Kashgar - follow Marco Polo's footsteps
(Shenzhen Daily)
Updated: 2006-06-07 09:59  At the western end of China's Silk Road - has been the stopping-off
point for travelers for at least 2,000 years. Today's silk and spice merchants,
rug dealers and livestock sellers could well be descendants of the locals who
provisioned the Chinese silk traders 2,000 years ago and Marco Polo a mere 900
years ago. This oasis surrounded by the arid Pamir Plateau and snow-capped
mountains now boasts a population of 340,000, high-rises and highways, but its
exotic pleasures remain.
Locals and visitors can be seen at the Sunday market, said to be the largest
bazaar in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and one of the largest in Asia.
They crowd the Sunday livestock market; and visit Idkah Mosque, one of the
largest mosques in China. Streets are alive with tall, blue-eyed old men in
embroidered caps; women with headscarves and sequined red dresses; and food is
everywhere - shish kebab grilling, bread baking in large clay ovens, and
watermelon sliced and sold off carts.
Kashgar is in the far west of China's far west Xinjiang region. It's on the
road to Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. The
old Russian and British consulates from the days of the 19th century Great Game,
when the two countries competed for influence in Central Asia, still stand in
Kasghar.
Timing is not everything but it makes a tremendous difference in a Kashgar
visit. Best to be in the city on Sunday for the Sunday market and livestock
market. And be there on Monday for a trip to the Upal market, a weekly market 45
minutes by taxi from downtown Kashgar.
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