The Sunday Market

Kashgar is famous for it's Sunday Market. The town is supposed to grow by 50,000 people that come from surrounding countries to trade. It didn't really seem like it was that big to me! We went to the livestock part of the market and it was pretty cool. Lots of cows, goats, sheep, etc. Oh yeah, and lots of tourists too. The book says that "if the tourist crush of the Kashgar sunday market gets you, then you should try the one in Hotan." I wondered what they meant, because we really hadn't seen any other foreigners except that one crazy Belgian guy and his Israeli friend. But Saturday night, lo and behold, a whole bunch of tour buses zoomed into our hotel and the other, more expensive part of the hotel was stuffed with Eastern Chinese people, French people and Spanish people. When we got to the market this morning, it was crawling with tourists weilding giant cameras. Bummer! Oh well. The highlight of the morning was when Matt got a shave by a local barber at the bazaar. It looks pretty good, a nice close shave! The barber went a little too far though, and gave Matt a haircut. So, Matt's hair is a little bit on the short side, but it still looks good.

Matt and I just a had another delicious dinner of lagman...I know, I know, I should branch out more...but I have tried most of the foods here. Really, there aren't too many choices when it comes to Uyghur food...chickpeas, noodles, shredded veggie salad things, bread, lamb kebabs, and yogurt. Oh, and I almost forgot about the goat intestine soups and the everpresent vanilla ice cream. (I mean, these are the food options I have seen...I am sure there are more that I don't know about!) I love it all but I just can't get enough of the hand made noodles. They are pure heaven! Anyway, the point of this is that the women sitting next to us ate a huge plate of lamb skewers. Uyghur people are quite large and now I guess I know why. Of the various food choices, you mainly see people eating lamb and bread. Those are the staples. Really though, it is weird being in a place where everyone is so huge after being in Hong Kong. People are tiny there!

Another thought about the dietary habits of Uyghurs...the public bathrooms here reek of lamb. It is very strong and gross.

After dinner Matt and I sat in the square in front of the Id Kah Mosque. It is so peaceful here and a lot of people sit in the square, just relaxing and chatting. Kids run around and no one seems to watch them. It is so nice, and it makes me wish that American kids could play out side with out being supervised all the time. It seems like kids back home are always doing activities and being watched. I know why it has to be like that in the US, but it is a shame.