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Boten, China-Laos Border
Border crossings always leave you with a strange feeling of passing through no man’s land where a strip of land between two countries seemingly belong to neither.
Passing through a shiny building fitted with metal detectors, luggage scanners, armed guards and heavy interrogation, the Chinese side bids you a cold goodbye. The Laos side welcomes you with a wat-style structure where immigration procedures are carried out through a window in a building that looks as old as the country itself and a few minutes later you are let loose into its riverside jungles.
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Kashgar Old City, Xinijang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China.
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Kashgar Old City, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China.
Few parts of the Old City are being distastefully restored to attract tourists who may have to pay hefty entrance fees to walk around the newly-built old city.
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Kashgar, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China.
Markets in Kashgar are filled with shops selling bear, wolf, white fox and tiger fur at shockingly low prices.
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Kashgar, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China.
The Old City of Kashgar which dates back hundreds of years is being torn down and Chinese authorities have cited poor sanitation and instability during earthquakes as reasons.
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Upal, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China.
I wandered into a two room apartment that turned out to be a local hospital filled with patients sharing half-broken beds with drips attached to their arms. Discarded drug vials, used needles, floor cleaning detergent and toilet refuse lay scattered in the toilet which had no running water.
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Kashgar Old City, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China.
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Kashgar, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China.
China’s economic prowess has done little to increase employment rates among the Uyghur community. A reported 1.2 million workers have migrated from other parts of China to work in the oil, gas and construction industries in Xinjiang indicating an abundance of work opportunities, however, many young Uyghur graduates are forced to migrate to other Chinese cities to look for work. Many recruitment websites clearly state that they are looking strictly to hire only Han Chinese workers.
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Kashgar, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China.
The biggest blow to the Uyghur way of life has been the destruction of centuries old homes that have been a stunning symbol of traditional Uyghur architecture. Most of the Old City has been destroyed and families have been forced to move to apartment blocks on the outskirts of the city in order to assimilate them into ‘modern’ Chinese society. All around the city, cranes rise up into the sky and the dust from the bulldozed houses lays scattered on sidewalks.
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Kashgar, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China.
