Asian Food - After 10 months in Africa eating “African Food”…

The food in China was a welcomed change from Africa!! I feasted on noodle soup everyday and many times twice a day.

Whole raw garlic cloves with seasoned salt.  

Tibetan influenced food made with yaks milk.

Vegetables for breakfast always!! 

Breakfast soup <3 p="">

Nescafe in the morning; beer at night! <3 p="">

Evening train soup! Alway hot water available. 

Circular tables! Spin and serve yourself. 

Breakfast: vegetables, noodle soup and coffee. 

Kashgar – Night Food Market

One the last evening of the trip, we feasted on Chinese Street food! It doesn’t get much better than this. The roasted goose egg was a first for me. I never had a roasted egg or a goose egg that I recall. I enjoyed it, even though I don’t especially like eggs. The Chinese know how to eat.

Kashgar City Tour

After visiting the livestock market, we explored Idgar Mosque, Abakh Hoja Mausoleum and Old Town. It was clear based on our experience that the security in the region has been escalated. There were a number of police checks and ubiquitous metal detectors. Reporting by New York Times provided the impetus for the heighten security.  The region is currently experiencing a lot of social unrest as the Chinese government is trying to convert Muslims to communism.

Entrance to Abakh Hoja Mausoleum

Abakh Hoja Mausoleum

Very Persian...

Idgar Mosque

Our group: 4 Malaysians and 1 America. They all knew each other prior to the trip. I met Girlie Wong (woman in front of me) on a prior trip. She organized this trip and invited me to join. I'm glad I did. 

The following are quotes from our tour brochure:

“Locked away in the westernmost corner of China, closer to Tehran and Damascus than to Běijīng. Kashgar has been the epicentre of regional trade and cultural exchange for more than two millennia. In recent years, modernity has swept through Kashgar, bringing waves of Han migrant workers and huge swathes of the old city have been bulldozed in the name of ‘progress’. Only a tiny section of the 'real' Old Town remains today, and is unlikely to survive for much longer.”

“On the northeastern outskirts of town is the Abakh Hoja Mausoleum, a 3-hectare complex built by the Khoja family who ruled the region in the 17th and 18th centuries. Widely considered the holiest Muslim site in Xīnjiāng, it's a major pilgrimage destination and a beautiful piece of Islamic architecture well worth a visit.”

“The Idgar Mosque is one of the largest mosques in China. It is extremely popular among the Muslims in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The Mosque was first built in 1442 and has a history of over 500 years. The building complex is in grand Islamic style, with strong religious features consisting of a gate tower, a courtyard, a doctrine-teaching hall, and a large Hall of Prayer.”

“Each day, between 2000 and 3000 people come here to worship, with this number increasing to between 6000 and 7000 every Friday. During religious festivals, the number of Muslims piously kneeling around the mosque reaches in excess of 40,000. Over the years, the Idgar Mosque has become a sacred religious place as well as a place for celebrating important festivals.”

Ürümqi -> Heavenly Lake -> Kashgar

After a morning tour of the Xinjiang Museum, we drove to Heavenly Lake a picturesque Alpine lake, 2000m up in the Tianshan mountain range (a UNESCO heritage sight), before catching a flight to Kashgar.

The following are quotes from our tour brochure:

“Xīnjiāng’s Museum is a must for Silk Road aficionados. The highlight is the locally famous ‘Loulan Beauty’, the first of half a dozen 3800-year-old desert-mummified bodies of Xīnjiāng's erstwhile Indo-European inhabitants. Other exhibits include some amazing silks, decorative arts, pottery and sculpture, a collection of white jade and an introduction to the traditions of each of the province’s minorities.” Definitely one of the better museums we visited on this Silk Road trip.

 “Heavenly Lake Two thousand metres up in the Tiān Shān mountain range is Tiān Chí, a small, long, steely-blue lake nestled below the view-grabbing 5445m Peak of God. Scattered across the alpine pine and spruce-covered slopes are Kazakh yurts and lots of sheep. It was a paradise described in Vikram Seth’s wonderful travelogue From Heaven Lake; and still is for some.” It was estimated by one of the local officials that over 60,000 visitors visited the Lake that day. The clear, warm sunny autumn afternoon Sunday was the draw. By the end of October the lake is closed to tourist until time spring.

Turpan -> Ürümqi

Today, we visited Tuyoq Village, The Flaming Mountains, Sugong Minaret, Jiaohe Ruins, and Karez Well Irrigation System, prior to droving 3 hours to Ürümqi. And after long day of sightseeing, we arrived in Ürümqi and were invited to dinner with the tour coordinator at 10:30pm. We didn’t arrive at our hotel rooms until after midnight.  This trip was relentous from early in the morning to late in the night with very little rest time.

Tuyoq Village

The Flaming Mountains

Sugong Minaret

Jiaohe Ruins

Grapes produced from the Karez Well Irrigation System

Dive to Ürümqi

The following are quotes from our tour brochure:

“Turpan is China’s Death Valley. At 154m below sea level, it’s the third-lowest depression in the world (Dead Sea in Israel/Jordan is first and Assál in Djibuiti is second) and the hottest spot in China. Despite the heat, the ground water and fertile soil of the Turpan depression has made this a veritable oasis in the desert, evidenced by the nearby centuries-old remains of ancient cities, imperial garrisons and Buddhist caves."

 “Tuyoq Village - Set in a green valley fringed by the Flaming Mountains, this mud-brick village offers a fascinating glimpse of traditional Uighur life and architecture. It has been a pilgrimage site for Muslims for centuries, as on the hillside above is the Hojamu Tomb, a mazar (a tomb of a saint or holy), said to hold the first Uighur to convert to Islam. The mazar is not open to non-Muslims. The rest of the village is great for strolling.”

“Flaming Mountains - Near the Bezeklik Caves in Turpan are the Flaming Mountains, which appear at midday like multicoloured tongues of fire. The Flaming Mountains were immortalised in the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, in which Sun Wukong (the Monkey King) used his magic fan to extinguish the blaze. “

 “Emin Minaret - Built to honour Turpan general Emin Hoja, this splendid 44m-high mud-brick structure is the tallest minaret in China. Also known as Sūgōng Tǎ after Emin’s son Suleiman, who oversaw its construction (1777–78), its bowling-pin shape is decorated with an interesting mix of geometrical and floral patterns: the former reflect traditional Islamic design, the latter Chinese. “

“Jiāohé Ruins - Also called Yarkhoto, Jiāohé was established by the Chinese as a garrison town during the Han dynasty. It’s one of the world’s largest (6500 residents once lived here), oldest (1600 years old) and best-preserved ancient cities, inspiring with its scale, setting and palpable historical atmosphere. “ xxx “Karez Irrigation - This museum is dedicated to the uniquely Central Asian–style irrigation system that includes hundreds of kilometres of above and underground canals, wells and reservoirs, much of it still working.”

Dūnhuáng -> Turpan

Today we visited the Magoa Caves. No photography was allowed inside the caves. Therefore, my pictures were limited. The one picture posted I took serendipitously from a replication of the cave art.

In general, the caves "weren’t all that", but there were lots of tourist viewing them. Overall the tourism in Western China had a bit of a Walmart feel to it. It was grand, but not top quality. The crowds distracted from the experience too.

The following are quotes from our tour brochure:

 “The Mògāo Grottoes are considered one of the most important collections of Buddhist art in the world. At its peak during the Tang dynasty (618–907), the site housed 18 monasteries, more than 1400 monks and nuns, and countless artists, translators and calligraphers.“

 “Wealthy traders and important officials were the primary donors responsible for creating new caves, as caravans made the long detour past Mògāo to pray or give thanks for a safe journey through the treacherous wastelands to the west. The traditional date ascribed to the founding of the first cave is AD 366. The caves fell into disuse for about 500 years after the collapse of the Yuan dynasty and were largely forgotten until the early 20th century, when they were ‘rediscovered’.”

“In 2015 the Mògāo Grottoes site saw a huge upgrade, with a state-of-the-art visitor centre built just a few kilometres outside of central Dūnhuáng. Admission includes two 30-minute films, one on the history of the area and the Silk Road, and one that allows close-up computer-generated views of cave interiors not normally open to visitors in an IMAX-style theatre. Additional evidence tourism is on hyper-drive in China.”

 In the evening around 5pm we took the bullet train to Turpan arriving around 9pm.

Jiāyùguān -> Dūnhuáng

Leaving very early in the morning from Jiāyùguān after a 5 hour drive we arrived at Yúlín Grottoes and toured them. After the tour, we headed to Dunhang where we visited the Echoing Sand Dune and Crescent Lake, and then retired to our hotel to spend the night.

The 40-plus caves of the Yúlín Grottoes contain art that spans a 1500-year period, from the Northern Wei to the Qing dynasty. A number of the caves show a distinctive Tibetan influence. But since we weren’t allowed to take pictures of the interior art, I have none to post and support that comment.

Singing Sand Dunes lay south of Dūnhuáng where the desert meets the oasis. At the base of the colossal dunes is the famous Crescent Moon Lake. It would be easy to get caught up in this tourist playground of microlights, ATV, dune sliding, etc. We limited our participation to the ever-popular camel ride – so many camels, so many tourists, over 10 thousand tourists. Surprisingly, most of the tourists were Chinese. I’d say at least 95% of them. I never realized how popular tourism was in China.

Why am I riding a camel again?

Crescent Lake

Zhānhyè -> Jiāyùguān

Waking up early allowed us to view the sunrise over the Zhānhyè Danxia National Geopark. Then we returned to the hotel for breakfast, before setting off to see the Grand Buddha Temple, Jiāyùguān Fort, Great Wall Museum, and Great Wall on the Cliff.

The pictures of Geopark, including mine, far surpassed the actual visit. The actual visit and sunrise over the mountains was nothing spectacular. If fact, my better pictures that were taken after the sun had risen. The mountains were more colorful when the sun was fully illuminating them.

Jiāyùguān Museum of the Great Wall Museum was an interesting museum that contains photos, artifacts, maps, Silk Road exhibits, but it would have benefited me by including more English signage. I'm always think about myself! There was some signage in English, but it was limited.

In the late afternoon around 4:30pm, we took a bullet train to Jiāyùguān.

Zhānhyè Danxia National Geopark

Grand Buddha Temple

Jiāyùguān Fort

Great Wall on the Cliff