China likes me, I like China

Well, we made it into China, with no problems to speak of. The border was time consuming but I was pleasantly surprised to find the staff polite and efficient, a welcome change from some previous borders. Another welcome change is the roads: so far almost all are excellent, even skirting the Taklamakan the road is superb.

But I am getting ahead of myself here. First stop in China was Kashgar, which was pretty much totally not what I was expecting. Having visited much of Central Asia, I was thinking that Kashgar would be a repeat of the Silk Road market towns we have already visited, with a token nod to Chinese rule. How wrong I was. It is a bit like going to a mini version of Shanghai with a small Silk Road town in the middle: Beijing definitely rules here. Except for the old town, which appears to have been kept as a tourist attraction, the streets are all wide avenues, the buildings are all tall, modern and concrete, the signs are neon and the shops are endless. The main street has underpasses for pedestrians, nothing special in itself, but under the length of the road is a huge shopping centre. The new town has obviously been carefully planned to be a city fit for the modern age, the car is given equality with people.

But most people here have electric scooters to get around, which I think are great. They are cheap, around £400 new, don't need licensing and you just need a wall socket to charge it. They do all seem to come with the most annoying alarms in the world, though.

I didn't do a great deal in Kashgar, just wandering around and shopping. It is a lovely city for relaxing in, which is exactly what I wanted. Just to prove how chinese it is, here is a picture of a Hot'N'Spicy Chicken Rice burger I had at a fast food place called Dico's, it tasted much better than it looks. Also the Chinese border post, where we all had our temperature taken to see if we were too ill to be let in to the country.