1st October, 2008 - Kashgar

Hi all!

Well, we've been having a wonderful time in the Chinese city of Kashgar - resting our weary bones (bottoms) after our epic crossing from Kyrgyzstan. We have enjoyed the company of up to 6 other cyclists here - all doing insane journeys - some have been on the road for more than a year - one for more than 5 years! We are humbled!

While we are busy resting for at least 5 days as planned, we are also waiting for a package to arrive, sent by the brilliant support of Fi L (THANK YOU FI!), including a replacement saddle and new shorts for Andrew, so if it doesn't arrive soon (currently tracked in Hong Kong) we will take a couple of trips out of the city on our bikes to explore further afield before returning to get the parcel and then head on our way to the KKH.

Sunday morning, our first full day in Kashgar, was a humdinger with the weekly Livestock market and the infamous Sunday Market - both a photographer's dream. Check out the photos for evidence. I loved the way they line up the goats and sheep nose to nose - described as like a zipper! And we've seen the fat-bottomed sheep - praised for their fat bottoms, obviously, right from their pastures in the mountains, to the markets, to the boots of cars (or like one mule - on a leash out the back of a moving taxi!) and to the butcher's hook....and no doubt onto our plates. Our ban on mutton has been honoured though and we are now thoroughly enjoying tucking into chinese food - as much as you can eat for 50p each!

On Monday we visited Kashgar's 'old town' - getting up early to beat the heat and the crowds - we've discovered a liking for watching places gently come alive in the morning, and as we're usually konked out by 8pm, we find we're up early anyway. This part of town is all mud brick with little lanes to explore - the people are the indigenous Uygur. The people all seem to be tiny 'cottage' industries - just one or 2 workers in tiny workshops, but incredibly skilled - they all seemed very gentle people, happy for us to look at what they were up to and to photograph. Many women are fully covered muslims stumbling along the streets wearing hideous brown thick veils over their faces (burkha-like). We spent a good half hour sat on a curb studying the legs of the women walking past - there is an inexplicable fashion for Nora Batty thick stockings here, paired with truly hideous shoes, mostly high heeled, that leaves us fascinated and horrified! They women seem not quite sure what to make of us, but with determined smiles and waves from us, we are usually rewarded with smiles.

After a morning there meeting craftsmen from butchers to carpenters, copper workers to steel forgers and more, we headed into 'new' Kashgar for the ultimate in contrasts - where the people are Han Chinese. We soon found ourselves outside a large shopping mall where some sort of wedding exhibition was taking place - see the photos. Here the women are all uber-trendy and pairs of teenage chinese girls dare eachother to say hello, before dissolving into uncontrollable, embarrassed giggles - we love it! Here we have found the best eating market in town where we feed ourselves fit to burst every lunchtime. It's all huge multicoloured billboard posters, deafening firecrackers to celebrate weddings outside restaurants (there seem to be lots of these, possible because this week is a chinese holiday), colourful balloons, street vendors, lots of noise (particularly outside hairdressers) and so on. It is a million miles from the high pastures of Kyrgyzstan, and no doubt the high passes of Pakistan too!

Particularly interesting to us brainwashed westerners is the environmental side of Chinese Kashgar. Primed for stinking pollution etc, we have been astonished to find every street bin has 2 compartments - one for recyclable materials, the other for non-. The majority of vehicles on the road are taxis but also bicycles and mopeds - electric ones! They are absolutely superb and I cannot understand why we don't all have them. They must cost nothing to run, they make no noise, they can't go very fast (just as well, as you don't hear them coming) and they are an efficient way to get around the city (you can fit at least 3 people on them!). The supermarkets use all recyclable plastic bags and we have read in the local English newspaper about new regulations restriciting the amount of packaging used for all products. So don't believe everything our governments tell us!

Kashgar is so much more commercial (evidence of 'open market') than we ever imagined, and the press publish articles that are so much less bias than we ever imagined. True, we can't always seem to get onto our own website and others have had their blocked, and the BBC pages are very slow to load up, but overall, we are very impressed. We also had a chance to chat to a student over lunch one day who said everyone is super keen to speak English - more so than ever since the Olympics - and every tiny kid we pass shouts 'hello' to us. After the mass immigration of tourists for the Sunday market has ended (all disappear on Monday) we are a rare sight as westerners in the city, but the response is warm and receptive and we feel safe and welcome.

We have loved Kashgar - our oasis in the desert - and as a brief experience of China, we love it and would encourage anyone to visit.

So - as soon as this package arrives, we'll be heading south towards the Pakistan border and over the Karakorum Highway. We expect to take around 6 days to the border and a total of around 24-26 days from the day we depart Kashgar, to arrive in Islamabad - taking plenty of time out en route to do a bit of treking. There should be internet from time to time after the first week or so, so we'll do our very best to keep you updated with blogs and photos. In the meantime, thank you all for your emails and comments - Edinburgh lot - have lots of fun with all your ace weekends away in the hills, and everyone stay safe and well. Until our next blog........................

So -