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The Ball 2002 is kicked over the Great Wall of China on its way to Korea & Japan

Category: China

The Pied Piper of Kashgar

A little tale of how Phil became The Pied Piper of Kashgar for a day

The Pied Piper of Kashgar
Phil leads the children, or are they following him?

In which we get lost, and Phil finds a chance to practice his goalkeeping skills.

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On a particularly windy day in the desert, we decided to go for a walk to find an internet cafe which was rumoured to have a copy of Photoshop. I thought it would mean I could upload and edit some photos without the customary difficulties we’ve experienced here in China. It turned out to be another wild goose chase, but resulted in a charming incident in the backstreets of old Kashgar…

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England, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Xinjiang

We leave Urumqi and Phil finds out for the second time that he seems to be edible.

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China has felt like sanctuary after the tribulations of the journey from Kazakhstan, and after spending a couple of days in Urumqi and hooking back up with the Boy Noble, we collectively decided to make a 3000km detour to Kashgar, the gateway to the Karakoram highway, on the far western edge of the Taklamakan desert.

A warm welcome in Kashgar
A warm welcome in Kashgar

Kashgar is another of those places, like Samarkhand and Bukhara, whose name resounds with mystery and allure. It lies at the very heart of the continent, close to the borders of Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan and is rightly considered the crossroads of Asia…

As soon as we arrive in Kashgar, Chelsea fan Phil does his best to find a place to watch the final and we meet Gersh for the first time.

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Ahhh, China

The Ball in Urumqi
The Ball arrives in China!

Directions, directions, directions… now that we’ve made it to China, we have only one direction in mind.

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This was going to be a posting about some of our experiences in Almaty, but I’ve decided to skip writing about that for several reasons…

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The Ball 2018 left England on 25th March 2018 and travelled to the World Cup in Russia.

The Ball 2014 kicked off from England on 9th Jan 2014 and headed to the World Cup in Brazil.

The Ball 2010 left England on 24th Jan 2010 headed to the Opening Ceremony in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The Ball 2006 travelled from London to the Opening Ceremony in Munich, Germany.

The Ball 2002 was carried 7000 miles across Europe and Asia to the World Cup finals in Korea & Japan.