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Sign up with Google Sign up with FacebookQ: Xinjiang travel advice
I have been invited to a wedding in Xinjiang! I am planning to travel a bit while i'm there, I want to go to Kashgar in particular. Has anyone else been? Can foreigners travel there no problems?
9 years 43 weeks ago in Transport & Travel - China
There are no (public) restrictions for anybody's visiting Kasghar. You'll might encounter often police IDs controls, especially when traveling by bus. In Xinjiang, bus suddenly stops, and everybody must exit and show papers to the police.
I wasn't in Kasghar, but Chinese might say/use 'Kashi' as name for Kasghar, if you'll look around Internet for more info.
Where's the wedding going to be? Xinjiang is a very big place and travelling around it isn't simple, mainly due to distances.
Urumqi to Kashgar by train takes about 24 hrs, less than 2 by plane.
We're going there during Spring Festival and tossing up whether to fly or drive. At least I am....my wife is adamant we should fly. We'll probably fly.
Kashgar comprises more than 90% Uyghirs and the culture there is still real, i/e; East Turkistanian, not Chinese.
I'm quite looking forward to going there.
It won't be dissimilar to Uzbekistan, which was our original choice, but a hell of a lot less expensive.
I have a friend who's been there many times (going again on Friday) as she says one must stay in the old town area where there aren't any Han. That's where we want to stay but my wife is just a little afraid (being Han herself).
How long do you plan to be in Xinjiang?
Make getting hold of some Uyghir and/or Kazakh culture your primary objective. Whatever, hope you have a good time.
humbug:
Haha yeah I just looked up the train, it's pretty big. the wedding is near Aksu which is closer to Kashgar. I think it should be fine, I was just worried about random restrictions because of the unrest there.
I should be there for around ten days. I figured I wouldn't bother with Urumqi, I'm more interested in the Uyghur areas.
Cheers!
royceH:
Good idea to bypass Urumqi. It's big and dirty, with not much going for it if you ask me. And Aksu is very Uyghir so you should enjoy a shift in culture out there.
Uyghir dancing and Uyghir food and Uyghir hospitality is what it's all about.
As you're there for so long you shouldn't miss the opportunity to get down to Kashgar...not too far from Aksu.
Oh yeah, as Icnif said, the security isn't so tight that you can't travel freely. Just be prepared for random stops for ID checks conducted by heavily armed cops or soldiers.
These things are only a very minor inconvenience.
One more thing; be careful about talking openly about the political tensions out here. It is safer not to offer publicly any opinions you may have, especially to someone you don't know very well.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2015/01/12/252694_china-reports-6-dead-in-ren...
BEIJING — Police killed six militant “thugs” in China’s rebellious Xinjiang region on Monday after several of them reportedly tried to set off an explosive device, according to government state media.
Monday’s battle took place in a commercial zone of Shule County, just south of Kashgar, Xinjiang’s second largest city, according to the Tianshan website, which is sponsored by the publicity department of the Xinjiang autonomous region.
At about 10:10 a.m. Monday, police received a report of “a suspicious person” carrying an explosive device, according to the Tianshan report.