Need a yak? Want to know the going rate for a donkey? Got a few spare goats you'd like to get off your hands because they keep eating your shoes?
Then get yourself to Kashgar's weekly animal market, held every Sunday just outside town. In the past the animal market was part of the regular
Sunday Market in Kashgar, until I guess it got too messy and rowdy and they decided to give the animals their own purpose-built venue. And don't go worrying that you're going to see puppies and kittens in cages, this is an agricultural market, strictly for farmer types. The main business is in cows, yaks, goats and fat-tailed sheep, with a few donkeys and horses and the occasional camel thrown in once a month on camel trading day.
The market is held in a large open field, bordered with walls and entered through a wide gate. Early in the morning the livestock begins to arrive by whatever means is available.
By tricycle...
By tractor....
By truck...
By trailer...
Or on foot.
Once inside the animals are lined up neatly and tethered together, cheek-to-cheek. Goats with goats, sheep with sheep and so on.
Not everyone is happy to be at the market, of course. For some, it's unbearable being in such close proximity to other animals.
Occasionally on-the-spot pre-sale repairs need to be carried out, like trimming the dirty wool from the extraordinary tails of these local fat-tailed sheep.
Now they look the business.
Like traders in any part of the world, the farmers walk around, mobile phones pressed to ears, inspecting stock.
At a point, after teeth, hoofs, testicles and overall sheep-ness are inspected, a deal is done. Hands are shaken. Money presumably changes hands, but it's invisible to the naked eye.
Like stockbrokers working the stock exchange I'm told that some buyers spend the whole day at the markets buying and selling repeatedly in order to make a margin on the sale - sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
The busines of livestock selling is conducted exclusively by Uighur men - Chinese animal traders are not admitted to the market.Women appear to be welcome but don't participate in the trading, at least not obviously.
Once everyone is happy with the price, it's time for breakfast. Around the perimeter of the market food stalls are already feeding dozens with mutton polo, soups, noodles, and samsas.
Diced lamb is ready for wrapping into tasty little pastry envelopes - samsas - cooked inside the smoking tandoor oven.
The tasty soup is kept steaming hot, seasoned by the chief taster after a sip from his ladle.
After watching this expert butcher for ages I decide to buy a beautiful handmade Uighur knife - not because I'm planning to do my own butchering, but as a fruit knife.
The knives, with exquisite copper-inlaid bone, horn, wood or metal handles are beautifully crafted. They come with their own leather holster so you can wear them on your belt Uighur style.
I buy one with a smooth black handle inlaid with brass and copper diamonds, but it causes me no end of trouble over the next few days as it becomes clear I can't take it back to Shanghai on the train, and China Post won't allow it to be sent.
Eventually a private courier company comes to my hotel room to tell me that for double the cost of the knife's purchase price, it can be returned to Shanghai by bus accompanied by a police declaration, and will take one month. I'll let you know if it ever gets here. To be honest, it would have been less hassle and a lot cheaper to buy a yak. Next time I'll know better!
Kashgar Animal Market
Every Sunday from dawn
The market has moved three times in the last year alone, so it's worth checking the current location before you go.
Travels on the Silk Road
Labels: Kashgar, market, street food, street life, travel, Xinjiang
