The start of October meant National Day, and National Day meant a week long holiday... Which was definitely well needed!
On 28th September two of the other volunteers, Reece and Brian came to visit us in shawan and stay for a few days until we headed to kashgar! It was so great seeing them and getting to show them our new home! We ended up going to KTV on the Sunday night (bad idea as we had work the next day...) with some of our friends.. It was all going well until the boys couldn't get into their hostel and Laura and I couldn't get back into the school at 2am and found as it was locked... This resulted in us getting a lift on the back of a motorbike, and spending the night in a policemans house... I swear Laura and I have the worst luck!!
Monday was good, as we got to show the boys our school, and they even sat in on one of my lessons! (Good fun as I basically used them and embarrassed them..) We again found ourselves at the bar that night, and spent the time playing card games, dancing and meeting the bars owner...

On Tuesday it was time for us to leave Shawan to head to Urumqi to stay with Sam for a night! This was brilliant as we had dinner on top of a skyscraper and got some amazing views of the city by night! At this point we hadn't even left for kashgar and id already had an amazing time!

The worst part about choosing kashgar was definitely the fact that it's 28 hours away from Urumqi by bus! To put that in perspective, you could probably travel the length if Britain nearly twice in that time! It wasn't an awful journey.. But picture being stuck in a seat with 9 other volunteers and a bunch of Chinese people for 28 hours... It was definitely an experience!!

On arrival in Kashgar we were faced with the task of getting to our hostel! This should have been easy, however we decided to trust a man on a tuc tuc who actually made us pay ¥6 to take us just round the corner, no where near were we wanted to be.. After a while we got in a taxi and hoped that he'd take us the right way... Which in the end actually worked! The hostel we stayed in was lovely, with a big courtyard and even a rooftop terrace! Our room was nice too, however sharing a room with 8 boys for a week was sure to be a task!

As we were all shattered we decided to stick with going for dinner (chow mien) and then heading back to the hostel for a few drinks and card games!

Our first full day in kashgar was so nice, with the weather being up in the 30's.. However Laura and I (being the idiots we are..) yet again managed to find ourselves lost after leaving the boys.. On the plus side, we did find a beautiful lake and got some amazing photos..so at least something good came of it.. As it was the run up to Eid Festival, getting in and out of our hostel was a challenge.. The streets were literally full to the brim with sheep and people constantly shouting for you to buy their sheep.. I have genuinely never seen so many sheep in my life..
That night we decided to go to a club.. But again this was an odd experience that ended up with us watching people do a raffle and a talent show..

On the Saturday, we had the best meal I've had so far in china. A real latte, with carrot cake and actual toast and eggs... Far too delicious! Then we went up to a tomb (again we got lost on the way and ended up at the bazaar!), and here we actually got to ride a camel... You can't say no to riding a camel when it only costs ¥10.. So again, I may have got one too many camel selfies!
To celebrate Eid, our hostel had bought themselves a sheep.. And then proceeded to slaughter the sheep in front of everyone.. Before we made it into kebabs and had a big barbecue..
By the time Sunday came we were all sad it was our last day, however we spent it well by checking out Idkah mosque and going a nice walk around the town.. And then again trying out the kashgar nightlife.. Which this time resulted in us on stage dancing infront of a whole club of people... Wow.
It's safe to say that Kashgar is an absolutey amazing place.. Completely different to where we are staying in china.. And again it actually felt like we were in the Middle East!
Kashgar is definitely one of my new favourite places, and given the chance id go back there in a heartbeat!

I'm currently writing this from my office in school... Which is almost a downer after a great week... But getting back in to teaching is just as rewarding.. Especially when I successfully teach the kids how to high five and take selfies...

Until next time! See ya!