On Day 16 - I headed to Kuqa or Kuche as it is known with Mandarin speakers. A good 4 hour bus journey away. I paid for the ticket and was on my way to get on to the bus when the Airport styled security at the local bus station while scanning my luggage found something 'suspicious'. The item in question my favourite Deodorant. After a futile attempt to convince them that its not and IED but my deodorant, I moved on. As if that was not enough I was soon to find out that my seat is the non reclining added seat on the bus which was right next to the driver, which made me more grumpy. But as it turns out all unfortunate events have a silver lining attached to it if you look for it, in this case I had wonderful 180 degree view of the road and my journey. So even if its was not the most comfortable journey, I did enjoy the sights on the road.
After reaching Kuqa, my next challenge was to find my hotel. I was booked into 'Kuche Grand Hotel' a rather plush looking hotel on the website and the only hotel that took foreigners in Kuqa. After walking past an under construction building which was called Kuche hotel at least twice I couldn't find the actual hotel. I was getting tired after walking for a good long distance with my heavy sack. Then I finally managed to understand from local's that the actual hotel was behind it. It was indeed plush hotel and a very attractive price, my only regret was that I was staying there only for 1 night. Checked in and rested for the while and got our to explore Kuqa.
Kuqa is one of those booming small towns of China, with all the standard issues like not enough public transport and traffic snarls. It was quite a challenge to get around and the blocks were quite big that what looked small on the map turns out to be a good fair distance away. Finally I took a bus to get to the old side of town, I strolled around a little around there and when I couldnt find much interesting things except for an old small mosque, I decided to head back after having some nice Kebab for dinner. So photographically it was again not a very interesting day...
After reaching Kuqa, my next challenge was to find my hotel. I was booked into 'Kuche Grand Hotel' a rather plush looking hotel on the website and the only hotel that took foreigners in Kuqa. After walking past an under construction building which was called Kuche hotel at least twice I couldn't find the actual hotel. I was getting tired after walking for a good long distance with my heavy sack. Then I finally managed to understand from local's that the actual hotel was behind it. It was indeed plush hotel and a very attractive price, my only regret was that I was staying there only for 1 night. Checked in and rested for the while and got our to explore Kuqa.
Kuqa is one of those booming small towns of China, with all the standard issues like not enough public transport and traffic snarls. It was quite a challenge to get around and the blocks were quite big that what looked small on the map turns out to be a good fair distance away. Finally I took a bus to get to the old side of town, I strolled around a little around there and when I couldnt find much interesting things except for an old small mosque, I decided to head back after having some nice Kebab for dinner. So photographically it was again not a very interesting day...
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| Our Bus driver, a rather serious chap....(shot from my Galaxy S4) |
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| Long road to Kuqa....(shot from my Galaxy S4) |
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| A group of elders spending their evening near the mosque... |
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