I'm not a married man, I don't know why there is blood on the sheets.

9/17/07

Free Time in the Morning
2pm Cultural Exchange
4pm Idkah Mosque
6pm Bike Kashgar
8pm Dinner
11pm Plane

During my AM freetime I slept, tried to go to an internet bar (and failed) and went out to hot pot for lunch. The hot pot was a lot of fun, although literally quite hot, and I think it may have made me a bit ill (I haven't been able to even think about mushrooms since).

Around 2 we checked out of our hotel and went to the People's Square for a "cultural exchange" with some students from Kashar Teacher's University. We basically had to make small talk for an hour. It was a bit awkward, but it could have been much worse. We split into groups of 4 Americans and 4 Kashgar students. We did most of the talking and then on the way out this girl who didn't really speak at all attached herself to me (in a creepy way) and kept pressuring me to call her and hang out whie I was in Kashgar and to continue calling/writing after. But she doesn't speak! English or Chinese! It was pretty weird. But otherwise our talk went fine, and Kashgar students are like students anywhere, except for the misconception (that everyone in China has) that we all have guns in the US. They also refused to talk about marriage or dating (it was too scandalous at such a young, 20-26, age).


After that we went to the Idkah Mosque. It's apparently the biggest Mosque in China. At first I found that hard to believe since I was envisioning it as an indoor facility, and the building was quite small, but once I realized it was an outdoor mosque things became much more believable. The place had a lot of pretty foilage and the buildings were painted pretty colors or were covered in centuries old mosaic artwork. Aside from the holiest prayer room, the rest of the prayer areas had at least one open wall, or just a lean-to like ceiling. There were also a bunch of pools on the property where, in ancient times, people would gather to wash themselves before prayer. Now one is just a fenced in pool and the other is filled with flowers. The front entranceway is a brilliant yellow and has a minaret on either side.


After our visit to Idkah (which, by the way, means festival - "id" and square - "kah", there was a huge open square outside the mosque) we went to a bike rental place to pick up some bikes. Once everyone was fitted for a rental, we too to the road and biked the outskirts of town. It was really interesting how quicky the area became rural. Literally a five minute bike ride out of downtown we were surrounded by farms and tons of little stucco-looking neighborhoods. It was like old town but on a country scale. I tried to take some pictures while biking, but I don't think I did a very good job at capturing the feeling of the area.

There were these streams with intricate dam systems that ran alongside the roads (sorta paved) and then each house had it's own drawbridge over them to get inside. Some homes had dams that would divert the streams to work as crop irrigation. I saw some kids swimming in one and a woman getting water from another. I thought those dam systems were so clever.

After biking we went out for diner. Because it was our last night in Kashgar, our tour guide ordered the area specialty, an entire lamb. I'm not quite sure how it's cooked, but it's served whole and then hacked up in front of you. The whole thing was pretty nauseating, but the meat eaters seemed to really enjoy it (though not quite on the chuanr level).

Next, the airport. At the airport I used the worst bathroom I have used yet in China, which is saying something, because I have used both trough and no door hole. This one had such a horrific stench - and there were fies - and - oh my God, I feel like I still smell like it. It was so dirty.

After a few games of tag and MASH, our plane finally landed around 2am and we were told we had to be up at 7:30am. Ugh.

9/18/07
Day One in Urumqi

8am Breakfast
9am Cultural Exchange Dance Lessons
11am Visit music museum at the school
1pm Lunch
3pm Museum
Free Time

This morning the hotel treated us to a "western breakfast." This means: tons of bread, flat fanta, warm milk, horrible coffee, assorted jam, fried eggs, plenty plenty of spam, and cucumbers and tomato. It was quite the spread. The egg was good though, I forget how little protein I get here. I also forget how reliant I've become on caffeine.

The dancing cultural exchange took place at the Xinjiang Arts University. At first it was a bit intimidating. We went into this dance studio and about 20 girls demnstrated various types of traditional Uygher dance. It really reminded me a lot of Kuchipudi. Then we paired off and tried to learn the dances. I don't think I did too badly. After they taught us some moves, they asked us to teach them an American dance. Somehow I ended up leading the electric slide. From there we just launched into some general dancing and shared our favorite middle school dance moves. They were really interested in learning hip hop, which made Reggie's pop and lock ability really popular. On the whole, the dancing was fun.



After dancing we went to the school's music dept. to learn about Uygher insturments. There were a lot of guitar and cellos-like items.

Lunch was pretty much the usual fare, except for these corn fritters, those were pretty interesting. The boys also had make-your-own-chuanr, meat on a stick over an open flame is incredibly manly.

Then we went to a museum on Xinjiang history. There was a lot of really interesting stuff. The first exhibit had a section on each of Xinjiang's ethnic minorities (kind of like the native american museum in DC). The second exhibit was on prehistoric era Xinjiang through the Qing Dynasty. There was some interesting stuff on religion, and I learned about a new religion that I'll have to research. It was an early Christian sect. The final exhibit was on Xinjiang mummies. The desert is so dry that these 3800 year old mummies are perfectly preserved (hair, skin, everything) with no mummification process. It was really cool.

The rest of the day wasn't really thrilling. I did find a prostitute's wallet, and everyone (from the police to the prostitute) was overwhemlingly shocked that I returned it. (In case you were wondering, I assumed her profession based on appearance and the contents of the wallet: wads of hundred dollar bills and countless condoms).

9/16/07

Day Two in Kashgar
8am Wakeup
9am Breakfast
10am-12pm Animal Market
12pm-4pm Bazaar
4pm-8pm Siesta
8pm- Dinner and a Show

We started today off at the livestock market. I didn't get as many pictures as I should have. It was so sad. There were so many cows and sheep and donkeys and horses and they all looked so incredibly unhappy. I even saw a cat on a leash. The horses seemed the happiest, albeit malnourished. I suppose that's to be expected - they were the only ones that wouldn't be eaten (probably). They would prance about and wore bells and headresses. The cows and sheep were just so melancholy.


The place was one giant dustbowl. It was so dusty that when we blew our noses it came out black. We started using tissues as masks. There were long rows of metal poles that went on for ages with animals attached to them. Taylor saved me from stepping in the mother of all cow pies, but the poo was pretty much unavoidable.

We were supposed to be speaking with the Uyghers there, asking them questions about what they were selling and etc. but none of them spoke Chinese and none of them were very friendly. Probably because they knew were weren't actually in the market to buy anything. We had to give up that assignment pretty quickly. One little boy even whipped Kang Laoshi's hand!

After the livestock market we went to the Bazaar. Its like the silk market, but outdoors (sorta) and on crack. I can't remember quite how big he said it was, but we walked around for 4 hours and barely saw 1/4 of it. It was absolutely crazy.


The first thing we did when we got off the bus was to try that merengue thing. It'sso sweet and think and wonderful. We were incredibly wrong about the cornbread part. It's like a yellow cake. So good.

First we went to a pashmina dealer. Next, a knife place. After thart we wandered a bit, ate some figs and naan (requisite) and marveled at all the things for sale and all the colors! You could get everything imaginable, and in every color, at this market.






We hopped back on the bus to drive back to the hotel for our afternoon nap. On our way the tour guide and I got off early and went to the post office so I could mail home the oriental rug I got for my mom. Thank goodness he took me, because Chinese post offices - especially in Kashgar - are incredibly intimidating, and there's no way I would be able to figure it out on my own. There were three options for shipping overseas: fast (15 days), medium (30-40 days) and slow (5-6 months). Gotta love China. I hope my rug makes it home.



Dinner was pretty crazy. We went to the "Apple Garden FouristSite," (I <3 Chinglish)- which is actually an outdoor pavillion covered in grape vines and not an apple in sight. All the tables surrounded a dance floor. During the meal there were several dance and tightrope performances. Apparently dancing with stacks of bowls filled with water on your head, and tightrope, are longstanding uygher traditions. Of course the Americans joined in on the dancing after the performances, much to the delight of every Uygher present. The second we hit the dance floor the Asians made a circle and the DJ switched to rap and fake Billy Joel. This happens every time we go out in China. They love their fake American covers, almost as much as they love asking us to teach them how to "hippity hop." The Shopping Cart was big here.

9/14/07

Departure!
8am: Chinese Test
11am: Leave for the airport
3pm: Board plane for Urumqi
6:30pm: Disembark and go find food in town
9pm: Back to the airport and fly to Kashgar

9/15/07
First Full Day in Kashgar!

8am: Wake up
9am: Breakfast
10am-10pm: People's Square, Xiangfei Tomb, Handicrafts Market, Lunch, Nap, Old Town, Dinner

Kashgar time is wicked confusing because all of China is officially on Beijin time, but - because of distance - Kashgar is technically about 2 hours ahead. This means that waking up at 8 is really waking up at 6, so it was quite dark out still.

Whoever said (coughAiLaoshi) being a vegetarian in Kashgar as difficult was probably lying. Or maybe they meant Xinjiang and have just never been to Kashgar (although as the saying goes: "You will never be in Xinjiang if you do not go to Kashgar.") Breakfast was absolutely delicious and a vertitable veggie feast. It consisted of every veggie Chinese dish ever, various pastry, veggie baozi, pretzle bread, tea and warm milk. Assuming I wouldn't be able to eat much the rest of the day, I ate until I couldn't breathe.

After breakfast we went to the People's Square. There's a juge statue of Mao saluting on one side of the square and on the other there were a ton of carnival rides (I swear, I'm not in Central Asia - I'm in Epcot). A couple of people rode them, althouh I refrained. 5 kuai for a kiddie ride seemed a little pricey ad pointless to me. The square also had flowered columns, giant red lanterns, a huge peacock (that I think lights up), a performance space, and an elaborate fountain (that was turned off, just like Bei Wai).

After the People's Square we went to the Xiangfei tomb. Kashgar is pretty small. Our tour guide is always sayin "X is about 15 minutes away. During this short time I will tell you the history of the Uyghers/Marriage Customs/etc." So it took us about 15 minutes to get to Xiangfei. Xiangfei translates as the Fragrant Concubine. The story is that during her lifetime (Qing Dynasty) she was so beautiful and wonderful that butterflies would follow her around. After her death a wonderful smell (xiang) would come from her tomb (for years and years) which was often surrounded by butterflies.

The tomb complex was pretty amazing. You'llhave to reference my pictures to really get an idea of what the architecture was like. I'm really not in China anymore. It's much more like Persia.


There were several Mosques on the complex as well as a building that functioned as a Muslim university for years (dating back to the 13th century). The village graveyard was also next door. The round tombs are for families and the rectangles for individuals. The big ones are for men, medium for women, and small for children.

A few of the mosques are still operational, although some only on Fridays. The big one had all these pillars holding up the roof. Each pillar looks different because they were each carved by a different artist who was asked to showcase his own unique talent.

After Xiangfei we walked down the street (about a block) to visit a local home. The people there were ice merchants. Every winter they collect tons of ice from a river and store it in this straw pit in their yard. They just sold out of their ice stores (which they usually make into a sort of slushy ice cream that they sell at markets). This family earned about 20,000 kuai a year farming ice. The homes are all amazing. They're each a secret garden. The outside is so unsuspecting, but then there are these absolutely lush courtyards within.

Next we went to a handicrafts market and saw so much stuff. Everything they make ehre is by hand, it's really amazing. Among the highlights: pounded tin, wooden pots, musical instruments, collapsable wooden baskets, round hats (like Aladdin's - they're supposed to make you clever), rugs, knives, etc. We also ate naan (mmm) and bagles (oh how I've missed them!).

Next: lunch. Since it's Ramadan, we had to go to a touristy restaurant because the city isn't eating. Lunch was delicious, though: yogurt, tea, fruit, noodles w/ stuff and tomato sauce, rice noodles, chuar and pilaf.

3 hour nap. Impromptu, unexpected, so necessary.

Around 6:30 we left to go to Old Town Kashgar. Old Town is spectacular. From far away it kind of looks like pueblo village. It's all of these secret garden complexes like I mentioned earlier. Every once in a while the monotony of pueblo and solitary door is broken by a glimpse insede, a brightly and beautifully painted entryway, or a gorgeous minaret soaring over it all. Again - pictures. We also walked through a few markets where you could buy everyhting listed above, plus all of this wonderful food! (Notice a theme - I ate my way through Central Asia). There were baskets and baskets and baskets of fruit, vegetables, dried chilies, freshly ground spices, all sorts of naan variations - it was amazing. A lot of stalls were selling this merengue type thing - whipped egg whites and sugar - often served with what looks like cornbread or dates. I'll definietly be tryin it. I don't have much time to write since my roommate went to bed, but I've got so much to tell. Quite wrap up: Dinner was in an Old Town home w/ a spectacular view of the neighborhood. We had so.much.fruit!! Watermelon, melon, grapes, pomegranates, dates! Also frut juices and naan. THen the meat eaters had some specialty mutton dish, and us veggies had pumpkin baozi. It was indescribable. All topped off w/ sweet tea. I'm never eating again.