Travel Notes in Xinjiang: I was attending a Uzbek wedding, but I saw a luxury hotel in Kashgar

Looking back on my trip in Xinjiang, the reason why I stayed for two years, and spent most of my time in Kashgar in southern Xinjiang, the most important reason is that I discovered the joy of traveling in Kashgar: some "sudden" humanities , It is unavoidable.

Once I went to a local restaurant with ethnic characteristics with my two friends. I ran into an Uzbek uncle and talked a few words with each other. It felt like a good match, so he invited us to their family's wedding a few days later.

【Uzbek】

There are 56 ethnic groups in my country, 47 in Xinjiang, and the Uzbek nationality is a "minority" among the ethnic minorities. Their population is very small, only more than 10,000 people in Xinjiang.

During my contact with Uzbek friends, I can deeply feel some of the "superior" aura of this nation. I think this is probably also related to the overall "life experience" of this nation.

During the Song Dynasty, the Uzbek nationality moved to China from Central Asia, and Kashgar was one of the Xinjiang cities that this nationality first arrived in.

Historically, many large-scale ethnic migrations were mostly due to the effects of wars, famines or harsh environments, but the Uzbek people "immigrated" to China from another land because of business.

The Uzbek people are very good at doing import and export trade, and they also deal in the more popular goods on the Silk Road: silk, porcelain, tea, etc. In the Qing Dynasty, Uzbek caravans still travelled between West Asia and Xinjiang, and they were once brilliant.

After four to five hundred years, Uzbek farmers, herders and small handicraftsmen moved to Kashgar.

Until today, most Uzbek people in Xinjiang live in cities and towns, and there are relatively few Uzbek people in rural areas.

Therefore, the temperament, appearance, and overall condition of the family of the Uzbek people who came into contact on the road in Xinjiang are very different from other ethnic groups. They feel quite rich and very proud.

During my trip to Kashgar, Xinjiang, I found that the richer the ethnic minority families are, the more heroic they are. They will feast their guests on grand festivals and hold gorgeous carnival parties on important days such as weddings. When friends come to "watch", they will warmly invite to enter the door and reveal the whole view of their home.

In the Mainland, this approach may be misunderstood as "showing off". For ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, this is a way for them to show pride, beauty, happiness, and hope: Look, this is my home. Isn't it great?

[Uzbek wedding]

On the wedding day, my friends and I arrived as scheduled.

It turns out that the Uzbek uncle whom I met before was the father of the groom official.

He told us that when Uzbek people get married, the man must give a gift and prepare a new house, and the money for the marriage must be paid by the man's home. This is quite similar to the marriage tradition in the Mainland.

The wife can dowry at home depending on the conditions, just prepare some home decorations, electrical appliances and other accessories.

However, once a Uzbek couple gets married, the husband has “monopoly” in the economic aspect, and the control of property is determined by the man.

In the past, Uzbek weddings were very cumbersome. They had to be held for many days. During this period, they had to go through many links such as feasting friends, visiting relatives, giving each other gifts, and dancing "group dances". The process was cumbersome, but now it is much simplified.

The wedding we attended was a carnival at the man’s house in the morning, the sister group gathering of the woman in the afternoon, and a ceremony at the hotel in the evening. This hotel opened my eyes to me. I will post a picture later.

It was the first time that I saw so many Uzbek girls gather together in this part of the man’s family banquet.

Their appearance is quite different from that of the Uyghurs. Their facial features are more three-dimensional and delicate, their faces are more angular, and their skin is fair. Even when they reach middle age, they are rich and round, but they still maintain a beautiful appearance.

In addition to their appearance, their home is also very beautiful.

[New house of Uzbek people]

Knowing that the new house is upstairs in the neighbourhood, a few of us asked the male host to see if they could visit their house. The male host readily accepted.

The new house looks no different from an ordinary residential building from the outside, but as soon as we entered the house, we were immediately surprised.

This is simply the room where the princess lives in the fairy tale!

Round white gauze curtains poured down from the roof and spread around the bed. The bed curtains were inlaid with pink gauze flowers, surrounded by strong colors, as if they were in a movie setting.

The uncle told us that many of the decorations and household items in the house are handmade, and some of them are made by the women of their own family.

In the past years, the handmade embroidery of Uzbek women has been famous for a long time. The lace and silk handicrafts they made, including handmade carpets, have strong "Iranian" characteristics and are exquisite and gorgeous.

There are no small white walls and light walls in this house. Closets and niches are spread all around. The colors are matched with magnificent and brilliant colors, the patterns are complex and wonderful, and the forms are changeable.

The host said that every piece of carpet in their home is very expensive, and the price is more than 10,000 yuan at a finger point. In addition, there are also carefully collected glass products that cost thousands of yuan. The decoration and collocation of the Uzbek people feel that there are no rules to follow. Rich, colorful and gorgeous are the main external manifestations.

["Five-star hotel in Kashgar"]

This can be said to be the most rewarding day of my trip in Kashgar. We didn't know until the evening that the place where this family held the ceremony for the newcomer was a very famous hotel in Kashgar: the Grand View of the Knights.

This place is more "shocked" than the rookie's room. Locals say that although there is no "star" here, it is recognized as the best restaurant in the minds of Kashgar people, and it is called "the five-star hotel for Kashgar people."

The interior decoration of the Grand View Garden of the Knights can be described as "luxury", magnificent, like a huge palace.

There are several thick pillars in the hall, and the patterns on the pillars are arranged in two consecutive directions, but when you look closely, the thickness of each pattern is different-this is hand-carved by craftsmen.

This hotel has a construction area of ​​more than 4,000 square meters. Standing on the fence on the second floor and looking down, the decoration of each wall and the decorations in each niche are different, including the ceiling design. The same form, every detail is original. Molding these decorations with both hands can't be completed in three to five years.

I really did not expect that there is still such a place in Kashgar. This "exquisite luxury" is no longer as simple as a hotel, but a designer who has devoted his life to his talents and put together hundreds of patterns. The castle of your dreams.

[Bride]

The Kashgar people are obviously already very familiar with this place. They don't pay attention to the flowers. The women go straight to the bride's "boudoir" on the second floor, and the boys gather on the dance floor on the first floor to start a new round of carnival.

The bride, dressed in white gauze, had obviously been sitting still for a long time. At first glance, I thought she was wearing a wedding dress, but this white gauze is still somewhat different from traditional western wedding dresses. Each corner of it is inlaid with delicate lace, and the lace is extraordinarily wide, on the front and waist. The lace is also inlaid with intricate diamond ornaments.

In addition, the bride wears many pieces of gold jewelry. It is said that the more gold, the more "precious" the woman is.

Jewelry matching is very particular in Uzbek customs. The "rules" for wearing jewelry are the etiquette that every Uzbek woman must master. Even little girls wear beautiful accessories.

Every girl of this nation is very beautiful. The little hats on their heads are called Dopas, some are quadrangular, some are round, and they are exclusive accessories for Uzbek women.

It is said that the Uzbek people do not have the saying that “close relatives cannot get married”. Even their cousins ​​and cousins ​​can marry each other. I don’t know if this claim is true or false. Ethnic marriages, they have common beliefs, similar ethnic habits and dietary culture.

But this time I didn't see the kind of pilaf that the Uzbek people "must eat for marriage" in the legend. Judging from the French fries, dumplings, and stir-fries on the table, their dining habits have gradually become Chinese.

【postscript】

There was warm music on the first floor of the hotel lobby. The young guys gathered around and sang and danced. Their dances felt hearty, smooth, and loud. For a few moments, I seemed to be not on the wedding dance floor, but on the grassland. Bonfire party.

The ancestors of the Uzbek nationality have Mongolian ancestry. In the dance of the nomads, people's two hands swing very wide. In this way, they express their awe of nature, yearning for freedom, physical stretching and unrestrained emotions.

Xinjiang travel is still going on. The next travel note: Kashgar’s "ethnic style" coffee shops are dazzling.

I am Dahong Sister, the anchor of the travel channel of audio radio, a professional travel player, focus on niche gameplay, and share unpopular destinations. Travel is not an attitude, but life itself.