Qiemo, Niya, Keriya and Tashkurgan

Qiemo doesn’t have much to offer, though I still end up spending a few days due to sickness. The Chinese guy sharing the room with me sees that I’m not well and goes out and buys some bread and watermelon for us to eat, refusing to accept any money. He also smokes, a lot. Two packs of cigarettes in one night, it takes the following two days to get the smell out of the room, not that I care in my state.

Mosque in Qiemo.

On my way out of Qiemo, I bump into some Polish tourists who tell me of how much they loved Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan and they give me a box of peaches, they were given several kilos when they hitched in from Kashgar.

How do you get rid of a box full of peaches before they go off? Catch a bus and share.

When we get off the bus in Keriya (deciding not to get off in Niya), one guy is so grateful that for the peaches that he asks to join me for lunch. I shout him and he in turn shouts me a shower (few places have showers in the town). He also finds a place to sleep for 5Yuan, less than 1AUD, the cheapest bed that I’ve paid for during my entire trip.

The following day I catch a bus to Hotan, get lost for a few hours and subsequently catch a bus to Karghilik. On the bus I meet a Uyghur English teacher who invites me to stay with him, some 30km further along the bus route. I agree and decide to not get off at Karghilik. This pisses off the driver’s assistant for some reason (I was willing to pay the extra money) and he causes such a fuss that I decide to get off at Karghilik. Thanks buddy. I reward myself with a shave at a barber’s, a most delightful and highly recommended experience.

From Karghilik, the plan is to take a series of back roads in to Tashkurgan to avoid looping around. The lift I organise agrees to do it if I pay for his bike’s petrol. I agree and for some reason he drives me to the police station. After inspecting my details and making a few phone calls, the officer in charge tells me I can’t travel along the back road and I have to double back to the main road and go via Kashgar. I don’t like the PSB.