Caravanistan

@Roro
I have some pictures in the facebook Album I posted (can be seen without having an account: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... 427eb87cdb), they are rather at the end of the album, in the description I wrote: "Landscape near Xikeerkul..."
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We came back to Kashgar in the evening. It takes less than two hours by bus.
When we were there, we didnt meet anyone else (not even sheperds) - theres no grass anyway. So it is possible to camp, although I dont know if it is permitted in Xinjiang.
To go there from Kashgar go to the Bus station (the one near the train station), and tell the person at the coutner you want to go to Xi ker er kul Zhan (bring it printed in chinese caracters + on a map). In our case the lady never heard of, but with the help of a scurity guy she figured out where it is and put us on a bus in that direction. We stopped the bus in the middle of the road when the landscape looked good. For going back we justed flagged down a passing bus (theres many, its the Kashgar, Aksu, Kuqa, Urumqi road)

By the way, just went through all my pictures again: we did like Turpan. It was Hami and Kuqa we didnt like too much.

Merci beaucoup!

RR.

@roro - your "discovery" looks fascinating - like Zhangye without the entry fee and tourists! Did you happen to notice if the train line was near the road you took from Kashi? We're planning on getting a train from Kuqa - I'm thinking we could jump off early if there is a station and then pick up a bus to get to Kashi

@roro de rien
@lissie45
I think you are actually relating to me. It is indeed near the train station Xike er kul zhan. Thats how we discovered it - we saw it from the train coming from kuqa. Our train stopped there - but this wasnt noted in the schedule. So you can try you luck.
Your idea should basically work.
The colors are maybe not as harmonic as in zhangye danxia geopark, but the fact that you can discover it on your own, climb the hills, follow canyons, made it more interesting to us. I have pictures of both in the album I posted.

Cool - we're give it a go - my only concern is that we'll going in late August - so it may be too hot to be wandering around the desert for too long

sakara wrote:I did everyone of the places in a single day, although Bing gou and Danxia can certainly be done in one day, even by public transport. About mati si I'm not sure. I was there in winter, when only the caves (plus the mountains) could be visited. Having seen later Mo gao caves in Dunhuang and before a lot of temples and cave monasteries in an outside china I would probably skip mati si if I was short on time. But - I prefer mountains and landscapes to temples;-).
Thus said, I visited Bing gou and Danxia in winter, we were almost the only visitors and the temperatures were cold (which is pleasant in this case). In Summer it might be super full with chinese tourists and quite hot. But this applies to almost all tourist attractions in china.
If you want you can have a look at the pictures of my trip: there's pictures of most of the locations you intend to go to:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... 427eb87cdb (first part is korea and western China). All the places are named in the description of the pictures.

Just took a look at your photos, how did you like Yarkand compared to Hotan and Kashgar? Worth spending some time in? I've had some good luck in catching some convenient transfers so I have an extra day or two that I hadn't planned on.

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A brief update for anyone following this thread--I did Mati Si, Binggou and Danxia all in one day but found Mati Si and Danxia a little disappointing. Binggou was alright. The problem with Danxia is you can't walk around at all which really detracted from my experience.

As for the situation in Xinjiang, going past Tashkurgan to the Pakistani border on the KKH is completely off limits to foreigners. There are 0 foreigner accommodations around Bayanbulak. There are only very expensive (300rmb) hotels available to foreigners at Nalati. I've talked my way into a hostel at Nalati but only because I speak some Mandarin, was traveling with a mainlander who helped me convince the hostel owner, and I think largely because I'm ethnically Han Chinese. Yurts around Sayram are costing 200rmb without negotiating. Hitchhiking is very possible. Hiring a car to get around Sayram is not necessary.

Hi
Yarkand is ok, the old town is partially not restored, which makes it quite interesting in contrast to kashgar. By the time we were visiting(december 2016) only one hotel was accepting foreigners: hotel de long in the centre. But this can change. Compared to Hotan and Kashgar Yarkand feels much smaller. We ve only spent one night.

btw: the super touristy platforms and soon in danxia are a bit disappointing, I agree.
Give the xi ke er kulplace near kashgar a try - you will walk all alone;-）