Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Sights
GRAND (SUNDAY) BAZAAR
( Dabazha; Yengi Bazaar; Aizirete Lu; daily)
Kashgar's main bazaar is open
every day but really kicks it up a gear on Sundays. Step carefully through the
jam-packed entrance and allow your five senses to guide you through the mar-
ket; the pungent smell of cumin, the sight of scorpions in a jar, the sound of
muqam music from tinny radios, the taste of hot
samsas
(baked mutton dump-
lings) and the feel of soft sheepskin caps are seductive, and overwhelming. A
taxi from the town centre to the market is ¥5.
Bazaar
SUNDAY LIVESTOCK MARKET
( Dongwu Shichang; Mal Bazaar; 8am-6pm Sun)
No visit to Kashgar is
complete without a trip to the livestock bazaar and since it only occurs once a
week you'll need to plan accordingly. By lunchtime just about every sellable
sheep, camel, horse, cow and donkey within 50km has been squeezed
through the bazaar gates. A taxi here from the town centre costs ¥15 but it's a
good idea to pay it to wait for your return. Alternatively take bus No 8 to
People's Hospital and then jump on a motorised pedicab (¥2).
Bazaar
OLD TOWN
Sprawling on both sides of Jiefang Lu are alleys lined with Uighur workshops
and adobe houses right out of an early 20th century picture book. Houses
range in age from 50 to 500 years old and the lanes twist haphazardly through
neighbourhoods where Kashgaris have lived and worked for centuries.
Sadly, the Chinese government has shown little affection for the old town
and has spent the past two decades knocking it down, block by block. Avoid
the residential area to the north of Donghu Park by the ferris wheel, as it has
been turned into a tourist trap complete with entry ticket.
At the eastern end of Seman Lu stands a 10m-high section of the
old town
walls
, which are at least 500 years old.
Old Town
ID KAH MOSQUE
Mosque
