. Xinjiang is China's western-most province, north of Tibet, and has been ruled by various groups over the millenia, most recently by China. Had the Second World War played out differently, Xinjiang may have been another Soviet Stan. The traditional people are the Uighurs, a race whose appearance can vary between Indian and Chinese. Uighurs are Muslim, speak a Turkic language, and write with an Arabic script. The language is similar to Turkish but originates in Mongolia and Siberia. The Mongols spread the language through Central Asia on their way to Europe.

China has been sending ethnic Han Chinese to the region since the 1960s and they now outnumber Uighurs in Urumqi. The Han also tend to end up with the best jobs and conditions, causing resentment that resulted in the riots of 2008 and 2009. Meanwhile, the Chinese propaganda describes the region as a "brotherhood of peoples united under the great motherland." That was the English translation in the museum anyway. We had a few hours to kill in Urumqi and travelled into the city by three-wheeled motorbike and by bus.

Kashgar Old Town

 

A Chai hana, teahouse

From Urumqi we flew to Kashgar, 200km from China's western border. Kashgar is an oasis town on the western edge of the Taklamakan Desert. It has been a trading centre for thousands of years, being the intersection of several silk roads. Flying in, the noticeable features were the adobe (mud) houses dotting the landscape. The same material was used to build the houses in the old city, which is what attracted us to Kashgar. Unfortunately, the government has decided that the warrens of crumbling mud are unsafe and are knocking them down and moving the residents to apartments. This progress was evident from the window of our hostel, optimistically named the "Kashgar Old Town Youth Hostel". The block across the road is rubble.

Old town rubble

Traffic

A visit to the Sunday animal market brought plenty of entertainment. For reference, a sheep or goat starts around $50, a cow around $300, and a horse or camel upwards from $500.

Kashgar market arrivals

 

Outside the animal market

Manhandling the wares

 Melon transport

A Uighur market stall

Hand chiseled, double-walled copper tea cups

Cute - Muslim headwear and a tutu

Roger in old town eating a freshly baked bagel

Nan bread ready for sale

Pigeon soup row

Uighur food consists of meaty delights such as fatty kebab skewers, laghman (meat sauce with noodles that are pulled into shape by hand), bread, and the occasional salad, washed down with tea. The smell and smoke of the kebabs cooking outside every shop lets you know that you've entered a Uighur food district.

 

Streetside kebabs

Uighur style decoration

Arabic script tiles

 

Fun with signs

Luisa finds a perfect photo opportunity at Aba Hoja Tomb

Kashgar by night

The Chinese influence is also strong in the area. If you're ever there and hear an electronic "Happy Birthday" musak playing from behind you then run! A street sweeper is approaching that drives down the middle of the road blasting streams of water across both sides of the street and anything that happens to be in the way.

Most of the motorbikes are now electric, which you'd think would lower the infamous noise levels. However, they seem to make electronic noises whenever you do anything with them, and their alarms are triggered seemingly by breaths of wind.

The military and communist party presence is felt strongly, especially since the riots in 2009. All police and military are Han but Uighur "co-operators" wear red arm bands to show that they support the Chinese police in their efforts to curb violence.

  Chinese military presence in the central square