Kuqa and Salimuhu

The last few days have been both eventful and relaxing. Eventful because we've spent a lot of time in transit. Relaxing because when we aren't sitting on busses, we're sitting in hotel rooms. Well, or looking at priceless Buddhist artwork and hiking...

We left Kashgar about a week ago and headed to Kuqa, a dusty little town that just so happens to be near the 1,000 Buddha Caves--basically, an ancient monastery made of caves. Those ancient monks lived in style and the seven caves that are open to the public were more like art museums than bat habitats.

After that, we went to Salimuhu, a big mountain lake where we got to go hiking. This community felt more real than some other rural places we've visited. The people made a living through herding, not just touristing. Of course, that meant there was a huge road to scar the landscape and trash everywhere, but at least it was authentic. And outside of the town, it was truly beautiful.

Unfortunately, life in Salimuhu was more than we could handle, not because of the town itself but because we had a disagreement with the older son in the family we were staying with and decided he was too creepy for comfort.

We hightailed it out a day early, splurged on a nice hotel room, and stuffed ourselves with three different types of homemade noodles. No complaints here!