Xinjiang, China’s Central Asia and incredible Tibet – Day 17 and 18

July 5, 2014July 5, 2014 by Kaushik

Day 17:

We took rest in the hotel in morning after a long hectic drive for last fortnight. We had a wonderful western breakfast at Chini Bagh hotel after a long time, relaxed and ultimately got confirmation for my Tibet Train Tickets from Xining through my Tibet Travel agent. We got 3 soft sleeper tickets in same compartment in the evening train as we asked for, which was not easy, more details on this when we would cover Tibet section. So at last on very last moment I became little confident about my Tibet trip. Kashgar airport is not very big but had a very tough security checking and they didn’t allow us even to carry Kid’s medicine in hand luggage, I had to return to check in counter 4 times to put something or other they were discovering from hand luggage which was not permissible to carry as per their security standard. Most irritating fact was they took 4 rounds of searches to make themselves satisfied and I had to go through security checks for 4 times. We crossed Taklamakan diagonally to North East and reach Urumqi just before evening. We said good bye to Hasan, another wonderful person we luckily have for our Southern Xinjiang trip and received by our old friend Ablajan again in Urumqi Airport for our short 2 days trip in Xinjiang before we would fly out to Xining.

Day 18:

The day we had planned for our day trip to Turpan. No Xinjiang trip is completed until you visit Turpan, the second lowest point in planet Earth after Dead Sea of Jordan. But before that we had two important things to do. First was to collect the Tibet train tickets, in China though train tickets can be bought in internet, you need to have original paper ticket with you before you can board train, no e-ticket is allowed to board the train. So with confirmation number and identity card you need to collect your paper tickets from any train station or city booking office of Chinese railways. But if you collect it from origin station of your journey, it is free where as from any other places if you collect the paper ticket, you will have to pay 5 CNY per ticket. I thought paying 5 CNY and getting ticket from Urumqi is easier with help of Ablajan than to collect it in Xining by speaking Chinese with counter guys. So after collecting the train tickets we visited the Urumqi Museum which is known as XUAR Museum and a must visit destination for anyone travelling to Xinjiang as it is the best place to get detailed overview of Xinjiang’s many millennia of human civilization. The most famous exhibits of the museum are famous Xinjiang Mummies. The mummy named as Loulan Beauty was excavated from Lop Nor region was of a 45 years old woman of Indo European origin with read hair, thin nose and covered with red brown rough wool blanket. According to Chinese archaeologists this mummy was dated back to 1800 BCE.

As we had to visit Turpan, we didn’t spend much time in museum, rather started for Turpan (in Uighur means land of fire ) which is hottest place in china, temperature in summer goes above 45 degree C and in winter goes down to minus 20 degree C and infamous for blustering winds that often whip the city. Rainfall is lowest among China, annual rainfall is just 20mm. It took around 2.5 hours to cover the distance from Urumqi to Turpan through the 6 lane expressway. Turpan was an important trade hub of silk route was mentioned in history as early as first century. Until fifth century CE the capital of the region was Jiaohe which was our first destination in Turpan. It is perched atop a narrow terrace like an island above 2 rivers (Jiaohe means confluence of rivers). The cliffs rise more than 30 meters above the river bed to form a formidable natural defense. The city was under control of Tibetans for more than a century and major center of Buddhism but later around thirteenth century invaded by Mongol armies of Genghis khan and abandoned since then. This is considered as most visually rewarding site of all Turpan’s outlying tourist attractions.

Our next attraction was Karez which is the ingenious underground irrigation system of ancient China. Without this engineering marvel supplying water in large quantities to an area of arid land that would otherwise not be fit for large scale human civilization. A Karez (means well in Persian) is comprised of series of wells and linking underground channels that tap subterranean water and use gravity to bring it to the surface at a destination lower than source. By this means water can be transported long distance in hot, dry climates without losing a large proportion of it to seepage or evaporation in a dry hot desert climate. These Karez were built 2000 years ago with the water source taken from Tienshan’s glaciers. Digging and maintaining Karez was a tough feat to achieve. It requires skill to understand the best place to dig and monumental effort to execute that in harsh weather conditions. Wells generally begin at the base of the mountains to tap good amount glacier melt water. The tunnel is then dug but again engineering accuracy is required to make sure the tunnel slopes at a lesser gradient than the contours of the land so that the water reaches the oasis close to the ground level where surface canals can distribute it to reservoirs. Generally underground tunnels are 1.5 to 2 meter height and around a meter wide and run at a stretch between 5 to 20 km, it was definitely not an easy job to do 2000 years ago. In Xinjiang region total 5500 km of Karez was discovered with more than 150000 wells providing an annual water output of 1000 million cubic meters. Today in Turpan still a part of it is in use to provide bulk of irrigation and drinking water for population. This Karez water system is considered as second best engineering marvel of ancient China after Great Wall demonstrating an astonishing level of engineering innovation and heroic human effort. It is evident that without this life saving attribute of Karez, the civilization of Xinjiang could never reach the size and sophistication that allowed the Silk Road to flourish. Due to this system Turpan became an agricultural oasis, famed for its sweetest grapes, white resins and wines in the middle of the extreme aridity and scorching heat that would otherwise make this a lifeless hell.

We had a plan to Shanshan desert but later abandoned the plan as we had to take a long journey back to Urumqi and next day early morning we had our flight for Xining, the gateway of Tibet Plateau. We reached Urumqi around 8.00 in evening and quickly took dinner and gone to bed. This ended our 18 days grand trip in most diverse province of China. Tomorrow we will be at Xining, capital of Qinghai Province to catch high altitude train to Tibet.

Urumqi Museum:

Loulan Beauty (4000 Years Old Mummy):

Museum Ground Floor From Top:

China’s Next Engineering Marvel: The High Speed rail corridor between Urumqi – Lanzhou – Beijing is in making, soon become another tourist attraction as it cuts through Gobi Desert where a 67 km long wind shield gallery is being built to protect the track from ferocious crosswinds of Gobi and then it will cut Kunlun Mountains via Qilianshan Tunnel at 4000 meter. It will going be highest High speed train corridor in world where trains will run at 350 kmph and reach Urumqi to Beijing 3500 km, overnight in less than 12 hours which now takes more than 72 hours, the work is close to completion now in 4 years:

Ancient 2000 years old Karez Underground Channels of water:

Grape Street of Turpan where on top of the roads grapes are being dried (Turpan is famous for sweetest grapes in China):

Jiahoe Ruins in Turpan (Dated Back to 3rd Century CE):

The main temple complex of Jiahoe (Remember it was a Buddhist town then):

The city Ruins:

Rock Cut Buddha is still visible:

See the Turpan Oasis in the middle of Desert:

Emin Minaret at Turpan:

Coming back to Urumqi – Sunset, our last day was telling us a grand good bye after an excellent Xinjiang trip and remembering Tibet is waiting for us:

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Xinjiang, China’s Central Asia and incredible Tibet – Day 16

July 5, 2014July 5, 2014 by Kaushik

Day 16:

This was our full day stay in Kashgar and our main attraction of the day was to visit World’s oldest and largest Livestock market at Kashgar and then visiting the Sunday Market, Idkha Mosque, largest mosque in China and the Abakh Khoja tomb. If you really want to see livestock market, which looks very interesting to me, you must need to spend a Sunday there and we have planned our trip accordingly. Kashgar is the largest oasis city of Xinjiang and 70 percent of the population is Uighur which makes it not so comfortable destination for Han Chinese and that’s the reason I planned this place during the Golden Holiday Week of October to get escaped from mad infamous tourist rush of China.

Kashgar’s historical importance is derived from its strategic location at the foot of Pamir, Kunlun and Karakoram Mountain ranges, commanding access to the high glacial passes of the Silk Road Routes into Central Asia, India and Persia (Via Tajikistan to Iran). The trade caravans from China heading towards west on the northern and Southern route through the rim of Taklamakan desert finally meets at Kashgar and similarly caravan towards East from Central Asia and India meets here after descending Pamir and Karakoram. Kashgar’s history spans over 2000 years and both Buddhist and Islamic culture started spreading their wings in Tarim basin in second and tenth century respectively from Kashgar only.

Our first visit of the day was to Livestock market, stated to be world’s oldest and largest livestock market, still have a very much Central Asian flavor with cacophony of color, sound and smell on a scale found nowhere else in Xinjiang and even in any other Central Asian City. On Sunday Livestock market starts at dawn when traders begin to bring animals in, stalls are setup selling foods, drinks, tourists souvenirs near the entrance and in main markets wooden posts are lined up with yaks, cows, bulls, camels, sheep, goats, donkeys and horses, all for sale at right prices. This is a must visit just to experience the ancient market flavors of Central Asia, you would feel that you rode a time machine and back thousands of years in past to the full glory of silk route trading.

Our next attraction was the Kashgar Bazaar, named as Central Asia International Grand Bazaar has many sections in the market selling silk, cotton, knives, hats, pots and pans, fresh vegetables, dry fruits, spice and many other things. You would get costly carpets to cheap musical instrument and see Uzbeks, Tajiks, Kyrghiz, Kazakh, Pakistani and Turkish traders apart from Uyghur.

We gone to Idkah Mosque next which is largest mosque in China and most holy sites of Muslims in Xinjiang is also regarded as religious and cultural center of Kashgar. Thousands of people daily visit this place to offer prayer. It was built in middle of Fifteenth Century on almost an area of 17000 sq meters. One point to note like all important religious places in China, Imam of this mosque is appointed by Chinese Govt and operates under full control of Chinese Govt. No where in China bigger Mosques or Monasteries can elect their Imam or Head Lama, it’s selected by Chinese Govt. based on certain criteria best known to them.

Our last visit of the day was Abak Khoja’s tomb is holiest place in Xinjiang for Sufis and an architectural treasure, built in middle of seventeenth century it is reminiscent of Central Asian artistic style of Samarkand. Abak Khoja was the powerful ruler of Kashgar, Hotan, Yarkhand, Aksu, Kuqa to Korla and a greatly respected Sufi leader of seventeenth century. Five generations of this great family were buried here.

Kashgar still carries the memory of great game between two imperial forces of early twentieth century, British and Russians. The old British Consulate was the home for almost quarter of a century of the most famous British India’s representative in Kashgar, Sir George McCartney and his wife. The consulate is now transformed to one of the most well known hotels of Kashgar (Qinibagh, pronounced as Chinibagh hotel) where fortunately we got a chance to stay for 2 nights. The Russian Consulate is now transformed to another hotel Seman hotel still carries the Russian Architecture.

Today was our last day in Southern Xinjiang and tomorrow we would fly back to Urumqi.

Gate of Livestock Market:

Camel sales at its height because of Bakri Eid!!

Sheep Line:

Sheep is dragged from the van and put them in a queue:

Horses for sales:

Sheep are in Queue:

Few different shops selling souvenirs and other interesting things:

Famous Uighur knives made in Southern Xinjiang (Yengisar is specially famous for making knives):

Idkah Mosque Entrance:

Idkah Mosque Complex, heart of Cultural Kashgar:

Beautiful shop and even prettier shopkeeper:

Typical Uighur Shop:

Dry Fruits market – Kashgar:

Musical Instruments:

See the woodcraft all are handmade:

Abakh Khoja Tomb:

This is made of Samarkand Style architecture:

Kashgar Sunday Market:

Kashgar Town:

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Xinjiang, China’s Central Asia and incredible Tibet – Day 15

July 5, 2014July 5, 2014 by Kaushik

Day 15:

This is our return day from Tashkurgan through same Karakoram Highway to Kashgar but we started very early so that we can enjoy sunrise in and around Karakul Lake. It was a brilliant journey all through bidding goodbye to high Pamirs once again we proceeded to Kashgar, took a break with Nan and Tea in Kyrghiz hut in Karakul and then returned back to Kashgar. Tomorrow we will be visiting the important trade hub of Kashgar and being a Sunday it would be more interesting to see Sunday Market and Livestock Market which is oldest and largest in World.

Pamir Plateau in Morning:

Karakoram Highway going through High Pamirs:

Tajikistan Border just 14 km away from this point on Karakoram Highway:

The Chinese Immigration / Customs for entering Tajikistan :

Top view of Karakoram Highway through Pamir Plateau, one of my favorite snap:

The Majestic Karakoram Ranges:

Majestic Karakoram Highway:

Unlike Kazakh and Kyrghiz, Tajik are semi nomadic and they stay in their stone houses during heavy winter:

The amazing Pastureland in High Pamirs:

The Reflection:

Kirghiz father and kid:

Colorful Mountains:

See the disciplined way of ethnic destruction, New Guangzhou town is being developed just outskirt of Kashgar, Guangzhou is Kashgar’s sister town and SEZ are established there (Can you see it’s in snap), worst is these all are characterless typical Chinese high rise buildings:

Chinese do little extra in everything, can you believe this is just a middle school building

Former British India Consulate in Kashgar, active during great game, now transformed to Qinibagh (Chinibagh) Hotel, we stayed here for 2 nights, wonderful!!

Now we reached Kashgar, next we explore this ancient town and trade hub before flying out to Urumqi again.

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Xinjiang, China’s Central Asia and incredible Tibet–Day 14/Part 2

July 5, 2014July 5, 2014 by Kaushik

The turn of 30km road from Karakoram Highway towards Afghanistan Border:

Colorful Pamir Plateau:

Tajik Shop at Tashkurgan:

Tajik Mother and Kid (Note the hat Tajik woman wears) :

The cute Kid:

Tajik Gentleman, gave a pose for me:

Tajik Family in traditional attire:

Rickshaw Puller in Tashkurgan:

Tashkurgan, a picturesque Tajik town:

Tashkurgan Grass Land:

Tajik Mom and Kid:

This grassland goes till Pakistan Border :

Ancient Water Wheels:

Walkway on the grassland:

Sheep grazes in the grassland:

Walking across the Grassland:

The vastness of the grassland is amazing:

Tashkurgan Stone Fort, built in 3rd Century:

The Stone Fort at Tashkurgan, famous for the memory of Huen Tsang who stayed here 20 days during his return from India and recently for shooting of the movie “Kite Runner”:

From Stone Fort the surrounding views:

The original gate to Fort, now abandoned:

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Xinjiang, China’s Central Asia and incredible Tibet–Day 14/Part 1

July 5, 2014July 5, 2014 by Kaushik

Day 14:

Surprisingly the hotel we got in Tashkurgan was real nice and we didn’t expect such a good accommodation in 5th/ 6th tier town in China but that indicates how far this country has already progressed. Modern Tashkurgan is a delightful town, compact and made with Greco-Roman style columns, with a large attractive eagle statue, symbols of the Tajiks, stands in the center of the town.
First existence of Tashkurgan was documented in second century book written by Ptolemy as extreme western province for its stand on the trade route over Pamirs and the Karakorum to the ancient Buddhist kingdoms of Taxila and Gandhara (Both are near Islamabad in Pakistan).

Now there are almost 30000 Tajiks live in Xinjiang and apart from very few live in other part of Silk route, they mostly live in high Pamirs around Tashkurgan, so if you want to experience Tajik Culture, Tashkurgan is the place to be unless you visit Tajikistan.Unlike their nomadic neighbours like Kazakh or Kyrghiz, they engage in both animal husbandry and agriculture and in summer time lives in yurt in high mountain with the animals in pastureland where as in autumn they come back to their stone houses in lower altitude.

The major attraction of Tashkurgan is the Stone Fortress perched on top of a hill at the northern edge of the town. The fort was built in 6th century by Tajik king and subsequently destroyed by Genghis Khan’s Mongol army in twelfth century and then rebuilt again. Huen Tsang spent a month in this fort during his return journey from India through the silk road. The view of lush green meadow and pastureland spread across till the border of Pakistan would give you an amazing view once you are on the top of this ruined castle. We thoroughly enjoyed it.

Those who would go to Pakistan overland needs to do their immigration and Customs completed in Tashkurgan. As the road proceeds further south, within 30km from Tashkurgan a road bifurcates to the west and further proceeds to Wakhan Corridor of Afghanistan but it’s off limit for international tourists and also the other side of border in Afghanistan end the nearest road head is 100km further, so this is not a place to venture into Afghanistan but this is strategically very important to NATO forces during their Afghan war as this area has least control of Taliban and NATO asked permission to PRC for using this route to replenish their supply lines. But showing internal security reasons China denied that. The main road proceeded further south to Khunjerab Pass. crossing a barren and treeless landscape. The name came in Wakhi language means “Valley of Blood” referring to murderous raids on caravans and travellers staged from the neighbourhood of Kingdom of Hunza. Pakistan’s entry formalities taken 86 km further when the road descends to 2500 meter from Pamir Top at a place called Sost, which someday we dream to touch upon. Khunjerab is highest paved border crossing in world and officially remains open between 1st May to 31st October.

We came back to Tashkurgan to find for this day our hotel is completely filled up, with lot of effort from Hasan, we finally managed to stay in Govt Hotel (Stone City Hotel) in Tashkurgan for this night, it was actually within Golden Holiday week and in remotest corner of China we were almost running short of accommodations, so think again before you plan any trip to China during that time.

Inside Tashkurgan Hotel:

Traditional Tajik Drawing room:

The Hotel at Tashkurgan:

Karakoram Highway :

Pamir Top – On the other side of Mountain, Wakhan Corridor, Afghanistan:

Exquisite Beauty of High Pamir:

Yaks crossing Karakoram Highway:

Colorful “Roof of the World” – Pamir Plateau:

Karakoram Highway, the concrete road built on High Pamir and Karakoram, certainly an engineering marvel:

Dreams coming closer:

Driving through Pamir, on the backdrop of Karakoram, a drive to remember on Karakoram Highway:

Now ascending to Khunjerab Pass:

Far away Chinese Last Post on Khunjerab Pass:

The Last Chinese Post in Khunjerab, Photography is strictly prohibited, took a long shot, the building looks nice in backdrop of the mountain, just artistic perspective, no other motive please (In the balcony of first floor try to spot army man with AK-47)

The gate between China and Pakistan, 500 mtrs away, this side China and other side Pakistan, on top of Khunjerab Pass:

Colorful Karakoram (Karakoram means Black Mountains):

Khunjerab is watershed, this one flowing towards China, Tarim Basin (would finally lost in deadly Taklamakan):

Returning back to Tashkurgan through same road:

Crossing the side of Wakhan Corridor again:

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Xinjiang, China’s Central Asia and incredible Tibet–Day 13/Part 2

July 5, 2014July 5, 2014 by Kaushik

Stone House for extreme climates:

Kyrghiz Man and his Machine:

A Landscape to die for:

Walking with the nature:

The magical setting of Karakul Lake, Kyrghiz Huts and Muztag Ata would make you mesmerized:

Muztag Ata reflecting on Lake Karakul:

Sunset on Muztag Ata:

Sunset on Kongur Peaks:

Colors look amazing in setting sun:

Color becomes prettier as sun sets :

Standing on Pamir Plateau and watching sun set would always be memorable moment of our lives:

Muztag Ata standing tall behind the grass land:

Sun rays fades from 7700 meter slowing but elegantly :

It goes with a promise of a new day, the day I am supposed to fulfill my long lasting dream of touching Kunjerab Pass, we will attempt it tomorrow.

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Xinjiang, China’s Central Asia and incredible Tibet–Day 13/Part 1

July 5, 2014July 5, 2014 by Kaushik

Day 13:

Route through Karakoram Highway from Kashgar to Kunjerab Pass via Tashkurgan:

A day with big dream started nicely, the weather was fine, the dusty ambience of last 2 weeks because of a severe sand storm almost gets settled, no further west disturbances predicted from West and hence we took a quick breakfast and start for the day. Our plan for night stay would be either around Karakul lake or in Tashkurgan on the way.

Another Chinese engineering marvel, this almost 1300km long Karakoram Highway (Sometimes called Sino-Pakistani Friendship Highway)connects Islamabad in Pakistan to Kashgar in China in a stunning roadway winding through some of the most inhospitable terrain in the world through great mountain ranges of Kunlun, Pamir, Karakoram and Himalayas, following one of the silk route to the valley of Hunza, Gilgit and Indus River. Chinese claims more than 400 lives lost in the road work but in Pakistan side people call this road by 1 per km, that means 1 people at least died per km of road build in that side. The highway built in 1967 was again an incredible feat of Chinese engineering. Travelling in this road is still unpredictable specially in month of July / August due to flash floods and rock slides which are very frequent during that time.The highway cuts through Karakoram Ranges at Kunjerab Pass reaching at 4733 meters.

South of Kashgar the Karakoram Highway (KKH) crosses gebi plain towards a series of mountains to the south. It approaches the rocky foothills and enters the narrow gorge of the Gez river, a majestic yet slightly intimidating terrain that remains a dangerous road to travel despite of advances in modern day engineering. Here we faced the checkpoint where our permits made in Kashgar were checked and passports were verified. Hasan prepared a permit for us on day before in Kashgarh, so we proceeded further while ascending up to 4000 meter and then dropping slightly to a vast high altitude plain with salt lakes and sand dunes, here we found Kyrghiz traders supplementing their income by selling semiprecious stones and other local handicrafts to tourists, more of shopping my intention was to capture few nice portraits there.

Kashgar Town in morning:

Largest Statue of Mao in whole China is located at Kashgar, desperate attempt to show Kashgar belongs to China, yes it is, who argues

Fruit Markets in the side of Karakoram Highway:

The dream comes true, Driving on Karakoram Highway (KKH):

Gez River with colorful Mountains:

Colorful Canyons beside KKH:

Bactrian Camels grazing beside KKH:

These colorful mountains were the source of colorful fresco of 3rd century depicting Jataka Tales inside Buddhist Caves in this region:

Kyrghiz Stone seller:

Kyrghiz Family who hosted us near Karakul Lake with warm Tea and Nan:

Day 13 Continued…

Down further south at an altitude of 3500 meter the road reaches the shores of Karakul Lake, a gem in a stunning mountains setting of Kunlun. The high windswept plateaus between parallel ranges that constitutes Pamirs , the “Roof of the World” are home to nomadic branch of Kyrghiz people who lives in yurts. We have seen horses, yaks, sheep and camels graze on the rich pasturage around this high altitude lake, surrounded by majestic Kongur and Muztagata peaks.The views are really dominated by Muztagata Mountain (means “Father of Ice Mountains” in Uyghur) is 7500 mtr and Kongur Tag to the North at 7700 meter height. Kongur is the meeting point of Kunlun Mountain Ranges to west to Pamir. We initially thought of staying at Yurts but in October all water gets frozen during night and night temperature plummeted far below zero, we decided to stop at Tashkurgan where we would get better hotels. So instead of a night stay, we waited till evening to watch the fabulous sunset on backdrop of Kongur and Muztagata and then we proceeded to a 4100 meter pass just after the lake from where one can have even a closer look of Muztagata and subsequently dropped to a broad valley at 3200 meter to arrive at Tashkurgan, place of our night stay.

Kyrghiz Yurts:

Karakul Lake and Muztag Ata:

Inside the Kyrghiz Yurts:

Muztag Ata is the 2nd highest peak in Kunlun at a height of 7700 mtr in Pamir Plateau :

Muztag Ata in Uighur language means Father of Ice Mountains:

Kyrghiz Huts:

Serene Landscape:

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Xinjiang, China’s Central Asia and incredible Tibet – Day 12

July 5, 2014July 5, 2014 by Kaushik

Day 12:

Today’s Route:

The Hotan Hotel as I said was very nice and comfortable, and a 4 star hotel in Chinese standard, we had a nice sleep and fresh for today.

Hotel Lobby:

Kid is looking for next destination

Today we had a long drive through Southern Silk road from Hotan to Kashgar almost 550km through Karghilik and Yarkhand. We stayed in a nice hotel in Hotan which was again a four star in Chinese standard and had a good sleep, you need good rest to get yourself soaked in the beauty and culture of this region, it’s so colorful and varied, an experience you would cherish for lifetime. We reached Karghilik through the road mainly through desert and some oasis few and far between.

Karghilik is now a growing oasis town which comes frequently in the headlines because of flashpoints of ethic conflicts between Hun and Uyghur. Historically this was the point where ancient trade caravans and travellers heading for India would turn southwest into the mountains, trading the infamous desert path for the freezing, torturous track that led over the five great passes over Kunlun and Karakoram ranges to Leh and finally to Srinagar in Kashmir. The route averaging the height of 4800 meters (16K ft) above sea level and crossing five five thousand meters pass named Suget, Karakoram, Despang la, Saser la and Khardungla reaches to Leh and then passes through Zojila to cross over to Kashmir Valley. The region is named as Skeleton Trail as still it’s told to be strewn with skeletons of animals and human from the caravans perished in the wrath of nature. However, despite of its terrible hardships and difficult terrain, it was the best possible and most used route between the Tarim Basin and the Indian Subcontinent until the British finally created a safer and faster route in the second quarter of the last century via Hunza valley of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir and the Kunjerab Pass. Those famous two humped Bactrian camels many of us have seen in Nubra Valley actually came to India as part of this old caravans from Yarkhand in Tarim Basin. Karghilik Mosque is quite big but not opened for tourists, so we just enjoyed the architecture from outside and proceeded further to Yarkhand.

The people going to local markets:

The ancient trade route bifurcates to India leaving the desert and crossing 5 great passes of Kunlun, Karakoram and Himalaya it reaches Indian Plains and almost through same terrain Chinese built modern engineering marvel of Highway 219 connecting Xinjiang and Tibet, known as remotest and deadliest highway in world, we are at point Zero (Start Point) at Xinjiang side.

Karghilik Mosque:

Day 12 Continued…

Historically Yarkhand was considered even bigger trade hub in silk route than Kashgar or Hotan due to its extensive commercial activities with Indian Subcontinent through Leh. With a forum like BCMT which is so information intensive on Leh, let’s see something on other part of the story that made Leh so famous historically. Silk road caravans carried silks, tea, precious stones, golds, furs and skins and opium (heavily used in China) from India. It’s the Kashmiri traders who taught the Yarkhandis to clean and treat fleeces and soon the quality of Yarkhand’s shawl wool became world famous. It’s again a lesson taught by Indians to China. Yarkhand boasts of its rich culture from Hindus, Pathans, Tibetans, Baltis, Afghans and other foreign traders who swelled the city’s population. It is now officially known as Shache, for some reason Chinese have renamed all the Uighur towns like Khotan becomes Hetian, Niya becomes Minfeng, Karghilik becomes Yecheng and Kashgar becomes Kashi, Yarkhand is no exception, not sure if this is cultural invasion or their idea of making the history blurred to make it all feel Chinese. You would be surprised to know that cultural invasion has gone to such an extent that all Xinjiang town has now got an official sister city from their Chinese counterparts, Kashgarh has Guangzhou, Yarkhand has Shanghai, Hotan has Beijing like this, so cultural invasion can go on systematically. I am not giving any opinion what Chinese are doing is right or wrong, we have seen lots of flipsides of democracy we enjoy in India but one thing is sure China wants its people and others in world to believe that Chinese history starts from 1949 onwards when Communists came into power. But that’s a big loss to whole world specially for places like Xinjiang and Tibet which has a long history and much of that directly or indirectly connected to India.

I met one Japanese tourist who is studying on Chinese language, he told me something on Chinese history, he asked me why I chose Western Part of China as my first trip there when everyone knows (rather Chinas wants all to know) it’s the Eastern part that reflects true China. I replied him that history of Xinjiang and Tibet apart from the landscape fascinated me always. He asked me again why not the history of Eastern side of China attracts me, I replied I never studied so called history of that part of China, then he smiled and told me “How you would study, most of the histories of those part are actually Fairy Tales whether western part has a long and rich real history”, I didn’t know how true is that but the conversation struck me right in my heart. If some country really having rich heritage and culture, I don’t know how they could denounce histories of others.

We visited the Imperial Tomb complex of Altun kings who ruled the Yarkhand kingdom in 16th Century and it was a nice place to see the old architecture of that time. Another place we visited was the Tomb of Amanisa Han, the wife of Sultan of Yarkhand. She was credited with collating and composing much of the epic “Twelve Muqam”, the most significant collection of music in Uyghur culture. Known as “Mother of Uyghur Music”, the Twelve Muqam comprises large scale sets of sung poetries, dance tunes and instrumental pieces. In 2005 UNESCO recognized it by designating it a “Representative work of Human Oral and Intangible Cultural Heritage”. She was a great artist no doubt about that but she is very few of the representatives of Uyghur culture who was supported and projected by Chinese Govt, the reason most Uyghur loves to believe as she was a Han Chinese who was married to Uyghur and Chinese shows this as epitome of national integrity. I just wrote what I heard, no pun intended
We gave a miss to Yengisar, another silk route town famous for making Yengisar knife which is strictly prohibited to even carry in your check in luggage. Yengisar knife so nicely made, you would love to buy one if you see it, so be careful, unless you have a plan to get out overland, getting this out of China is difficult. We gave it a miss because we were short in time after exploring Karghilik and Yarkhand. We reached Kashgar quite late around 8.00 in evening and have a quick dinner and went to bed.

Streets at Karghilik:

Women are in Business, common sight in Southern Xinjiang:

Tired Seller:

Tomb of Amanisa Han:

Imperial Tomb complex of Altun kings:

Kashgar Hotel, very nice one:

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Xinjiang, China’s Central Asia and incredible Tibet – Day 11/Part 2

July 5, 2014July 5, 2014 by Kaushik

Day 11 Continued…

We drove across the southern rim of Taklamakan and with few and far some oasis appeared, rest all are barren desert as we drove towards West. Hotan is barely 150km from Niya and can be reached easily in 2 hours. So our main objective of the day was to explore this old town of Hotan, it’s famous carpet and silk factories before looking around the historical Hotan Market. The oasis town of Hotan (historically known as Khotan as we read in history book and Hetian in Chinese) is famous for its jade, carpets, silk and embroidery. Indeed the fame rises with the blossoming of silk route. The traditional hand-woven silk produced in small family units and rich natural colors of and designs of Hotan Carpets have still been treasured all over the world.

History of Hotan is no less surprising. This area was originally inhabited as early as late Paleolithic age (up to 10000 BCE) and was occupied around 1000 BCE by the Saka, a semi nomadic, Indo-European group originating from eastern Persian Realm. Around 300 BCE immigrants from India moved into this region and formed this first Indian town in Tarim Basin and according to legend the first King of Hotan said of a son of King Ashoka, the Mauryan emperor, settled there around 225 BCE. During 2nd Century CE, this region was ruled by Indo-Scythian kingdom of Kushans, whose ruler Kanishka though was a Buddhist, supported other religions of Hindu and Iranian faith. This influence of Kushans and Mauryas brought the Gandhar art in these areas including Kuqa. Buddhism flourished here in fourth and fifth century and remained as a centre of Mahayana Buddhism until the early of 11th Century when it was conquered by Muslims of Kashgar. Hotan’s prosperity can be easily guessed by famous pilgrim Fa Xian’s account who stayed in Hotan for 3 months and left a vivid account of thousands of monks and many monasteries ornamentally carved and overlaid by gold and silver. This place was even under serious Indian influence till Communist regime in China took over in 1948. In 1935, when Peter Fleming (A British Adventurer and Travel writer, elder brother of Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond) and Ella Maillart (A Swiss Olympian and Travel Writer) took their epic journey of 7 months from Beijing to Srinagar (They were lucky, I am sure they couldn’t take such trip in modern day through Xinjiang, Tibet, Ladakh, Skardu, Gilgit to Srinagar) arrived at Hotan, they found the city was hand-printing its own currency note from Mulberry trees (those who are not aware, Mulberry Tree leaves are main feed for silkworms). Their vivid account of witnessing the arrival by mule of British Indian Postman with documents for local Indian merchants and the three months old copies of “The Times” brought all the way from Kashmir made the point how close these places were to India just even 80 years back.

Silk Threads, the product which named this epic route as Silk Route:

The Silk Clothes but you need a knowledgeable tailor to made something tangible out of it:

Silk Trader with his potential Customers:

Silk Pieces, note the hand made designs:

Creativity in a Meat Shop:

Uighur Kebab in making:

The Designer Nans:

Candid expression:

Hotan Market, looks more authentic and still bear the old touch than the Kashgar Market:

Hotan Market Tailor, certainly has an attitude:

Managing Parents shop in their absence:

Helping her Mother, preparing street foods for shoppers:

Spice at Hotan Market:

Another Cute Kid:

Uyghur Cap:

She really looks pretty:

She was ready to pose, although her mother stopped her

Uighur Man:

Chairman Mao meets a local farmer, something China wants to portray in whole Xinjiang to show how serious and sensitive they are about Uyghur and not only that, they were very serious about their issues from long back — This was an Uyghur man’s explanation, I didn’t thought about it

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Xinjiang, China’s Central Asia and incredible Tibet – Day 11/Part 1

July 5, 2014July 5, 2014 by Kaushik

Day 11:

Today’s Route:

Today our driving distance was not too long, but we would take the southern fringe of Taklamakan desert and would travel through the most prominent of all silk route branches, the southern one that comes directly from Dunhuang via Charkilik and then touching this small oasis town of Niya, going to big oasis of Hotan and from there further west it crosses Karghilik proceeds further west to Yarkhand and then finally meets the North Silk Route at Kashgar. Southern Silk route is actually the oldest route established first in history.

Historically from Kashgar, Silk route branched off and one route continued over high Pamir and from there to famous town of Khokand, Samarkand, Bokhara and Merv before making its way through Persia and Mesopotamia to the Mediterranean Sea, where the exotic silk, carpets and spices from East ended up in the market of Rome and Alexandria.

Another silk road branch, more closer to our Indian hearts, branched off at Yarkhand (Modern Road 219 to Tibet starts from Karghilik instead of more difficult Yarkhand), continuing south to Karakorum over the 5 great passes, to reach Leh and Srinagar, then into the Indian Subcontinent. Unfortunately the route has been closed since China’s occupation of Tibet in 1950 and subsequent encroachment to Aksai Chin to build Xinjiang-Tibet Highway and till then skirmishes are going on across the disputed Line of Actual Control. This is a dream route for many of us to explore and definitely one the most (if not the most) arduous trek route in planet earth ever crossed over by human being on regular basis in history of human civilization. The road from Kashgar to Leh is around 900km and cross Karakash Valley to go up to Suget Pass and the descending to Yarkhand Valley and subsequently cross the great Karakoram Pass (Now located close to the tri junction border between India, China and Pakistan and only border between India and China that doesn’t touch Tibet) to descend to Chipchap Valley (Known as Depsang Plains as well) and Daulat Beg Oldie (Daulat Beg Oldie was a Kashgar ruler who took repeated attempt to conquer Tibet through ladakh route and finally died and burried here in 15th Century) and then again ascends to Depsang Pass to cross over to Shyok Valley. From Shyok Valley it crosses Saser La to descends to Nubra Valley and finally from Nubra it takes Khradungla to descends to the valley of Leh. This route was preferred to prosperous Indian Traders of Punjab over more straight forward route via Khyber Pass to Afghanistan and subsequent to Iran to Turkey because of safety of valuable goods like Ivory, Gold, Silver they used to carry with them. The route between Ladakh to Yarkhand was extremely challenging from terrain perspective and knows as Skeleton’s Trail but extremely safe from getting robbed by armed bandits across the route. The route is so secluded even traders used to go back couple of years later to retrieve their valuables they forced to leave years back due to hostile weather.

Let’s talk briefly about Niya, It was a prime important town between 2nd Century to 5th Century CE on Southern Silk Route which later diverted to more southwards most likely because of acute shortage of water as Niya River changed its course and it became impossible to survive in this desert town so close to Taklamakan. All these incidents are documented in early scripts written in Indian scripts of Kharishthi and Brahmi lent weight to the argument that the Southern Silk Route had until the middle of fourth Century CE been mainly under cultural influence of Northern India, despite the fact it had fallen most often within political and military zone of influence of China. Yet another reason to be proud of being Indians. Many have rued while making comment in this log, that why we still don’t have roads, infrastructure anywhere close to what China already have, very true but they might be doing good in rampant urbanization and inorganic growth for their country but they never can match India with the culture and rich heritage and history we have. China’s western side specially Xinjiang is very close historically with India including the Tibet and that’s one of the possible reason China doesn’t want to show the world the large non Chinese faces and their dreams and demands. I have seen many people in Kashgar whose relatives stay in Ladakh and Kashmir but being resident of Kashmir, they are issued stapled Chinese Visa and Indian Govt doesn’t allow them to travel in China, now about the people of Xinjiang, they are more unfortunate, their passport application fees are 5 times than of a Hun Chinese what I heard but still less than 20% of population of the state are having Chinese Passports, they are simply denied a passport, so that they can’t go out of China. So this frustrating man made boundary keeps the blood relations apart and it’s not just a story of two Bengals or two Punjabs, it’s equally true between Ladakh and Yarkhand or Ladakh and Tibet.

The Hotel we stayed at Niya:

Kitchen in a Niya Restaurant :

Uighur Restaurant in Niya:

City Center Niya:

The Road sometimes goes through Oasis few and far between:

Most of the roads are through Desert (Not like the core Desert we crossed yesterday but through Southern Rim of Desert):

Nan and Kebab – Famous Uighur Food, a great break from Chinese Noodles:

Cute Uighur Kid:

Ladies and Girls making handmade Carpet, an ancient industry of 2000 years ago still flowing through generations:

They not only weaves the carpet but also manages their younger siblings when their mother is busy:

Handmade Carpets are being made:

Finished Carpet, what a brilliant art made by Human hands and the legacy being carried over a millennium:

Carpets made in front of our eyes just too exquisite, we were stunned, first one shows the Silk Trade hubs on ancient area where as the next one shows the vista of High Pamir and Altai Grasslands, even the Xinjiang Diversities impacted the carpet design:

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Next: Day 11/Part 2

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