Photos on the way

Shaz at the Melikawat Ruins and on a camel... And the very welcome watermelon we enjoyed after the camel ride to the Rawak ruins

Rawak Ruins

This is an ancient Buddhist stupa near Hotan

Camel pics

Rest stop at the Rawak ruins and a curious camel... Thankfully it didn't spit at me or the camera lense.

Dismounting

Going down....

Blowing bubbles

Apparently camels show their displeasure by spitting and can spit up to a meter. Caught this one blowing a spit bubble...

Camel ride to the Rawak ruins

A far less touristy camel ride, and much enjoyed. This time it was only our group on camels, not hundreds of others.

Characters of the Melikawat ruins

Local people provide a donkey cart service to the ruins covering the roughly 1km distance from the gate to the ruins. The ruins are near the white jade river where people search the river for jade stone. Using machinery was banned until recently, but the river is now mined with large excavating diggers.

The young girl on the right expressed her opinion of us deciding not to use her transport by spitting (not at us) in disgust.

We were followed by three youngsters - two are in the second picture. They became pests during a talk and our group eventually walked back to the car - without really seeing anything of the ruins except the first mound we saw.