Kashgar (Kashi)

Arrived in a huge dust storm which I later discovered had reached all the way to Urumqi and Turpan, overturning trucks and cars and closing roads for several hours. Took a share taxi from the train station the Maitian Hostel on Old Donghu Road http://www.yhaks.com/ and on the third attempt the driver found the place. I'd made the mistake of showing the driver a map with the location clearly marked which only served to confuse him. The hostel is located right next to the one and only lake in Kashgar both of which are clearly evident on the map but for some inexplicable reason he tried to deposit me about three kilometers away from either, then he had the temerity to offer me his name card for future bookings. The hostel is a pretty basic attempt but it serves the purpose and does have free internet and laundry, the managers are friendly enough but don't expect any English or any other language other than Chinese here.
Within Kashgar the main areas of interest are located in the rapidly disappearing Old Kashgar situated North of Renmim Road. It's an interesting quagmire of narrow alleys and streets with bazaars dotted throughout. If you want to see Old Kashgar you will need to visit sooner rather than later as the redevelopment is well under way and in a few years it will be indistinguishable from just about any other small Chinese city in architecture at least. For good information in English, French, Japanese and German you could do worse than to drop in at Jamaica Cafe in the Seman Hotel complex, E-mail attella20@yahoo.com and let Abdullah know when you intend to be in town, his good friend Adulrahman Abla has a small travel Service business and can tailor a package to suit your time and budget. http://www.karakoramtravel.com These are both genuine friendly guys trying to make a go of it in a political situation not geared to helping Uyghur in business, they are not rip off merchants.
This is the end of my China Silk Road journey, it's not complete by any stretch of the imagination and there is so much more to see and do, but I've achieved what I set out to achieve, for now.