Taste of Xinjiang

The arid, sunny climate in Xinjiang is ideal for growing grapes, melons, and pomegranates. Chinese families returning home from Urumqi during harvest season stock up on local fruits and nuts, boxes of which clog the luggage carousel at the Beijing airport.

Almost anything — from carpets to rice to plumbing fixtures — can be found at the Sunday Market in Kashgar. This stall was in the dried fruits and sweets section.

Hand-pulled laghman (拉面) noodles are served up in the market. Uighur laghman is usually cold and spicy, unlike the heated but milder laghman found in nearby Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.

One of the guys I traveled with noted that the noodle-making process reminded him of Adam Smith's pin factory. One man did nothing but chop up lamb. Another pulled the noodles. Another prepared the sauces. The loudest and friendliest served as hawker and server. Older children, not yet ready for skilled labor, fetched ingredients.

Samsas (a distant cousin of Indian samosas) are salty baked pastries filled with meat and fat from a fat-tailed sheep, and seasoned with cumin and onions.

High Altitude

Karakul Lake and the 7,546-meter Muztagh Ata (Father of Ice Mountains), right off the Karakoram Highway to Pakistan in the Kizilsu Kirghiz Autonomous Prefecture of Xinjiang.

Some of the Kyrgyz shepherds in the area still live in traditional yurts, though the Chinese government promotes more permanent settlements (such as fixed concrete yurts).

Information Blackout

I spent National Day vacation with two classmates in Xinjiang, China's largest territorial subdivision. More than twice the size of Texas, Xinjiang encompasses ancient oasis towns, barren desert, and stunningly beautiful mountains. It is home to many ethnic minorities, including Mongols, Kazakhs, Tajiks, and Kyrgyz.

Brutal riots between Uyghurs and the dominant Han Chinese erupted in the regional capital in July, leaving at least 197 people dead. As part of its effort to restore order, the Chinese government has blocked the Internet in Xinjiang. Completely. About 21 million people have no way to view websites or use e-mail.

This is far worse than the typical controls in China, which merely make it hard to access Facebook, blogs, and accounts of the 1989 protests.

Also cut off in Xinjiang: all mobile texting, international phone calls, and calls to any part of China except Beijing.