After a night in yarkand the trip continued to hotan (also called khotan or hetian). The road was far from as good as advertised and once again, majority of it under construction. Next to it was the new railway that soon will be in use. Xinjiang has had a lot more flooding this year which could explain the roads conditions.

Famous for its jade and silk we spent the day visiting an old workshop where I bought a nature colored and handmade scarf. Thereafter we joined the locals searching for jade at the river. Seeing people day after day looking for jade by the river bed, knowing how many farmers who have gone bankrupt, you cannot stop feeling sad. But the feeling of just a slight chance is intoxicating and even I dug in for some time. Day was finished of by exploring the bazaar and shopping a local hat and hand-made knives.

Impression of hotan is good and people are friendly and curious. Also here a lot of fun taking photos of people. And food is great, especially the bread that has even more different kinds here.

Leaving kashgar was with a surprisingly large dose of relief. The town is widely praised in literature and guidebook talks how different it is. For me it was an interesting place but unfortunately ruined by the people

there

. There was a

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ambience of aggression, tension and mistrust in the air.

You often saw people screaming to each other or running out of cars to pick a fight, and heavy equipped military patrolling wither by foot or in trucks equipped for riots was a common sight. The only friendly people you met in the town was all trying to get money from you by telling you how difficult things are, that the road is bad or permits needed etc etc. We also had a few days of frustration with the local public security bureau that did not show there most professional or helping side. Only after calling higher bosses and supervisors was there any action.

When leaving the town for a local village market you were immediately greeted with more honest friendliness and curiosity. I realised the difference when we first arrived in yarkand (shache) three hours to the south on the southern silkroad. Nothing special there according to guidebooks but what I found was friendliness and people were happy when I took photos and many wanted to pose or have their kids pose. Spent half a day walking around on small streets taking photos of people and sharing the result. A bit different from the daily feeling of irritation in kashgar.

The first two photos above are from kashgar and shows my favorite dish, a special polo with lot of dried fruit in if, and my favorite restaurant. The third is a famous tomb in shache (pretty much

the only thing the town is known).

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 Chinese also making the road inte 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…

Karakorum highway is famous in many ways, not only is it an old silk road route and important connection to central Asia, it is also an engineer achievement. The road gets all the way up to the Kunjerap pass on some 4800 meters before it continues into Pakistan, a part also made by the Chinese.

Today we headed out in the early morning but it didn’t took long after getting into the mountains before a long line of cars emerged. With melting glaciers and landslides the road is often destroyed and we were happy that we had a jeep. Along the route there were two stops where we had to wait for them to either repair the road enough so cars could pass, or clear away rocks that had fallen down. I am massively impressed over the effectiveness when it came to repair the road. Several other parts were also newly repaired or alternative roads made where the original had been washed away. Today the car climbed to a max of 4000 meters before coming down to a valley at 3000 meters altitude, Tashkorgan. Here we walked around looking at an old stone fortress and then rested by a yort in the nearby wetland, chatting with both Tajikistan people and Chinese ex soldiers working together to move a yort to a dryer place.

It was a nice quiet evening made to perfect when the power went out and we had to use candles.

Three days has already passed in the very west of China, where the sun is claimed to rise three hours later than in eastern parts and the local time is two hours after Beijing time.

The normal things has been done so far, walked around in the old town, bought knife in local market, visited tomb of famous concubine to a Qing dynasty emperor, bought tea of mixed healthy herbs, saffron and black tea etc etc.

We were supposed to go for a three day trip on the karakoum highway today but after arranging it yesterday with a guy that seemed nice, we realised this morning that of what he had promised there was a lot missing so we cancelled and changed the plans.

Today we instead went on our own to a village market outside kashgar. Tour company suggested 120 for a car but we took a taxi for 40 rmb to there and 20 rmb back. Very convenient. Market was great and very local. Famous for its donkey market, the roads were full of small carriages coming in from other villages and in the market you could find sheeps, cows, bulls and donkeys. A lot of chaos and as only foreigner snapping photos of everything people were surprisingly friendly and smiled all the time. I think someone tried to sell me a donkey and suddenly I was surrrounded by men gesturing and talking loudly to me, most likely making fun of me. Unfortunately is my vocabulary still weak with only phrase I remember being the greeting phrase “essalamu eleykum” – peace be upon you – and I think useful enough!

It is a completely different experience coming away from e.g. the touristy handicraft street in kashgar to a local village market where it is even more handmade, both in the way people threat you and price level. Lonely planet is a nice guide book but serves a better purpose to tell you what to avoid. Most fun comes from exploring on your own.

Rumours confirmed. After eight hours, upon reaching korla, we were asked to board another bus. As we were the only ones going to kashgar the driver felt it was easier to pay another bus  that had seats available and then reach their end destination by a shortcut across the desert to hotan instead of the long way via kashgar. We had to wait for two hours but it was arranged smoothly after three police officers came and separated two guys using rocks in a fight.

Roads were not the Chinese style highways I expected. Only to korla, thereafter it was road under construction and we had some bumpy 20 hours. I had to limit the food and fluid intake for two reasons. Toilet visits were made each 4-6 hour and toilet standard where we stopped can easiest be described as terrible. In the places without buildings to hide in, the ground was covered with remains from hundreds of earlier travelers…first photo is from one of the stops.

In kashgar and a long shower after, evening was spent tasting a lot of different local specialities and deserts. final one a traditional uighur drink made from ice collected in the mountains and then mixed with yogurt and honey. Very tasty in the summer (second photo).

Turpan to kashgar about to begin. Hopefully all the way but rumours say that they might change the route halfway depending on how many want to go all the way to kashgar.

With a private driver a full day tour was arranged for more than RMB 300, a bit more than reasonable but price can always be lower. It was still a good custom made tour with five stops – the flaming mountains, bezeklik caves (although we didn’t enter but instead climbed the mountain behind), Tuyoq, Jianhe ruins (impressive!) and then a natural karez in a village.

A hot day, around 39 degrees, and no shadow. Drank two liter of water and had some great laghman noodles for lunch (in Chinese lamian).

Evening spent planning next leg and then dinner at local nightmarket. It was confirmed that a lot of roads are closed and under construction so can only hope it is done while we get there.

The plan keeps changing as the map of xinjiang with roads that I have used is changing after finding out that road after road seems to be closed down due to landslides or flooding.  Original plan of train to kashgar is still on and then down to hotan. Thereafter we have to improvise how to cross the desert and get back to urumqi as roads eastward seems to be closed and whether the road to yining across the west mountains is open or not on the way back after crossing the desert. We will find out.

Today the roadtrip around taklamakan desert started with a bus ride to turpan, a legendary oasis on the old northern silkroad, the third lowest depression in the world (154m below sea level) and the hottest spot in china with highest recorded temperature of 49.6 degrees celsius.

Turpan is at first sight a slow and boring city but with famous attractions close by.

The de facto time difference of two hours but still official Beijing time makes the days feel very long.

First day in urumqi. Before we left I managed to arrange 500mb data plan for 50rmb per month so hope my HTC desire will come to good use (if I only manage to charge the battery every evening).

What hit me at arrival was how nice the weather was, about 25 degrees and almost a bit chilly in the evening. A welcome change from shanghais close to 40 degrees.

First evening spent at wuyi nightmarket together with a bunch of travellers that in fact all had just resigned to go out travel for six to eighteen months. Food was pretty much all parts of the sheep on a stick, and I mean ALL parts of the animal. Dont think a single piece was wasted. Barbecued heart is for example not that much different from any other piece of the animal. Although tasty but after just eating meat I long for some vegetables or noodles soup.