20 Jun 11: Kashgar-Hotan, China

We are off for a 3 hour bus drive to Yarkand where we will stop for a short visit and lunch before the next leg of the journey to Hotan. Another 6 hour drive.

Lunch was just a few snacks bought next to the bus terminal to eat on board. Time was too short. We have a better bus, but the music is still full blast in Uyghur/Uzbek. We had no time to visit Yarkand.

The Uyghur population lives separately from the Chinese population. Contacts are limited to business and trade.

It is a mystery to me how the same population can be so friendly and hospitable and at the same time, how the hotel staff of most hotels be so ill-mannered, brutal and impolite. We were kicked out figuratively speaking for 3 hotels one after the other. As soon as we spoke English, there was no room available. We finally made it to very good hotel where they were looking for guests as they are brand new.

In Kashgar, this friendly Chinese couple invited us to their dining table, ordered for us in Chinese. I feel that they could not care less how they treat foreigners. They don’t need them or their money. After all they are the Middle Kingdom.