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Across the Khunjarab Pass
Entry 52 of 74 | show all | print this entry |
well its been a while so this might be a longer than usual entry.... interweb wasnt exactly readily available once we hit the KKH proper and so theres lots to catch up on.
well we left karimabad and cute ali's hotel and headed up the mountain in ehsan's jeep to stay in a place called duikar. it was really only about 10 k's away but all uphill so we gained about 500m in that time. there was the option to camp or upgrade to the eagle's nest hotel - 2 guesses which i went for!! the hotel was quite simple but the view from the room right the whole way across the hunza valley was just incredible. i was hoping to finally get some pics up today but theres something wrong with the CD thingy here so maybe next time. the musicians from the hunza view hotel that noone went to see cos we were all so tired followed us up the mountain too to entertain us with their weird not-in-time drums and pipe combo. i didnt stay up too late.
next day we headed on down the road to a town called gulmit to visit a school of a lady bex had met on the plane. i wasnt too bothered so when ehsan asked if i wanted to come in the jeep back to karimabad to run some errands i said for sure. which is when he then let me drive the jeep. imagine - whizzing along the KKH in a 4WD (which ive never driven before!!) 50k's back down to karimabad and back again (well ehsan did the town naavigation bits etc) but apart from that i drove the whole way it was AMAZING and defo one of the best things ive ever done in my life!! on the way there the sun was in my face but on the way back it was bhind me so i got to see the shocked and stunned expressions on the faces of all the men driving in the opposite direction. their jawas just dropping at the sight of a gringo woman driving a jeep. oh and not forgetting abba pumping on the stereo. unfortunatley i knew if everybody knew theyd all want in so i wasnt allowed say a word. we bushcamped that night at this cool little truck stop literally on the side of the road and the musicians turned up AGAIN (along with cute ali from karimabad!) and we had a great night celebrating colleen's birthday with all the local men getting up to dance around the campfire.
next day it was back on the KKH but not until late in the evening cos people wanted to go trekking around passu placier. i went up to borit lake with some others and then walked back and got some class pics of the crazy trucks along the way. this was wednesday and unfortunately our last night in pakistan so we spent it in a hotel that looked out on the most beautiful mountain range ever and it was pretty sad knowing it was our last night.
i dont know about the rest of you but pakistan is categorically not somewhere i would ever have considered travelling to in my wildest dreams. pretty much all the press it gets in the west is terrorist/taliban/al queda related and noone really has anything good to say about it. but im telling you now in hindsight that it is truely one of the most un-rated places ive ever been to and to say all my fears were put to rest would be putting it mildly. it is without doubt the most beautiful place in the world that ive ever been to. just days and days of the most jaw-dropping scenery and beauty you can imagine. and the people we met along the way are some of the nicest, friendliest, caring people ive met. seriously - if you ever get the chance to go, do it. you wont be disappointed.
so anyway thursday was the long drive day - we set off at 6am to sost with all our fingers crossed that raz would be able to continue along the way with us. and she was so it was all good. said bye to ehsan then which was sad - he was an amazing guide and hopefully we're all going to get to meet up when he comes to london in october.
the road to the khunjarab pass climbs roughly 2km up in about 85 km's distance which is alot. and the border situation is weird - youre stamped out of pakistan in sost and then you cross the pass but arent stamped into china until tashgurkan which is about 100kms on the other side. so for that time youre in what is i think called the Autonomous Region of Xinjiang (!) we realised as we approached the pass that the altitude you hit at a max ranges from anything between 4,400m to 5,020m depending on what you read or whose alitimeter you look at. either way it was damn high but stunningly beautiful. we did the group photos at the Pass itself then cruised on down to tashkurgan (averaging about 85kph in raz which is pretty good for those of you in the know!!). we had the pleasure of a military escort in the form of another tour bus which stopped every time we stopped (the chinese arent too keen on pee stops by the side of the road!!!) and an official would get onboard and count us all each time!!)
tashkurgan was significant cos thats where i said bye to raz and surprise surprise i shed a tear or 19....this time its probly the last time ill see her so it was a sad moment. customs was fine and we all piled onto a lovely local aircon tourist coach and headed to the hotel for the most gorgeous dinner of fried chicken and nuts with rice. god i love chinese food!!!
yesterday we hit the road with our new guide aji and lunched by karakol lake. some of the delicacies on the menu included: "spring onions explode meat", "the garlic moss stir-fries flesh", the dry bamboo shoot burns beef" and "vinegars slip away bottle gourd". babelfish has alot to answer for!!! after a couple of hours chilling out there we finsihed up here in kashgar where we're staying for afew nights. i was meant to fly to xian tom but im trying to change that so i can stay here in the palatial seman hotel (pronounced say-man!) and chill.
and thats about it. so i made it safely out of pakistan, drove a 40km stretch of the KKH in a jeep, crossed the khunjarab pass at over four and half thousand meters and have landed here in china. the intrepid adventure continues......
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