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!