Flying to Urumqi I had the alarm for 0445, time for a pre-arranged pick-up at 0530 by a taxi.  It was a fixed rate arrangement, with probably a 50% premium, as I was worried that taxis may not be available at this ungodly time, especially when people consider 0530 to be 0330. Waiting on the […]

What I’m not doing I’ve done most of the things I can do in Hotan.  There were a couple that I decided against doing: Mazar of Imam Asim: This mausoleum lies out of town and Uyghurs used to pray here.  More recent reports have suggested that the area is off-limits to foreigners. Yue Tu Gan […]

Train to Hotan I took a taxi for Kargilik station at 0815 for my 0919 train to Hotan.  At the security checkpoint for the station, they had trouble summoning a cop and I had to wait about 20 mins. When boarding came, I noticed they had trouble locating my train booking at the turnstiles.  I […]

Train to Kargilik After one night, I’m on the move by train again, this time to Kargilik (Yecheng).  I left the hotel at 0715 by taxi for the 0819 train.  This time it is only a 50 ride in the hard seat class. With locals observing a 2h unofficial time difference, this ride is bloody […]

To Yarkant by train Today I do my first of five train trips that I’ve booked, the first of which is from Kashgar to Yarkant (Shache), a journey of 2h20 starting at 0950. I didn’t get to have the hotel breakfast with this early start, which is unofficially 0750 locally.  In fact, it was the […]

Animal market After a day of attending to online matters and cleaning my shoes yesterday, I have what might be the highlight of my Kashgar visit this morning.  Being Sunday, I was keen to revisit the animal market to compare what might have changed since 1998. Coming along for the ride was Simon from Switzerland […]

Kashgar’s recreated old city Breakfast was served at the hostel at 0930, which is 0730 on the unofficial local time.  I headed out for a haircut and a walk back on the lively Azirete Rd where I got some fruit. A little after midday, I walked to the Kashgar’s old city, one of the oldest […]

Long-awaited opportunity Today, I start the next chapter of my trip, undertaking independent travel once again from Sary Tash in Kyrgyzstan to Kashgar in Xinjiang, western China. Entering China’s Muslim west from its Muslim neighbours may have caused suspicion when applying for a visa.  So, when visa-free travel was introduced late last year, I was […]