The Xinjiang-Tibet line ends, and the southern Xinjiang tour starts from Yecheng.

Yecheng: Yecheng County has a history of about 2181 years. Yecheng is the abbreviation of Yarkand, named after the Yarkand River.

Located 11 kilometers east of the city of Yecheng County, Kashi Prefecture, Xinjiang, it is a slightly elevated area near Sitiagou, 1 kilometer northwest of the residence of the People's Government of Luoke Township, 1 kilometer long and 1.5-2 kilometers wide. It takes 1 hour to visit the ancient city on foot. About 30 hours.

Famous archaeologist Huang Wenbi: "It is suspected that this city was established by the Karahan Dynasty at the end of the 11th century, and the Arabic non-porous money in the city was left at that time", and thus "knows that this place was quite prosperous in the Northern Song Dynasty".

Yecheng to Kashgar, 260 kilometers, the whole journey is high-speed. Starting from Yecheng, enter Tuhe Expressway via Walnut Avenue

Enter Kashgar after 2:00 p.m.

Kashgar City, belonging to the Kashgar region of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, is located in the southwest of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and the western edge of the Tarim Basin. It is the westernmost border city in China and the political, economic and cultural center of the Kashgar region.

Kashgar Ancient Town

Kashgar's food is also dizzying

Kashgar is the abbreviation of "Kashgar", "Kashgar" means "jade" in Turkic, and "Gar" means "stone" or "mountain" in ancient Iranian.

Kashgar is a famous historical and cultural city in the country. When Kashgar was not incorporated into the territory of the Central Plains regime, it was often within the scope of the Shule Kingdom. Zhang Qian’s mission to the Western Regions only opened the official exchanges between Kashgar and the Central Plains. In the third year of Yongping in the Eastern Han Dynasty (60 years), the Protectorate of the Western Regions was established, and Kashgar, as a part of the Western Regions, was officially included in the territory of China.

The streets and alleys in the old city are criss-crossed, and many traditional houses have a history of hundreds of years. It is the only maze-like city block in China featuring Islamic culture. 

2021-07-01 I wandered around in the ancient city of Kashgar and found a coffee shop when I was tired.

If you don’t go to Kashgar, you don’t count as going to Xinjiang

Due to physical reasons, I pressed the pause button in Kashgar on July 1, and all I could see was the scenery outside the window.

Shake to drink tea: Kashgar's "Century-Old Tea House", a two-story building with typical ethnic customs, is a representative street house in the local area, which condenses the good memories of several generations of people in Kashgar.

Kashi century-old specialty tea: it is made of 17 kinds of raw materials, including saffron, cardamom and other plants with medicinal value. In order to let the raw materials fully play their role, this tea needs to be boiled for a while, put in sugar made from saffron, and then pour in the century-old special tea made by Uncle Maimaiti. The tea soup is golden yellow.

Kashgar pressed the pause button, placed an order, restarted on July 13, and started a solo journey.

Kashgar to Aksu 460 kilometers, choose to rest in Bachu.

Departed from Bachu County at 10:40 in the morning, and arrived in Aksu at 4:30 in the afternoon. Although it was only 236 kilometers, and the whole journey was at high speed, it took 5 hours and 50 minutes. It was a bit slow, but safety first, special circumstances still slow OK.

Rested in the Acha service area for 1 hour and 30 minutes

Aksu Yingbin Lakeside Vienna International Hotel, the night is beautiful!

Aksu to Kuqa, 235 kilometers, on the expressway at 11:00 am, and off at Kuqa west at 4:25 pm, today's speed is not fast.

Kuqa, the sunset after 9 p.m.

Kuqa's "Guci Ancient Ferry": The ancient city is located in Pilang Village, about two kilometers west of Kuqa County, the Kucha Kingdom, one of the ancient Western Regions, and its residents are good at music.

For this bowl of "jar meat", I waited for an hour

Well, after lunch, prepare to go to the Duku Highway.

Due to special reasons, this section of the itinerary is a bit slow. This time the node: Yecheng-Kashgar-Bachu-Kuqa