Kashgar to Tashkurgan and back again.

Today we arrived back in Kashgar after a wonderful 3 days of no showers, no clean clothes but the most beautiful scenery I think I've ever seen.

We'd arrived in Kashgar last Saturday, perfect timing to go and see the famous Sunday Market (where about 50,000 people come to buy and sell their goods) the next day. This we did, and were amazed!! It's a huge market stretching though various buildings and streets and full of local Uighurs selling everything from animals to car parts to silk scarves. We spent about 5 hours there just wandering around and taking photos.

Nuts and spices...


Colourful material is sold all over the market.


After our people-watching-filled day we headed to the 'Pakistani Restaurant', which is near our hotel, for a delicious dinner of curry, yoghurt, chapaties and sweet tea. Yum.

On Monday morning we were off to the bus station to take the bus along the Karakorum Highway to Tashkurgan. Tashkurgan is the last town on the Chinese side of the border with Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan. We didn't make it all the way to the border but the drive to Tashkurgan was gorgeous. It took about 6 hours, driving through stunning mountains that varied from sandy hills, to red/orangy rocks to snow-capped peaks. The road is at an elevation of about 3600m, but we managed to avoid getting altitude sickness along the way. The tallest mountain we passed is called Mount Muztagata ("Father of Ice Mountains") at about 7500m.

The village of Tashkurgan is full of mainly Kygyz and Tajik people. They look quite different from the Uighurs we've been seeing lately, and the women all walk around with caps on their heads covered with bright red/pink veils. We spent a few agonising hours trying to find a place to sleep... we managed to come here just as China is having a public holiday so all the hotel were filled, or just not letting us stay there. Eventually, after some haggling and rudeness, we found a bed to sleep in. Yes, just the one single bed. Our tiny room had no door (just a piece of wood that you could barely pull across the entrance), no light and no mattress on the bed (just a sheet underneath and a duvet to cover us). Horray for budget hotels!!

Tajik woman


That afternoon we spent wandering the village and chatting to our new friend, Mariavittoria (I think that's how you'd spell it). She is an Italian woman in her fifties who is now retired and spends about 4 months every year travelling various parts of the world. She's great, has lots of stories to tell and lots of advice as she's travelled all around Asia many times. We also visited the 'Stone City', which is a large, mud-brick fort first built around AD520ish, and from which you can see the yurt-dotted grasslands and mountains beyond. We ate dinner that evening at a local Uighur restaurant. Well, we think it was Uighur as they sold mainly 'laghman' - hand-made pulled noodles with onions, peppers, and meat etc. We ate laghman, some muttom kebabs and the most delicious lamb dumplings in a vinegary sauce!! Mmmmm...

A street in Tashkurgan


That night will not be remembered as one where we slept well... neither of us could move, and the bed was so hard and uncomfortable that we just lay there all night pretending to sleep. Luckily this meant that getting up in the morning to catch the early bus to Karakul Lake was not such a problem. We met Mariavittoria there, and all three of us squabbled with the locals for the best seats on the bus! The drive to Karakul Lake took about 2.5 hours, and I spent most of that time with my face pressed against the window enjoying the views.



Once at the lake, we avoided the 50Y entrance fee, fake concrete yurts and the hotel, and instead walked an extra 1km to a place where the fence stopped. We walked into the lake area and found a lovely Kyrgyz woman who offered us her yurt for the night. Perfect! We stayed the night for Y20 each, and paid an extra Y10 for dinner. Her yurt was lovely, inside was neat and everything had its own place. The floor was covered in lots of colourful carpets that the women make (I wish I could buy one to bring home!) and other than that it housed a small woodstove and the space to sleep.

Typical Kyrgyz yurt


As we'd arrived quite early in the day (about 11am Beijing time, which means about 9am Xinjiang province time) we had the whole day to spend taking in the gorgeous scenery. Martin went for a walk around the lake, while I spent most of the day just gazing and enjoying God's amazing creation. I think this place has to be one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. It was so quiet too... all you could hear were the sounds of the grazing animals and the occasional bird.

Mount Muztagata


When the sun started to set, the cold really started to creep into every part of our bodies. I just sat inside the yurt trying to stop the feelings of nausea that kept washing over me... I guess it was the altitude but I was cross because both Martin and Mariavittoria were fine. I thought that some good warm food inside me would help so I just clung on till supper was made. It was so interesting to watch the woman make supper, she first steamed a huge pot of rice, and then set about getting the veggies ready. She chopped everything up, using a small wooden board on the floor, and then brought out a big wok which she put over the fire. This she filled with a shockingly large amount of oil (our Italian friend was disturbed and kept saying "oh no is too much"), a little water, and some spices. When it was hot enough she dumped the meat and vegetables inside and stirred them vigorously. It was quite delicious and I felt much better afterwards!

After dinner, she and her husband announced (her husband spoke a little English) that they were off to the village and would be back around 8:30pm. Once they'd left however, we three felt we just couldn't stay awake any longer, so we hauled out some blankets and made our bed. I was determined not to get cold in the night so made Martin get 3 thick blankets to cover us... this, it turned out, was a mistake on my part because the blankets were so thick and heavy that it was difficult to move under them and I woke many times in the night feeling too hot!! Crazy. It did get very cold in the night however, and when I woke up needing the loo in the morning it was painful getting out from under the blankets and having to face the outdoors!!

The next morning, we declined their offer of breakfast as we felt we didn't have enough time... we were going to wait on the side of the road for the bus to Kashgar, hoping that there would be space for us. After waiting a few minutes, a car pulled up and offered us a lift for Y50, which Martin and I thought was too much, but our Italian friend happily got in. I think she was desperate to get back to her hotel and shower :)

We waited another minute or two, and then suddenly the bus was upon us!! We didn't manage to get on it however as it was full of people... grrrr. Martin was delighted as this now gave us an opportunity to hitch-hike. I think he was hoping for a ride in a cool big truck. We started walking down the road, and I wasn't complaining because the air was so fresh and the scenery awe-inspiring! After about an hour of walking, we were picked up by an Uighur man in a twincab bakkie thing, who took us all the way back to Kashgar for only Y30 each (cheaper than the bus!).

Now we've had a shower in our hotel, The Seman Hotel, and are looking forward to supper having eaten nothing all day because we were stuck on the road.

The lobby area (which makes it look far more beautiful than it really is!)


Our hotel from the outside