Kashgar has been an important stop along the Silk Road for the past 2000 years. It sits in the far western corner of China in the Uyghur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang. The old city has mostly been demolished and rebuilt, many people don’t like it because it now has a Disney-style feel to it and while I prefer a traditional, authentic old town I don’t think they did a bad job. China always goes all out when it comes to aesthetics and boy did they jazz up the old streets. They definitely went a bit too heavy on the decorations on the buildings but it was very photogenic and getting lost in the back alleys offered a more traditional feel.

Alleyways of beige, straw and mud covered houses were covered in vintage rugs, plates, flower pots and picture frames. It was a kaleidoscope of colours but there was also lots of natural green foliage climbing up the buildings. We spent a few hours roaming through the lanes and getting lost in the old city which we really enjoyed. Many of the houses seemed to open into an inner courtyard area with plants and seating areas.

In the central square was the yellow, tiled Id Kah Mosque where camels were paraded past. They were the Bactrian two-hump camels, commonly used along the Silk Road due to their ability to thrive in all climates from inhospitable deserts to cold mountains. Our hotel host told us to visit the century old teahouse at 7pm to see the local Uyghurs dancing away. It was actually to get an audience going for the main show which was when the Uyghurs were paraded down the road atop camels. The ladies and men did a little dance before the camel train was led through the city.

One day we explored the oldest part of town which had recently been partly restored. It was kept more traditional without the decoration so it was nice to see how they genuinely used to look. Behind the alleyways was a viewpoint across the rest of the old city which was in a state of disrepair, the mud walls had crumbled and the roofs collapsed.

We made sure to visit Kashgar on a Sunday so we could check out the livestock market which has been taking place for thousands of years. I was worried we were arriving late as it was already 12pm but as our taxi drove up the road we passed dozens of trucks carrying animals on the back. When we started walking towards the market on foot the road was chockablock with animal trucks. There were goats, sheep, cows and horses, we even saw someone who’d tied a goat to the tiny foot space on their scooter. We couldn’t believe how many animals were at the market, the last one we went to was in Oman and it was tiny in comparison, it was also much more organised with a human circle so the owners could walk their livestock around the inner circle while spectators probed the animals bums and bartered for ones they were interested in.

At this market there were sort of large areas with roofs where all of the animals were kept. There were hundreds of sheep and goats in the first area and they had a hilarious breed of sheep with huge bum cheeks. I don’t understand it but they are clearly the most important part of these sheep as locals squeeze the wobbly butts. Men were shaving the full body of the sheep, minus the J-Lo butt and two tiny round blobs above it. We watched men lifting the sheep and placing them in a metal basket on top of scales but getting them out was more challenging and they’d just tip the basket and hope they wrangled their way out without getting a leg caught.

The next section of the market had the cattle and we had to be careful where we were walking. There were still trucks arriving and they could poo off the side and hit us at any moment, the other challenge was the fact that the owners were trying to control these humongous animals with just a rope and it turns out they had very little control over them. It was intense on the senses, observing all the sights while being careful not to get charged by a rogue bull. There was a section with horses and some little fauns and beside them were a dozen or so yaks which we’ve never seen at a market before.

It was an interesting place to stroll around but also chaotic and intense on the senses. I didn’t actually see anyone purchase an animals so maybe that happens later on or we just didn’t understand what was going on. Once we were out of the main animal zone they had market stalls selling food, animal hides and husbandry gear. It was clearly melon season as everyone was selling them by the slice which was delicious and refreshing in the hot weather. We also grabbed some freshly squeezed pomegranate juice and rice from a popular stall. It was made in a large pot and the meat seemed to be added at the end so it was safe for us vegetarians and before they serve it the guy flicks a spoon of raisins in the air so they land atop your rice. It wasn’t exactly the flavourful biriyani we were used to and was quite bland and extremely oily. It was only when we finished eating that we noticed one meter away from the pan of rice was a stall cleaning out peoples ears wax with a tv screen to show you the live video camera in someone’s ear canal and the man scraping out the wax and just putting it on the corner of his fabric table cloth.

https://flic.kr/p/2qgK4L7

For our final day in Kashgar we visited the Afaq Khoja Mausoleum which was a stunning building with beautiful mosaics. I love the mosaic domes, it really reminded us of Uzbekistan. Overall we had four nice days exploring Kashgar and relaxing in our really comfortable hotel room which we needed. We weren’t sure if we’d enjoy the Xinjiang region of China as it’s so tightly controlled but for us we didn’t find security any different to the rest of China.