We just arrived in China, after a 10-hour jeep ride through the Torugart Pass. Legendary caravans have been replaced by monstruous chinese trucks full of our so-called needs.
As a first stop-over in the Xinjiang region, we discovered Kashgar, a city renowned for its silk and jade stones during the Silk road period. A tiny part of the old town, surrounded by a huge bazaar and a busy livestock market- center of Uighurs’ life – still resists to caterpillars, but who can say for how long ? New concrete buildings pop up like mushrooms as Beijing spreads its influence to the Western confines of China (Xinjiang meaning “new frontier”). In fact, Kasghar even has to live at two different times simultaneously : the real one based on its longitude and China’s official one, which is two hours ahead…which can be quite confusing.