Go Back  FlyerTalk Forums > Destinations > Asia > China
Reload this Page >

Jiejie’s Adventures on the Silk Road

Jiejie’s Adventures on the Silk Road

Old Aug 15, 2012, 7:48 am
  #31  
 
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Washington, DC
Programs: UA 1K 1MM, AA, DL
Posts: 7,402
Originally Posted by jiejie
We arrived about 18:00, which turned out to be a bit early this time of year (summer) when days are long. And in fact, it was summer solstice so the longest day of the year in Northern Hemisphere. Groan. My arrival was too early because a) At 6 pm it was still blisteringly hot and b) It was going to be too early to get those iconic Jiaohe sunset pictures. 18:00 arrival would probably be OK in May or September, but for June-August, probably better to arrive at 18:45 or 19:00, at least 30 minutes before Last Tickets are sold for the day.
Beijing or Xinjiang time?
drewguy is online now  
Old Aug 15, 2012, 8:23 am
  #32  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Southeast USA
Programs: various
Posts: 6,710
Originally Posted by drewguy
Beijing or Xinjiang time?
Beijing time. So in actuality, similar to 16:00 local time, which is still pretty hot on a summer afternoon in much of China.

Additional Note: All my times mentioned during this trip report will be Beijing time unless specifically noted otherwise.
jiejie is offline  
Old Aug 15, 2012, 8:25 am
  #33  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Southeast USA
Programs: various
Posts: 6,710
Urumqi Interlude

Sooner or later, any traveler in Xinjiang will find themselves going through Urumqi, even if only to finesse transport connections. And so it was for me. I needed to get to Urumqi by late afternoon of June 23 and spend the night at a local hotel, in order to make an early morning flight from Urumqi Airport to Kashgar on the 24th. Getting to Kashgar on Sunday the 24th in the morning was critical, as that was the only opportunity I’d have to see the Sunday Animal Market.

Urumqi is the capital of Xinjiang and a large, fairly industrial city. There’s nothing much attractive about it, yet I find it not the hopeless basket case that others sometimes describe it to be. Although now a Han-majority city, it still has large minority groups of Hui and Uighurs, and smaller minorities such as Kazahks, Mongolians, etc. that have come to the city for economic advancement. Certainly the place is busy and buzzing with activity, and plenty of shiny new construction of buildings and infrastructure continues to take place. And it certainly looked like some good meals were there for the finding.

The bus journey from Turpan to Urumqi was easy and had no intermediate stops to pick up or drop passengers. The overall journey took about 3 hours, and included a brief pitstop at an unspeakable-toilet place about halfway through the journey. Also outside of Urumqi, a security checkpoint where all passengers had to get off the bus and walk through a metal detector and show ID. The bus driver took the bus to the other side of the checkpoint. All the Chinese ID’s were being read with a little machine, but with my passport, the guard just flipped to the info page, looked at me, shrugged and handed it back. Our bus had no apparent issues (escaped convicts, terrorists, domestic agitators, etc.) so we all reboarded and after the conductor did a head count, were on our way again. We arrived in Urumqi at 16:30 to complete chaos at the bus station in the south part of town. Looked like this chaos was typical though. Out at the road and with no empty official taxis within grabbing distance and I was being continuously outmaneuvered by nimble locals, I availed myself of a “black taxi” (private nonlivery vehicle) with a lady driver, for flat rate of RMB 30 to my hotel....which I estimated was probably 40-50% over the legitimate rate given the distance. Sometimes one just has to suck it up.

Got to hotel near People’s Park about 17:00, checked in and did a rough cleanup, then off for a quick walk in the Park before finding a friendly ATM machine to refill my wallet and to find food. By good fortune, I had picked an interesting and colorful neighborhood to find the necessities of life within a 15-minute walk, including a nice branch of my favorite China Merchants Bank and the evening food market. The latter was a real find, all sorts of luscious, cheap, and safe food, cooked fresh and hot by the vendors in front of my very eyes. I had some spicy lamb skewers and a spicy roasted chicken burrito thing (carved off the rotisserie spit and put in a Xinjiang tortilla). Taco Bell needs to come and take notes—this stuff was delicious, and particularly when washed down with some cold local beer. Plastic tables and chairs set up outside, and the place was full of happy locals eating and socializing. Everybody very friendly—and from the looks and nods I was getting, not that many foreigners around these parts, but I felt quite welcome.

The day was another blue-sky (marvelous considering Urumqi’s normal state of pollution) and not too hot so the early evening had plenty of locals out and about, including plenty of people in and around People’s Park. As it was a Saturday, most of Urumqi’s families seemed to be strolling happily about on their leisure day, plenty of eating and shopping going on. On my walk back to the hotel, I was particularly gratified to find at a convenience store, the first Coke Zeroes (cold also!) since leaving Xi’an. Celebrated by buying and drinking two (I’m a hopeless addict to Coke Light and Coke Zero so the last 8 days had been tough.) Topped off an unexpectedly pleasant evening with a fabulous shower (rainshower head) and excellent water pressure with steady water temperature. And water than stayed in the enclosure and went properly down the drain instead of all over the rest of the room. Hey, on the Silk Road, that ranks right up there, as far as the good times go! So far, Urumqi looked pretty darn good from my perspective, and while a big city, it had a decent vibe to it—and not threatening at all. I was looking forward to my return pass through the city (post-Kashgar) and a chance to see a little bit more, especially the main Xinjiang Museum, which is Urumqi’s main tourist attraction.
jiejie is offline  
Old Aug 15, 2012, 8:30 am
  #34  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Southeast USA
Programs: various
Posts: 6,710
Milestone

Apropos of nothing, I would like to point out that the above post was my 4000th on FlyerTalk.
jiejie is offline  
Old Aug 15, 2012, 9:41 am
  #35  
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Tri-State Area
Posts: 4,728
Originally Posted by jiejie
Apropos of nothing, I would like to point out that the above post was my 4000th on FlyerTalk.
I think you have 3 chapters written for an excellent travel book

Wish I had the time to experience one of your recent [current] adventures...^
dtsm is offline  
Old Aug 15, 2012, 9:10 pm
  #36  
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: HKG
Posts: 1,301
Originally Posted by jiejie
Bottom Line: If Jiayuguan can fit into one’s itinerary naturally, then definitely make a stop there specifically for the Great Wall-related sites but don’t linger. If it is possible to get in, spend about four hours on these sites, then leave again the same day, do so and spend your time elsewhere. Or, arrive, see the GW sites, spend a night, then leave as soon as possible the next day to your next destination. If your time on the Silk Road is short and you can’t get to every possible destination, then definitely put Jiayuguan as the lowest priority on the list unless you are a professional Great Wall researcher.
Great report!

An alternative to staying in Jiayuguan is to book a hotel in Jiuquan, about 20km/30min away.
tauphi is offline  
Old Aug 15, 2012, 10:16 pm
  #37  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Southeast USA
Programs: various
Posts: 6,710
Originally Posted by tauphi
Great report!

An alternative to staying in Jiayuguan is to book a hotel in Jiuquan, about 20km/30min away.
You know, I only went through Jiuquan on the bus heading for Jiayuguan, but besides seeming a more normal scaled city with a more typical Chinese feel and street activity, I also spotted a lot more places to eat!

If the Chinese would ever open to foreigners, the northbound road from Jiuquan up to Ejin Qi near the Mongolian border, I'd be the first one to advocate basing out of Jiuquan. Near Ejin Qi is the fabled Black City of Khara Khoto, whose ruins one can still see. Unfortunately, the road between Jiuquan and Ejin Qi goes through and near the Space Launch Center and is 100% off-limits to foreigners. There are police checkpoints and any foreigner found in a car or bus is booted off, turned around, etc. This means accessing Khara Khoto can only be done via Yinchuan and across the northern edge of Inner Mongolia--a very very long route indeed, and requiring backtracking same way out. The Jiuquan-Ejin Qi road cuts hours, maybe a couple of days off this trip, also offering the opportunity to do a non-backtracking loop route. Currently, only Chinese citizens have the opportunity to accomplish this.

For now, Jiuquan seems mostly useful as a Plan B staging location for the JYG Great Wall, in the unlikely event hotels in Jiayuguan itself get booked solid....which I'm not sure has ever happened.
jiejie is offline  
Old Aug 20, 2012, 2:54 am
  #38  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Southeast USA
Programs: various
Posts: 6,710
Kashgar Area and Preplanning

Kashgar is the farthest southwest of cities in the People’s Republic, a continent’s length away from Beijing and Shanghai, and more than most other places in the country, requires a bit of thought and preplanning before arrival, in order to get the most out of a visit. It takes cash and effort to get out to this outpost, so it pays to carefully consider one’s options and block appropriate time in an itinerary, whether one is going to be returning back east over Chinese territory, or whether one will be continuing on to further adventures in one of the Central Asian countries. With proper visas in your passport, one can continue overland to Kyrgyzstan (and thence to Uzbekistan), Tajikistan (fairly new crossing) or Pakistan. There is no border crossing with Afghanistan. Kazhakstan has multiple crossing points with China but from further to the north and west of Xinjiang. Note that some border crossings close for winter weather, generally between November and April inclusive.

While the city of Kashgar itself can be toured on one’s own with reasonable success, this is one place that a local Uighur guide can be of great assistance, providing both enlightenment and entertainment that the visitor just couldn’t replicate using the do-it-yourself method—even with a guidebook. So, despite my usual avoidance of guides elsewhere in the PRC, this is one place that I arranged for one in advance.

The area around Kashgar has a number of excellent side trips, some of which can be done as long daytrips; others requiring one or more overnights. For excursions outside the city, a driver and guide are indespensible, for three reasons: language barrier, transport logistics, and on some highways, restrictions on foreigner movement without special PSB Permits. As many of these areas are either near sensitive international borders or in local towns that have ongoing ethnic tensions, engaging the services of a reputable local company can both ease any potential hassles and keep you out of trouble. In this region, I would recommend a Uighur-run, Kashgar-based company over a Han-run company. In general, most Han guides/companies service the small number of Han group tours that manage to make it out here, whereas the Uighur companies are favored by foreigners. Using a Uighur company has some advantages:
1) The guides will be Uighur-speaking, which is the lingua franca in this area, not Mandarin. And other ethnic groups such as the Kyrgyz and the Tajik can manage to communicate with Uighur-speaking guides and drivers—Mandarin is often not spoken by the local population;
2) You can get some interesting perspectives on the situation in this area and in Xinjiang from Uighurs, which you won’t get from official sources like CCTV and the China Daily;
3) Being locals, the guides will have access and open arms to other locals, such as for genuine homestays and visits....whereas the Han guides will not;
4) It keeps the income in the local community.

Popular trips include: Shipton’s Arch (long daytrip); an overnight or two in the Taklamakan Desert (usually doing camel trekking); Karakul Lake (usually with overnight in a yurt); Tashkorgan and the Karakorum Highway; the Khunjerab Pass and the border to Pakistan. Combining some of these requires returns via Kashgar, as some of them are on different roads heading in different directions out of Kashgar. In my case, advance research and my own long-standing interest demanded a setup a trip to Karakul Lake, Tashkorgan, and the Khunjerab Pass, all of which are along the Karakorum Highway (KKH), supposedly the highest elevation international paved road in the world. I eliminated Shipton’s Arch for lack of time, and I was not interested in long stints in the desert nor the camel trekking (remember, jiejie hates camels!)

My original plan, with 5 days/4 nights blocked out for the area, was to have first day in Kashgar city, second day as a daytrip to Yarkand (Chinese = Shache), third and fourth days on a Karakul/KKH trip, and last day in Kashgar before flying back to Urumqi. However, I remained flexible in spirit since making this affordable depended on finding somebody else to join up with to defray cost of car, driver, and guide. As a soloist, I waited until just a few days before arrival in Kashgar to see what other people would show up and have join-in trips arranged. The best option turned out to be joining with another foreign woman (expat also from Beijing, also traveling solo) but I’d need to amend my plans and spend first day in Kashgar, second-third-fourth days on the Karakul-Tashkorgan-Khunjerab trip, then fifth day back in Kashgar city before leaving. I signed on immediately as it was a really good opportunity. Yarkand was cut, but not a big loss on balance. I also arranged with the tour agency for an airport pickup and Kashgar tour on Day 1, and an airport drop-off on Day 5. I used Abdul Wahab Tours, also using the name Old Road Tours, and was well pleased.

Interesting Sidebar on Chinese Reaction

If you are an expat in China, or frequent visitor, or just a casual visitor and very chatty, you may find occasion to mention your plans to visit Xinjiang to one or more Han Chinese friends or acquaintances before you head out. Be prepared for interesting reactions. Similar to the reaction of Hans a thousand years ago, modern Hans in the eastern half of China pretty much consider Xinjiang a wild territory of near-barbarians. No doubt assisted in this belief by multiple incidents of anti-Han violence and rioting that have occurred almost annually over each of the past few years, including this past March in Yarkhilik which is about 5-6 hours from Kashgar towards Hotan. Reactions may range from scowls, to Have you Lost your Mind, to outright attempts to get you to change your plans. In Zhangye, I met up by chance with a 30-ish, well-educated Chinese IT manager from Shanghai, fluent in English, who was heading for Xinjiang himself but was horrified when he heard I was going to Kashgar. He informed me that Urumqi and Turpan were OK, Kanas and Yili were OK, but in southwest Xinjiang and especially Kashgar “the Uighurs hate everybody and want to kill you.” I gently told him “No I don’t think they hate everybody, they just hate Hans.” Harsh, but he grudgingly acknowledged I was probably right. We didn’t discuss why that might be, a sore subject that like the D. Lama and Taiwan, just cannot be discussed rationally with Chinese. The point of this is, don’t be dissuaded by Han Chinese opinions on the Kashgar area. Especially if you do not look ethnic Han, nothing to worry about. If you are foreign but ethnic Han, just wear an American cowboy hat and speak obnoxiously loud English (just kidding!).
jiejie is offline  
Old Aug 20, 2012, 4:54 am
  #39  
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
 
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Shanghai
Posts: 41,824
Since I don't want jiejie's trip report to become political, I would like to make this point as softly as possible: many Han people are fearful of Xinjiang ---> getting there is cheap, even during holiday periods. During my Kashgar visit, I bumped into many of the people on my flight at the main tourist sites, and the predominant attitude was a hybrid of fear and ignorance.

A good friend of mine is in Dunhuang at this very moment ("business trip"; her company sprung for the direct flight). I advised her to visit the dunes and go light on the caves. She will make her way to Turpan and Kashgar before the week is up, and I will relay her reaction in due course.
moondog is online now  
Old Aug 20, 2012, 9:12 pm
  #40  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Southeast USA
Programs: various
Posts: 6,710
Kashgar—Crossroads of East and West

I woke up in Urumqi early on Sunday, June 24. Unfortunately due to noisy Chinese in the room across from me, I didn’t get more than a couple of hours of real sleep which was a shame, as the bed was much more comfy than the typical backbuster Chinese mattresses. Checked out at 6 am (Beijing time, 4 am equivalent Xinjiang time!). No trouble getting a taxi immediately to the Urumqi airport, traversed in 25 minutes on traffic-less roads. Urumqi airport has more stringent security than nearly all other Chinese airports, with a baggage x-ray and explosives swab right inside the terminal entry, also a layer of security that requires USA-style shoes-off at the people checkpoint. No doubt due to fears of local terrorism. (Kashgar is the only other PRC airport I’ve seen that does shoe carnival.) Got checked in, decently humane waiting area, but Note: There is no bottled water sold in this airport on the secure side. Nada. So, take an empty plastic bottle with you through security, and fill up at the special drinking water dispensers once you get airside. On time departure and arrival, with a beautiful flying day. Arrived in Kashgar to a cute airport, a bit bigger than I expected. Of course, my bag was one of the last off. I went outside the terminal to the meet-and-greet on the sidewalk (non-passengers are not allowed inside the terminal) and without trouble found my driver holding my name placard. For those of us who usually have to deal with bus shuttles and taxi queues, having a personal pickup is a nice treat.

As I had prearranged with my local agent Abdul Wahab Tours, the driver took me immediately to my hotel (which I had prebooked separately) for a check-in and to toss my stuff up in the room, then Abdul Wahab (AW) himself showed up in the lobby and off we went to his company office at the Seman Hotel. (A good English speaker, Abdul also has a second office in another local hotel.) I had already told him I’d be paying cash RMB and as agreed, I paid him 100% of the day’s city tour (including pick up) and 50% deposit of the Karakul/Karakorum tour, with the balance of that to be paid when we returned to Kashgar at the end. Got receipts and everything. Sometimes you just know when you don’t have to worry, and are dealing with honest people. I met my guide for both the day and for the Karakul trip, an excellently-English-speaking relative of AW that for brevity I’ll just refer to as “M.” I’d also brought along a small plastic sack for dirty laundry (Kashgar was designated jiejie laundry stop #2 for this trip), and M took me to a nearby mom-and-pop (Uighur) place who did 2 pants and 6 shirts for a total of RMB 12. Yes, twelve—you read that right. Then finally, off to the formal touring. It was still only around 11:00 BJ time (09:00 Xinjiang time).

Sunday Animal Market and Sunday Bazaar

Kashgar has been a legendary oasis stop on the Silk Road for 2000 years. Over the centuries and before air travel, the vast majority of traffic between Central Asia and China passed through here. Kashgar was the point at which caravans either took the northern route to Turpan and Dunhuang, or the southern route to Hotan and Cherchen then Dunhuang and beyond. A spur route headed south over the mountains to Pakistan and the Indian subcontinent. A very busy place indeed. Amazingly enough, in modern times, pretty much the same routes are still followed for all sorts of commercial and passenger traffic. As a true crossroads city, this is another critical place to visit on any good Silk Road trip.

Our first stop was my main priority and the driver of how the entire Xinjiang trip itinerary got laid out—the Sunday Animal Market. As the name suggests, it only happens every Sunday and in warm weather months is pretty active. It’s also really grubby, as you might expect when dealing with livestock. Lots of sheep and goats of various breeds, many cows, and a few horses and donkeys around the side. Today there were no camels. M said that because horses and donkeys were needed for a while yet to work the fields through the harvest, that there wouldn’t be a lot of those animals for sale until fall. Same with the camels. And not surprisingly, absolutely no pigs! (I don’t think I’d seen a pig either live or on a plate, since Jiayuguan).

This is a “Man’s Market” with few women except us foreign tourists in the animal sales area, which is quite large. A guide like M was very helpful in identifying the Players: buyers, sellers, hangers-on, and the very important Middlemen who broker deals between buyer and seller (for a commission of course). Also very interesting was the horse tryout area, where horses pulling carts would be put through their paces at full gallop. M said most of the horses we were seeing—which were kind of small—were for racing not for work. He was also able to give me some benchmark pricing for the various animals—I saw a huge and magnificent steer for sale that could have been mine for USD 15,000 or so. But most animals were in the $200-300 range (average adult sheep or goat) or $1000-2000 range (ordinary cow). We got to this market about 11:30 am to noon (BJ time) and it seemed in full swing.. Apparently attendees come from about a 50 km radius around Kashgar to this weekly event. At the periphery, market also has ancillary goods such as bridles, cow bells, etc. Tip: Wear closed-in shoes to this market, and not a good pair.

While the ride from airport to city had given me only a glimpse of central Asian flavor amongst the Chinese-style new roads and buildings, this Market was different and very un-Chinese. Except for a smattering of Han tour guides outside the market’s entrance and a few tourists here and there, all the attendees were from other ethnic groups, particularly Uighur of course. It was the first time listening to a cacophony of Uighur conversations rather than Mandarin ones, and the refreshment stalls offered local Uighur-style snacks not Chinese. My guide and I spent about 45 minutes at the Animal Market, then it was time to head back to town for the Bazaar. Contrary to popular belief, the “Sunday” Bazaar is actually a daily market, it just supposedly attracts more patrons on Sunday. However, while there were plenty of people around, it didn’t seem nearly the wall-to-wall chaos that I had seen in pictures and expected, maybe because it was around lunchtime and a bit hot. Tip: If you have no interest in the Animal Market, then there is no need to “force schedule” a trip to Kashgar around a Sunday for this Bazaar, as it’s open every day.

The Kashgar Bazaar is large and has typical sections for fabric, household goods, souvenirs, watches and lighters, medicinal herbs, etc. I thought it was interesting for the Central Asian flavor of goods, signage, and patronage—it definitely doesn’t feel like anyplace else in Chinese territory that I have seen. There are plenty of interesting goods that you don’t see much outside this region, such as enamelware from Pakistan, Uighur knives, brass and copper wares, hookahs!, spices, various local herbal teas and brewing potions, gems and jewelry, Central Asian musical instruments (not like Chinese), rugs from Hotan, textiles from the surrounding countries, etc. Some factory made, but an awful lot of hand-made if you look carefully. Tip #1 for the Shoppers: I thought this city was the single best place on the Silk Road to stock up on lots of unusual goodies, souvenirs, etc. Tip #2 for the Shoppers: A good strategy is to look around this Bazaar first, also the street in the Old Town with traditional crafts, and get business cards. Then make a decision and go back to buy after you get a feel for range of merchandise and pricing points. I held off buying anything for the moment except for a headscarf from a nice lady who showed me how to tie it, as I’d need it for a mosque visit a bit later in the afternoon.

Kashgar Old City

After the Bazaar visit and a quick lunch snack at a sidewalk vendor/restaurant, my guide M led me over a small river and suspension bridge to the Old City. The Old City is a literal maze of earthen and brick structures interspersed with narrow alleyways and passages, largely residential and with a character unique to itself. Even as late as 10 years ago, a large proportion of the Uighur population lived here, but that has irrevocably changed. Tragically, since 2008 the Chinese have been in the process of demolishing the place, ostensibly for safety and sanitation reasons--which are true, the place was a pit. However, most locals and knowledgeable foreign observers point out two other more important drivers of the Chinese government: 1) need to eliminate the perceived hiding places and conspiracy dens of Uighur separatists; 2) free up the valuable, centrally-located land for (Han) developers. I tend to agree with the locals and knowledgeable foreigners, as if it were merely safety/sanitation, the residents could have been moved out of the worst areas but the place still preserved as a visitor’s attraction, non-residential artisan workshops, etc.. Most importantly, the local Uighurs were never consulted nor involved with the resolution of the Old City—it was done by government edict under threat of force.

As an architect by original training, I’ll try not to veer to the political and just stick to a professional tack and say I’m heartbroken that no better way was found to preserve most of the Old City. As of mid-2012, it’s about 2/3 gone. While the Chinese (Xinjiang provincial and local) government has rebuilt an ersatz “New Old City” nearby with the faux central Asian elements, etc., it isn’t quite the same. On the surface of it, the new buildings appear better constructed, better sanitation and plumbing, roads that allow for firefighting access in the event of an emergency. The locals that have been moved to these places seem to have mixed opinions: some like the lower density, the increased hygiene, and the ability to have their shops under their residences; others lament the loss of neighborhood spirit. The Chinese have tried to get the Uighurs to move to the edge of the city into standard Chinese high-rise apartments, but that has been resisted to a large extent. Uighurs aren’t high rise people!

For the visitor, this means that older descriptions of the Old City may no longer be valid. However, what is left is still worth seeing, for as long as it lasts. The Chinese say that most of what’s left will be preserved, but nobody really knows. My guide led me around various passages and pathways, and regaled me with interesting tidbits, such as pointing out the interesting pathway pattern that tells the walker whether the path is a throughway (hexagonal tiles, some yellow) or a dead end (rectangular). I saw pieces here and there of the oldest earthen housing. In some of the demolition sites in progress, I could see the remnants of beautifully decorated walls that the previous owners had done. We spent about an hour wandering the nooks and crannies of the Old City, seeing a pottery-making family along the way, but I was surprised at how little is left. I have seen rumors of there being a ticket booth and entry fee, but I didn’t see any evidence of this, M said no fee, so perhaps there isn’t anything anymore, or we just entered through one of the many porous approaches into the area.


Additional Wanderings

After another street snack, we continued our walk to the Id Khah Mosque, where I put on my headscarf and paid the entry fee of RMB 20. M informed me that previously, the big square/plaza outside used to be full of other ancillary buildings and stuff, but the Chinese had over the years cleared it all away. It’s a rather pretty mosque, painted yellow at the entrance and not gaudy or overdone. The grounds were very shady and quite large. We passed an open pavilion with men praying, then approached the main hall of the Mosque itself. It’s a fairly simple complex and main building. M said the entire Mosque grounds can handle 20,000 people at once, though this doesn’t often happen except at festival times. Interesting contrast observed: besides myself an obvious foreigner, I saw a small group of French tourists and their guide, the women were respectfully covered and none of the men were wearing shorts. Then in the other direction there were the Chinese tourists, loud and laughing, snapping pictures of the men’s collective prayer, and of course inappropriately dressed. Completely clueless and likely, also uncaring. I asked M why a dress code wasn’t enforced, and he said Chinese government would cause problems for the local Uighurs and Mosque leadership if they tried.

After the Mosque we walked to the “Handicraft Street” which had some really nice stuff. I was enthralled by the local musical instruments which a local artisan demonstrated for me. If I’d had the money on me, I would have bought the place out! Then had to worry about how to get them shipped back to US—or even Beijing—in one piece. Decided to defer shopping until my return to Kashgar after the Karakorum minitrip.

By now it was about 17:00 (BJ time) and still fairly hot. We went back to laundry shop to get my stuff, then I was dropped off at my hotel, briefed on tomorrow’s pickup time and plan, and thus ended the day’s official tour. After a little rest I went out to look around for a bit in this newer section of the city, but still very central. Also wanted to find a proper big meal and having eating Uighur snacks all day, decided to take a different tack and head for a Chinese restaurant for a beef + bean dish and some very nice doufu. A little pricey but tasty and the waitresses were very excited at me speaking Chinese to them. All the patrons in this restaurant were Han Chinese either residents or visitors. It was starting to become apparent that Kashgar is two cities, the Uighur and the Chinese, and they keep to themselves as much as possible, patronizing their own markets, shops, restaurants, etc. Found a nice big supermarket to provision up for the next day....and even had some COLD COKE ZEROES in the cooler. No Coke Zeroes in Gansu province, yet come all the way out to Kashgar the Backside of Nowhere, and find them. Of course, I bought two for in-hotel room savoring. Back at the room I had a chance to examine my laundry, and while very clean and fresh, all the pieces appeared to have been done the old fashioned way—beaten and scrubbed on rocks! Glad I didn’t bring anything new or good on this trip. Heh.

Even at 23:00 (BJ time), it was still light in the sky as I surveyed the city panorama from my hotel room window. It really is silly that Beijing doesn’t officially time zone the country like other large countries do. I reflected that it had been a very full day and extremely rewarding. Although my head was spinning a bit trying to reconcile the notion of being in China yet not being there. The visuals, smells, sounds, and atmosphere are just completely different way out here. ^

Last edited by jiejie; Aug 21, 2012 at 7:07 am
jiejie is offline  
Old Aug 20, 2012, 10:35 pm
  #41  
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
 
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Shanghai
Posts: 41,824
A few questions/comments:

1) Did you buy any saffron or other spices?
-when I went, the going rate for saffron was seriously 1/20th of the Safeway price, and the quality was better

2) I actually like China's approach to the time zone thing
-given that 80% of us live in the east, the "Beijing Time" concept makes sense
-but, it might make sense to move the bar a little bit to the west
*in addition to benefiting the folks out west, this would spare us of those 430a sunrises during the summer

3) Did you get a chance to try any rice pilaf out there? I found it to be delightful, though I refused to eat it with my hands (minor standoff occurred).

Last edited by moondog; Aug 20, 2012 at 10:49 pm
moondog is online now  
Old Aug 21, 2012, 6:38 am
  #42  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Southeast USA
Programs: various
Posts: 6,710
Originally Posted by moondog
A few questions/comments:

1) Did you buy any saffron or other spices?
-when I went, the going rate for saffron was seriously 1/20th of the Safeway price, and the quality was better

2) I actually like China's approach to the time zone thing
-given that 80% of us live in the east, the "Beijing Time" concept makes sense
-but, it might make sense to move the bar a little bit to the west
*in addition to benefiting the folks out west, this would spare us of those 430a sunrises during the summer

3) Did you get a chance to try any rice pilaf out there? I found it to be delightful, though I refused to eat it with my hands (minor standoff occurred).
1) Yes, but not a lot, some saffron, cardamom, couple of others things in small quantities, to take back to USA for family use. If my family lived in a bigger and more cosmopolitan place where there was serious demand, I could imagine some saffron profiteering could be done.

2) Disagree. Again, this attitude smacks of Chinese "the East counts, the West doesn't." It's disrepectful to a huge land area (though relatively small) population of the country. I don't like the single time zone and since the US, Canada, Russia, Australia, and other large west-east spread countries manage really well with the multiple time zones, China should take page from its normal operating playbook, and COPY THEM.

3) Yes, I tried the rice pilaf. It's OK, but I found I preferred the spicy noodles. I agree with you--I refused to use my hands to eat. Particularly when it's difficult to keep things sanitized. I usually keep some supermarket plasticware like spoons/forks, disposable chopsticks, and drinking straws, in my daypack for times like these. On cuisine, I also liked the samsas (those lamb-filled pies that they bake on the inside walls of the oven) and most of the kebabs. I was going crazy for decent Chinese-style vegetables though.
jiejie is offline  
Old Aug 21, 2012, 6:53 am
  #43  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Southeast USA
Programs: various
Posts: 6,710
Onward to Karakul and Tashkorgan

Karakoram Highway

For the start of this 3 day/2 night tour, my pickup at the hotel was set for Monday, June 25, 09:30 am Beijing time, so I got up (reluctantly, I was sleeping so good) at 08:00 to pack and grab the included breakfast--not stellar and very Chinese, but adequate. Since I was leaving my rollaboard luggage with the tour company in Kashgar and taking just some basics in a daypack and my computer and provisions, I had to repack a bit differently. That accomplished, got down to lobby right at 9:30 and checked out, reaffirmed there were no rooms available for my returning night of the 27th, and waited about 5 minutes or so for driver and Guide “M” to show up. My stuff went into the trunk then off we went to drop my bag off at the tour office, and then to pick up my traveling companion—a 30-ish expat lady taking a work break from duties in Beijing. I will call her “Q” (I like the James Bond theme for this particular trip mission to the wild borders of China, kind of apropos). Then off on our little adventure.

After getting stuck for about 15 slow minutes at the outskirts of Kashgar for roadwork, we drove for about 45 minutes and got to our first stop—the market town of Upal, around 11:30. Upal is famed for its Monday market, but Q and I thought it wasn’t much to speak of, perhaps we were just too early. There weren’t even that many vendors set up, and it was mostly household goods, clothing, and fresh fruits/vegetables and meats. I did buy a cheap jacket from a Han vendor, as I’d be needing one up in the Karakul area which is quite cool—and my previous day’s looking around Kashgar for one turned up nothing. The Han couple selling was thrilled to find a couple of foreign ladies that could speak passable Mandarin. Tip: Don’t believe the tour guides and agencies that this market is any big deal, make it a low-ranking priority if part of a longer trip, and no need to force a KKH itinerary around an Upal Monday. Upal does have the Mahmoud Kashgary Tomb, which we were scheduled to see on the way back as an extra, time permitting. And Upal is very useful to stock the car trunk with cases of bottled water, if you didn’t do so in Kashgar.

Water and Food Safety Alert

Important: On a trip like this that involves some “roughing it” there is a high propensity of visitors to get sick. Water is particularly suspect, as most villagers and townspeople boil water for drinking. However, because of the altitude on the KKH, the temperature at which the water starts to boil isn’t high enough to kill any lurking beasties, and the water isn’t boiled long enough. Take enough bottled water for the entire trip, for every person in the party. Best to do this in Kashgar at a supermarket, but Upal is the last chance until Tashkorgan. If you need something hot, try to have the locals use your bottled water for boiling if the context is such that you can do it without causing offence. Otherwise, do without and just drink water from the bottle. No ice, no exceptions, not that you're likely to find any.

Food and food handling is similarly suspect. Try to stick to freshly made meat skewers done over the coals, hot fresh noodles, samsas and breads baked on the side of an oven, peelable fruits that you are able to wash with soap and bottled water (take a knife with you). Augment with some nonperishable snacks purchased in a Kashgar supermarket. No salads or raw vegetables. They do use animal and human waste for fertilizing in these parts, and water for washing vegetables isn't clean. When in doubt, forego eating the goodie. You can avoid causing offence at homestays and all by pleading No Appetite due to Altitude Sickness, whether it’s true or not. It is better to go a little hungry rather than end up with vomiting and/or diarrhea on a trip like this. Food on the KKH will be simple and enough to keep you going, but there will not be a lot of choice and you just need to grin and bear the gastronomic void until you get back to Kashgar. These precautions should also be heeded for trips to the Taklamakan, camel caravanning, etc. Although water boiled fully for a few minutes should be OK there.

Checkpoints and Restrictions

About another hour’s drive past Upal is the Gez checkpoint, staffed by Chinese police. Beyond this point, Chinese citizens must show ID and foreigners must show passports AND have a Permit to travel the road, issued in Kashgar, presumably by the police or some arm of the PSB. This year, foreigners are not supposed to be traveling independently beyond this checkpoint, but under the auspices of a tour agency is OK. The tour agency takes care of the permit in Kashgar. The permit is essentially a single-page, chopped “permission slip” with name of tour agency, number of traveling party, whether the people will be returning or not (some people traverse this road heading out to Pakistan or Tajikistan). At Gez, all private vehicle, taxi, bus, and truck passengers must get out and walk past the gatehouse office while the drivers take the vehicles through the barrier gates and for quick inspection. The guide presents the permission slip and your passports along with you, the officer gives them a once-over, logs you into the record books, hands everything back, and then you’re out the other side to meet up with your driver and continue. It’s not threatening, doesn’t take very long to get through, and there are public toilets nearby for those feeling the need. Tip: Given what’s available on the highway after Gez, trust me you should take advantage of the public toilets—especially you ladies. Heads-Up: I was told that foreigners are no longer allowed to take the public bus (Kashgar-Tashkorgan route) past this checkpoint, but must be in private transport or taxis. I have heard that foreigners who attempt the bus gambit and are Permit-less, have been booted off and turned back at Gez--yet I have heard of a stray foreigner or two who did make it through for reasons unknown.

The Gez checkpoint is the only one that travelers to Karakul Lake and Tashkorgan town will need to deal with, but if going beyond Tashkorgan further up the KKH, there is another military checkpoint which I’ll describe later.

Rain and a Field Adjustment to Plans

We spent the next three hours driving up the highway towards Karakul Lake. This part of the highway is a combination of rocky barrenness, some attractive multicolor mountains, glaciers in the distance, whitish sand dunes, blue and turquoise lakes, small rivers gurgling with snow melt down towards the lowlands, and an interlacing of deep green grasslands and marshlands here and there, enough to support livestock. Lots of sheep and yaks chowing down during the comfortable summer, with their local herders (mostly ethnic Kyrgyz) watchfully supervising. Scattered yurts here and there, sometimes solo, sometimes in clusters. All of it was beautiful in a very wild and stark sort of way. Downsides: Chinese companies are definitely up here to mine various minerals (Uighurs are not allowed to own mines, so I was told), and a dam is being constructed near a formation called the Sand Hills, ostensibly for hydropower. Both of these developments pose long-term threats to the surrounding environment of course...not that the Chinese care if there’s money to be made. But right now, still not too disruptive. On a happier note, this part of the Highway has the first of two big mountains that anchor the area: Kongur at 7719 meters (25,000 feet). I understand that Kongur is a very technically challenging mountain to climb, and few have ever done so. Although it was the end of June, it was covered in snowcap, as were many of the other lesser mountains that form part of this range. It looked simultaneously gorgeous and forbidding. The website of the Himalayan Club www.himalayanclub.org has some great photos and also detailed descriptions of exploratory treks and climbs in this little known area of the Pamirs.

The Highway itself went relentlessly uphill, little by little, until we were over the 3000 meter (9750 feet) level. Karakul Lake itself, and the surrounding settlements are at 3900 meters (12,675 feet). It would be the highest point where we would sleep, though not the highest point of the entire trip—that was yet to come. It was clouding up a bit, and not only was the air noticeably thinner, but outside was much cooler and quite windy. Actually, it was darn cold! We arrived at Karakul about 16:00 (BJ time) to light rain and threatening weather, really gloomy and almost spooky-looking. Cold and damp, it would not be a great night to stay in the yurts here, and hiking and/or horse riding would be miserable. Weather can be pretty changeable even in summer. Our guide M worked the phones for a few minutes, and decided to switch around our nighttime stops. We would push on to Tashkorgan town and stay in a hotel tonight, then in the morning do the Khunjerab Pass, then work our way back down and gamble that tomorrow afternoon and evening was better for Karakul. I thought this was a great adjustment to make!

Lake Karakul itself is very pretty—crystal blue and surrounded by hills and mountains. There is a permanent village on the far side where many of the locals live year round; others spend the warmer months out in the pastures and hills in temporary yurts. Although conditions weren’t ideal for photography, we took a few minutes to snap some anyway and stretch out legs, then pressed on. It was still another 1.5 hours’ drive to Tashkorgan. We passed the second great mountain of this region of the Pamirs—the iconic Muztagh Ata, which is 7500 meters (24,000 feet) high. M told us there were currently three separate expeditions attempting to summit it. Hope they have good sleeping bags and tents to get them through this night! The highway kind of loops around Muztagh Ata, so you get views from a couple of sides. We could see the little dots of one expedition’s base camp, about half-way up. Reputedly, there’s a fabulously long ski run that can be done...and from down below, it looks like it, provided you’re an expert at steep, ungroomed downhilling. M also told us that the cost of getting permits to climb these mountains was expensive, but Muztagh Ata is, for the climber, considered easy and pretty safe to summit.

Much of the journey between Muztagh Ata and Tashkorgan was high plateau, with the hills and mountains receding a bit into the distance. Quite a few little Kyrgyz settlements around, and many more permanent masonry houses in this part than yurts. I remarked how so many of the houses looked rather new, and M told us that the Chinese government was basically buying off a lot of the local ethnic groups by building them houses and providing other goodies—for free. In return for “harmony” and going with the PRC official flow. M further said that this offer wasn’t open to the Uighurs, just the Kyrgyz, Tajiks, Afghans, and other groups in the area. I wasn’t really sure if the offer wasn’t made to the Uighurs, or if it was but the Uighurs just weren’t into having their cooperation purchased. I could tell it was a sore subject so turned the conversation to other topics. But I did see two separate convoys of Chinese army trucks full of building supplies on the highway, and M confirmed it was for this ethnic housing program.

The settlements began to change over from Kyrgyz to Tajik people. About 30 minutes before reaching Tashkorgan, we passed a spiffy new Border and Customs post—the new Chinese-Tajikistan border crossing. M said it is open to foreigners, as long as you have a Tajik visa in your passport. Or inbound, a Chinese visa. The Karakoram Highway at this point is only about 5 km from the actual border, but it’s at this new facility that you pass through Chinese Exit Immigration and Customs. I know of no specific tales of foreigners that have passed through here, and Tajikistan (especially the part on the other side bordering China) is pretty wild and lawless. Also I have no information on transport from one side to the other—I would assume there is not yet a public bus, but private vehicle or hitching with a trucker might be possible. On the KKH, you’ll see plenty of Chinese trucks fully loaded and heading to neighboring countries. Empties heading back to Kashgar and Urumqi.

Tashkorgan

We rolled into Tashkorgan about 18:00 (BJ time), still quite bright out as it was only the equivalent of 15:00-16:00 for the locals. We checked into the basic Traffic Hotel, Q and I sharing a room. Simple and small but clean. Tiny bathroom where you can use the toilet, brush your teeth at the sink, and shower all at the same time! No a/c but with the cool fresh air, it’s not needed even in summer. Internet access depended on my 3G dongle, which worked fine. Q and I rested for a bit then met up with M and the driver about 20:00 to find a place for dinner. Our car had had some overheating troubles on the way, so they had been to a local auto shop to get something fixed. The first couple of places we tried (that M had been to previously) were either closed or out of business. We finally found a place that had already sold out of kebabs but did us up some rather delicious spicy noodles with beef—those short, fat, scissor-cut noodles that I really like. It was enough for a basic meal. After dinner the guys headed back to the auto shop to pick up the car, while Q and I wandered the (very few) streets of central Tashkorgan.

Tashkorgan is a small and simple town but nestled in a scenic valley with low mountains and a marshy grassland on one side, and snow-covered mountains in the distance on the other side. This used to be a very strategic post on this spur of the Silk Road heading to Pakistan, and tomorrow we will see the ruins of the old Stone Fort that used to guard the valley. One of the main streets of Tashkorgan has the curious landscape device of being completely lined at the edge of the roadway, with long continuous row of white picket fencing, exactly the kind that you see in classic little USA Midwest towns. Hilarious. Mostly small shops of various kinds; I did not see any larger department stores or big supermarkets. The weather was interesting, the sun was shining but we had a brief light rainshower at the same time, and caught a huge lovely rainbow. The air was really fresh, cool, and clean. I didn’t get the impression that many tourists—either domestic or foreign--made it this far on the KKH. Many of the small number of tourists stop at Lake Karakul for a daytrip and head back to Kashgar, or spend the night at the Lake then head back the next day without getting this far. Tip: If you decide to go to Karakul, then might as well spend an extra day and keep coming to Tashkorgan, and (if weather permits) the Khunjerab Pass. Again, this particular area is unique unto itself and I've never seen a town quite like this one.

The atmosphere is certainly different and I’m struck by the look of the people—the Tajiks. They don’t look like any group I’ve ever seen before, with dark skin, men mostly tall, and fairly prominent noses. Also many with light eyes. They don’t look like the Uighur at all, and definitely not like the Chinese. They seemed very subdued, quiet and close-mouthed, not too chattery like Hans and Uighurs. Not particularly friendly but not hostile either. Just...very...low-key and insular, not surprising given their isolation. Unlike Uighur and Kyrgyz languages which are Turkic languages, Tajik is related to Persian and they are mutually unintelligible. M does not speak Tajik, but most of the locals seem to understand enough Uighur so communication isn’t a problem. Nobody is speaking Mandarin except a very few stray Hans I see around, talking to each other. Q and I run into a couple of Pakistanis who speak pretty good English...and roped us into visiting their Gem Shop. (Ok, at least it wasn’t tea ceremonies or art exhibits!) Though we didn’t buy, much to their disappointment since they thought our foreign faces meant a quick jackpot, we did have a good time talking for about 15 minutes. They were Pakistani traders from Gilgit (north Pakistan at the end of the Karakoram) who went back and forth frequently. They admitted that their best customers were PRC Chinese tourists or overseas Chinese, but also said that not that many were coming up to Tashkorgan lately. If you had the cash and knew what you were doing, they had what appeared to be some decent stuff and I daresay that at least some of it was real. I particularly liked the semi-precious loose and crafted items like the lapis lazuli and tourmaline.

On the walk back to the hotel, I marvel at the Tajik ladies’ outfits. They generally wear some sort of skirted suit with a pillbox-style embroidered hat. Some have scarves artfully draped under the hat. Really sharp looking. I thought the Tajiks were Muslim but M said “not so strong” sort of implying they are nominally Muslim but not very devout in general, compared to the Uighur and the Kyrgyz. Well, by his standards anyway. Due to the thin air, I am huffing and puffing and have to walk slow, most annoying. Tashkorgan at 3100 meters (10,000 feet) is actually lower than Karakul Lake, so we have come downhill a bit. But I’m still a bit ragged and also fatigued. (As a point of comparison, Lhasa, Tibet is at 3650 meters (11,900 feet), between elevation of Tashkorgan and Karakul).

I cleaned up and showered which always feels great after a long day on the road, spent a little time on the internet then tried to sleep, even though the night sky still had some residual light. Unfortunately, I couldn’t seem to get comfortable. Every time I lay down, I had trouble breathing, and it was a little cold. Definitely don’t miss the lack of aircon—it’s obviously not needed here even in summer. Got my silk sleep sack out and that helped add a little bit of extra warmth under the quilt, then figured out a way to prop my head up which helped me breathe better. I think I ended up dozing off about 3-4 in the morning, getting maybe a total of 3-ish hours of fitful sleep. Vaguely wondering if I was going to expire in my sleep from lack of oxygen. At least I hadn’t had a headache or nausea, so can’t say it was really full-blown altitude sickness. Clearly though, the rapid ascent all in one day from Kashgar to Tashkorgan was not as smart as the slower, paced ascent I practiced in 2011 in Yunnan from Kunming to Lijiang to Zhongdian (3200 meters) over one week, with stops on the way. I think I was also a bit overstimulated and excited for the next day’s plans, which were to head up to Khunjerab Pass as far as we were allowed to go. I often sleep poorly if I’m over-anticipating the next day.

Last edited by jiejie; Aug 21, 2012 at 7:20 am
jiejie is offline  
Old Aug 22, 2012, 9:02 am
  #44  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Southeast USA
Programs: various
Posts: 6,710
More Karakorum Highway and Khunjerab Pass

Day Two

The program for today began with getting up about 10:00 (BJ time) and heading for the ruins of the Stone Fort, a 1000-year old structure that guarded the Silk Road route between Kashgar and the Khunjerab Pass. In ancient times, Khunjerab was famous for being a pretty lawless place, with roaming bandits and other ne’er-do-wells preying on traders and travelers. Tashkorgan itself—or early versions thereof—has been around for another millenium before the Fort, and had always been a sort of “mountain oasis” in the same way that Turpan served for the desert travelers. The Fort can be a bit of a scramble to get to the top, especially if you climb the backside path like we did, but the views from the top are well worth it. The snowy Karakorum mountains are to the south, separating Xinjiang from the ‘Stans, and the marshy grasslands are to the north, lush with summer growth and heavy with yaks. A maze of new boardwalks across the grasslands (Golden Meadow) have just been built, leading to groups of tourist yurts, but nobody was there yet. I was told that this was a Han enterprise that had been allowed to take the land from the locals to build this, ostensibly for incoming Chinese tourists. But they hadn’t yet constructed the ticket booth and had not started charging entry fees yet.

After the Stone Fort and lots of photo-taking, we went into town central to a restaurant for some basic breakfast (a spicy soup thing with fresh flatbread, and tea). Another Abdul Wahab group of four Dutch tourists was adjacent to us, they had been running roughly the same route, about an hour or two behind us. After a final pitstop at the hotel, we checked out and set off to Khunjerab Pass, which at nearly 4700 meters (over 15,000 feet), would be the highest point on our journey. It was going to be a long driving day but one with plenty of rewarding scenery.

Checkpoint

Just outside of Tashkorgan, is a military checkpoint where guide M had to check in, show our permits from Kashgar, get another chopped permit paper for this final stretch of Highway, and deposit our passports (and ID’s for driver and guide) since we were returning and not continuing on to Pakistan. We didn’t need to leave the car, though. The Chinese military is very much in evidence in the Tashkorgan area, and are serious about keeping on top of who’s up there. This isn’t so much an anti-foreign tourist issue, as it is a general security issue with Afghanistan and Pakistan and all that chaos so close. The vehicle and traveling party get logged in, and if you don’t reappear within some reasonable time frame, there’s likely to be somebody out looking for you. Once past the checkpoint building, the soldiers manning the barriers look papers over again and let the car through. Also right in this part of the road is the China Immigration and Customs building for those heading to and coming from Pakistan. All the usual formalities are actually done here, even though the border itself is still another 1.75 hour drive away.

It’s still very brisk and cool so we wore our jackets. We pass through basically a continuous valley, sometimes with barren scrubby land, other times with grassland suitable for grazing and for a few vegetables. Very few vehicles on the road at all. About an hour into our journey, we pass the turnoff to the finger of China that touches the Afghanistan border. Nobody except military and a few villagers are permitted down there. There is no road or border crossing between China and Afghanistan; one would have to walk over, and judging from the inhospitable looks of the intervening mountains, it would likely be suicide at any time of year.

There were initially quite a number of villages (mostly Tajik) this far out of Tashkorgan, but at this point they start to get sparser. Clouds rolling in have got me rather bummed out, as they are starting to obscure the mountains on either side, which themselves are getting taller and snowier. And the air is again getting very thin so breathing is more labored, even sitting in a car. And then it starts to snow at a fairly good clip. Apparently this can happen in the Khunjerab Pass at any time of year including summer. I can easily see why the road and Pass are closed completely for about 5 months out of the year in winter. The road itself, while two lanes, is plenty wide enough for trucks and is well-paved. M says the Chinese Army maintains the road well all the way to the Pakistan border, but once on the Pakistan side, it goes to semi-paved with potholes and washouts, and it can get flooded in parts during snowmelt season. Upside is the road and scenery of the Karakoram Range are supposedly even more stunning on the Pakistan side. I will not get to compare.

While the snow isn’t particularly hard, it is steady and plays havoc with taking effective photos. What rotten luck, as on a relatively blue-sky day, this area would be epic. However, even with less-than-ideal visibility, we can still see the jagged mountains begin to hem in the road, and the strange quality of the gray-blue light gives the place an other-worldly quality. We suddenly leave the gradual gradient up the plateau, and go up a few switchbacks, climbing steeply. A couple of km later, and we arrive at the farthest point we can go, the military/security checkpoint at the Pass. We are still about 4 km away from the actual border demarcation with Pakistan, but the barrier gates with the big “Stop” across the road punctuate the message. Two soldiers come out of the adjacent building, run over to our car to peer in, look at us strangely, then without a word go back inside. Q and I get out of the car to take photos of each other in front of the barrier, and it is absolutely freezing—definitely below 0 degrees C. And windy. We aren’t dressed for the occasion and manage about 5 minutes before hopping back in the car. M and our driver sensibly stay warm inside the car.

Just then, a couple of 4WD vehicles with government plates pull up behind us, and out come the soldiers again, this time all smiles and greeting the occupants. No doubt a couple of VIP’s come to “inspect” the border. Our timely arrival just before that of the VIP’s must have faked out the soldiers with a false start, heh-heh. One soldier opens up the barrier gate and the Chinese pile into their 4x4’s and go driving off into the snowy mist beyond. Our visit is brief as there is nothing more to do here, but as we are about to pull away, our driver accidently hits the horn and a couple of soldiers come running down quizzically. We die laughing, but fortunately the soldiers aren’t too miffed by the whole thing. Mostly they just want to get back inside their nice warm building. I feel for the guys that have to man this post out here—it is isolated and bleak though wildly beautiful. The Edge of the World.

We turn around and head back for the downhill about 1.5 hours back to Tashkorgan. Interestingly, the scenery does look a bit different when you are going in the opposite direction. Once out of the Pass, the clouds thin a bit and our visibility is better for photography. We got back to Tashkorgan about 14:30 (BJ time), picked up our passports at the military checkpoints and got logged out, then head to the town. I had gotten a significant altitude headache about halfway between Tashkorgan and the Khunjerab pass—I estimate around the 3600-3700 meter point, but now back in Tashkorgan, it seems to have dissipated. And my appetite had returned. We first go to the local market to pick up some vegetables for evening, and delicious freshly baked Tajik flatbread. Also some notebooks, pens, and candy for the Kyrgyz kids at Karakul where we’d be staying the night. Then off to a restaurant for lunch., same one we had breakfast at. And a toilet break at our previous night’s hotel, where we were able to cajole the reluctant girl at the desk into letting us use one of the rooms. We ended up getting back on the road about 16:30 (BJ).

Karakul, Take 2

The return drive to Karakul Lake was lovely—unlike yesterday, we were having nice weather. On the way, we stopped off at a lovely Tajik lady’s house. She welcomed us as if we were long-lost friends, and invited us in for a look around. Her traditional house was much bigger than it looked from the outside. She put on her Tajik hat and we had a photo taking session. She looked about 80 years old but in fact said she was 56. Four grown children, one of whom was mentally disabled and lived with her still. Kind of sad. Her husband had died 3 years earlier. I reflected how very, very hard life is for these people, basically just subsistence living, and how lucky we are even with our own trials and tribulations. We spent about 30 minutes or so with her, then continued to Karakul, now heading back uphill again. The weather was cool but very pleasant. We arrived into our little yurt camp at Karakul about 19:00 (BJ), with the sun was still pretty high in the sky. I climbed up a nearby low hill and a short hike nearby to take some gorgeous pictures of the lake, and while a little ripply water, still got some decent reflection shots of Muztagh Ata in the background.

Q was energetic and decided to go for a more extensive hike, with the intent of joining up with the Dutch foursome who’d be arriving in about a half-hour. I was still huffing and puffing upon exertion so decided to go with M into one of the Kyrgyz host’s yurts and just lay down, rest, and chat. The hostess bought out her mini-bazaar, and I bought two hand-embroidered traditional Kyrgyz cushion covers for RMB 150 for the pair. She said each one takes about 15 days to do. Yikes! But then, not much else to do up here. My efforts to find a place to recharge my camera battery were fruitless, and I stupidly forgot to bring both a spare battery and a solar or car cigarette-lighter charger. These yurts don’t have regular electricity, just a contraption hooked up to some sort of large storage battery that they used for mobile phone charging. I was afraid it might damage my only battery so declined, deciding instead to ration my photo-taking the next day to conserve power until I ran out, and just recharge in Kashgar later. Furious with myself for this oversight.

The plan was to have the Dutch group stay in this yurt, while our own foursome would stay in the adjacent rock house. Around 21:00 Q and the Dutch returned from their hike into the hurt, and with the fading light and some clouds rolling in, the warmth of the sun was lost and it was nearly freezing outside—probably a drop of about 15 degrees C over the last 2 hours. The driver, M, Q, and me moved over to the rock house to get settled in. Our hostess got busy putting afire in the stove and a kettle on to boil, then put together a soup and made a cold salad out of our veggies purchased earlier. I was a bit dubious about the sanitation issue so had just a little soup and bread then begged off, pleading altitude effects and no appetite as an excuse to avoid the food. Hostess kindly made up my sleeping pallet in the corner, so I could lie down while the others finished up.

Most of the yurts and rock house have a small solar panel which can provide enough electricity for a light bulb inside, and the rock house had a big battery, but really not enough juice for much of anything else. So the yurt denizens try to use outside light from the window until very dark, then use the bulb for no more than 30 minutes or an hour. Very much traditional agricultural, activities follow the sun up and down. Even though the stove gave us a headstart on the evening’s heat, it was still a bit cold inside. I once again rolled up in my silk sleep sack then under the quilts provided. I prayed there were no lice or bedbugs in these. This is the part about a yurt stay I most loathe. (Well secondmost, after the lack-of-bathroom situation.) Fortunately, the pallet included an elevated headrest/pillow thing, so I was able to lay down and breathe with reasonable comfort, and eventually fell asleep with my earplugs in place. It wasn’t too long before everybody else was in a similar state so by 23:00 (BJ), I think we were all asleep: the four of us travelers, plus Kyrgyz Pa, Ma, and Son about 5 years old. It’s surprising how many people you can fit in a yurt.

Last edited by jiejie; Aug 22, 2012 at 7:03 pm Reason: typos, timing corrections
jiejie is offline  
Old Aug 22, 2012, 9:45 am
  #45  
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
 
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Shanghai
Posts: 41,824
I'm envious of you for pursing you adventures beyond Kashi. Since I showed up 2 days after my friends, they had already been up and back by the time we connected (I don't they got as far as you, but they told me the lakes were really nice). Next time I go out there, my plan is to make it all the way Karachi, and fly back in comfort. By time I make it, I'll be in serious need of food that I like, but that's all part of the game.

Speaking of food, John's Cafe is a pretty clever business because they sell items that we can tolerate (basic American fare; okay quality), and have set up shops at many of the logical stopping points. Eating local is a must; the thing is "lamb overload" is a serious problem; balance it with a club sandwich, and you'll be content at the very least.
moondog is online now  

Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

This site is owned, operated, and maintained by MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks are the property of their respective owners.