Saturday July 14

Saturday July 14
Kashgar

We have been unable to get the Internet over the last few days. We will be posting the last 5 days of entries at the same time. Please simply follow the dates on the blogs.

Ms. Becker and I love Kashgar! It is more of a major city than I realized. Kashgar was a critical point on the Silk road and is the western most stop on our Silk Road journey. In fact, it is only 200 miles from the Pakistani border. It is known for their massive Sunday bazaar (which is known for its Saturday as well). What Ms. Becker and I both love is the juxtaposition of the modern and old. There are quite a few high rises but then right across the way is the area called "Old Town." When they say old, they mean old, it has been there for nearly 1000 years!
Old Town Kashgar:



Ms. Bisconti and I got a chance to walk around "Old Town" with our tour. This city has an amazing feeling/energy to it. The whole city made us both think of Istanbul and Turkey actually. Everyone is friendly and upbeat. There is a lot of renovation taking place in the "Old Town" district, which we were able to witness. I can only imagine how it will look in just a few short years. And like many places in Europe that we have been to the city stays alive well into the night and everyone is out, young and old. We walked around the square for a bit and got to see the lights come on and hear the sounds of families laughing and children playing. That is one aspect of life I wish we had in the states. There are not enough town squares and the few that exist don't generally have people out enjoying life together in the evening like they do in other parts of the world. Sometimes I fear we retreat too much into our own homes in the state and the sense of community is weakening as a result of that.

Images of old town:





















We should talk about another aspect of Uyghur culture Ms. Bisconti and I absolutely love, the food! I know we have both enjoyed the food this entire trip but we were most concerned about how we would do with the food as we moved out West, especially because tour books said that specialities of the regions included mutton and lamb's head stew, neither of which seemed appealing to us. First off, lamb is included in every meal and it is delectable! So many exciting and delicious spices are included in the foods. I completely enjoyed the flatbread they give with every meal. I could eat it all day.













Yes, we are actually using chopsticks everyday and for every meal and Ms. Bisconti has not poked out hers or anyone else's eyeball:



Wandering and shopping at the bazaar took up most of the day. I thought the bazaar would be filled with more handicrafts but while that wasn't the case you could honestly find anything you might be looking for. Rows and rows of shoes, fabrics, women sewing custom made curtains, musical instruments, jewelry, kitchen supplies, bed linens, and so on. We got a little lost walking in the labyrinth of the bazaar, but we barely scratched the surface of all there was to see. And actually there is a separate bazaar filled with livestock too! Sadly our plane ride the next day was moved to earlier and we did not get to see this part of the bazaar. I really wanted to know the asking price or a camel. : (

As you make your way through the various shops and stalls salesmen call out to you to show off their wares in the hopes that you make a purchase. Never accept the first offer in price they tell you! Ms. Bisconti and I loved haggling down the shop merchants. The language barrier is easy to deal with when it comes to buying and selling. They simply write down their asking price and you immediately shake your head no. And if you really want to get their attention perhaps you begin to walk away. After some back and forth a little feeling of exhilaration tingles up your spine because this is a wholly new experience not indulged in in our own culture. It's tough at first to be comfortable haggling, but it's the only way to really take in the moment and be taken seriously in a culture where no one ever pays the asking price.

My favorite part of Kashgar is the people. Ms. Becker and I immediately noticed how friendly they were. We went to an'open air mosque after an afternoon rest. I had never seen anything like it. We went "into" the mosque but there are only, if I remember correctly, two actual covered structures, the rest is open to nature. It is filled with beautiful trees to act as a partition and above you is open sky. Breathtaking. You cannot help but be touched by the spirituality of the place regardless of your religious background or lack there of. In this serene place, I had one of my favorite experiences of our trip. As I was walking a young woman, small boy and girl came up along side of me. She looked at me with a heart warming smile and I smiled back. We both said hello and she stayed close by my side which pleasantly surprised me. I looked at her and swung my hand around at the mosque and said "beautiful." she thought I was saying she was beautiful ( which she was). So she said to me and pointed "beautiful." I shook my head and said no you and she giggled and said "you, really." I asked her her name and she said Goli. Naturally she asked for mine and asked if I was French. I chuckled no, I am American. She told me she was a college student in her second year studying accounting. I told her I was a teacher of history. What you need to understand that during this whole encountering I felt such a warmth and connection to this woman thatI just met.It was very powerful. She was walking right next to me and leaning into me. I asked about the boy and girl next to her. They are her siblings. The little boy is 7 and he was smiling, and giggling and peaking at me but then turning quickly to his sister Rosea who is 13. I explained that I teach students Rosea's age and she beamed. Then I asked if I could get a picture with Goli and she squealed yes. She came toward me and snuggled (literally, it was so endearing and something I usually do with only people I am fairly familiar with. But I did not feel awkward, she tilted her head into me and grabbed my arm. I did the same. We walked on more, Ms. Becker got a picture with me and her brother and sister. Then 's mother came over. During this whole exchange I was smiling as she kept grabbing my hand.
Then I heard our tour guide Jessica calling me to go. We waved good bye . I kept looking back and waving as they looked on. I wish I had more time. I wish I had gotten her email. I felt a kindred spirit with this woman and family that I met for just a few brief moments. I can't explain it, but I will always think of her. She touched my heart.






Later, when we made our way back to the bazaar sans group we ran into an entire extended family of women. They wanted to take our picture, so Ms. Bisconti and I of course agreed. This began a 20 minute back and forth in which we got a chance to talk a little with everyone from the matriarch who had to have been in her 70s and the little 7 year old girl. They were particularly excited when they found out we were teachers as the one woman was also a teacher. It's moments like those that remind you how connected we all really are on this planet.

Much later in the evening a few of us decided to go off in search of the little amusement park we had heard about; you could see the massive ferris wheel from our hotel but we couldn't find the entrance to the park the night before. It didn't take long to locate the proper stairs and soon we were staring up at this huge ferris wheel or circle of death as Ms. Bisconti seemed to feel it was. It took some coaxing but I got her to go on. I think she may have wanted to kill me at one point when we reached the very top. : ) Afterwards I tried to get her to go on the pirate ship but she soundly refused. Another tour member was finally talked into it so I didn't have to go alone. Tomorrow we leave Kashgar, and I know we are both sad to say goodbye.


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