From Kashgar to Taxkorgan : The Karakoram Highway

~ by Chris Devonshire Ellis

Quite simply, one of the most stunning journeys you can undertake in China. Incorporating the highest freshwater lake in the world, some of it’s most spectacular mountains, deep valleys, crashing gorges, deserts, roads swept into the abyss and wild camels – and that’s just on day one.

The Karakoram Highway was built, mainly using Chinese labour, as a link into and with Pakistan, in China’s farthest Western point. The ethnic tribes include Kazaks, Afghanis, Pakistanis, Uzbeks, Tadjiks, Kurds – this is Islamic Central Asia to the core.

Known in Chinese as “Kashi” this ancient market town has an ambience and position unique anywhere in the world. Flying from Urumqi (two hours) – or even better, taking the train around the Western edge of the Taklimakan Desert (18 hours) will bring you to this historic city. It is an Oasis city, long strategically important as it controlled the old trading routes (and Silk Road) with access both into China and also west to Central Asia, India and Persia. Dating back over 4,000 years, Kashgar was probably originally settled by caucasians – with early manuscripts noting the residents had green eyes – which would link them to the modern day Romanian gypsies.

However, from the 7^th century Kashgar has been largely (but not always) under Chinese control, although it’s muslim roots run deep. More recently, it was run as a the ‘capital’ of the region of Kashgaria, under the warlord Yakub Beg from 1866 to 1877, who ruled most of Xinjiang at that time. Well, the Emperor was far away. However, China regained control in 1877, but one more uprising remained – with the “Great Game” between Britain and Russia – and control of passes and routes leading to India – ending up with Kashgar being declared the capital of an independent country “East Turkestan” in 1933 – which promptly lasted for two months, before China retook the city yet again. The claims to independence then are somewhat shaky at best.

As can be surmised, these are a proud people, with a long tradition of doing things their own way, promptly mucking them up, being taken over again, although stability has arrived with modern Chinese rule.

However, much still remains of “East Turkestan” if you know where to look. For example, both the British and the Russians recognized the country and opened Consulates. These are still standing today, and are now the rather grand Seman Hotel (Russia) and Chini Bagh Hotel (British) as both countries tried to impress with grandeur and pomp – with rooms available for around RMB500 upwards.

Seman Hotel : (0998) 255 2129

Chini Bagh Hotel : (0998) 282 5929

Otherwise, Kashgar is famous for it’s Sunday market -the largest outdoor market in the world with some 100,000 people turning up. It’s worth going for the faces – you’re in Central Asia here, and the people have come across the ancient mountain paths from far off and neighbouring countries to arrive, and buy and sell. Afghanistan is only a stones throw away, as are Kazakstan, Krygystan, Uzbekistan nationals – nomads all and none have passports. The beauty – and difficulty – Kashgar has always had is it’s mountain paths – there is just no way, apart from the main routes in and out – that the real wild mountain borders can be properly policed, and the Chinese don’t even really try. So rub shoulders with Kazak herdsmen selling their fat tailed sheep, to Uzbeks and their fancy silver filigree worked daggers, to Afghanis and their apricots, Tibetans selling Yaks, and the occasional camel trader in tow. Throw in the legendary “dragon horses” and an entire array of Russian, Mongolian and Pakistani sweet meats and trinkets and ethnic clothing and you’re in a bazaar, medieval style. Dragon Horses ?

Much of the worlds history was decided upon by these beasts, and you can purchase them here. Mongolia and China was serviced by the short, stocky Mongolian Horse for centuries, but with the rise of Arabic trade and weapons came a dangerous adversary. Armed warriors – on huge Arabic stallions, taller, faster, and stronger than the Mongolian horses, Persian and Indian armies routed the Chinese. Famed because “they sweated blood” the animals were known as “Dragon Horses” and possession of them by the Chinese court in the 1600′s was a matter of life and death for the nation. The sweating blood legend is true – ticks embedded in the animals flesh would bite and open up tiny bloody wounds as the horse perspired. Eventually the Chinese were able to secure one hundred of the beasts, breed them and properly upgrade and equip their own armies.

But for a while, the Dragon Horses had the locals in fear for their lives and on the run. You can still purchase the decendants of these animals in Kashgar, along with Donkeys, Goats….everything the modern herdsman can possibly need. Wandering through the market is a whole day experience, with the odd side venture to have some wonderful samosas, kebabs, and if you can find it – some of the excellent local wine.

As for the kebabs – you want those made with the balls of buttock fat you see strung up in the local butchers – from the local Fat Tailed Sheep. Grazing high up in the mountain pastures during the summer, these rather skinny, yet hardy animals pack on fat reserves to last them through the lean winter months – with these deposits developing around the tail, yet dangling, somewhat obscenely, out of the wool like a two giant buttocks wobbling about. The melted fat from this – one cube between every two cubes of lamb meat – is quite simply delicious – and a staple diet – along with fresh baked unlevened breads for most of the people here, coupled with a salad.

Where to hang out ? There’s really only one option – but a good one it is – Johns Café, sited opposite Kashgars only roundabout. It’s right on the backpacking trail, so notes of where to go, gear to buy and places to see are all here. As for taxis – well you just hop on a donkey and trap and give the guy a few kwai. Kashgar is a fun stop off, and a great place to explore for a day or two, but from here, the fun really starts….

How to get on from Kashgar ? From Johns Café you can hire Landcruisers and driver for a few days. You need a decent, strong off road vehicle, not a normal sedan, it won’t be able to cope with the roads. There are adverts and hopeful drivers always hanging around Johns so take your pick, negotiate and you’re off. A budget of RMB500 a day should be enough, and count on a five-six day journey if you want to get to Taxkorgan and back to Kashgar with plenty of time to stop off en route.

Desert flowers bloom after a rare storm in the Taklimakan Desert

Out of Kashgar, you’ll pass through irrigated fields, apricot orchards, and then out into the wilds again as you leave the oasis behind, and skirt the Western edge of the Taklimakan Desert and the foot of the Pamir Mountains. The Taklimakan is notorious in silk road legends – even the name in Kazak means “go in and you won’t come out”. You’ll see the Pamir mountains ahead, and the desert to the east as you head south.

You may even see ‘whirling dervishes’ – wind devils – blowing their way across like mini tornados. In places, the sands here sing – actually the tiny grains of sand rubbing together during certain winds – rather as you can make a glass ‘sing’ by running your finger over the lip – but in days of old, these were the voices of spirits, and entire caravanessi went missing as they panicked, got off the trail and got lost.

Elsewhere in this desert are large iron deposits – affecting even the compass so you cannot navigate. And there are spirits. Years ago, camping out one night, I dreamt of a beautiful woman, who asked me to step outside of my tent and go with her. It was only when I was half way out of the tent – in the middle of the desert – that I trod on my fellow campers leg and woke both of us up. The thing is – that apparition has appeared to other people too – leading them, asleep, to their ultimate doom, away from the camp and into the depths of the Taklimakan, never to be seen again. It’s real – I’ve ‘dreamt’ it – and how can other people experience the same dream ?

Back on the road, it crosses various melt water runways, many of them carved out over thousands of years, with the rocks and pebbles smoothed over and highly patterned as the annual melt waters have crashed over them and polished them into objects d’art. Hoopoes will fly, striking in their black and white banded wings, while darting from tree to tree, Indian Rollers, brilliant blue, await to snatch the odd grasshopper and even small snakes and lizards as they run about here. Vultures and eagles circle high above as you enter the land of the untamed, the snow leopard, wild camels, and wolves.

Climbing up into the mountain pass, you’ll notice the constant erosion of the Pamirs – made from slate, they are unstable and entire sections just peel off and slide down, from high above, crashing into the Yarkant River – fed by glaciers, far below. Huge sections of the road here – and all the way to Taxkorgan – can and will be washed away. Be thankful you’re not in their path when the mountains shed hundreds of tonnes of rock as if they were flakes of dry skin.

Usually, a repair crew will have arrived, and a temporary diversion around the rubble will have been created – and this is why you need a decent off road vehicle with high clearance. Bumping and jolting over small boulders is not going to work in a Passat – although people try. Occasionally though, you’ll just have to sit and wait – so be mindful to stock up the vehicle with essentials like toilet paper, food, and water, just in case a landslide keeps you delayed a few hours.

Eventually, you’ll reach Mount Muztagata, an impressive glacial peak at 7,546 metres. Confusingly similar in name to a similar mountain just across the border in Kyrgystan, it looks serenely down upon it’s own alpine lake – from which fresh water pearls can be had from it’s chilled depths.

At this level you are higher than Lhasa, and this is one of the highest fresh water lakes in the world. Often climbing parties, fully rigged up will descend, and with a welcome café for hot chocolates by the lakeside, and tell you stories of their conquest. Muztagata is a serious mountain, so do not attempt it without a team who know what they are doing. Camping overnight, you have options of renting some Yurts, the traditional nomadic circular, wooden framed tents, which can sleep up to six, or your own gear if you’ve brought it. Just off in the distance you’ll see other yurts – nomadic Kazak families bringing their livestock down for grazing in fresh pastures.

Taxkorgan

With the finger of Afghanistan’s frontier just to the West, even the Taklimakan starts to possess the mountains – sand dunes blown all the way up mountains at 5-6,000 metres, looking like dirty snow until you realise how far this desert can penetrate. Massive dunes, resting hundreds of feet deep lie in the creases and folds of the mountains rocksides.

You’ll pass through small hamlets, further down in the valleys, surviving from melt water streams and rivers that wend their way across the fertile valley floors, fed by water and nourished by the very essence of the mountains themselves, idyllic rustic communities growing almonds, apricots, hazelnuts and berries.

Further on, you’ll eventually arrive, caught between two huge mountain ranges, in the Taxkorgan Valley, and the border of China with Pakistan. There is a gigantic ruined fortress here, dating way back, where Marco Polo stayed, as did the characters from the Chinese classic “Journey to the West”. It must have been a sight to behold in it’s heyday – caravanessi parked all the way outside its masive buttresses, with wooden shops, barbers, brothels, traders, bars and restaurants all carrying on their bawdy business inside the massive walls.

Up on top of the fort you can see all the way down the Taxkorgan valley, where Black Winged Stilts, Avocets, and storks all come to breed amongst the marshes, grasslands, and pastures, interlaced with riverlets of fresh mountain water streaming down from both sides of the valley. It’s a great place to unwind and do a bit of trekking, and a few sparse but clean hotels and restaurants are dotted around the one street village.

If you want, when the border crossing closes in the evening, you can dane around the barrier and pretend you are half in China and half in Pakistan. Not all is quite what it seems. Although this is China customs, and that empty road along that fertile valley looks inviting, in reality the Taxkorgan valley beyond this point is a 120 mile long militarized zone – Pakistani customs are a long way to go yet – and you need permits to get there. But for now, you’ve reached the far West corner of China – and it is stunningly beautiful.

Related posts:

1. From Kashgar to Taxkorgan: the Karakoram Highway
2. Just In Case You Get Sent to: KASHGAR
3. Just in case you get sent to: Kashgar

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