Last day in Kashgar 30th May

We will be leaving at 6:30 in the morning so no more internet for at least a week until we get to Lhasa but there may be an opportunity later in the week, “POSSIBLY”?
So yet again no updating of the blog and then i will have to play catch up.
Once over the Tibetan Plateau and we drop down and head east the modern technology will be more available
Visited a Sunday market which is the main agricultural one In Central Asia and it is very basic but deals were happening.




I think animal welfare is a little bit of an issue.

It was good to have Michael with us as he is a farmer from Cumbria and could explain all the technical stuff when evaluating an animal. I hope he remembers to wash his hands!















Always the presence of the military.
Just as we were leaving a convey of military vehicles went past the farmers market



Touch base with you all when connection to Internet is available
TTFN

7118 miles - Kashgar, China

Trek in the mountains 29th May

One of the few tourist attractions is Shipton’s Arch (Tushuk Tash) which is the highest arch in the world at 1200ft. We set off in four 4x4 as the first hour and a half is on road then the next hour is up a river bed and then the final hour is walking













It slowly gets steeper and there are old wooden ladders in place to scale up through the crags. The top of the screed mound is just under 3000m and you lungs are burning and the heart is beating very hard. It is worth it though as not many people get to see it. It was only rediscovered in May 2000 for tourist’s to visit after being forgotten when Shipton discovered it between the two great wars. The local name translated means “Hole Mountain”. The coming down is easier but you have to be careful not to twist any ankles or slip
Back to the hotel where I have a date to Skype Di at home 10:00 UK time. Great to see her as well as talk. She is the best ever! Big hugs and Kisses Mrs Johnson
This evening we have to start our course of Diamox tablets which will help us cope with getting use to altitude as the next 2 weeks will be above 5000m. You start taking the tablets 2 days before you ascend and then continue for a further 5 days. The effects is to increase the lung rate as regards oxygenation but it leaves you with a slight tingle in your finger tips
With the drug, there is absolutely no alcohol allowed not that we have really been drinking much anyway
Let’s hope I do not get altitude sickness, fingers crossed

7118 miles - Kashgar, China

Flip flops please 28th May

Had a bit of a lazy morning over breakfast and decided to go down the main street towards Main Square and the first thing you notice is that the streets are getting cleaner and everything is looking modern and the dress style is getting more westernised. Even the dogs are designer


Lots of designer shops down this side of Kashgar but no flip flops and then we finally arrive at the centre square in Kashgar with a statue of Chairman Mao. This part of China is very Muslim but the government are always encouraging the Hung Chinese to move to these areas to lessen the concentration of Muslim. Lots of Army barracks and there is always riot police patrolling the streets to make sure the locals know that the government are in control. Last year there was an uprising and the Internet was banned. They have only had it back 3 months ago but i cannot get onto Google or You Tube. I can here you all thinking, how can he be updating his blog. Hmm! There are ways!



Ok i will have to admit defeat with the flip flops but just before the hotel there is a supermarket, might be worth last try. Would you believe it flip flops and one pair in my size while all the others are size 6 and 7.
Excellent

7118 miles – Kashgar, China

Chinese Administration 27th May

First priority of the day is attend the hospital for a supposed medical so that we can be issued with our Chinese driving licences, so our guide John takes us to the main hospital in Kashgar and on the 4th floor we have to wait for the correct papers to be prepared and then we are taken down as a group on mass to the 3rd floor where the eye department was located.
John our guide is translating and calls my name first because i am the first one on the list so we have to stand behind a line and then a nurse is pointing at a chart. Really clever this as the window to the right is streaming bright light through. You can see even the camera was having problems let alone the human eye. The picture is took at the distance we had to read it from




The chart had two sides on with the symbols of M, W, 3 and E with the other side having picture of plant, tree plane, chicken etc. Great she is pointing at the left hand side with the symbols but what am i supposed to do?
Ah this is for the illiterate (i know what you are thinking so stop it) and all you have to do is indicate with your finger which way the symbol is pointing. Oh i wanted the pictures. This started to get hysterical as we all stood at the side calling up, down, left, right to the person being tested to the complete disregard by the hospital staff. Guess what we all passed with flying colours
We then had to wait for another 30 minutes for i do not know what to then be told by John all done, we can go back to the hotel. Ahh! One slight problem the local government agency who will give us our number plates, wants to see the bikes and check frame numbers. Please, how many times were they checked at the border?
Some of the group where going off on an overnight trip down the Karakorum Highway so it was suggested that we took them up in two groups. The only problem was that Simon and Charles’s bikes were not back together yet. The group go off on there trip and the rest of us have to wait around to find out what is to be done for inspection of the bike.
Two hours later we then get told that all ok, they do not need to see the bikes and we can do as wee like. This is the only issue in China, no one seems capable of making a decision or use initiative, in fear that they may be disciplined.
Great lets hit the market and see if i can find a replacement pair of flip flops as it is the largest in Asia. To get to the market we have to go through the Muslim quarter which is the oldest part of the city and typically, as we are finding on our travels they are usually the in the worst of repair. As you wander through it does not feel like China


So across the river we head and into the market and it is very organised having areas for food, electrical, clothes, shoes and hardware. The only flip flops i could find were for young kids as everything else full leather shoes of varying colours and styles.
Colin was with us and he was looking for fork oi,l so two of the 8oo’s will need fork seals replacing. He looked all over the marke but it was on his way bike under some bridge arches he found a place that had exactly what we needed.
Shopping done for the day so back to the hotel and get some of the blog up to date.

7118 miles – Kashgar, China

Clean up time 26th May

Kevin has been telling us of a Barber down the road who does a really good “Cut throat” razor shave so never having one i with a few other people decided to give it a try

There are five of us and in we go and take a seat while two barbers are shaving to other customers. All looks ok in side and there is a TV in the corner playing a Bollywood movie. This is being watched by the two barbers while wielding Cut throat razors.
Yet again i did not take the camera and the one of the outside was taken a few days later.
Now the shave starts off with the rubbing of your face for at least five minutes as this is supposed to make the hair stand up more and then the shaving cream is applied and with the brush is rubbed in vigorously as well.
Then it is time for him to use the razor and i wish he would stop watching the very poor quality Bollywood movie but he starts to cut and all is OK. Great details are paid to all bristle areas and he even uses the blade to trim the hairs on your ears. When done you are returned to the upright position and he points at my hair. The others had clipper cuts but i have already decided to have it completely shaven like Yule Brinner so i point at the blade and then point at my head. He questions my actions with a look but when i nod my head he confirms back that he understood. So now he starts massaging my scalp and rubbing some sort of oil in for what seems like ages then out comes the blade (please watch the mole at the back of my head!!) he starts shaving.
All done and Wow it is smooth and no bleeding “FAB”
We all pay the required fees for what people had done and mine was £4, marvellous
Ok next requirement is to get the bikes cleaned and filled with a full tank of fuel and Mark has found a petrol station up the road and a hand car wash next to it. Guess what i left the camera in the room but i did go back later to show Robert where it was. He did not go with us as his starter motor was being used on Simons bike (remember river crossing) to start his bike and give it three oil changes with cheap oil to clear water and mud that might be in the from the dunking in the river.
Nice big petrol station with attendants and we all queue by the 92 Octane pump. What’s going on nothing seems to be happening and when Mark tries to put the dispenser in his tank there is a lot of commotion and an attendant puts it back in the pump.
The reason is that they do not fill motorbikes from the pump as it is considered a fire hazard, so they prefer to fill a metal watering can and fill the bike from the can. DUH!! This could be a problem through the whole journey in China
Simon had come on the back of Mark to get his final lot of oil and he decides that action was required. He finds a chap who can speak some English and explains that it is perfectly safe to fill a big motorcycle which will take 33 ltr. They do not have big bikes n China as the largest used is a 250 and it might be a problem with a very cheaply made Chinese bikes, but not us.
No still not having it and they ask Adam to switch off the camera so next stage is Manager and off he goes. We then see him come out of one door then into another followed by a woman. Then he comes back across to the main building and through more doors.
He finally emerges with a big smile on his face and the attendants are knodding and go and fetch a fire extinguisher. Filling starts and six bikes are filled up quickly with no problems or fire or any explosions (funny that)




Now for some bike cleaning and the place next to the petrol station has a high pressure hose and loads of people to soap the bike up and dry it off for the price of £2.
So back to the hotel to check over the bikes and see if anything needs attention and any parts need changing.


While coming back we came across people sat in the middle of the road with axes, chipping away at the yellow lines, then another person sweeping the fragments up. No wonder hey do not have much unemployment and can you see the Health and safety executive allowing these sorts of actions
Ok time for food, Chinese?

7188 miles – Kashgar, China

China Finally 25th May

Now remember that we have a few more days here than originally planned as the problems in Kyrgyzstan (people getting shot in Jalalabad) meant that we had to change our route
So first chance to see where we are.


Everyone was a little late in getting up for breakfast as you would have expected after our epic day before. All of us hungry we are greeted by noodles, steamed buns, boiled eggs and assortments of stir fried vegetables.
Hmm! Not the choice i was hoping for but let’s give it a try.
OK did not hit the mark so will need to sort an alternative for breakfast. This turns out to be a small restaurant next to the hotel where you can get vegetable omelette, coffee and toast for an astronomical £4 in local currency (Yuan)
Next is to sort the laundry out and get a load of clean clothes back later which unfortunately turned out to be 2 days . The other thing was that the seal skin water proof socks had been put for Laundry and they had not fully dried so when removed from the bags other items had been made damp.
Oh well, at least they are clean and i can hang everything around the room to dry
Just opposite the hotel is a cafe, very modern and Western inside with an Italian coffee machine and New York Style cheese cake and for the chocolate lovers “Mud Cake”. Heaven in the coffee department and i can see this getting a few visits over the next few days.
The hotel is fine and the roads are wide but lots of electric scooters that ride where they want and you do not here them coming. Crossing the road is like taking your life in your own hands and you just confidently walk across while scooters, taxi and buses swerve around you




The traffic lights are really good and count down in red to when they will change to go and then count down in green to when they will change to stop. This does lead to people jumping the lights though especially the slow electric scooters
So with tired aching muscles Robert and I decided to go sort out a Chinese Massage which turned out to be a 20 minute walk. Three choices of massage time 60, 70 and 120 min but we could not get any information on what the whole thing involves. So what do you do, go for the middle option.
We were given a pair of flip flops and a rubber bracelet with a key on it, then had to give our shoes over the counter. She points at a door, so off we go and on the other side we are met by a young chap who is holding some pressed cotton clothes and he looks at the bracelets and then sticks them in a locker door and turns another key.
OK get changed and put your stuff in the secure locker and the cotton clothes turn out to be a pair of cotton shorts and a cotton t-shirt.
Suitably clothed he leads us through a shower area and then up to the next floor where we are shown into a room with three beds with chairs at the head of each of them. From the sign language we believe he has asked us to sit down and wait.
Two women come in and lay some sheets on the beds and ask us in gestures to lay down on our backs. Hmm! Have we got the wrong end of the stick here as they kneel in between our legs and then start gripping and releasing up and down a leg. This is then followed after a while with chopping hands up and down.
Now she bends your leg for more bony thumb treatment
Now what is she doing? Oh i see my chest bending my leg against and then pulling it back hard and quickly to try and pull my thigh joint out of the socket
This brutal treatment is done to all limbs and then you lay on the front and similar bony thumb gripping starts again on all limbs
Owe, now she is walking up and down my back to be followed by the “piece de la resistance” of putting her feet in the back of both my knees then putting the front of my feet on her thighs, then she reaches forward and touches my shoulder blades. This curves your spine and lifts your thighs off the bed. Double Owe!!!!
Finally the pulverising is over i thought, they then sit down on the chairs at the head of the bed and treat you (apparently) to a head massage and neck prodding of the same intensity as everything else.
Finally twe get the gesture “it is done” for the very expensive price of £10 for 70 minutes
Walking back we both feel really relaxed but sorry, no pictures as i did not have my camera with me. (Must remember to have my camera with me all of the time
Might have to have another one before we leave Kashgar, the only thing is Adam the camera man wants to film the whole event. Hmmmm?

7118 miles – Kashgar, China