The Ballandean Dump Beautification Committee

I'll leave Western China just for this Blog.

And with its title, I know that you couldn't resist opening it.

Beautifying our local dump??

At a wine-fuelled evening, our neighbour Sam suggested planting Chinese Pistachio trees around the dump.
He wanted visitors to the area to see beautiful trees (and in Autumn these have a  brilliant red foliage) as they cross Accommodation Creek.
At present the sight that greets them is the dump! Mature trees would certainly hide much of the dump.

My husband agreed to be his helper.

The planting was to begin early the next morning.....this after lots of great wine consumed the night before!

Our bare local dump.

First of all the area for the tress must be inspected.

The Beautification Committee for the Ballandean Dump check out the site.

Once the area was inspected, it was measured so that the trees would be spread evenly around the fence.

Measuring for tree placement.

Next holes have to be dug.

The area we live in is called The Granite Belt.
Yes, and there's a reason.....lots of rocks about. Granite rocks. Very hard rocks.

So digging the holes, manually, was very hard work for the committee of two!

The committee at work, digging

And when the hole was large enough, and deep enough, the tree was planted.

A Chinese pistachio Pistacia chinensis ( almost camouflaged by my amateur photography placement!!)

 And a success at last! One down, 6 to go!

The first tree is in! Hurrah.

When all the trees were planted they were mulched, and now, fingers crossed, they will all grow and beautify the Ballandean Dump!


Congratulations Sam and Adrian!

Kashgar, Western China....part (c)

This will the final Blog about Kashgar. You may be getting tired of this area. I hope not, but I won't stretch my luck!

I thought that I'd complete Kashgar with a photo montage. Does that suit?

I'll start with the bazaar.

It is open every day, and is a hive of activity.

Figs were in season, and there were numerous fig sellers outside the bazaar entrance.
6 juicy fresh figs, served to you on a bed of one huge fig leaf, for 1 Yuan (6 Yuan = $A1)   We ate lots of figs that morning. 

The fig sellers outside the bazaar.

The figs were absolutely delicious!

Inside the bazaar were myriads of stall holders, selling everything from the mundane to the unbelievable. But I must temper that statement....nothing is "mundane" in such an exotic setting as the Kashgar Bazaar.

There's a lot of chestnuts here!

Dried snake??? Probably medicinal.

..or maybe some scorpions?

Feel like sewing something? These fabrics are characteristic for the Uighurs.

And here we bought some watermelon....sweet and refreshing.

There were also bags of loose tea, and spices. The smells were wonderful.

And outside the bazaar the scenes were just as colourful.
Here a woman checks these short-handled brooms....which everyone uses. 

And people-gazing outside the bazaar was always engrossing.

These hats were very typical of the Uighur men.

And the women, too, were interesting to observe.

The older ones were often fairly heavily veiled, but not so the younger ones.

Here are two photos, taken just outside the bazaar, illustrating this.

Here is a heavily veiled woman.

....and here you can see most of the women have bare heads. One older women has a scarf and a shawl on her head.

Well, I said a the start of this Blog that it would be the last on Kashgar, but no.....too many photos left.

I shall post one more Blog, then we will leave Kashgar.

I promise!!!

Kashgar's Livestock Market

We are still in Kashgar for this Blog.

Kashgar is famous for its Livestock Market, held every Sunday, from dawn until dusk.

Traders come in from all around the area, with their livestock for sale.

A cow has arrived for the Market.

There are small herds of sheep, and cattle,and yaks, and donkeys, tied up, and standing remarkably placidly while they are inspected by potential buyers.

The sheep section...lots of them!

These have been shorn recently.

Anyone for a yak??

We only saw one horse being "road tested" while we were there, but no doubt other horses arrived and were traded later in the day.

This young man was test-riding the horse, without a saddle, and only rope for reins.

The market area is so alive with all the hustle and bustle of the animals, and the traders.
The wives, and children, often accompany their menfolk.

And there are also food stalls and butchers, to provide breakfast, lunch and dinner, I imagine. They were certainly doing a brisk trade when we saw them.

It was dusty and noisy certainly, but fascinating. Not to be missed if ever you are in Kashgar.

Kashgar, Western China. (Part a)

This is one view of the old town of Kashgar.  Parts of it are in a poor condition.

 I am back with notes from our recent trip to far Western China.
After our yurt stay, and visit to Tashkurgan, we headed to Kashgar....once a very busy hub, because it was at the junction of the northern and southern Silk Roads.

Today Kashgar is still a busy market town, populated mainly by Uighurs, who are Muslims. Only a very small proportion of the population are ethnic Chinese.

The new sections of Kashgar form the bulk of the city, but parts of the old town still exist, and have Uighur people living there.

The minarets of a Mosque.

The street signs, and other signs, are in 3 languages: Arabic. Chinese. English.

A three- language sign. (Lu is Mandarin for "street")

Walking through the old town is fascinating.
The houses are made with mud bricks, and the lanes wander through them, twisting and turning.
Some streets are paved with mud-brick slabs, but most are unsealed.

This lane way was paved.

The lanes are very narrow, and this tractor had to manoeuvre many times to get through. This part of town has unpaved lanes.

There are signs on the doors in some lane ways, advertising carpets, or flat  bread, or tea to drink....all obtainable inside the houses.

Children, like children the world over, played in the streets.

A trader sat patiently in a lane with his wares, a few vegetables, for sale.

And the butcher displayed his products. Lamb and mutton are staple fare here.

And a smithy sat at his small forge making cooking implements.

Plying his trade on the street of the old town.

Others washed their clothes at a communal tap.

Washing outdoors needs help from other family members.

Nearby, quilts (or doonas) were aired.

We spent many afternoons wandering the old town.
The residents were friendly, and always gave us permission to take photos.
A very interesting place.

Back in Western China

For this Blog I shall leave the farm, and our chicken (which is growing nicely) and continue on with our next adventure in far Western China.
We left the yurt, and the Tajik family, and had a 2 hour drive over a little bit of highway, and a lot of badly degraded unsealed road, and reached a small Uighur town called Tashkurgan.

It is very high, at 3600m, and surrounded by the "stans"

The Afghanistan border  is only  6 kilometers away. To the NW is Tajikistan, and also around are Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan and India.

We visited the remains of an old stone city, originally built in 7 AD.

Some scenes from "The Kite Runner" were filmed here.

The surrounding countryside is typical of this region.

Here is what is left of the old city.

Then off to the markets/country fair. It was a Chinese National Holiday so everyone was at the fairgrounds.

I think that country shows or fairs the world over share certain characteristics.

A crowd had gathered to listen to music, and watch National Dancing, but the performers were having trouble with their equipment, so it ground to a halt!

The crowd gathered for the music and dancing to start.

With a trial run, no sound was amplified! Back to the drawing board!

The women were dressed beautifully in their national dress.

The colours were vibrant, in sharp contrast to the rocky, dun coloured terrain of the area.

Tents and yurts were being erected, to serve as food stations later in the day.

Many hands make light work, and of course, there has to be an overseer!

It did not take long for the yurt to be completed.

There were lots of men cooking kebabs over open coals.

 But we enjoyed kebabs, and local bread, washed down with yaks milk tea, in another of the food tents.

We had a very enjoyable time in this village, which is the most Western habitation  in China.

A Chicken Update.

Yes, our chicken is now in its 2nd week of life, and so far all is well. 
No foxes, or quolls, or wild dogs, or snakes, have found our mother hen in her "nest" under the ivy around the old tank stand.

Here she is, sitting on her chicken, apparently safe and sound, although I do worry that a predator will find her soon.

And here are few photos of her, and her chicken, out and about the farm.  The chicken is now at least 8 days old, and possibly a little older.

Here she is teaching her chick how to find food in the mulch!

...and also in the grass. What a skillful mother!

...and doesn't the chicken seem attentive?

Watching them interact is fascinating.

She uses different sounds for different messages.

So far there are  three different sounds which we can identify, and ascribe to actions.

She indicates when she senses danger, and sits quickly. The chick is just as fast getting under her wings.

There was a sudden loud noise as a tractor trundled nearby. She went immediately into her protective mode.The chick is well hidden!

Another sound calls the chick when she's digging in the soil or mulch.

And a third sound seems to indicate that what she has found is edible!

So that's the update. Keep all your fingers crossed for its survival. 

We think that it is such a cute little animal, we are willing it to survive.

 And we have no idea of its sex yet. And we aren't too sure how you sex a chicken anyway.

We thought we'd have to wait until it matures, and see if it develops like a rooster or a hen.! (Not a very scientific approach, I agree)

If it is still alive next week, I shall post more photos.