One of my favorite images, a girl playing near a water fountain infront of the mosque in Kashgar
Men bargin over sheep at the Sunday animal market
Tyson's loses his beard
nuts, and dried fruit at the regular Sunday market
Today Sara really didn't want to get out of bed, and I barely made it myself. We then waited almost 20 minutes for toast and yogurt for breakfast, while full breakfest food like crepes and omelets were order and delivered. Really John and his Information Cafe we are not that impressed... We ate quickly and took the toast with us, and tried to pay, but it seems neither them nor I have small bills in the morning. We meet the carpet guy who was a couple of minutes anyways, and went off to the much talked about animal market. We arrived and thought we had made our way back to rural Canada. Cows, donkeys, sheeps and goats we tied up around this large enclosure. Men went around touching the asses of the animals and talked to the owners about price. We were a little early as the entire time we were there people continued to show up with more animals to sell. We were surprised because back home if you went to anything farm related event at 7:30 am (that's even local time) almost everything would be done. Anyways we walked around watched some barginning take place, but really at that time there was just a lot of ass touching. We decided as we left that it really wasn't any different from going to any animal sale in rural Canada, and that if you where from a large city or had never seen farm animals before it would have been impressive, however for us it was any given weekend at the 4-H sale.
From the animal market we made our way to the Sunday market (the government seperated the two markets about 3 years ago). Again we were too early as most of the permenant stalls were just opening. We quickly made our way through and found the temp. stalls where people from out of town came and sold their stuff. These out of towners were selling all types of cloth, and there was many a lady eagerly digging through the piles. Afterwards we walked through the food section before returning to our hotel. Again somewhat disappointed with the Sunday market, maybe we were too early, maybe it was overhyped (probable) maybe people selling things in an organized layout just isn't our thing.
Once we reached the hotel we tried numerous times to phone Canada. The night before they said we could do it from our room if we were calling collect, but this wasn't true. We ended up just calling normally and paying for the calls. As always it is emotionally difficult and strange to call home from so far away. You always think you'll be on a crackly line, but the connect is usually clear and it is like you are phoning from within the same city. To say the least we both enjoyed talking to home. After calling home I went and spent another 2 or more hours sending my parent's carpet home. Post offices are run in a odd way here, or odd to me. You have to send it in a China post box (only bought at the post office), with China post packing tape, and the box must be packed at taped in a certain way. There is only one person in the whole place who can sell you a box, and if the box you need (a rather large one) is not in her area, and she is busy you have to wait forever for her to go get the box. This is while someone sits within reach of the box you need, but since it isn't the box seller, she can't give you the box. It took a while, but eventually we mailed the thing home, so go visit my parents in 3-4 months to see their new rug.
After a late lunch of French fries and a book break (to avoid the heat) we went for our last walk in Kashgar. We have to physically walk across the border tomorrow, our last walk in China. On the way back from the walk I gave in to Sara's complaints about the beard and had it shaved off. First they rubbed a water/cream into my beard for at least 20 minutes. Very enjoyable. Then with a good old fashion razor there went 5 weeks of growth. My face has never been this smooth since my last worldly trip 11 years ago. Silkly smooth, no razor burn, and all for less then a dollar. I paid double enjoying it so much. I can't wait to grow another beard so I can get it shaved off again.
Tyson and Sara
From the animal market we made our way to the Sunday market (the government seperated the two markets about 3 years ago). Again we were too early as most of the permenant stalls were just opening. We quickly made our way through and found the temp. stalls where people from out of town came and sold their stuff. These out of towners were selling all types of cloth, and there was many a lady eagerly digging through the piles. Afterwards we walked through the food section before returning to our hotel. Again somewhat disappointed with the Sunday market, maybe we were too early, maybe it was overhyped (probable) maybe people selling things in an organized layout just isn't our thing.
Once we reached the hotel we tried numerous times to phone Canada. The night before they said we could do it from our room if we were calling collect, but this wasn't true. We ended up just calling normally and paying for the calls. As always it is emotionally difficult and strange to call home from so far away. You always think you'll be on a crackly line, but the connect is usually clear and it is like you are phoning from within the same city. To say the least we both enjoyed talking to home. After calling home I went and spent another 2 or more hours sending my parent's carpet home. Post offices are run in a odd way here, or odd to me. You have to send it in a China post box (only bought at the post office), with China post packing tape, and the box must be packed at taped in a certain way. There is only one person in the whole place who can sell you a box, and if the box you need (a rather large one) is not in her area, and she is busy you have to wait forever for her to go get the box. This is while someone sits within reach of the box you need, but since it isn't the box seller, she can't give you the box. It took a while, but eventually we mailed the thing home, so go visit my parents in 3-4 months to see their new rug.
After a late lunch of French fries and a book break (to avoid the heat) we went for our last walk in Kashgar. We have to physically walk across the border tomorrow, our last walk in China. On the way back from the walk I gave in to Sara's complaints about the beard and had it shaved off. First they rubbed a water/cream into my beard for at least 20 minutes. Very enjoyable. Then with a good old fashion razor there went 5 weeks of growth. My face has never been this smooth since my last worldly trip 11 years ago. Silkly smooth, no razor burn, and all for less then a dollar. I paid double enjoying it so much. I can't wait to grow another beard so I can get it shaved off again.
Tyson and Sara
1 comment:
Sara, when was the last time you were at a 4-H sale??? Haha, remember your first trip to a farm at Schmidt's? Good times!
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