Travels along the silk road
Trip Start
Jul 20, 2004
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82
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Trip End
Jul 20, 2012
Kashgar,
China
Friday, June 9, 2006
The next day, Ted, a fellow volunteer from Oz and I left on train #N946 to Kashgar. The ticket for the hard sleeper car set us back 334Yuan but it was well worth it. The sleeper car only had 4 beds in each compartment and we had the compartment for us. It was a smooth 24 hour ride through mountains and deserts and we arrived pretty fresh in Kashgar. We were to meet up with Kate, another fellow Gobi March volunteer, whom we found at the Caravan Cafe with Philippa, an English traveller. Ted I checked into the Noor Bish hotel in the old town of Kashgar. The small hotel has a beautiful courtyard but the rooms and toilettes are not glorious, to say the least.
Kashgar evokes thousand year old memories of silk road trading. Unfortunately, many of the original Old Town houses have been destroyed to make room for China's famous white tile plastered houses. Walking through the remaining parts of Old Town Kashgar was like looking at the past; most of the houses built with wood and mud, all had beautiful doors, either original ones or newly built.
Karakul Lake
At the Chini Bagh Hotel, I met Hubert who is Chinese and has lived and worked in the US, Taiwan and Hong Kong. We decided to check out the Old town and the famous Id Kah Mosque. For the mosque visit, I had to cover my arms, legs and head. We asked a lady to take our picture and were ready to embrace when her scornful voice pointed out that this is not appropriate in a mosque. So, there we were standing like soldiers ready to march off. Walking in the small labyrinth like alley ways of Old Town Kashgar was fascinating. The children followed us and wanted to have their pictures taken. Hubert must have taken about 25 or more pics just of the children. We knocked at people's doors to find out about their lives and talked to women who felt uneasy having their picture taken also they were the ones who asked us to take a picture. We saw numerous barber shops, fruit and bread stalls, lost of meat hanging outside ready to be sold. And we watched a man burning the hair off goat/sheep heads and hooves. The heads were a black char coaled mass and I didn't want to venture into asking how it will be eaten. But it sure was destined to be eaten.Kate, Philippa and I decided to head up to Lake Karakul about a 4 hour drive by car from Kashgar. The scenery was marvelous and the climate and environment harsh.
Karakul Lake - on top of mountain
We stopped at a yurt village which was part of the Karakul Lake park system but we avoided to pay the fee as we didn't enter through the official gate. The yurts were a disappointment as they were built of cement. The government is putting up more and more cement yurts to enable the people to stay dry and warm. But the romance of simple nomad life is gone. We decided to ask the family if we can stay at their mud house, which we could, and made our self comfortable. They woman of the house served us tea with yak milk (a stable in Tibet), which adds s salty taste to the tea. Together with the tea, we ate homemade bread. The day we got there was a blustery and cold day, so for most of the time we hang out in the house where a little oven heated with camel/yak dung provided warmth. Later, we met up with Andrea, a German girl cycling around Western China, Tibet and Pakistan. She is on a 10 months trip and will return to Germany in August. It was interesting to listen to her stories, especially as she has cycled most of the time alone. Tough girl! The next day, I went out hiking and taking in the breathtaking view of the snow capped mountains and majestic Mt. Muztagh around the lake. The lake is nothing to rave about but the surrounding mountains and the hospitality of the Kyrgiz people whom we stayed with are well worth the trip. My two travel mates got sick with Philippa having to return to Kashgar the next day and Kate taking it easy. Originally, the two had planned to take go up the Karakoum Highway close to the Pakistani border.
Karakul Lake - Picture perfect scenery
I enjoyed my time at the village, playing with the puppies, the yaks and the baby camel.Back in Kashgar, we moved from the Noor Bish to the Chini Bagh hotel where we got a triple bed room with bad. The cost was 40 Yuan and we enjoyed our stay. By now, our group had grown to about 8 people as we met Dominique from France and Elliot from the US and later Philippas boyfriend arrived from England. We also watched the first world cup game seeing Germany defeating Costa Rica 4:2. Life was good and I dwelled in the closeness of our group. By now, I had been together with people for the past 3 weeks and I new it will feel strange to continue alone again. My last day was Sunday and Hubert and I went to the Sunday market to meet up with my Uighur friend Marguba whom I met in Urumqi. Marguba was our guide and translator and enjoyed practicing her English with us. I decided it was time to continue and headed to Hotan with the 10PM sleeper bus. This was my first experience in a sleeper bus. The bus has three rows of bunk beds with blankets and pillows (which never seem to be washed). We got to Hotan around 8am and I waited to catch another bus to Turpan at 11am. I like Turpan and wanted to use it as a stop over again before heading to Dunhuang. My friend Momojohn from John's Information Cafe in Turpan picked me up at the bus station and after a cup of coffee, I checked again into the dormitory of the Turpan Binguan. It is starting to get toasty in Turpan, the last 4 days measured over 42C. Turpan, town and oasis in the Turpan depression (c.5,000 sq mi/12,950 sq km), East Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. It is an agricultural center producing cotton and cotton textiles, silk, wheat, grapes, dried fruit, and wine. Oil is in the area. Turpan is the chief town of the Turpan depression, the lowest point (505 ft/154 m below sea level) in China. Tonight, I will take the 8:30PM bus to Dunhuang (ticket 140Yuan).
