Xinjiang adventures. Deserts, grasslands and glaciers.

[woodyren]

Breakfast on the train and then a few more hours that morning on board as we headed to our next destination. Kashgar. Photos of the station and the landscape approaching Kashgar.


Arrival at Kashgar station.




At each station the full train compliment splits up into their individual tour groups.














Many small areas of irrigated agriculture.

 

[woodyren]

From the station we headed off for another enjoyable local meal.



Innovative child seat on a local scooter.

 

[woodyren]

After and early lunch we reboarded our bus and headed off into the mountains. As I previously mentioned I knew little of the actual trip itinerary and I almost deliberately held back from inquiring about the specifics which would have required translation as the tour guides only spoke Mandarin and all the literature provided was in Mandarin.

What I did was to use my Google Maps and find out the general area we were in and where we appeared to be heading or once there then in spare moments at night of on the bus begin to find out more about the specifics.

So while I knew we were headed to mountains, mainly because they told us to bring warmer clothes I was absolutely delighted once I opened my location on the early part of the bus ride to find we were headed along the Karakorum Highway.

FYO I was able to easily access all things Google etc with my Airalo Asian e-Sim data. What I could not do was to hook up to any free wifi in hotels and other locations because, unbeknown to me when I purchased my phone, Goole phones are somehow blocked from hooking up to Chinese wifi.

The early part of the highway followed a river through mainly arid hills but the mountains in the distant background gave a taste of anticipation of what was to come.

 

[tgh]

Big like for Woodyren : Spectacular scenery , really enjoying this vicarious tour of a place I will never see..

 

[woodyren]

Climbing higher from the river valley in the mountains.

 

[woodyren]

Our first destination for the day. (from Wiki) Karakul Lake. At an altitude of 3,600 m, it is the highest lake of the Pamir plateau, near the junction of the Pamir, Tian Shan and Kunlun mountain ranges. Surrounded by mountains which remain snow-covered throughout the year, the three highest peaks visible from the lake are the Muztagh Ata (7,546 m), Kongur Tagh (7,649 m) and Kongur Tiube (7,530 m).

We spent an hour or two walking around the lake area and we were fortunate to have a clear day making the 7,000 mts + peaks in the area clearly visible.
























.

 

[woodyren]

From the lake we continued to climb further up into the mountains. There were a number of police checkpoints and surveillance posts, cameras etc along the way. We were quite close to the Afghani border at this stage.

 

[woodyren]

Our overnight hotel on the Karakorum Highway was in Tashkurgan. We had reached a height of just over 4,000 mts along the route and then descended into a long green valley to the town. Tashkurgan was a significant stop on the old Silk Road and was named after the nearby fort that stood guard over this strategic valley.







The view from outside our hotel.


Dinner at this local restaurant.


Hotpot with Yak meat.


A very enjoyable meal with all local produce.

 

[woodyren]

Sadly that was as far as we ventured along the Karakorum Hwy. It was one of the few disappointments of this tour. To come so far and not at least get to the Pakistan boarder. One day I would love to do the full trip but the odds are very low that it will ever happen.

After breakfast at the hotel we visited the ruins of the original Tashkurgan fort.

It was easy to imagine how this fort could control access through the valley in the days of the Silk Road.

 

[woodyren]

Afterwards we visited a local home for dinner and some folk dancing show.

Then we were on our way back down the Hwy to Kashgar.

 

[woodyren]

Our hotel in Kashgar.



Excellent buffet diner and breakfast.

 

[woodyren]

Today we spent time in what we were told was Kashgar Old Town. It was a re-creation of the older town but most of the buildings were not original. This is not uncommon in many of the old town areas of China.

Regardless it was still a colourful area full of interest.

 

[woodyren]

More of Kashgar.











Only a facade of a mosque rather than a functioning one.

 

[woodyren]

This area appeared to be original older buildings that were under preservation/restoration.

 

[woodyren]

More photos of our walk around Kashgar. Like most of the tour we were just dropped off and given a sufficient amount of time to have a good look around and then meet back at a pre arranged time and location. The tour guide kept in touch with others with WeChat whereas I just headed off on my own on many occasions as I could cover larger distances and I had WeChat contact with my wife if I become lost od delayed.

 

[woodyren]

More Kashgar.

 

[woodyren]

On our second day in our return to Kashgar the rest of the group headed off to somewhere we were not allowed to visit. So for the whole tour we missed out on two places but were looked after very well and given a private guide of our own.

I still have no idea whet we missed out on or why we could not go. So while the others were elsewhere, we were taken to a local pass that was apparently a strategic narrow pass at the end of the Silk Road and the Kashgar Silk Road museum.

Probably two of the only minor disappointments on the trip.



























The museum was housed in a very impressive building. Unusually compared to other similar places I have visited there was no English information inside about the exhibits. I get the impression not many non locals visit.

 

[woodyren]

Returning to Urumqi by overnight trains we then travelled through the desert until we reached Bosten Lake. A huge wetland and the biggest non coastal lake in China.

 

[woodyren]

A visit to the local markets and parts of the city in Urumqi followed.

 

[woodyren]

The last day before we flew back to Shenyang. More desert travel to Turpan and Flaming Mountain. Extremely hot. Over 40 degrees. Supposedly the hottest place in China.

Incredible road and rail infrastructure and kilometer after kilometer of wind and solar which along with the transmission lines all appear to be very recently constructed.