jiejie

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!).