Uygher Men near Market, Kashgar, China

In July of 2013, I was fortunate enough to spend 4 weeks this summer exploring and ski mountaineering in Xinjiang, China. Xinjiang is populated largely by the Uygher people, a historically nomadic group of Muslims currently being oppressed under Chinese rule. The Uygher area of western China is inhabited by some of the most hospitable people I have ever traveled amongst. Throughout our trip they showed a genuine interest in our well-being and a strong desire to share their culture with us. I felt truly blessed to be one of the few foreigners traveling throughout Xinjiang; in the four weeks that the three of us spent there we did not meet another person from the Western Hemisphere. I consistently find it a shame that westerners have such a biased and largely negative perspective of Muslim people. I hope that my photos will encourage others to get out and see parts of the world that we know mostly through our media outlets.