Kashgar tomb

A beautiful old tomb with its unique colorful mosaic tiles.

A view of Kashgar

The colors, architecture, Arabic and Chinese characters on the building point to the diversity of this vibrant city. (click on the photo to see more of the details).

People in Kashgar

This is one of my favorite people photos..... taken in the area in front of the mosque in Kashgar.

Another view of Kashgar

This is the mosque in Kashgar, which is a fairly central focus of the city.

The Music Store

This is one of the Uyghur musical Instruments stores in Kashgar - a little different than seeing pianos, guitars and drumsets in the window!

This is China?

For me, this picture captures the central Asian character of Xinjiang - the westernmost province of China. Particularly notable is the use of both the Arabic and Chinese characters on the building (a little difficult to see), as well as the unique architectural style that was so distinctive - especially after being in Beijing for three weeks prior to my arriving in the west of China.

Urumqi, Xinjiang, China

Urumqi is the capital of Xinjiang province, China's westernmost province. It has little relationship to China - yes, all the signs are in Chinese and Arabic, but I rarely saw any Chinese people - except for the police. Instead, there were many people groups represented in Urumqi - Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Russians, Mongols, Uzbeks and many others. It was wonderful! I loved the picture of the man reading his paper and the bottom picture shows the ingenious way to avoid having to cross a busy road - just cross above it..keep walking around the circle and get off where you want to go! Great idea!

Need some transportation?

These images are proof that I was in a completely other place - not much sense of China in these photos! The camel was relaxed near a famous tomb near Kashgar and the transportation leaving the market in Yengisar took on many forms...

The Cross in China

While I was still in Beijing, this new Christian Church opened...it is one of the registered churches and had been meeting in temporary quarters for a couple years while the new one was being built. It was just a couple blocks from Peking University and could be seen from the hghway less than a few miles from the site of the 2008 Olympics! It was built by the government - yes, you read that right - and of course that proves that there is freedom of religion in China...oops, my tongue is stuck in my cheek! Anyway, my friends and I were able to attend a service there the first day it opened and there was much joy and excitement that day!