We had another tour guide in Kashgar: Kamil, the boyfriend of one of Morielle’s students. He was very very helpful. The first thing he told us is that the taxi driver ripped us off: 80 Yuan from train station to the hotel! Just take Bus #12 and you pay one Yuan each.

He took us on Bus #12 to The Fragrant Concubine Tomb. He had never been there before. He thought it was too expensive: ten Yuan per person. My mom was very happy to pay for him so that he could experience this `tourist attraction’ in his own city. We had fun taking pictures and walking and talking. My Mom tried to ask good questions in English but mostly he talked to Morielle in Chinese.

My Dad and I took some pictures with our Griz Cards for the contest at the University of Montana. I bet that not very many people Have been to Kashgar! Morielle took a funny picture with Chairman Mao. My Mom was worried that she might get in trouble . . . but when she was done, some Han Chinese people did the same thing for a photo of their own!

I was hoping that Kamil would invite us over to his house for dinner just as Christy invited us to her house. I wanted to see inside a Uyghur house. Morielle said that they have lots of beautiful carpets. Unfortunately it did not work out but we had lots of fun with him on that day. He showed us the bus and he showed us where to walk in the old city.

 

On Friday we were on our own exploring the city. Everything was interesting on the street: baking bread in a big oven, butchering sheep, interesting shops and people. We walked to a big square and saw camels and donkeys and fancy carriages. We stopped to watch and learned something about what Uyghur people like to do: they like to have their pictures taken with the animals and carriages.

 

Mom, asked me: do you want to sit on a camel, Mathalia?

`No thank you’ but I liked taking pictures of the Uyghur children sitting on the camels.

 

Then we we wanted to visit the Mosque. Kamil had told us the day before that it was okay for us to visit but we had to cover our heads with a scarf. Fortunately my mom had brought lots of scarves. We used the bathroom mirror to get ready. Morielle  practiced her Uyghur when she asked for 4 tickets. They were so impressed that they let her go in for free! Very Cool: only three tickets!