China's Wild West
🗓️ Best time: June–September for grasslands and mountain passes | ⏱️ 7–14 days (minimum 7 — the province is too big for less)
Xinjiang is vast — six times the size of France — and most of what you've heard about it is wrong. The Uyghur culture is alive in Kashgar's Sunday livestock bazaar (goat trading, donkey parking lots, lamb shashlik grilling at 8am). The grasslands around Ili match anything in Switzerland but at a fraction of the price, and the Karakoram Highway from Kashgar toward Pakistan is one of the most spectacular drives on earth.