The Qiniwak Hotel and Touring Kashgar/Kashi
The Qiniwak Hotel *** ("Qiniwak" means beautiful garden) was the best available and nice. It occupies a building that was once the British Consulate and only provided traditional Chinese and local food, no American breakfast. We weren't trying to be difficult, Chinese food is a favorite of ours but it gets monotonous eating that three times a day. Not a problem. The Caravan Cafe, a coffee shop outside the hotel owned by an American couple, did provide a typical Western breakfast. The Caravan had wonderful coffee and their traditional Yoghurt and scrumptious Cinnamon Rolls were some of the best I've ever had.
The Qiniwak is also popular with Pakistani traders, but again, we Americans had no problem.
A good breakfast, rejuvenated and ready for sightseeing...
Kashgar is a predominately Muslim area and first up was Abakh Hoga Tomb (built in 1640). It is the cemetery of an Islamic saint and his 72 descendants.
Then the big yellow-tiled Id Kah Mosque, one of the largest in China, able to hold 20,000 people during annual celebrations. This mosque suffered heavy damage during the Cultural Revolution but has been restored.
The primarily adobe old town was full of Uyghur shops selling wedding chests, baby cradles, old Kazakh horse saddles (very expensive), musical instruments (full-size and miniature for tourists), food and narrow streets.
A traditional lunch was arranged for us in a Uyghur home with shish kebabs, spicy noodles, chickpeas, wonderful flat breads, terrific melons, raisins and so much more. They didn't serve some of their other traditional foods - goat heads or chicken's feet - thank goodness! I couldn't even imagine being presented with a goat head on a platter. (What do you do? Faint dead away? Eat and then upchuck? Or, say you are allergic to goat.) The food was delicious and we sat on floor cushions around a big square table eating and talking with our family hosts.
