With only 2 days left in our Southern Xinjiang trip, it was time to lace up my hiking boots, grab my sun hat, and head back out in search of some big rocks to climb. (Tis one of my favorite travel activities, in case you haven’t noticed.) We were originally supposed to be spending ourContinue reading “Adventures in Xinjiang: Red Rocks, Glaciers, and Guinness World Records”
Tag Archives: Xinjiang
Adventures in Xinjiang: Mausoleums, Mosques, and Markets
After exploring the Old City, we were able to drive out to see one of the most famous Kashgar landmarks: the Apakh Khoja Mausoleum! The آفاق خواجه مزار Apakh Khoja Mausoleum 阿帕克霍加麻扎 (or: Apak Khoja/Afaq Khoja/Aba Khoja/Abajo Khoja/Abakh Hoja… translations are hard) is considered the holiest Muslim site in all of Xinjiang, and many devotedContinue reading “Adventures in Xinjiang: Mausoleums, Mosques, and Markets”
Adventures in Xinjiang: Kashgar Old City
This entire blog post will be dedicated to just one stop, in just one location. I know that isn’t usually my style but in this specific case, I can’t help it. This ranks up there in my Top 5 Travel Destinations of All-Time, and I took a billion pictures, and I couldn’t narrow them downContinue reading “Adventures in Xinjiang: Kashgar Old City”
Adventures in Xinjiang: Flaming Mountains & Ancient Cities
After our journeys through the grasslands it was time to catch a flight to our next part of the Xinjiang; a place where greens of the grasslands would be replaced by the warm browns of sand and clay… Turpan! تۇرپان Turpan 吐魯番 is located in the middle of Xinjiang, in the Turpan Basin which liesContinue reading “Adventures in Xinjiang: Flaming Mountains & Ancient Cities”
Adventures in Xinjiang: Ancient Trails, a Sandstorm, and a Kazakh Wedding!
Though I love seeing big cities when I travel – London, Budapest, Cape Town, Stockholm, Quito – there’s always something extra special about the days I get to spend out in nature. I try to plan my trips to include at least one hike, at least one day where I am not surrounded by anyContinue reading “Adventures in Xinjiang: Ancient Trails, a Sandstorm, and a Kazakh Wedding!”
Adventures in Xinjiang: Lavender (Space) Blue & Laghman
When touring through a region as large (truly, just….massive) as Xinjiang, you’ve got to take the negatives along with the positives. Negative: after having just finished a full day of driving to get to the desert, the next step was another 8+ hours in the van to get to our next destination. Positive: just lookContinue reading “Adventures in Xinjiang: Lavender (Space) Blue & Laghman”
Adventures in Xinjiang: Grasslands and Ghost Cities
(To read the first part of this trip, click here!) The pictures from the beginning of this blog post will look completely different from the pictures at the end, and that’s one of the things I absolutely love about traveling around this country. Before moving to China, I ignorantly didn’t know a lot about theContinue reading “Adventures in Xinjiang: Grasslands and Ghost Cities”
Adventures in Xinjiang: Lake Monsters and Fairylands
After returning home from Sanya, I packed up my backpack for what would be the longest and most epic of my summer 2021 travels: a 15-day trip to Xinjiang. Now, before I get into it, a note: these next few blog posts are ones I have been unsure of how to begin. Visiting this partContinue reading “Adventures in Xinjiang: Lake Monsters and Fairylands”
Adventure in the Great Wide Somewhere 