July 22.
Sunday our main event is to see the Sunday Kashgar Market. But before heading there we visit the Id Kah Mosque with architecture in the Central Asian style. It is estimated that it was founded in 1738 but badly damage during the Cultural Revolution.
The Sunday Market does not disappoint. The market has grown too large and now the livestock market and the merchandise are split into two locations a few miles apart. We spend a couple of hours wandering through the livestock market and it is a treasure trove for me to photograph. Lots of unique faces, action, and customs. Imam comes to drag Rick and me back to the bus. We ask him if we can buy a lamb. “No, not enough time. We must go.” he says, only half listening and thinking we are pulling is leg.
Off we go to the main market. After a quick walk through and then a briefing on the layout of the market, the meeting time, and rendezvous point; we are set free to be on our own. I mainly play observer and watch the crowd shop and our group buying souvenires. Jason and I join up to find and bargin for a spice, we are told it is lachindana, that was put into our black tea the evening before. We find two spice vendor in close proxmity, start to negotiate, and buy a kilogram of cultivated lachindana (vs wild) for 750 CNY (about $10). Our purchase is completed just in time to make it back to the meeting place on time to head back to the bus and lunch.
After a great meal of pilaf, lamb shish kabobs, noodles, and fruit. We visit the Tomb of the Abakh Hoja Family which is an example of Islamic architecture. The monument is also know as the burial place of the “fragrant concubine” Xiangfei, who was captured by the Qianlong emperor and taken to Beijing. Rather than seeing another city ruin, we are rescheduled to take a walking tour of the old town section that is where manyof the local Uyghur population take residence. We enjoy our encounter with children playing in the narrow streets, learning that large cobble stones signify that the street is a through street and that small cobbles are indicative of deadend streets, and observing local vendors and manufacturers practicing their trades.
Dinner is at a hotel/restaurant that was once the British embassy and we take in a local performance of singers and dancers.