The distance from Kashgar to Urumchi through the desert is about 1,000 miles and takes about 25 hours by train

and here is the story

We arrived in Kashgar from Kyrgyzstan over the Tourgut pass above.  I love Kyrgyzstan!  Dude – I bribed officials for $1,000 U.S.  dollars to get the “interior ministry pass” to cross the Tougut pass = cool

Entering China below and going down the pass below. Dude it was a little dicey to say the least as we had to have this security cleared dude with us and the Chinese military liked checked everything and starting yelling at us,  no seriously it was dicey!!

The pass was heavily guarded and the road to Kashgar had many many military check posts, stop and searches.  It was a little dicey.

Upon arrival to Kashgar, we visited the Old town below

and to maximize the adventure, we journey to Kashgar’s Sunday Market which is known for its abundance of exotic foods below

and goods and it is the center of Central Asian lingo

The movie “Three Cups of Tea” was filmed here above in this restaurant. This is the most western part of China and the indigenous people are Uyghurs a more central Asia group than Han and they are Islamic.

There was a gun battle there between the Islamic people and Han.

It’s hard to believe you’re still in China — the people, bazaars, curling Uyghur script, minarets and food seem to owe more to Istanbul than Beijing

So on to the Train Upon arrival we went through massive security and then boarded the train into private sleepers to travel from Kashgar to Urumchi

private sleeper below was awesome.

Our room was searched over and over by military dudes with rifles and guns  I wanted to kick their ass!!  It was awesome in an adventure perspective.  During the evening iwe went into the dinning car and it was amazing as well and had some beers (not me photo below)

This train route into China’s western desert region is a trip into its medieval past. And we hit a sand storm = awesome

Uyghur towns along the way (above) formed part of the famed Silk Road.

We got caught in a blinding sand storm and have few shots from the train other than the few above. The ride meanders through remote desert country with striking views of the snow-capped Tian Shan mountain range and the red-sandstone Flaming Mountains in Turpan. We enjoyed good food and drink in the dinning car and this is the most westerly train journey in China. From Urumchi one can take the train through Kazakhstan but we left the train for a flight to Baltimore.  It was a great experience.