Break for the Border - part 2

Day 46 – 292 kms (12972 kms total)

With our papers in order we watch Kashgar disappear in our mirrors and head once again for the mountains. This time with a guide, (like we don’t know way!!), and his driver in a car along with some other guy just out for the ride – we assume.
Mad MAx?

The road runs East out of Kashgar for a about 50km, until it turns
south and runs between the mountains. The peaks of Karabekta Tag, (6760m) and Kangur Shan, (7719m), which never loose their snow, tower grandly on either side of us and the river Gaz that runs between them and alongside the road is even more of a torrent than on our previous run.

We reach the first Chinese checkpoint which is just over half way
between Kashgar and Tashkorgan at Gaz. It seems very ominous, sat in the middle of a narrow pass, with guards standing on raised blocks in the road to stop traffic. It’s merely a passport check, where we enter a small office with all other drivers and our details are jotted in another huge book and we are then waved through with a smile.
Tashkorgan Fort
We motor between and beyond the two mountains and then pass
Chakiragikol lake on our right, where the water level has dropped to reveal the sandbanks, but the huge golden sand dunes still rise up the Western slopes of the mountains behind in their incongruous situation.
We turn a bend and before us, the 7546 meter Muztagata watches us as we round its base on our left and approach Karakul . This beautiful glacial lake lies amidst these huge crags and locals welcome many of the tourists who travel up the road. Yurts (large mud huts) are scattered around the lake, where you may stay overnight on the route to Tashkorgan, should you so desire.
Tashcorgan
The road surface improves from here upwards and the small rockfalls cease to clutter the road as the land levels onto a high plain. A brief climb takes us over 4200m again, and then the road drops gradually and takes us along a high plain between the Sarinkol mountains of Tajikistan and the range the makes up Muztagata.
We then cut through the mountains following the path of the meandering Tashkorgan stream until we reached Tashkorgan at around 3200m.
The Tashkorgan Valley
On arrival in Tashkorgan at The Pamir Hotel, our guide, Hakim, tells us that we need to pay his hotel fee. F-off say we! The guide(s) have very little money and we are not in a charitable mood!
Frantic calls to office say otherwise, so we find a cheaper hotel and park. We take a trip to the old fort, not much to the eye, but some great views.

Our final Chinese meal of our tour is kung po chicken and mixed beef vegetables. Not the best, but by far most expensive at 100 Yuan.
We stop for a game of outdoor pool. John won his game and all the locals wanted to play him but we were off to the hotel!
Outdoor Pool
Retiring to the hotel, we chat with Hakim for a couple of hours over a beer and enlighten him that the west ain’t what the TV shows. The night becomes cooler and we retire to prepare for another customs experience.

One more night to spend here and tomorrow we cross to Pakistan. Yipee!

The next installment is here

Posted on 3. July 2007 by micki

Wagons roll! Have a safe and fantastic journey.

Monica Hindle | 3 July 07 | #

Good to see you are on the move again. You are certainly going to have a story to tell everyone when you get back! Best of luck for the rest of the trip.

Russian Roger | 6 July 07 | #

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