After the jade shop visit, we strolled up the street toward a restaurant Gul knew. On the way, we ran into (literally) a group of boys playing with hand-carved wooden tops that they whipped around with strings attached to bamboo sticks.
| To the girls’ embarrassment, Tom asked if he could try one himself. |  |
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| Like most things kids do, it turned out to be trickier than it looked, and the boys could barely contain their laughter at Tom’s attempts. |  |
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| Gul stepped in to demonstrate the key winding technique, and then Miranda took a turn. She and Tom were so captivated by the top that Tom offered to buy one from one of the boys. |  |
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Gul brokered the deal, which cost all of 50 cents, and we also requested a photo of the whole gang as partial payment:
Before we left Khotan, Sami and Miranda had more or less mastered the top.
Tom is still trying!