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Soon after crossing into Western China from the Torugart Pass it got warm fairly quickly, about and hour or so we arrived in Kashgar, it is for me beautiful, long narrow sidestreets lined with poplar trees, the main roads are wide and made of cement, it has a different feel, not quite Oriental/Eastern scene like what I see in magazines. People I believe are of Tajik background and am sure some other race as well, aside from the typical Chinese looks a lot of the people have Caucasian features, some with blue eyes. We are staying at Seman Hotel, we will stay for 2 nights to get our drivers a chance to sort out their Chinese driver's license. Then off to Taxkorgan via the Karakoram Highway, there was a landslide and we stopped for about an hour waiting for the road to get cleared, and then we ar off again, have to stop at a checkpoint and we all have to show our passports but no major hassle. The highway is at a high elevation and a few people are feeling the altitude but nothing major. The scenery is awesome, rugged mountains, deserts, sand mountains etc, the terrain seems to
be unforgiving, harsh environment to survive yet there are communities there. We soon arrived in Taxkorgan, the people are so friendly. I also suddenly realized as I unpacked in our room that i left some of my clothes in the wardrobe closet in Kashgar, I was ticked off but nothing I can do now, so I asked John our guide to call the hotel and check if they found them and indeed they have so what a relief for me!We went to get dinner at a small restaurant, they can't speak English, so Angus just pointed to somethings in the menu, but I would rather see what I am ordering so the kind lady invited me to the kitchen and I started pointing what I like and how it's gonna be cooked, have to do the chicken dance again to emphasize we want chicken, and it got a tremendous giggle from the ladies serving us, anyway the food later came and it was gorgeous, i am loving China! even in the remote places you can good Chinese cuisine, no more sashylik I hope! We are at about 3700 meters so i can feel it slightly, we met a Dutch cyclist
Peter who had been travelling for 9 months already on his bike from Home to China at the moment via Iran and Pakistan, a real brave man, and will continue on travelling for some more, good luck to him, we invited him to have some cake as it was Chris' _4th B-day. The Bday boy wore his crown to town and the local kids were chuckling.
The next morning we had breakfast at a dumpling place, food was really good, simple dough dumplings freshly steamed dipped in a slightly spicy soup with veggies and a few meat, excellent! Drove back towards Kashgar again and along the way stopped at Karakul Lake for lunch, the locals set up their stalls right at the foor of the truck and they all watch us prepare and eat our lunch, some of the guys bought fur hats and som opted for horse back riding after lunch. The scenery is a lot better than the day before, less foggy, so we go to see some amazing scenery.
Back in Kashgar we visited the Sunday animal market, better then the one in Turkmenistan, lots more going on we have to be careful though as the animals
can trample you if you're not paying attention, especially scray were the bulls, huge and dangerous. Sue and I almost got hit by a runaway donkey! We did our shopping as well for food, we will camp in the desrt for the next 2 days, the Kashgar market did not have much variety of food so we went back to the hotel and ask the restaurant owner to pint us where they buy their food and we hit jackpot, lots of selections.
KASHGAR:
You are closer to either Moscow or New Delhi than to Beijing. And many of the people look like they could be Turkish. But Kashgar is in China.
Kashgar is a bastion of history. Its strategic location in China's Xinjiang Province at the foot of the Pamir Mountains made it the guardian of the Silk Road at time past. From Kashgar one could control the high mountain passes which provided access routes between the steppes of Central Asia and the commercial centers of the Far East. Merchants recently descended from the mountains rested long enough in Kashgar to trade their yaks and horses of camels before setting off across the desert of Northwest China.
Control of Kashgar meant money while the Silk Road functioned. In the 1800's Kashgar was important for its role in "the Great Game" -- the struggle between the Russians, Chinese, and British for control of Central Asia.
The capital of Xinjiang province today in Urumqi. Kashgar is the seat of the 11-county Kashi Prefecture. Kashi Prefecture has about 3.5 million residents; over 90 percent of them are Turkic (either Uighers or ethnic Kazakhs), another five percent are Chinese, and about one percent are Tajiks (an ethnic group related to the Persians). Kashgar itself has a population of about 300,000 people who live around its desert oasis, growing cotton, rice, wheat, corn, beans and fruit.
Kashgar's early influences were Persian and Indian. For seven or eight centuries the city was a stronghold of Theravada Buddhism.
KARAKORAM HIGHWAY:
Chinese (Wade-Giles) K'a-la-k'un-lun Kung-lu, roadway that connects Kashgar, China, with Islamabad, Pak. The road, which took almost 20 years (1959-78) to complete, extends for about 500 miles (800 km) through some of the most rugged and inaccessible terrain in Asia; it runs through or near the Hindu Kush, the Kunlun Mountains, the Karakoram Range, and the northernmost Himalayas.
TAXKORGAN:
Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County is 400 kilometers west of Kashgar city.
It is located on the roof of the world, the Pamirs Plateau and along the
ancient Silk Road. Taxkorgan in Tajik means "The Stone city"
It was so named because the Stone City is just 100 meters away from Taxkorgan Tajik
Autonomous County,
The history of the City can be traced back to Han Dynasty about 2000 years ago.
It was the Capital City of the Puli Kingdom,one of the 36 states in Western Region
under the jurisdiction of Han Dynasty.It had small scale at that time.It had been gradually
expanded during the Wei and Jin Dynasty. After Tang Dynasty had united the Western
Region,The Pamirs military office were set up here.At the beginning of The Yuan Dynasty
,the people went in for large-scale construction to build the city.During the Guangxu's reign
in the Qing Dynasty,The Puli Office had been set up and the City was restored once again to
to the scale we see the present day.
KARAKUL LAKE:
A stunning lake with mountain backdrop on the extreme western edge of China. Only 8km from the border with Tajikistan.
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Mr Nigel B
non-member comment
I wanna come back!!!
Hey there Gilbert!!! you guys are disgusting!!! Great to see your blog, how I wish i was still there, still at least there is more room for Angus in his tent! Looks fantastic. I went to a wedding on Sunday and it was the coldest May day on record, 7 degrees!!! almost had to get out the base layers again. Today is cold, wet, dull and I am in an office with people who are bored and stressed. yeuch. Much love to you all.