Bob on the silk road

Bob in desert gear before the hot camel ride in the desert, and then holding a silk worm cocoon

Street scenes in Hotan

Hotan is dusty and hot. Pretty much what you'd expect from a desert town. The one aspect that amazes me is the transport. Just about anything goes. Donkey drawn wagons, electric scooters, cars, tractors, motorbikes and busses fight for space on the road.

Although the people are mostly Muslim it is not an Islamic country so you see many women driving scooters and the like. There's also a noticeable police and military presence which has remained in place following the Xinjiang riots in 2009. One local referred to them as street workers.

Bob asked to look at their weaponry. One had a Bo length steel weapon with plastic coating in places. It had two different ends and came in two halves which could be unscrewed and used as tow shorter weapons - clever. The other two soldiers were carrying a steel baton. Apparently it is home made (but fairly prevalent as we saw a number of soldiers with them) with a few nails knocked in and protruding out the end.

Most patrols move in threes or fours with one machine gun amongst them. The soldiers in the Hotan public square last night had machine guns with bayonets attached. Apparently there is a group stationed at every hotel in the city.

Crazy transport in Xinjiang

Note the carpets on the bikes and the TVs on the wagon

Hand woven silk

We visited the last remaining hand woven silk factory near. The spindle visible in the second photo has been in the man's family for four generations or more.

Silk reeling

Creating small bobbins of thread....

Silk from cocoons

Unraveling the silk from the cocoon to form a silken thread. But before you do that the cocoon is boiled and assistance provided to unravel it.

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