Kashgar to Urumqi, the relaxed way

After a trip to the Abakh Khoja (Apak Hoja) Tombs, the definition of the city name of Kashgar became clear. Kashgar was known for its tiles. They were made from their naan ovens.
Construction began in 1640 and houses the remains of several generations from one family, beginning with an Islamic missionary, one Yusuf Hoja. The tomb is actually a series of tombs, ranging in style from elegantly simple to simply over-the-top elaborate. We had lunch at the old British Consulate offices. Lamb was the order of the day. After a couple of visits to the compulsory stops, we headed to the Kashgar airport in preparation for the flight to Urumqi.
At the airport, the X-ray picked up a silhouette of a Leatherman penknife that I thought I had lost it in Xian. Nevertheless, the immigration and customs took my bag through the X-ray machine for five times to locate the penknife. Eventually they call me behind the monitor and ask me to identify the knife. Eventually, I took it out and I thought to myself, that’s it, the knife will be confiscated. The customs officer suggested that I took the penknife and put it into the checked in luggage. How I managed to negotiate with the airline supervisor in Mandarin beckons all of my skill or lack off. Eventually, a baag from our group appeared and I slid the offending implement into one of the checked bags.

On arrival at Urumqi, the plane did a wide turn and introduced Urumqi in the most spectacular manner. We landed at 6.40pm, Beijing time.

Urumqi is a big city is a welcome sight after a couple of weeks of moving around in the outback of Xinjiang. We headed straight to a restaurant and after dinner, a couple said that their sling wallet was missing. The had put the bag between themselves. To get at her bag, the thieves will have to move the bag back and bend to pick it up.
No one noticed any unusual commotion. Plans were made to prepare emergency travel documents in Beijing for Rob and Lynne so they can travel to Japan and eventually to Sydney, Australia.

Tomorrow we head of to the heavenly lake and enjoy the vista there.
I shall keep you posted in my next blog in Beijing.

Kind regards
Case