My Canadian roomate, Lincoln Hobbs. Early morning, halfway between Korla (Kuerle) and Kashgar (Kashi).

I've been using the word "nothingness" quite a bit, but sometimes it's the only word I can think of. More Xinjiang nothingness.

Circle English's Irish contingent...Philip and Nadja, after a short night's sleep in a hard-sleeper compartment.

Double decker train that started in Urumqi, picked us up in Korla, and dropped us off in Kashgar.

Uyghur children playing in the streets of Kasghar.

Philip digs into an interesting bowl of chick peas, noodles, mutton fat, and spices. Actually pretty tasty.

You wouldn't believe the number of dentists in Kashgar. Then again, a lot of people have entire rows of gold teeth. Bling bling!

You can still figure out what goes on here even if you can't read.

Kashgar street scene with Uyghur architecture.

Kasghar has a fairly even number of cars and donkeys.

Making food-steaming baskets the simple way...fire plus wood.

Baaaaa. Baaa. Or as they say in Kasghar, Maaaa. Maa.

Snowy street in Kasghar near the livestock market.

To quote the Lonely Planet guidebook, "a depressing lineup of snow leopard pelts."

Fresh mutton, the carcass still steaming in many cases. If you were lucky you'd see a pile of heads on the ground below.