After spending the night in tashkorgan and newly made bread for breakfast we continued to the border at Pakistan and the famous kunjerab pass, also called the valley of blood due bandits often attacking caravans there in the past. The pass consists of the Chinese/Pakistan border at an altitude of about 4700 meters (according to my gps) and zero degrees. My previous intel of the Chinese also making the road into Pakistan might have been somewhat of an exaggeration. Where Pakistan starts the tarmac ends and all you have is muddy roads.

After taking photos with Pakistani border guards, we went  to the karakul lake and spent the night in a yort. For 40 rmb we also got dinner which we shared with the kirgiz family in their house. Nice experience and they took good care of us serving tea and bread during the day, and warming up the yort in the evening. The son, and the only one speaking Chinese and limited English, also worked as porter for expeditions to Muztha ata and has reached the summit six times.

After watching the sun rise around 0830 (Beijing time which is almost a difference of three hours) against the view of beautiful snow covered mountains and the muztagh ata summit we packed our bags and tried to find a ride back. Our jeep arranged for the whole trip went back the evening before as the German girl sharing the car got very sick, either from food or altitude. At lunch we got a local who offered to drive for 70 per person and of we headed. Passing the spots that were destroyed going up we felt happy to have a smooth trip. But, right after that a long line of cars became visible. Walking to the front and talking to the special military guys (Wu Jing) we learned there had been recent  landslides and two to three days required to fix it. Not in the mood turning back we took our bags and continued on foot. It was not one landslide we had to cross, we climbed over rocks and walked through mud for almost 10 kilometers, passing abandoned cars stuck in between before we got to the end and a line of waiting cars. We negotiated a ride back to kashgar for 150 rmb. Halfway the driver didnt want to go any further and we were “sold” to another car and after 20 minutes of negotiation we were on the move again. After more than six hours on the highway we were back in kashgar.

Lessons learned:
1. The road is great all the way to the kunjerap pass. Although the road often seems to be under reparation from landslides, but if it is broken not even a jeep can cross so normal car or bus works fine.
2. No special permits needed. everything is arranged along the way at checkpoints. To reach the kunjerap pass a fee of 10 rmb per person had to be paid, nothing else.
3. Guides and drivers don’t really work for your best conveniency, more for their own benefit. This means it is more fun and rewarding doing things on your own. For example was our driver trying to convince us to follow his advise at the lake as we were not allowed to stay in local yorts. Well, it was possible and a lot cheaper and nicer…

Tags: china, karakoram highway, karakul lake, kunjerap pass, landslide, Pakistan