Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Xinjiang Rock!

"Don't make a career out of your childhood!" - Fatherly advice from the book Indecision by Benjamin Kunkel, which rang especially true after posing like monkeys and pretending to be birthed out of a hole in the ruins of Jiahe, which Yonatan said looked like the set to the original Planet Of The Apes movie.

Poo poo pee pee ka ka.

*****

Word up from Kashgar, our final stop in China and home to the greatest market of all time - the Sunday Market (Of Doom). People come from all over Central Asia to this weekly event, trading and haggling for everything under the sun. Awesomeness. Then on Monday its a 24 hour sleeper bus into Kyrgyzstan. I can't wait.

Since the Fricking Huge Dunes Of Doom, we travelled north to Turpan, which is famous for its valley of the grapes. I bought some wine for $2, and some better wine for $5. The $2 wine tasted like grape juice with a hint of alcohol (it was only 8%), and didn't really give me a buzz so I think I was hosed. The $5 wine remains to be tasted. So far the verdict is: not as bad as I originally thought. Frenchmen and Italians will be rioting in the streets of Paris and Rome.

Just a short hop north of Turpan is Urumqi, which holds the distinction of being the furthest place from the ocean on earth. It is the last real 'Chinese' city, and quite cosmopolitan for a place right in the middle of nowhere. We visited a place called Heavenly Lake, which looks like Lake Louise, but then again I'm sure every Chinese who visits Lake Louise would say that it looks like Heavenly Lake.

I was mistaken for a Kazakh by three Chinese businessmen, which I am quite proud of. My beard has reached its former glory, and I've got one month of travelling left for it to reach new heights.

The internet has given me further gas, with both journals being down for the count in Urumqi. Now the computer won't recognise my camera. Yonatan has managed to get his working though, and there are many good shots you can look at on his Flickr site here.

Mike: Out. See you in Kyrgyzstan (and pray for the blogs).