Down the southern silk road – Yarkand
August 26th, 2010 at 21:15Leaving kashgar was with a surprisingly large dose of relief. The town is widely praised in literature and guidebook talks how different it is. For me it was an interesting place but unfortunately ruined by its people.
Overall, Kashgar had an ambience of aggression, tension and mistrust in the air. You often saw people screaming to each other or running out of cars to pick a fight, and heavy equipped military patrolling wither by foot or in trucks equipped for riots was a common sight. The only friendly people you met in the town was all trying to get money from you by telling you how difficult things are, that the road is bad or permits needed etc etc. We also had a few days of frustration with the local public security bureau that did not show there most professional or helping side. Only after calling higher bosses and supervisors was there any action.
When leaving the town for a local village market you were immediately greeted with more honest friendliness and curiosity. I realised the difference when we first arrived in Yarkand (Shache) three hours to the south on the southern silkroad. Nothing special there according to guidebooks but what I found was friendliness and people who were happy when I took photos and many wanted to pose or have their kids pose. Spent half a day walking around on small streets taking photos of people and sharing the result. A bit different from the daily feeling of irritation and mistrust in Kashgar.
