The Silk Road lives on in Kashgar

During the day, fresh bread and bagels are in high supply, constantly being plucked from large, barrel-like tandoori ovens on the street and displayed for shoppers on large tables with red tablecloths. A sesame bagel hot out of the oven costs as little as one yuan.

Lamb is the centerpiece of cuisine, from lamb-filled crusty pastries (lamb samosas) to the constant supply of juicy lamb kebabs being grilled on the street, and the savory pieces that accent common dishes involving vegetables, tomato sauce and noodles or rice.

The height of every visit to Kashgar is a trip to the markets. The Sunday Bazaar, also open on weekdays, is bafflingly large and filled with the pleasant scent of saffron. The vast grid of stalls are filled with vendors everything from souvenirs to rugs, scarves, cloth, cookware, and even everyday items like clocks and pantyhose. Just when the first large web of shops has been conquered, shoppers are stunned to stumble into yet another gigantic field of dealers, this time purveying full-size refrigerators that seem to have magically appeared in the center of the narrow network of walkways, along with televisions and other large household items. While the Sunday Bazaar is now housed in a modern warehouse of stalls, the surrounding villages still host smaller bazaars underneath red canopies just like in romantic stories of Middle Eastern markets.