The Karakoram Highway over the Khunjerab Pass (4800m) is said to be one of the world’s most spectacular roads and it is China’s gateway to Pakistan. For centuries this route was used by caravans down the Silk Road, but inky end if the 1970ies, a real road was built in a tremendous effort, which killed qui a number of workers. Khunjerab means ‘valley of blood’ – local bandits used to take advantage of the terrain to slaughter merchants and plunder caravans.
As the highway starts in Kashgar, I decided to go for a three day excursion up to the Pakistani border. At first I had planned to do this together with a group of other travellers I had met when I washed my laundry in the other hostel, but the decisive email went in my spam folder and I did not see it. So I went on my own.
Two hours from Kashgar you enter the canyon of the Ghez River, with its dramatic red sand- stone walls. Ghez itself is a major check- point to be allowed on the highway. The canyon itself currently undergoes major construction works as they want to turn the previous road (with only one lane in each direction) into a real "highway" with four lanes, lots of enormous bridges and a number of tunnels. The beauty of the canyon is already seriously impacted on by the works and I can only imagine his it will look once the works are finished. Due to the construction works, he drive up was difficult as we were driving for about 3 hours on provisional, quite bumpy dirt roads. Twice we had to wait for quite a while as they were working on that road. We had to cross two rivers and the driver was very worried about his car.. Once I thought water would soon come in the car, but it did not.. ;-) the rivers were all completely dirty as the works turned everything upside down, a stark contrast to the crystal-clear mountain rivers it had seen in Kyrgyzstan.
At the top of the canyon, 3,5 hours above the plain, you pop out into a huge wet plateau ringed with mountains of sand-stone and aptly called Kumtagh (Sand Mountain) by locals. Soon Kongur Mountain (7719m) rises up on the left side of the road, followed by heavily glaciered Muztagh Ata (7546m). Wonderful! We spent the first night at the shore of Karakul-Lake, mirroring the glacial peaks, where I had to insist quite a bit with the driver (who -against the reassurances of the guy from the hostel - spoke not a single word of English) that we do not stay in an ugly building right on the road, but in a Yurt away from the road and on the actual shore of the lake. The guy who rented out the room spoke English and made up all kind of excuses why sleeping in a yurt was not possible. But by refusing to even get out of the car and look at he room, they eventually gave in and we went to a nice family yurt down at the lake. So, in contrast to Son Kul, where they have specific yurts for tourists, here we were actually hosted by a family in their single yurt. A very different experience. The family was very friendly, but dinner and breakfast were extremely basic. We just ate what they would normally have. Also, the only other tourists around where two Chinese girls hosted in hohe Yurt next "door". After dinner, I started transferring the photos of the last days on my iPad and the family (father, mother, a teenage girl and a younger brother) and the driver started to gather around me to see my photos and I started a photo show... As the family was of the Kyrgyz minority living here in Xinjang, I notably showed them photos of Kyrgyzstan as they had never been there and they were literally enchanted when they saw the photos, especially of the much more richly decorated (and thus more beautiful) yurts. I imagined that for them it was like watching one of these "redecorate your house" shows we have in all our countries on TV, that make people dream about much more beautiful apartments and houses. They wanted to see plenty of other photos and in the end out photo-session lasted almost an hour and a half and it was almost midnight when the light was switched off and we all went to sleep (which I understood from them is quite late for their standards).
But in the afternoon, as we arrived at the lake quite early, I agreed to go on a motorbike excursion to the surroundings that some guy from the neighbourhood had "offered" me and kept insisting on. As I had not much else to do and after having negotiated a better price, we went. The idea was to reach the Muztagh Ata base camp (1,5 hours driving) and from there to walk to the tip of the glacier (30 minutes). When we had set off, I already started to regret my decision as I had not thought at all about safety issues (nobody has helmets here and so of course there was none for me either). Also, in order to keep the price down, the guy decided not to take the official road / path, as he would have had to pay, but went along very small "secret" paths. So secret that we got stuck first at a river, where the water was too deep to get through. I had already agreed (!!!) to walk though myself as he said he could not do it with me on the motorbike, but when I was already half through the river he called me back as he could not make it... Then he called a friend to investigate about an alternative route, which he could however not find. I was really starting to get annoyed as it was not comfortable on the motorbike at all and I realised that he took some illegal roads as he was looking for an a opening in a very long fence around the area. But he insisted on continuing as he feared of course I would not pay him if we went back. But when we got stuck again, after a very long and difficult detour, I told him to go back and so we went back after about 2 hours to the lake without even having come close to the base camp or the glacier. After a friendly negotiation, we agreed on a bit more than half the initial price...
The next day, we continued to Tashkurgan, the last town in China before the Pakistani border. I visited the ruins of the fort (which was used to shoot parts of the movie "kite runner"), apart from that not much to see there, except the culture which is entirely different as the area is inhabited by Tajiks (the Tajik border is actually also not very far, but there is no crossing around here ..). Tajik women are extremely elegant in the way they dress and much more colourful. Unfortunately, I did not dare to ask any of the women whether I can take a photo, something I really regretted afterwards, because they are really beautiful! We had lunch in a very simple local restaurant, where the owner seems to be a real fan of "knitting" / sticker and of various leaders of the Chinese communist party, as they displayed knitted images of them....(see photo) Very kitsch indeed!!! ;-)
In the afternoon, we intended to go up to the Khunjerab-pass / the Pakistani border, but the driver stopped at the military police station in Tashkurgan to inquire and they told him that we are not allowed up, I was really frustrated as this was the whole point of the excursion, as everybody says the most beautiful parts are there. I insisted to speak to the guy from the hostel and told him that I was surprised about is because we were not even refused at a checkpoint, but because he driver proactively asked the police. In the guidebook, it had said that you need a permit to get up to the pass and I suspected they did not get the permit and now tried to blame it on the military police. I told this to he guy from the hostel and he reassured me that no permit was necessary anymore and "anyone" can go up there. After further insistence, he suggested that we should try again in an hour or so, as "things might change". I thought that was quite strange... But that is what we did, but this time, the driver just drove up the road and it turned out there was no checkpoint anywhere!! So we were able to drive up all the way to about 2 km from the pass, where there was the Chinese immigration post and there, indeed, out excursion ended.. No view on the other side of the pass into Pakistan with its amazing mountain panorama.... Anyway, the weather was not that good, so I would probably not have seen much anyway... As the world's second-highest peak "K2" is very close to the Khunjerab, I had imagined a very spectacular panorama and was quite disappointed by the fact that there was really nothing to do to get to the pass... (When I saw that the driver was not really engaging with the border guards, I tried use all my charm and smiles to convince them, but: no way! They were very busy with looking good for a film crew who was there and also made an interview with the commander... So that might have been the reason.... But I was very upset with the driver, who knew he could get up until here and tried to tell me it was not possible and the guy from the hostel basically lying at me as well... Anyway, I got as close as possible and there were some beautiful panoramas there.... But in the end, the three day excursion was not worth while, a simple two days to the lake and back would have been enough... But well....
Photos at: https://www.icloud.com/photostream/#A6GFssfGFewbY
As the highway starts in Kashgar, I decided to go for a three day excursion up to the Pakistani border. At first I had planned to do this together with a group of other travellers I had met when I washed my laundry in the other hostel, but the decisive email went in my spam folder and I did not see it. So I went on my own.
Two hours from Kashgar you enter the canyon of the Ghez River, with its dramatic red sand- stone walls. Ghez itself is a major check- point to be allowed on the highway. The canyon itself currently undergoes major construction works as they want to turn the previous road (with only one lane in each direction) into a real "highway" with four lanes, lots of enormous bridges and a number of tunnels. The beauty of the canyon is already seriously impacted on by the works and I can only imagine his it will look once the works are finished. Due to the construction works, he drive up was difficult as we were driving for about 3 hours on provisional, quite bumpy dirt roads. Twice we had to wait for quite a while as they were working on that road. We had to cross two rivers and the driver was very worried about his car.. Once I thought water would soon come in the car, but it did not.. ;-) the rivers were all completely dirty as the works turned everything upside down, a stark contrast to the crystal-clear mountain rivers it had seen in Kyrgyzstan.
At the top of the canyon, 3,5 hours above the plain, you pop out into a huge wet plateau ringed with mountains of sand-stone and aptly called Kumtagh (Sand Mountain) by locals. Soon Kongur Mountain (7719m) rises up on the left side of the road, followed by heavily glaciered Muztagh Ata (7546m). Wonderful! We spent the first night at the shore of Karakul-Lake, mirroring the glacial peaks, where I had to insist quite a bit with the driver (who -against the reassurances of the guy from the hostel - spoke not a single word of English) that we do not stay in an ugly building right on the road, but in a Yurt away from the road and on the actual shore of the lake. The guy who rented out the room spoke English and made up all kind of excuses why sleeping in a yurt was not possible. But by refusing to even get out of the car and look at he room, they eventually gave in and we went to a nice family yurt down at the lake. So, in contrast to Son Kul, where they have specific yurts for tourists, here we were actually hosted by a family in their single yurt. A very different experience. The family was very friendly, but dinner and breakfast were extremely basic. We just ate what they would normally have. Also, the only other tourists around where two Chinese girls hosted in hohe Yurt next "door". After dinner, I started transferring the photos of the last days on my iPad and the family (father, mother, a teenage girl and a younger brother) and the driver started to gather around me to see my photos and I started a photo show... As the family was of the Kyrgyz minority living here in Xinjang, I notably showed them photos of Kyrgyzstan as they had never been there and they were literally enchanted when they saw the photos, especially of the much more richly decorated (and thus more beautiful) yurts. I imagined that for them it was like watching one of these "redecorate your house" shows we have in all our countries on TV, that make people dream about much more beautiful apartments and houses. They wanted to see plenty of other photos and in the end out photo-session lasted almost an hour and a half and it was almost midnight when the light was switched off and we all went to sleep (which I understood from them is quite late for their standards).
But in the afternoon, as we arrived at the lake quite early, I agreed to go on a motorbike excursion to the surroundings that some guy from the neighbourhood had "offered" me and kept insisting on. As I had not much else to do and after having negotiated a better price, we went. The idea was to reach the Muztagh Ata base camp (1,5 hours driving) and from there to walk to the tip of the glacier (30 minutes). When we had set off, I already started to regret my decision as I had not thought at all about safety issues (nobody has helmets here and so of course there was none for me either). Also, in order to keep the price down, the guy decided not to take the official road / path, as he would have had to pay, but went along very small "secret" paths. So secret that we got stuck first at a river, where the water was too deep to get through. I had already agreed (!!!) to walk though myself as he said he could not do it with me on the motorbike, but when I was already half through the river he called me back as he could not make it... Then he called a friend to investigate about an alternative route, which he could however not find. I was really starting to get annoyed as it was not comfortable on the motorbike at all and I realised that he took some illegal roads as he was looking for an a opening in a very long fence around the area. But he insisted on continuing as he feared of course I would not pay him if we went back. But when we got stuck again, after a very long and difficult detour, I told him to go back and so we went back after about 2 hours to the lake without even having come close to the base camp or the glacier. After a friendly negotiation, we agreed on a bit more than half the initial price...
The next day, we continued to Tashkurgan, the last town in China before the Pakistani border. I visited the ruins of the fort (which was used to shoot parts of the movie "kite runner"), apart from that not much to see there, except the culture which is entirely different as the area is inhabited by Tajiks (the Tajik border is actually also not very far, but there is no crossing around here ..). Tajik women are extremely elegant in the way they dress and much more colourful. Unfortunately, I did not dare to ask any of the women whether I can take a photo, something I really regretted afterwards, because they are really beautiful! We had lunch in a very simple local restaurant, where the owner seems to be a real fan of "knitting" / sticker and of various leaders of the Chinese communist party, as they displayed knitted images of them....(see photo) Very kitsch indeed!!! ;-)
In the afternoon, we intended to go up to the Khunjerab-pass / the Pakistani border, but the driver stopped at the military police station in Tashkurgan to inquire and they told him that we are not allowed up, I was really frustrated as this was the whole point of the excursion, as everybody says the most beautiful parts are there. I insisted to speak to the guy from the hostel and told him that I was surprised about is because we were not even refused at a checkpoint, but because he driver proactively asked the police. In the guidebook, it had said that you need a permit to get up to the pass and I suspected they did not get the permit and now tried to blame it on the military police. I told this to he guy from the hostel and he reassured me that no permit was necessary anymore and "anyone" can go up there. After further insistence, he suggested that we should try again in an hour or so, as "things might change". I thought that was quite strange... But that is what we did, but this time, the driver just drove up the road and it turned out there was no checkpoint anywhere!! So we were able to drive up all the way to about 2 km from the pass, where there was the Chinese immigration post and there, indeed, out excursion ended.. No view on the other side of the pass into Pakistan with its amazing mountain panorama.... Anyway, the weather was not that good, so I would probably not have seen much anyway... As the world's second-highest peak "K2" is very close to the Khunjerab, I had imagined a very spectacular panorama and was quite disappointed by the fact that there was really nothing to do to get to the pass... (When I saw that the driver was not really engaging with the border guards, I tried use all my charm and smiles to convince them, but: no way! They were very busy with looking good for a film crew who was there and also made an interview with the commander... So that might have been the reason.... But I was very upset with the driver, who knew he could get up until here and tried to tell me it was not possible and the guy from the hostel basically lying at me as well... Anyway, I got as close as possible and there were some beautiful panoramas there.... But in the end, the three day excursion was not worth while, a simple two days to the lake and back would have been enough... But well....
Photos at: https://www.icloud.com/photostream/#A6GFssfGFewbY
No comments:
Post a Comment