The famous Kashgar Sunday Market is the largest market in Central Asia. Contrary to its name, the market is open every day, but traditionally Sunday is the busiest day and it can become a very crowded place indeed.

Everything is traded here, from ethnic food, fruits, vegetables, handcraft and clothing to loud and smelly live animals.  
Especially on Sundays, farmers and herders from the whole region and even from nearby countries, come to the market to test, sell or buy livestock, ranging from chicken, sheep, horses and yaks to even the occasional camel.

The market is dominated by ethnic people like Uyghurs, Kazakhs and Kirgyz. For some reason you hardly see any Han Chinese selling or buying, except for tourists.

The origins of the market hark back more than 2000 years, when Kashgar was a major trading point on the Silk Road.

We visited the market early morning on a Monday in October 2003 when many people were still busy setting up shop