September 7, 2007
Tashkurgan, the town we are in, means Stone Fortress in the Uyghur language, and our first stop today was that fort built along the original Silk Road about 600 years ago. Actually the fort isn’t made of stone, but clay brick! Nothing spectacular, but interesting, as were other parts of the original Silk Road we viewed as we drove along the canyon walls.
We left town on the Karakorum Highway heading for Kashgar. Along the way we saw a few cemeteries where some graves had domed structures and some had flat roofs. The domed buildings held the dead of the Sunni and the flat housed those of the Shiite sect. Our guide, Tahir, told us a little about the differences between the Shiite and Sunni Moslems, with a slanted point of view since he is a Sunni. Apparently the sects get along okay in China, but he said that individually they try to avoid discussing religion with each other. As conversations continued, we learned about how the Chinese government issued a mandate that boys under the age of 18 years are not allowed to enter the mosques. The government also stopped the Muslims from establishing madrassas and allowing the boys to attend, so the young men receive their religious training in their home. They do not want the boys to be overly influenced at a young age. Obviously China is not going to put up with any nonsense like they are now experiencing in Pakistan and elsewhere.
The relatively flat land changed and we saw several mountains in the distance. Two peaks dominated; Muztagh Ata at 24,524 ft in the Pamir range and Kongur, the second highest mountain peak in the Karakorum range, behind K2 at 25,086 feet. Interestingly, even though these two mountains are around 25,000 feet, they didn’t seem very high at all because we were at 12,000 feet ourselves. Situated between these two mountains lies beautiful Kara-Kul Lake, with water that appeared bright turquoise in color. Kara-Kul actually means black, and the lake gets that name because when the sun drops below the mountain tops the lake appears black. Fortunately, altitude sickness was not a factor in our travels, even through the Khunjerab Pass, mainly because we had spent about ten days at gradually increasing elevations so we acclimatized, and without using Diamox.
Traveling down the road, we began to see camels, yaks, zoos(sp), cows, sheep and goats. Our bus pulled over when the driver saw a herd of yaks and the shepherds using motorcycles to herd the animals. Spying two young women and a child, many of us headed down to take their photos, me with Polaroid camera in hand. They wanted their photos taken, opening up a great opportunity for others and bringing big smiles to the young women. Obviously, they were familiar with Polaroid pictures because they immediately put the undeveloped photos under their coats and out of the sun. Unless someone had told them in the past, the women would not have known to do this.
A short while later, we noticed a number of camels near the road and pulled off for another photo session. Wrong! The leader had arranged a camel ride for us to a local village for lunch at a family residence. Camels are not particularly my favorite animal since the trip to Mongolia when I basically had to pull one across The Gobi because it didn’t want to walk. But, being a good sport, I climbed on, hung on, and rode this camel to village. The camels here don’t understand the same command that we used in Mongolia to get them going – Choo, Choo – but, then again, the camel in Mongolia didn’t respond to that command either. It was probably lost in translation! However, something else wasn’t lost in translation… the camel spit on me! Green, smelly, and wet on my jeans, ugh!!!
Lunch at the village was served in one of the homes in their living area. Interestingly, one wall of the room was stacked high with colorful embroidered blankets, normally used to line the inside walls of Yurts. The family members that take their herds to pasture in the mountains during the summer live in yurts, but they had just returned to the village in preparation for the winter. We were served sliced melon, watermelon, tomatoes, cucumbers, rice crackers, nan (bread), green tea, peach juice and bananas. The two family members that served us were delightful young girls wearing sequined vests. The girls wanted us to photograph them with some of us, but seeing the Polaroid camera, they also wanted a picture for themselves. How can you refuse after their hospitality? We probably had more fun doing that. Before leaving the village, Garry and others bought some hand made necklaces to help the economy of the village.
Back on the air-conditioned, mechanically well-maintained bus, we started our last leg into Kashgar. We passed more scenic areas including one with large sand dunes. We stopped for photos at a place where you could see snow-capped mountains, sand dunes, and a small lake all at the same time. Another section of the Karakorum Highway they call “Tiger’s Mouth,” because it’s a very dangerous stretch of narrow highway with many blind curves and switchbacks where accidents have occurred. We squeezed through a short section of road made narrow because the underlying rock had broken away. Farther on, some large chunks of rock that had recently fallen on the road from the canyon wall made, for yet, another obstacle to navigate around. We then traveled through a long stretch of mountains streaked with beautiful shades of red, green and white rock. These were even more amazing because they were very rugged with many, many sharp peaks and ribbons of granulated stone snaking down the mountainside.
Passport control was our final obstacle before reaching Kashgar. The Chinese military weren’t satisfied to just see our passports, which were collected, arranged in order and carried to them by our guide. No, they wanted to see our faces too. So, off the bus we went, trudged over to the passport control office, went to the desk when our names were called, then exited and crossed the highway to the bus.
Another long day, but now we’re in Kashgar. We visited a nearby shopping mall, of sorts, three blocks long, filled with modern clothing stores, spices, nuts, seeds, food vendors, parakeets, and many people milling around. But please don’t think of the U.S. malls or food courts in those malls. This open mall is bizarre and wild, with motor scooters buzzing in and around people; children running; bicycles darting in and out; vendors hacking open nuts with sharp knifes and rubber gloves; chopping chickens in the aisles; produce thrown in the walkways and smells totally unfamiliar.
We saw a sign while walking around the city; there was an image of a man behind the wheel of a car, his mouth is wide open and a “Z” beside his head; the caption read “pleasedonotdrivetireply.” Our local guide referred to translations like this as “Chinglish”. I find this fascinating since most of the Kashgar residents don’t speak English. The children say hello in English and when one replies, they never know the next response.
Good night from the trio,
Rich, Garry and Tamara
Captions: 1) More mountain scenery 2) Garry on camel 3) Different colored stone layers 4) Sign in Kashgar 5) Original old fort on Silk Road 6) Mountain ranges
7) Camel with herder 8) Cemetery along KKH 9) Tamara with local girl wearing sequined vest
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