Khotan, Xinjiang Uyghur

..At last, at last, after 44 hour journey by hard seat train from Beijing to Urumqi, continued by the 22 hour cross desert journey from Urumqi to Khotan, I arrived to this “the pure town of the Uyghurs“.

For an unknown reason, the train ticket from Beijing to Urumqi this year is very difficult to buy. I was lucky I didnt have to wait for days to obtain it, I just bought 5 days in advance, but even though, there were only 2 hard seat tickets left. The train was extremely crowded, and many people even didnt get any seat along the way from Beijing to Urumqi!

The cross desert journey was not as spectacular as what I thought, as we crossed the desert in the middle of night but the Uyghur passengers are always nice and friendly. And of course, the long awaited Uyghur noodle (laghman) is always the highlight of long journey in the Uyghur land.

Khotan at a glance looks like Kashgar but with more Uyghur people in proportion. As this is my second hour here (the first hour was sleeping in my hotel room and repairing my broken backpack) I cant say more at this moment.