City - Tazhong State - XINJIANG UIGHUR AUTONOMOUS REGION Country - China
About
I recently returned from three weeks in Xinjiang-Uighur Autonomous Region, a really special place for photography (and other things).
My route took me from the capital Urumqi - Kashgar - Karakul - Tashkurgan (near Pakistan border) - back to Kashgar - Yengisar (South Silk Road) - Yecheng - Hotan - Niya - across the Taklamakan on the Cross Desert Highway - Korla - Turpan - back to Urumqi.
Urumqi, Kashgar, Karakul, Yengisar and Turpan see plenty of tourists. The remainder, particularly around Niya further south and all the way through the desert, are fairly remote and not touristed at all (even by Chinese it seems).
Xinjiang remains largely unknown to people not familiar with China, but is a treasure trove of things to look at, eat and do. Over the next several days, I'll post a few photos from each area I passed through and add a few comments about that photo.
**Note for this photo: This particular one was taken at Tazhong ("Ta" - Taklamakan, "Zhong" - Mandarin for "middle") at sunrise, after a night in the desert.