2018, Central Asia

Today is our only day left in Turpan, and we want to visit other major highlights of the region. Our driver picks us up in front of the hotel at 8 o’clock and brings us to Tuyuq, an ancient village built by the Uigurs. It’s almost a phantom village, as very few people live there. We visit for an hour or so and then continue to the Thousand Bouddhas Caves, an ancient place for prayers dating to the IX century. The place is really beautiful, in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by infinite mountains with vivid colors. Unfortunately most frescos inside the caves are poorly conserved. It must be noted, though, that the portions which are still visible have a major value in art history, as the paintings have influences coming from all around the world. From colors you’d normally find in the Islamic World, to compositions of Hellenistic origins: these caves are the extraordinary proof of the cross-fertilization of cultures and ideas enabled by the Silk Road.

Continuing with the visit, we then head to Emin’s minaret, which Emin, ancient leader of the Ouygurs, constructed in the honor of the Chinese in the year 1777. The building is impressive seen from the outside but, when inside, everything is pretty empty. What’s more, the place doesn’t look like is used for the prayers anymore.

We are hungry and time goes by fast, so before going to the airport we invite our driver to have lunch with us. He suggests a restaurant to us, we take it. It’s not expensive, but we can see the people that eat there are quite wealthy (for the local standards, I mean). There is even a policeman in the entrance to control the clients, which makes us suppose that it’s for selected customers. Which doesn’t mean expensive, anyway: a lunch for 3 costs us 45 yuan (6€, in total!).

Arriving at the airport, the guards in the first access tell the driver he can’t come inside with the car, so we say goodbye to him and walk for some meters. The driver asks us a really reasonable sum, considering he has escorted us all around the countryside since 8 in the morning. We give him a generous tip, which he refuses at first and then accepts blushing.

The airport is not very far, but we have a lot of stuff (two big backpacks, a trolley, a camera and two small bags). Arriving to the building, surprise: everything is closed. Yes, the airport is closed! At 4:30 pm!! A poster indicates different hours, so we understand these are the opening and closing times. Really strange. Only a door for a waiting room is open, so we go inside to wait for the airport to open. More than 40 minutes later, employees of the airport arrive and we can then proceed to check-in and pass the control of the bagages. Our flight is the only one in the whole airport. The police control is much lighter than the ones we had in the city. Our flight departure is planned to 7:25 pm. The airplane takes off at 7:10! Two hours later, we arrive in Kashgar.

Things are a bit different here, the airport is bigger and more modern. We go outside the airport and taxis are waiting for clients. One guy welcomes us speaking English and tells us a fixed price that we prompyly accept. He drives like crazy, which is quite different from what we have been used to until now. He speeds a lot and makes his way honking at every car in front of him and doesn’t respect basic rules of a normal trafic. The thing is the other drivers drive in the same way. When he finally drops us at the hotel we are relieved. Our hotel is a big nice hotel on a large and very frequented avenue in the city center. We are really well received and the room is very beautiful - but still cheap for European standards.

We enjoy our first night in Kashgar by going out to the night market to eat something and walk around a bit to discover the city. Kashgar’s night market is a food market rich in Uighur specialties and really appreciated by tourists and locals. The place is like no other we have seen so far: people of all cultures wander around the small stands of the market, emerging from the smoke of goat barbecue that fills the Arabic-looking streets, creating a very pleasant atmosphere. We eat something and go have some sleep. Tomorrow is another day in Xinjiang.