Kashgar - Uighur hat

We flew from Dubai overnight to Urumqi where we had to check out, go through all the formalities, get our bags and start with all the security etc again. It past the time till our flight to Kashgar left. We arrived at 2pm in heavy rain. Two English couples were on the flight, going on our itinerary.

Our hotel has 29 floors and we are up on 25. The room is the size of a house, with 3 sofas and innumerable chairs in white plastic. The bed is sectioned off in an area sporting a cinema sized TV. The air con won’t go below 25, and the windows don’t open. In the north east we would describe it as ‘fur coat and nae knickers’.

The city is, or maybe was, Uighur, who are Muslims with their own language. They have more in common with countries like Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan than the Han Chinese. An area has been smartened up as a tourist area with “ethnic” shops and restaurants, prettily painted. It is patrolled by scores of police. We saw one stop a young man, take his phone and download the contents. We ate in a restaurant with the ubiquitous plov, kebabs and for me, chickpeas in soy sauce. The Chinese guide says it will be hard to find me veggie food and Kashgar is famed for meat. It’ll be different in Pakistan and India.

#3 daughter is researching villas in Italy for a family holiday in the summer and wants my input, but I can’t get google. I’m going to try different search engines. CNN and BBC isn’t available but surprise surprise, Fox is.