This 9m-tall ruin is the largest of the southern Silk Road Buddhist stupas yet discovered. Built between the 3rd and 5th centuries for a wealthy Khotanese monastery, it might have been visited by the Chinese monk Faxian in AD 401 on his way to India. It was certainly explored by archaeologist Aurel Stein, who excavated the site in 1901, and declared it a magnificent ruin. Stein's original work also uncovered 91 large Buddhist statues (now all sadly gone).
Rawaq is about 50km north of Hotan and it's best to go with a guide who knows the site, as taxi drivers have been known to get lost.
Hotan Cultural MuseumMUSEUM
(和田博物馆; Hétián Bówùguǎn GOOGLE MAP ; Beijing Xilu; h10am-1.30pm & 4-7.30pm, closed Wed)F
Hotan's museum is relatively small but well curated and has items labelled in English. The main attractions are a fine painted wooden coffin and two 1500-year-old Indo-European mummies unearthed from the nearby Imam Musa Kazim Cemetery who are so well preserved that you can still see the patterns on their shoes. There are also some fascinating finds from ancient Niya, including a large wooden pillar, a 2000-year-old bow and arrow and wooden tablets engraved with Indian-influenced Kharoshthi script.
Mazar of Imam AsimTOMB
F
A few kilometres beyond Jíyà lies the tomb complex of Imam Asim (Tomb of Four Imams). It’s a popular pilgrimage site, particularly during May, and you’ll likely see groups of Uighurs praying and chanting at the desert shrine, which is slowly being engulfed by the Taklamakan Desert. Buses to the town of Jíyà drop you 3km from the site, from where you should be able to hire a motorised cart to take you to the site.
On Thursdays in April and May, a pilgrim market springs up by the roadside, about 2km before the tomb, and buses run directly to the site from Hotan’s east bus station.
4Sleeping
Happy Hotan HotelHOTEL$
(和田幸福宾馆; Hétián Xìngfú Bīnguǎn MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %0903 202 4804; 59 Taibei Lu; r ¥100; W)
One of many budget hotels around the main bus station, Happy Hotan Hotel has a courtyard location with a surprisingly charming, brightly painted courtyard. Sadly the charm ends there, and rooms are simple cells, though each has a bathroom. Turn right out of the bus station and it's just down the road.
Yudu HotelHOTEL$$
(玉都大酒店 Yùdū Dàjiǔdiàn MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %0903 202 2888, 0903 202 3456; 11 Guangchang Xilu; 广场西路11号 r from ¥238; aW)
The three-star ‘Jade Capital’ is the best value in town, and offers spacious, clean and modern rooms, with a useful location on the west side of the main square. There's working in-room wi-fi (for the most part), decent bathrooms and the front-desk staff speak a modicum of English. Rooms facing the square can be loud, however.
West Lake Yín Dū International HotelHOTEL$$$
(西湖银都国际酒店; Xīhú Yíndū Guójì Jiǔdiàn MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %0903 252 2222, 0908 252 9999; 111 Tanaiyi Donglu; r incl breakfast ¥358; aW)
This plush and excellently located hotel is generally considered to be the best Hotan has to offer. Rooms are big, with desks, fridges and glass-walled bathrooms (apparently the current signifier of status in Xīnjiāng). Breakfast is a plentiful buffet affair served in the ground-floor restaurant, while there's also an enormous choice of eating options in the immediate vicinity.
5Eating
Hotan has some excellent eating options, including one of the most traveller-friendly cafes in Xīnjiāng. Don't miss the excellent night market.
Uighur Night MarketMARKET$
(维族人夜市; Wéizúrén Yèshì GOOGLE MAP ; Nanhuan Lu & Ta'naiyi Nanlu, 南环路塔乃依南路的路口 meals from ¥20; h7pm-midnight)
Recently moved to its own purpose-built area about 1km due south of the main square, Hotan's night market is one of the liveliest and busiest in Xīnjiāng. Come here once darkness falls to grab such goodies as tonur kebab (whole roast sheep) and chuchvara (meat dumplings in broth), topped off with sweet tangzaza (sticky rice with syrup and yoghurt).
Marco’s Dream CafeCAFE$$
(马克驿站; Mǎkè Yìzhàn MAP GOOGLE MAP ; off Jianshe Lu, 建设路 mains ¥30-50; h1.30-9.30pm Tue-Sun; W)
This Malaysian-run place serves a very welcome range of Western and Asian dishes, including delicious curried chicken and steaks, while the friendly English-speaking owners can provide excellent travel advice. It's hidden in a courtyard beyond a red gate entrance, though the owners warn they may have to move again soon: check their more permanent bakery (马克驿站; Mǎkè Yìzhàn MAP GOOGLE MAP ; Kunlun Xiaoqu, Bldg 8, Door 12; 昆仑小区8号楼12号门面 pizza from ¥30; h1.30-9.30pm Tue-Sat; W) if you can't find this one.
7Shopping
Hotan is one of the best shopping destinations in Xīnjiāng, and boasts a huge bazaar, as well as numerous jade, silk and carpet outlets. For jade, check out the stores around the northern end of the main square. Carpets and silk are sold along Taibei Donglu, between Wenhua Lu and the Sunday Market.
8Information
Bank of ChinaBANK
(中国银行; Zhōngguó Yínháng GOOGLE MAP ; cnr Urumqi Nanlu & Aqiale Lu; h9.30am-1.30pm & 4-8pm Mon-Fri)
Cashes travellers cheques, and has a 24-hour ATM in the southwest of town.
Southern Silk Road TourTRAVEL AGENCY
(%137 7929 1939; www.southernsilkroadtour.com)
Local English-speaking guide Kurbanjan runs private tours along the southern Silk Road. Contact him by phone or email (he currently has no office) to get a quote for whatever you want to do, be it a one-day city tour of Hotan to multiday camel treks in the desert.
8Getting There & Away
Air
There are about a dozen daily flights between Hotan and Ürümqi (from ¥750 one way) on various airlines including China Southern, Tianjin Airlines, Shanghai Airlines and Air China. The airport is 10km southwest of town.
Bus & Car
There are two bus stations in Hotan. The main bus station (客运站, Kèyùnzhàn GOOGLE MAP ; Taibei Xilu) serves the following destinations:
AKashgar ¥128 to ¥145, seven to 10 hours, at 9.30am, 11.30am, 2pm and also stop at Karghilik (¥58 to ¥78, five hours) and Yarkand (¥77 to ¥90, six hours)
AKuqa ¥167 to ¥187, eight hours, two daily at 2pm and 8pm
AÜrümqi ¥270 to ¥340, 25 hours, daily at 4.30pm and 9pm. Sleeper buses head straight across the desert on one of two cross-desert highways.
Shared taxis also run from outside the bus station to Karghilik (¥100), Yarkand (¥130) and Kashgar (¥200).
The east bus station (东郊客运站, Dōngjiāo Kèyùnzhàn GOOGLE MAP ), 2km east of downtown, has buses to/from the following:
ACherchen ¥124 to ¥160, 10 hours
ANiya ¥63, four hours
Shared taxis run to all the same destinations from each bus station, and depart as soon as they're full.
Train
Hotan is connected to the main Xīnjiāng railway line, though high-speed trains do not yet reach the city, meaning that journeys are slow, and considerably indirect if you're heading beyond Kashgar. The vast train station (和田火车站; Hétián Huǒchē Zhàn GOOGLE MAP ) is 5.5km north of the city centre. Sample prices:
AKashgar hard seat/sleeper ¥53/118, six to eight hours, one to two daily
AÜrümqi hard/soft sleeper ¥350/586, 29 hours, one daily at 12.12pm
8Getting Around
Metered taxis start at ¥5 within town; figure on ¥15 to the train station and ¥30 to the airport. Buses criss-cross the city and cost a flat fare of ¥1.
Karghilik 叶城
%0998 / Pop 383,664
Karghilik (叶城; Yèchéng) is an extremely dusty and unappealing Uighur town of importance to travellers only as the springboard to the fantastically remote Hwy 219, the Xīnjiāng–Tibet highway that leads to Ngari (Ali) in far western Tibet. There's absolutely nothing to detain you here, though travellers heading into Tibet may need to overnight here at a push.
The main attraction in town is the 15th-
century Friday Mosque (Jama Masjid) and the surrounding adobe-walled backstreets of the Old Town.
Jiāotōng BīnguǎnHOTEL$
(交通宾馆 %0998 728 5540; 1 Jiatong Lu, 交通路1号 r ¥150; aW)
This fusty old timer is right next to the bus station, which means it's both handy and central, as well as noisy and chaotic. Rooms are fine, though aged and pretty basic. Ask for a room in the quieter and cleaner back block. Turn left out of the bus station and look for the sign in English saying Communication Guest House.
8Getting There & Around
Buses to Yarkand (¥14, one hour) and Kashgar (¥52, four hours) leave every 30 minutes or one hour from 10am until 8.30pm. During the same period, every two hours there is a bus to Hotan (¥58 to ¥78, five hours), or take a faster shared taxi.
The newly paved 1100km road to Ali, in western Tibet, branches off from the main Kashgar–Hotan road 6km east of Karghilik. The only way to (legally) take the highway is by organising a Land Cruiser tour with an agent in Lhasa. See Lonely Planet’s Tibet guide for details.
Yarkand 莎车
%0998 / Pop 82,500
At the end of a major trade route from British India, over the Karakoram Pass from Leh, Yarkand (莎车; Shāchē) was for centuries an important caravan town and regional centre for the trade in cashmere wool. Today this very dusty, traditional and conservative town is a transport hub and little else, though scratch the thoroughly modern surface and you'll find the remains of a thriving Uighur Old Town and an impressive collection of mosques and mausoleums.
Be aware that Yarkand was the site of a still opaque violent protest on 28 July 2014, which led to 96 official deaths; the WUC (World Uyghur Congress) claim it was more than 2000. Security is tight here, though it's quite OK for foreigners visit.
Altun Mosque ComplexMOSQUE, CEMETERY
(阿勒屯清真寺; Ālètún Qīngzhēn Sì )F
Yarkand’s main sights are clustered around its charming central 18th-century mosque. The surrounding sprawling cemetery is home to several other impressive shrines, with white flags marking the graves of pir (holy men). There are normally groups of elderly Uighurs praying here. The complex sits on a large square that was being totally redone on our last visit.
Yarkand Old TownAREA
To escape modern Yarkand's uninspiring grid system, take a walk in the Old Town to the east of the Altun Mosque, where craftsmen still work their wares with ball-peen hammers and grindstones, several workshops churn out traditional Uighur instruments and horses and carts rule the streets. To get here, take the dirt lane headed east, just south of the Altun Sq, and keep going. Eventually you’ll link up with Laocheng Lu and can return west back to the New Town.
Only a handful of hotels in Yarkand currently accept foreigners, and these are concentrated in and around Xincheng Lu.
Délóng HotelHOTEL$$
(德隆大酒店; Délóng Dàjiǔdiàn %0998 852 5588; Qinai Bage Lu, 其乃巴格路 r ¥200; aW)
This hotel is the only one in town that seems totally happy lodging foreigners. The plush and even rather stylish lobby leads to two floors of well-sized and well-maintained rooms that come with desks and flat-screen TVs. The bathrooms are on the stinky and aged side, though. It's near the junction of Qinai Bage Lu and Xinsheng Lu.
TurkanUIGHUR$$
(图尔康咖啡馆; Tú'ěrkāng Kāfēi Guǎn Gulebage Lu, 古勒巴格路 mains ¥28-68; h10am-11pm)
It's easy to spot this excellent place: look for the large 'Tea Coffee' sign in English on the awning. Inside it's a well-appointed place with white-gloved waiters rushing dishes from a pictorial menu to the well-heeled guests seated in gold and velvet chairs. As well as Uighur dishes, you can enjoy pizza (of a sort) and even a cappuccino.
To find it, turn left out of the bus station.
8Getting There & Around
Buses leave half-hourly to Kashgar (¥46, 3½ hours), Yengisar (¥36, 1½ hours) and Karghilik (¥13, 1½ hours). There are four buses daily to Hotan (¥58, five hours), and six leave for Ürümqi (¥320 to ¥360, 25 hours). Faster shared taxis also depart when full to Kashgar, Yengisar and Karghilik.
Modern Yarkand is split into a Chinese New Town and a Uighur Old Town to its east. Take a right upon exiting the bus station to get to the main avenue. Once there, take another right and flag down any public bus, which will take you to the Old Town and the Altun Mosque complex nearby.
Northern Xīnjiāng
The north of Xīnjiāng is both geographically and culturally very different from the rest of the province; here thick evergreen forests, rushing rivers and isolated mountain ranges are home to Tuvan and Kazakh nomads, and while the Han Chinese population is growing, as it is throughout Xīnjiāng, you'll still find markedly different landscapes and people here. The entire north of Xīnjiāng was closed to foreigners until the 1990s, due to the proximity of the sensitive Russian, Mongolian and Kazakhstan borders, but today the region is growing fast as both a tourist and trade centre.
Bù'ěrjīn 布尔津
%0906 / Pop 70,000
Bù’ěrjīn (布尔津), also known as Burqin, is 620km north of Ürümqi, and marks the end of the desert-like Jungar Basin and the beginning of the lusher sub-Siberian birch forests and mountains to the north. The town’s population is mainly Kazakh, but there are also Russians, Han, Uighurs and Tuvans.
The town itself is clean and friendly, and has clear architectural influences from nearby Russia. There's little to see and do, but it's a pleasant place to start or end a journey to the magnificent Kanas Lake Nature Reserve.
1Sights
If you have some time to kill, stroll to the southern limits of town to the Erqis (Irtysh) River, where dozens of stone balbals (Turkic grave markers) line the river embankment. From here the river flows eventually into the Arctic Ocean, the only major river in China to do so. In summer you’ll be confronted with swarms of biting insects around dusk, so stock up on insect repellent.
4Sleeping & Eating
Bù’ěrjīn has many hotels, though only a handful accept foreigners. Rates peak between July and September and are heavily discounted at other times. Budget travellers may want to check out the Pigeonhouse Youth Hostel, which was due to reopen in 2016 after a hiatus of several years.
Pigeonhouse Youth HostelHOSTEL$
(鸽子窝客栈, Gēziwō Kèzhàn %180 4073 1030, 0906 651 8651; 17 Meilifeng Beilu, 美丽峰北路17号 dm ¥80)
After a break of some years, the Pigeonhouse Youth Hostel was due to reopen in mid 2016. It's a great option for budget travellers, but it's a good idea to book ahead for the summer months when accommodation here can be tight. Activities, including kayaking, archery, fishing and hiking, can be arranged.
Burqin Tourist HotelHOTEL$$
(布尔津旅游宾馆; Bù’ěrjīn Lǚyóu Bīnguǎn %0906 652 1325, 0906 651 0099; 4 Wolongwan Xilu; 卧龙湾西路4号 d ¥270-488; aW)
Burqin's main hotel is centrally located and has a choice of two-, three- and four-star blocks. The biggest and best block has spacious and well-maintained rooms and is superb value outside of high season, when huge discounts mean you can get a good room for as little as ¥120. Prices rise from late May to September.
Bù’ěrjīn Night MarketMARKET$
(河提夜市; Hétí Yèshì Hebin Lu; mains from ¥10; h7pm-midnight May-Sep)
Specialising in grilled fish, fresh yoghurt and kvas (a yeasty brew popular in Russia), this riverside night market makes for very atmospheric dining, even if the whole riverside development has been a little Disneyfied. To find it, walk south on Youyifeng Lu and keep going until the street dead ends: it’s on the right.
8Getting There & Away
There's no airport in Bù’ěrjīn itself, but Altay, 1½ hours away, has an airport with several year-round daily flights to Ürümqi (from ¥690, but far more expensive in the summer months due to high demand). There is no bus service from Altay Airport to Bù’ěrjīn, you'll either need to head into Altay itself and take a bus from the bus station to Bù’ěr
jīn, or take a taxi (¥250) to Bù’ěrjīn directly from the airport.
There are two buses a day from Bù’ěrjīn to Ürümqi, one leaving at 10am (¥183, 10 hours) and one leaving at 7pm (¥183, 12 hours). Hourly buses run to Altay (Ālètài; ¥24, 1½ hours) between 10am and 7pm.
Four daily buses run to Jímùnǎi (¥23, two hours) on the border with Kazakhstan. They depart at noon, 1pm, 4pm and 6pm.
Fast shared taxis run from outside the bus station to Ürümqi (¥250 per seat) and Altay (¥40 per seat).
There is no train station in Bù’ěrjīn. The closest station is Běitún (北屯), from where you have to catch a shared taxi or bus the final 90km. Make sure to buy your return train tickets in advance.
Kanas Lake Nature Reserve 哈纳斯湖
Stunning Kanas Lake (哈纳斯湖; Hānàsī Hú) is a long finger of water surrounded by soaring mountain peaks nestled in the southernmost reaches of the Siberian taiga ecosystem, pinched in between Mongolia, Russia and Kazakhstan. Most of the local inhabitants are Kazakh or Tuvan, though Chinese tourists (and the occasional foreigner) descend on the place in droves during the summer months. With a little effort it’s just about possible to escape the crowds, but as facilities grow and domestic travel increases, it gets harder every year. Many visitors come hoping for a cameo by the Kanas Lake Monster, China’s Nessie, who has long figured in scary stories around yurt campfires. She appears every year or two, bringing journalists and conspiracy hounds in her wake.
Lonely Planet China Page 171
