Experience the best of Kashgar

Kashgar lies at the western end of the Taklamakan Desert, where the Silk Road routes round the north and south of the desert came together before crossing the passes to Central Asia and India. Its centre is the Id Kah Mosque, one of the largest in China, on a broad square, with the lanes of the old quarter nearby.

On the edge of the city, the Abakh Khoja Mausoleum, with green-glazed tiles and a dome, shelters the tombs of a seventeenth-century ruling family. The Karakoram Highway runs south-west into the Pamirs, past Lake Karakul and the glaciers of Muztagh Ata, which rises to 7,546 metres, and on towards the border with Pakistan.

Lamb kebabs, hand-pulled laghman noodles, rice pilaf with carrots and mutton, and round naan baked in clay ovens are the staples, with dried apricots, figs and raisins from the oasis. The orchards bring in their harvest in autumn, while winters are freezing and dry.