The Sunday market in Kashgar is very famous. It’s primarily an animal market.

We got a new guide and driver in Kashgar for the remaining time in Xinjiang (Autonomous Uyghur Region of the Peoples Republic of China). What a switch! The guide we had since Turpan was an ethnic Hui Chinese which is a Muslim minority in China. He looked and acted like a Han Chinese, didn’t speak any Uyghur and kept us from interacting with the locals. The only time we did we were on our own. Anyway, the guide on the right, Akram was super and so was our driver in the middle. Both were Uyghurs. (The driver was heavily fined by the Chinese government because he had a third child - minorities are allowed two).

We stayed in the modern part of Kashgar and had a marvelous view of the Pamir mountains from our hotel room window. We walked around a lot. Below right is a restaurant sign. Underneath the Uyghur and Arabic writing, pictures show that their specialty is pigeons. Pigeon is good, just not much meat.

Above, Juergen is taking a picture of local shops and the restaurant. Note there is another pigeon eatery on the right. At the main square in Kashgar horse- and goat-drawn carts are available for sight-seeing.

Street leading to the main square in Kashgar. The Chinese government encourages the refurbishment of these old buildings.

These guys are making a stringed instrument from scratch.

On the right side of this picture, copper smiths are making huge pots.

At the main square we attracted the attention of locals and they were anxious to pose with us. In the background is the main mosque, the Idkah mosque (also used for the background). The Idkah mosque dates from 1442 and can hold over 20,000 people at the same time for service.

Below are a number of shots of the local environment and people. Note that especially older women are completely covered.

The making of rose candy. Ingredients: sugar and rose petals. That’s it.

Ever since Juergen grew a beard in 1972, only Yvonne has trimmed it. When we walked by a barber shop in Kashgar we decided to test a local barber. He did a good job.

The lady below wears an ikat dress. On the right, bread is often elaborately decorated.

Just 3 mi outside of Kashgar is the Abakh Khoja Mazar complex consisting of mosques and tombs. Some of the entrance halls (above) are badly in need of repair but nevertheless reveal elegant grace.

This is the holiest place in Xinjiang; the Abakh Khoja Tomb built in 1640. His tomb is the red covered one below. Among the other tombs is that of his grand-daughter, Xiang Fei who is said to be the Fragrant Concubine of the Qing emperor Qianlong. On the right below is an adjacent Islamic cemetery.

A modern park with old Kashgar in the background. We took a Ferris wheel ride and took the picture below of the old part and the huge bazaar (below).

We went to a local shop next to our hotel and bought four bottles of green tea, three 24 oz. bottles of beer, one diet Pepsi and one ice cream bar. Total bill: $3.60.

At a local Uyghur restaurant (with live music on traditional instruments) a Chinese tourist asked to have his picture taken with Juergen. That’s not the first time that has happened to us. Times have changed. Now it’s a matter of pride because it shows that someone is traveled if he can show photos of himself with a foreigner.

The Sunday market in Kashgar is famous and should be. It’s primarily an animal market (see the fat tail sheep below). It’s a wonderful opportunity to see a cross section of the population.

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Animal trading is done through a broker (below left) who handles the money.

Below are shoeing pictures. The “holding in place” contraptions may not be the most comfortable for the animals but are very effective.

Yvonne gets stares from local women.

Outside the market we watched the “doctor” below. He was seeing patients and displayed an offering of his prescription drugs on the right.

In a little village outside Kashgar we stopped and had freshly baked (kind of Tandoori oven) meat-stuffed dumplings. They were absolutely delicious.

The villagers at left watched us enjoying the dumplings. This photo was taken with a tele lens; they couldn’t tell they were being photographed.

Twenty miles NE of Kashgar is what’s left of the Mor Buddhist Stupa built in the middle or late Tang dynasty (618-906 CE).

Kashgar played a key role in the Great Game (British-Russian effort for dominance of Central Asia in the 19^th/early 20^th c.). On the right is the building which was the Consulate General of England, which was the home of Sir George Macartney and his wife. It’s a hotel/restaurant today. The Great Game is considered to have ended with the Bolshevik Revolution. We believe it’s alive and well today.

This used to be the Russian Consulate during the Great Game, the home of the powerful Nikolai Petrovsky, Macartney’s chief adversary.