China - Kashgar

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I enter China high in the Tian Shan mountains, through the Torugart Pass. At 3700m above sea level it's about 2.5 times the height of Ben Nevis, and you can really feel it. The scenery however is spectacular.

I'd heard the Chinese border crossing can be difficult, but less than an hour later I'm heading down, out of the moutnains, to the Uighar city of Kashgar. The Uighars are descendents of middle-eastern muslim merchants (sorry for the alliteration) who have traded along the Silk Road for more than a millenia.

The far Western province of Xinjiang was once part of the Central Asian region of Turkistan, and the Han Chinese haven't as yet managed to breed the Uighars out. (They're trying to though, much like in Tibet).

From Kashgar I head up the Karakorum highway to lake Karakul (which if memory serves me correctly, is the second highest lake in the world, after Lake Titicaca?) and onto Taxkorgan, not far from the Pakistan border. After a day of hiking at about 4km above sea level, I head back down to Kashgar to explore the old town and the famous Sunday market.

Note: for those of you that don't want to be on the receiving end of a cow's explosive diorrhea, steer clear of the Kashgar Sunday market. Once dried, it's very difficult and painful to remove from leg-hair.

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Photos

Mountains on the Karakorum Highway
Red. Really red.

Lake Karakol
Surrounded by 7000m mountains

Hanging instruments
In a shop in Kashgar

Kashgar Mosque
With flowers

By order!
Great Chinglish. The first of many

For sale.
One careful owner

The man himself
Mao is still worshipped in China