Sunday, October 22, 2006
Xingqi tian shi chang 星期天市场
Sunday Market.
I can safely say there is no better place in the world than the Kashgar xingqi tian shi chang to:
- buy a new carpet
- replace your old donkey
- and get a clean shave, all in one stop.
Walmart has nothing on this place.
The "Sunday" market actually operates every day, but Sunday is by far the biggest day, and the only day for livestock sales. After a week in the mountains, I was particularly looking forward to cleaning up with a nice straight razor shave. It started out enjoyably enough with a brief face massage. Then the punishment began; 10 minutes of scraping, first with a razor blade, then straight razor ... no shaving cream. I quickly reached my pain threshold, hopped out of the chair half-shaven to lick my many wounds and threw 10 yuan at the barber to discourage him from trying to finish the job.
I now completely understand why the Uighurs cherish those gnarly beards of theirs.
I can safely say there is no better place in the world than the Kashgar xingqi tian shi chang to:
- buy a new carpet
- replace your old donkey
- and get a clean shave, all in one stop.
Walmart has nothing on this place.
The "Sunday" market actually operates every day, but Sunday is by far the biggest day, and the only day for livestock sales. After a week in the mountains, I was particularly looking forward to cleaning up with a nice straight razor shave. It started out enjoyably enough with a brief face massage. Then the punishment began; 10 minutes of scraping, first with a razor blade, then straight razor ... no shaving cream. I quickly reached my pain threshold, hopped out of the chair half-shaven to lick my many wounds and threw 10 yuan at the barber to discourage him from trying to finish the job.
I now completely understand why the Uighurs cherish those gnarly beards of theirs.
# posted by tim @ 3:50 PM 
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