Taklamakan desert trip

a trip by kashgar trip

Day 1 Arrive Urumqi, the capital city of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, the geographical centre of Asian continent, the farest city from the ocean in the world. Transfer to Hotel Day 2 Morning visit the Regional Museum, xinjiang grand bazaar, evening take flight to Khotan. Khotan is one of the main oasis at the Trim Basin, among all of China it has been famous for its three pearls-silk, carpet and jade. The silk is familiar with every families, There is a jade river which calls as Yurongkash River among the local people. The carpets made by silk or wool with its beautiful and unique Uyghur design are very famous around in and out of China. Arrives and transfer to Khotan Hotel. Day-3 A to B Leave for Kerriya (Yutian County,or Keriya, 290km) in the morning. It takes 4 hours by driving to get Kerriya, then do some short visiting before your lunch here. You continue your driving northwards into Taklamakan, following drive to the direction of Daheyan (Darya-boyi), road condition must be not good, most of the time we will drive by the road mixed with sand and stone ,but the view is so spectacular and unique .passing over several villages in this remote area, set up first camp at the foot of a beautiful sand mountain. Day 4, B to C Across a sandy landscape, punctuated by stands of poplar trees, stunted pine and scrubby bush. Drive to the last settlement in the valley, Tongguzbasti, where we set up camp. About 50 families manage to sustain their meager existence in this remote outpost. Sightseeing in and around this unusual desert village. Most of the genuine desert families live away from the village and we will take the opportunity to go out to visit some of them. There are some brick-built dwellings and a school and village hall at Tongguzbasti(Chinese name is Daheyan), but, generally, the living conditions in this harsh corner of the world are very primitive. Most of the houses are constructed on a light wooden frame with lattice and mud walls and roofs. It is unusual for the houses to have any furniture or ornamentation of any sort, save for rudimentary cooking equipment. The people of this village have been called "the lost tribe of the Taklamakan." Darya- boyi, which means by the river is one of the lonely village among the Taklamakan desert, because it has been a parted from the main oasis by a long time ago and the people lived there is very local and for them to say the main oasis is just a dream some time. Stay and over night home stay with the local family Day 5-11, C to E (Day 5)Set off trekking into the desert, accompanied by your Uighur camel drivers and their animals. Heading westwards, for the first 3 hours or so, we encounter some low trees and bushes and then we begin to walk between the sand dunes. Each day, we aim to establish camp in the late afternoon, leaving plenty of time to relax and enjoy the sunset and to sit around the campfire gazing at the unbelievably bright stars. (Day 6)The dunes become bigger as we head west and there is now very little vegetation. Trekking on the soft sand dunes is hard work and our rate of progress becomes slower.. By lunch time on this second day, we reach the ancient ruins of Karadong. After lunch, we spend half a day exploring what was once an important staging post on the Silk Road. There are many buildings buried by sand, but some of them have been uncovered by the desert wind. We camp at Karadong. (Days 7/10) Settle into the rhythm of long trekking days on the pristine wave-like dunes. Day after day, the camel train climbs to cross a succession of sand mountains which are 60 to 70 metres high. On a couple of occasions we find salt-crusted surface formations which indicate the presence of water close underground. The camel drivers will dig down into these hidden reservoirs and spend long hours in the evening, watering the camels. The surreal beauty of the desert and the pleasant evenings around the campfire will provide memories to last a lifetime. (Day 11) We should catch the first distant glimpse of a black line on the western horizon, which marks the location of the only rock formation in the Taklamakan, Mount Mazartagh.A final morning in the dunes brings us ever closer to Mount Mazartagh, which lies adjacent to the dry valley of the Hotan River. After a picnic lunch, we reach the Hotan river flats, which are covered by dense stands of gnarled trees, and it then takes a further 2 hours to reach our camping place at the foot of the rock ridge. On the crest of this 150 metre-high red sandstone hill are the ruins of a small fort, dating from the 8th or 9th Century AD. These ruins were first excavated by the explorer Aurel Stein in 1908. Before dinner, we can make the climb up to the site of the fort and look back across the desert at the sea of low, horse-shoe-shaped dunes which we have crossed. Mazartagh, the one of the famous station and caravan saray around Takalamakan desert . Day 12, Meeting up with our transport, we drive to hotan city check in to hotel .Dinner party in the evening in the restaurant of the hotel . Day 13 half day tour in hotan . Silk factory, carpet factory ,jade factory .then drive to kashgar which is500 km away .in the evening arrive at kashgar and check in to our hotel . Day-14 trip to karakol lake .in the evening stay in the tents at karakol lake . Day 15 in the morning see the sunrise at the lake .breakfast the drive to kashgar. Day16：Do city tour in kashgar . In the evening take flight to urumqi.

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Trip Length: 8 months
Blog Entries: 0
Photos: 0
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