Monday, June 22nd - Kashgar

Today is our extra day in Kashgar due to the closing of the border crossing.  As a result we got to sleep in and relax a bit before heading out at 10:30.  We did not have a bus scheduled so we just walked to the old city, which was perhaps a half hour from our hotel so not too far.  And 10:30 Beijing time is really only about 8:30 so it also wasn't too hot yet.

The old town has been partially torn down.  It's hard to tell whether it was by earthquake or simply fell down or whether the Chinese government tried to take it down.  The people who live in the old town have been there for centuries and they own their own homes, which are passed down to the next generation.  China has built them flats to move into but they don't want to move  Chinese people can buy a house or apartment through real estate but they can only own it for 70 years and it can't be passed down from generation to generation.  Besides, the homes in old town have character and the new flats are pretty generic and boring and all the same.  I don't think I'd want to move either.  However, we did wonder just how long the old town would survive before the government tried to do something to change the area.  There are high rises and modern buildings and the wonderful lakefront all around them so they really don't fit it - but they do add character.

We wandered the narrow, winding streets for about an hour and a half.  We went into a couple of homes and into some shops.  All of them were small by North American standards but very livable.  Their sleeping quarters were very small.  Many had a courtyard or open area where there was a day bed or stools to sit on.  Some of them had great views of the lake and city from these rooms.  Several of them had an upstairs and I went up one.  The ladders/steps were pretty steep and rustic and I wasn't actually sure they would hold me.  However, I made it up and down.  Upstairs was their day room with day bed and canvas awning for shade, a couple smaller rooms for storage, and it looked like they did their cooking upstairs.  One of the units had a lovely  courtyard with potted plum trees around it for shade.  They were obviously quite well off as they had a fridge in that area and a washing machine off in one of the sun rooms.    One of the homes even had a small TV in one of the rooms so obviously they have electricity.  They also have running water as we saw a toilet at one home.

I guess the best way to describe it is that it's just a different way of living.  The residents all seem happy - but never want to have their picture taken - and their homes are very neat and clean.   We found the area very dusty but there is not much you can do about that when you are living in straw and mud brick homes.  They had carpets on some of the floors but not all.  The children were very shy but beautiful and polite.  The fruit and vegetable seller drove a motorcycle with cart on the back up and down the wider streets so they had deliveries almost to their door.  They seemed very content and that's what counts.

From there we walked down and across the bridge to catch a taxi to the Idgah Mosque, which was built in 1442.  The mosque is in the centre of a large square so has a prominent location.  Perhaps because it is so old, it doesn't have the traditional high minaret or the same shape or feel of many mosques.  The outside is yellow in colour, with white trim and some other colours occasionally.  It has a square entrance, which is also unusual but does have some arch details as well.  Inside the gate there is a lovely garden area with lots of shade, the side rooms for ablutions and the main mosque area for prayer and lessons.  Only men are allowed in this mosque to pray and apparently that is the same all over China.  The women must pray at home.  With prayer mats inside, outside on the balcony, outside in front of the park, throughout the complex and out into the square,they can accommodate a very large crowd.  The really big crowds off thousands occur for festivals.

We then wandered the streets and looked in some of the shops for a while.  It is definitely a Muslim neighbourhood - more Arabic than Chinese - so everything is quite different.  For lunch we went into a restaurant and had some kebabs, rice and what we thought was naan but it turned out to be a meat pie sort of like a Cornish pastie.  We can't read the Chinese or Arabic so we have to go by pictures.  Despite the fact that it wasn't what we thought we were getting it was delicious.   The meat was beef and very tender.  The kebabs were mutton - a bit fatty but good.  The rice also had mutton in it and came with some plums, grapes, chick peas, cucumbers, etc.  Overall it was a great meal and cost less than 20 yuan each or $4.

From there we came back to our hotel for some time on our own, and met again for Happy Hour in our room to eat up all the food and finish off the beer and wine before crossing the border tomorrow.  After Happy Hour, our Chinese tour guide flew home and we went to a local restaurant for dinner.  We thought we would go down to the lake and eat at one of the many restaurants down there.  However, when we got there everything was taped off and you couldn't get into the area at all.  We never did figure out what was going on but turned around and headed back toward the hotel.  

We found a restaurant a couple blocks from the hotel and decided to give it a try.  It was a Muslim restaurant so no beer or wine with dinner tonight.  However, they did serve us at around 9 p.m. even though their main business arrived  after sunset.  The tea was good as usual and a couple of us had fruity drinks that seemed like water, sugar, maybe some fruit juice and then a lot of fruit (plums, raisins, figs, apple slices and pear slices.  It was very good but we really just had to hope that the fruit was washed in purified water and that purified water was used as the base.  If not, we may regret it.  Dinner was another point at the picture to identify the dish and then use your fingers to tell them how many.  We had noodles and sauce, which was very good.  We had kebabs, some of which were good and some that were a little tough.  We had some naan bread and we a bean dish which was very interesting with garlic and ginger and crisp, dried, fried peppers (at least that's what we thought they were), peanuts and bits of meat.  It was very tasty.

After dinner we walked home, had a short visit and then went to bed for our last night in China.  Tomorrow we're off to Kyrgyzstan, a night in a yurt followed by a night in a homestay.  It should be interesting.