From Karghilik we caught a six hour bus to Hotan further along the Southern Silk Road. Hotan is a city of about 100,000 people, immediately south of the vast Taklimakan Desert. Hotan is famous for its jade, with vast quantities of the stone having been pulled from the Jade Dragon River over centuries and consigned in all directions. With the desert on the city's doorstep, sand storms are commonplace and the streets and cars have a sandy coating. Last night after dinner at the Aram Cafe we went for a walk around Hotan's huge town square, watched over by an enormous sixties-era statue of Mao greeting a local Uighur leader. There was an excellent Chinese/Uighur song and dance show being held in the square, so we watched that for an hour before walking back to our hotel down the street.
Today we went to the massive Hotan Sunday Market that spreads over several blocks in the north-east corner of the city. It is possibly even larger than the Kashgar Bazaar with some unique features. Jade is of course very big at the Hotan Market. Hundreds, probably thousands, of men carrying small jade stones in their hands were in a huddle, examining each other's wares and negotiating to buy or sell. Elsewhere, rows of large jade blocks were on display, and were continually wetted down, or submerged in water, to show their colouration to best effect. Many hawkers tried to sell us a one or two tonne block of the stuff, but had they known how small our back-packs were and how we were travelling, I'm sure they wouldn't have bothered. But we were in the market for silk, and we bought two or three small things that will barely add to the weight of our packs when we gather up all our things tomorrow and resume our journey eastward along the silk road.
Today we went to the massive Hotan Sunday Market that spreads over several blocks in the north-east corner of the city. It is possibly even larger than the Kashgar Bazaar with some unique features. Jade is of course very big at the Hotan Market. Hundreds, probably thousands, of men carrying small jade stones in their hands were in a huddle, examining each other's wares and negotiating to buy or sell. Elsewhere, rows of large jade blocks were on display, and were continually wetted down, or submerged in water, to show their colouration to best effect. Many hawkers tried to sell us a one or two tonne block of the stuff, but had they known how small our back-packs were and how we were travelling, I'm sure they wouldn't have bothered. But we were in the market for silk, and we bought two or three small things that will barely add to the weight of our packs when we gather up all our things tomorrow and resume our journey eastward along the silk road.
