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.

Turpan to Kashgar,

Took the bus from Turpan to Daheyan in order to catch the train to Kashgar, there's a lovely new tollway for most of the distance and that is what was used on my way into Turpan, on the return however the driver took an entirely different route through the back blocks on mostly dirt roads and the trip took at twice as much time. Just as I was beginning to think a monumental mistake had been made and that I was on the wrong bus, we returned to the sealed road and shortly after arrived in Daheyan.
Departing at 1501 precisely, the train has passed through several forms of desert landscape, surely making this one of the worlds more interesting train trips. I've seen black rolling hills with not even the most rudimentary sign of life, flat black sand that stretched to the horizons on both sides, soaring snow caped mountains and wide valleys dotted with sheep, cattle, horses and even a camel, ruins of villages of past generations, jagged rocky hills with raw seams of coal showing at one stage and the discolouring reds, browns and greens giving evidence to the mineral riches contained within them. Now a flat scrubby desert in the midst of a severe dust storm so intense that the train has slowed to a crawl on several occasions and along it all the occasional oasis of cultivated farmland.
My respect for the caravan traders of the past has appreciated significantly in the course of this journey and I've gained more of an appreciation of just how significant an event it was to be cast out through the various gates of the great wall into the unknown expanses of this unforgiving landscape.
To go from the second lowest depression on the planet and the lowest train station on earth up into and through permanently snow capped mountains in a matter of several hours is one of the more memorable travel experiences I've had, such a pity the grime on the windows made photography impossible. I really don't think the tourist authorities appreciate what a spectacle this is. It seems that unless they can charge an entry fee and set up souvenir stalls all selling the same junk that the Chinese have trouble recognising a real and natural tourist attraction , I enjoyed the view from the train ride more than all of the so called significant sites in and around Turpan.