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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Xinjiang, China’s Central Asia and incredible Tibet – Day 10

July 5, 2014July 5, 2014 by Kaushik

Day 10:

Today’s Route Map:

In Day9 if we have witnessed something by Chinese Govt which we might not like being Indians, Day10 is something where we saw something which we miss in India and wish if our Govt could do even a fraction of this. This day we could easily take route from Kuqa to Hotan and there by saving a full day, instead we planned to go back towards Urumqi for 100 km and to take the Desert Highway (known as Tarim Highway) to cross 522 km within deep desert of Taklamakan to reach the other side at Minfeng (Niya in Uighur). The total distance we traveled around 750km in the whole day and obviously we could reach Hotan only on next day. But still this epic road, which is world’s longest desert highway in any form is a sight to see and best to drive to feel and experience the fearsome Taklamakan Desert. Our only intention was to enjoy the Taklamakan desert which took lives of so many ancient traders of silk route and we achieved that fully. We reached Minfeng quite late almost around 10:00 in night but we could cover the desert part all through the day light and enjoyed the drive a lot.

I am quoting this from the history of the road which any travelers might be thrilled to read on how well Chinese could achieve this seemingly impossible task making longest road cutting just in the middle of second largest desert of the world.

Quote:

When Tazhong-4 Oilfield was discovered in the heart of Taklamakan in late 80’s, China National Oil Corp realized than an economical means of transport would be needed if the recovery of oil from field were to be profitable. A road was only the viable option. With a budget of CNY 4.5 Billion which later finally reached close to 8 Billion (120 Million USD) the China National Oil Corp organized 17 research institutes and more than 100 experts – engineers, geomorphologists, and botanists – to build a tarmac route across the Taklamakan. Nowhere in the world a road ever been built across such a hostile terrain. Engineers faced two main problems : to build a solid roadbed, and to protect it from being buried by constantly shifting sand.

Experimentation began in late 1991. The suitable roadbed formula was underlain with “geotextile”, a heavy-duty weave of tough plastic that was laid on compressed sand. This was topped with a gravel asphalt surface approximately 30 cm depth.

As the road inched its way south from Luntai, researchers found their efforts on finding the best way to protect it from windblown sand. Lateral “Shelter Belts” consisting of two lines of defense were built on both sides of the road. The first, about 100 meters from the road was a 1.3 meter high fence of interwoven reed stalks. The second line of defense lay alongside the road itself: a checkerboard pattern of reed stalks “planted” deep into the sand. This double defense proved effective as 90% of all windblown sand in the desert never rises more than 1 meter above ground – even in most powerful desert storms.

In total the road building teams came up with 310 new desert-stabilizing and road building techniques. Tens of thousands of laborers used thousands of square kilometers of geotextile and millions of tons of gravels. In the summer they braved 70 degree C and in winter mercury plummeted to Minus 30 degree C. Four sweating and shivering years later, the 522 km road with 7 meters width, finally linked Highway 314, to the north of the desert with Highway 315 in the South.
Designated as highway 312 and dubbed the Tarim Highway, this road building wonder – the world’s longest metalled desert road drivable year-around was opened to traffic in September 1995 and now takes 9 hours to cross infamous Taklamakan – an amazing feat considering that only a few decades ago the same journey would require many weeks of extremely dangerous and unpredictable travel.

In 2001, anti-desertification plant species such as Chinese tamarisk, honey tree, diversiform Poplar and saksaul were planted along a 30km section of Tarim Highway to help hold off the sands, which constantly encroach despite the road side shelter belts and subsequently in 2003 a CNY 220 million (USD 31 million forestation project proceeded to create a green belt of desert plants on 3128 hectares of land along 436km of highway. To water these plants well stations are built in every 5km (So 100 wells stations were built for entire stretch) those pumps water through a network of pipes that run along the green belt. Six Million Cubic Meters of water is consumed annually to protect this road from the fiercest desert of planet Earth.

Starting point of Tarim Highway in Northern part of Taklamakan Desert at Luntai:

Mighty Taklamakan (Ocean of Sands, Taklamakan is world’s second largest Desert after Sahara)

One of the 100 water well and pumping station built in every 5 km apart through this 522km road to save the green line beside the road to protect it from sand:

The amazing Dunes of Taklamakan, be it size, shape, colors, textures, grandeur it would keep amazing you:

The famous Tarim Highway crossing the mighty Taklamakan Desert – Note the Green Belt in 3 rows in each side of the road to protect it from shifting sand of fiercest Desert – This is a pleasure to drive deep into a 522 km pure desert highway!!

Previous: Day 9

Next: Day 11/Part 1

Xinjiang, China’s Central Asia and incredible Tibet – Day 9

July 5, 2014July 5, 2014 by Kaushik

Day 9:

This was our first day with Hasan and we were little skeptical about how he would be specially after having such great time with Ablajan but ice broke very fast as Hasan turned out to be a very nice and helpful gentleman. Today our plan was to visit around Kuqa. In modern Chinese economy Kuqa is not an important town but two thousand years ago, this was the largest town among all the western kingdoms. By 4th Century CE, this became one of the most important trade hub being in the crossroads that continues from Turpan to Kashgar in East – West and Hotan to Junggar Basin via Ili Kazakh region in North South. The North – South route crosses Taklamakan to meet with the Southern Silk route at Hotan that comes from Dunhuang to the Southern rim of Taklamakan desert towards Kashgar.

Kuqa is known as cradle of Buddhism in whole China as this is the place from where Buddhism started spreading across whole China and thus this place was having some connection with ancient India. The famous linguist and scholar Kumarajeeva was born and brought up here whose father was from Kashmir and mother having blood relation with local king. Kumarajeeva was born in 3rd Century, completed his education from Kashmir and was an expert in Sanskrit language and Brahmi alphabets earned his place in Chinese Buddhist history as “Nineteenth Patriarch of Buddhism”. He returned from Kashmir after finishing his education to Kuqa as a respected teacher of Hinayana Buddhism and later taken to Gansu province by the king where he lived for 17 years became famous for his prolific translation of Buddhism Manuscript from Sanskrit to Chinese.

Prior to these accurate translation of Indian Buddhist Philosophy, the Chinese believed this new religion was a foreign barbarian form of their own Taoism partly because both religion strive towards a state of salvation and partly because lack of understanding of Chinese to the principle doctrinal differences – Chinese language is ill suited to illustrate many subtleties and abstract reasoning in Buddhism that Sanskrit can gracefully accomplishes. Only after these translations started by Kumarajeeva, Chinese started to understand the real Buddhism. Still, the Chinese Buddhism bears very limited similarity with Indian Buddhism and follows the simplest doctrines of the religion. From Ninth Century Islam was introduced in Kashgar and Kuqa and other parts of Xinjiang slowly slipped into Muslim culture after eventual conversion.
In the end of Nineteenth century an ancient Buddhist stupa was excavated in Kuqa and several century old manuscripts were recovered and later sent to Asiatic Society of Bengal in Calcutta for a translation where it was discovered that these scripts were written way back in 5th Century in Sanskrit Language using Brahmi alphabets by some Indian Monks and dealt with subject of Medicine. I really felt amazed to listen this story of India (Calcutta) connection of Kuqa and felt proud to be an Indian, who could boast of our rich heritage. Yes we taught China the Buddhism and Kumarajeeva in that time crossed Taklamakan Desert and subsequently high passes of Kunlun and Karakoram to reach ladakh via Daulat Beg Oldie and Khardungla and further crossing Zojila reached Kashmir to get himself educated in Sanskrit language and Buddhism.

Today our first visit was at Ancient city of Subashi Ruins (Subashi in Uighur means headwater of river), this was the ancient capital of Kuqa region and located just in the emergence of Kuqa river from the Tienshan Mountains. The ancient city was built across both side of Kuqa river but the ruins predominantly exist in Western side as of now. This 3rd Century towns considered as largest Buddhist temple site in Xinjiang had towers, halls, monasteries, houses everything severely eroded by time but still quite recognizable. We enjoyed walking across the ruins and best part was there was no other tourist apart from us and we enjoyed and soaked ourselves in the histories of 3rd century.

Subhashi Buddha Ruins of 3rd Century CE:

Grand Pagoda of Subhashi Ruins

Soaking yourselves in 3rd Century, somewhere around 1700 years back, makes you feel amazing:

Day 9 Contd…

Our next stop was Kizil Thousand Buddha Caves, 70 km away from Kuqa, carved in a stiff cliff looking over Muzat river valley, considered as best fresco fragment to be found in Xinjiang. The Caves and frescos were built between 3rd to 8th Century CE, have more than 200 caves but now only less than 100 still contain the ruins of wall paintings. This is one of finest examples of Hinayana Buddhist art in whole of Central Asia and heavily influenced by Indian traditional art of Gandhara (Originated from erstwhile Purushpur, now Peshawar in Pakistan), depicted lots of Jataka stories with different colors of rocks. As we have seen Xinjiang has colorful rocks, so coloring these frescos beautifully was not a big problem though guide told us, specifically the color blue was made by the rocks brought from Afghanistan, it was not available locally in Xinjiang. Most of the frescos and murals were removed by German, British and Japanese expedition teams in start of Nineteenth Century and many of them are now being displayed in Asian Art Museum, Berlin. But still the place definitely worth a visit at least to see what still remains there and demonstrates the fascinating artistic heights, the Kuqa artists reached more than 1500 years back.

The last attraction of the day was Grand Mosque which was dated back 500 years and initially used as religious court and that continued until Communist regime took over and banned all sorts of religious courts across the country. The mosque was second largest mosque of Xinjiang after the Idkah mosque in Kashgar which we would visit later. The religion is now seriously controlled in Communist China, since 1950 after communist took over, there was not a single new mosque built as Govt denied permission though the population grew manifolds. While talking to few locals who usually don’t want to speak much about local regime, I came to know one retired teacher was issued Govt notice for offering prayer in Mosque and his pension (that was due for his 30 years of service) was stopped in 24 hours notice and while appealing against the decision, the teacher was asked to collect his living from Mosque. As a Govt service holder or as a teacher you are simply not allowed to practice any religious activities of any sort in China. We all are aware that in China except if you do some small business where you don’t need Govt favor, you would be dependent by some means on Govt and that’s why practicing religion of ones choice is still a dream for most of the Chinese. If you were following the news of Xinjiang closely, you might have read in Xinjiang last August 25 people were shot by police inside a Mosque citing an illegal meeting was taken place, Chinese news you won’t get easily and verifying the truth is even more difficult as people and locals are quite afraid of saying anything against whatever Govt does. We saw similar kind of forced rules against freely live, believe and practice religions like what we are used to in India even in Tibet and in a bigger scale but we would come to that later.

Subhashi Ruins, notice the temple structure at top, 1700 years old:

Colorful Rocks on the way to Kizil Thousand Buddha Caves:

Kizil Buddha Caves with Kumarajeeva in foreground:

The Road from Kizil Buddha Caves to Grand Mosque:

The Kuqa Mosque inside contains lot of 15th Century artifacts:

Kuqa Grand Mosque:

Kuqa Old Market:

Old Rickshaw in background of modern transport:

Kuqa Old Town – Nice Houses:

Mother and Baby:

Uyghur Face:

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Xinjiang, China’s Central Asia and incredible Tibet – Day 8/Part 2

July 5, 2014July 5, 2014 by Kaushik

Approaching to Tienshan Southern Region:

Ascend to Tienshan Southern Range started:

Inside Tienshan South Range, roads winding up:

Lovely Yurts:

Placid Lakes:

The Serpentine Road goes through Tienshan:

Cutting across Tienshan Highway 217 connects Northern and Southern Part of Xinjiang:

After crossing the Tienshan Southern Range we reached to Tienshan Grand Canyon:

Amazing rock formation:

The walking through the narrow canyon was an amazing experience:

Strange formation you would see frequently:

Sometimes Canyon goes wider:

Sometimes it gets very narrow:

The colorful canyon and its grand texture made by wind and water erosion is a treat to eyes:

Previous: Day 8/Part 1

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Xinjiang, China’s Central Asia and incredible Tibet – Day 8/Part 1

July 5, 2014July 5, 2014 by Kaushik

Today’s Route:

This would again be a long day for us and we were supposed to drive 550km to cross Tienshan mountain range to officially end our Northern Xinjiang trip and destination for the day was Kuqa (Pronounced as Kucha). We had once more a typical Chinese breakfast with Chop sticks (no spoon/fork would be available in the smaller towns) and quickly start the day by 9.30 morning. The road 218 leaves Narat and continues East following the river which by now is a rushing stone filled stream closely hemmed by spruce and pine trees. After few kilometers the road meets 217 (Which we left on Day6 at Kuytun) which is coming down South from Kuytun crossing Tienshan range through a tunnel and few passes before meeting and crossing 218 here and goes down south to Kucha on the Northern side of Tarim Basin, the northern edge of infamous Taklamakan Desert. Highway 217 from Kuytun to Kucha is famous for its spectacular and varied mountainscape, first it follows a river through a narrow canyon, then crosses lush grassland of Bayanbulak and then starts ascending to cross Southern Tienshan again to finally get down to Tarim Basin. We initially have plan to visit Bayanbulak as well and it’s famous Swan Lake home to the majestic Swan in China. This is also famous for multiple bends of Kaidu river in the middle of a huge prairie of lush grass like a giant gleaming serpent. But again with blooming flowers, majestic swans and serpentine flow of Kaidu river, summer is the ideal time to go there so finally we decided to drop this and also there was some confusion regarding an issue with permit to stay night there for foreigners.

South of Bayanbulak grassland, Highway 217 again enters mountain region of Southern Tienshan and around 70 km north of Kucha it passes through Tienshan Grand Canyon, 6 km long canyon is a wonder of nature with thin pinnacles, overhanging wall and heavily eroded red rock. The narrowest part of Canyon was even less than half a meter and it was an amazing experience to walk down the narrow canyon. We finally reached Kuqa around 7.00 in evening and this was the place where our first part of Xinjiang trip was being over. Ablajan was booked for the Chinese golden holiday week with a French group and also I decided to start my Southern Xinjiang trip with a local driver and guide and here I met another excellent Uighur gentleman in his early thirty, Hasan who was also an excellent guide, a very safe driver and awesome host. Hasan lives at Kashgar and he took almost a 10 hours drive for me from Kashgar to pick me up at Kuqa. We would visit tomorrow the Kuqa area as this was one of the major hub of old silk route and cradle of Buddhism in China. We were booked in another 4 star hotel here (Hotel Lidu) by Ablajan and this hotel was indeed one of the best in our entire stay in China. We said good bye to Ablajan for his excellent guidance over last one week and promised to meet him again at Urumqi for the last part of our Xinjiang trip to Turpan after our visit to Southern Xinjiang. Hasan was equally punctual and disciplined and entirely professional and I must admit my good luck with finding exceptionally good drivers and guides was continued in China too.

First few kilometers the Highway 218 passes through the Narat Grassland:

The Road follows the mountain stream:

Soon after the crossroads with Highway 217, we took 217 towards South crossing Tienshan Range:

Highway 217 crosses the extremely beautiful Tienshan Mountain Section:

After Crossing the Tienshan Mountain ranges, 217 hits the Bayanbulak Grasslands:

Bayanbulak Town:

The vast pastureland is amazing :

Now reached almost at the end of the Bayanbulak Grassland:

The valley started getting narrower:

Previous: Day 7

Next: Day 8/Part 2

Xinjiang, China’s Central Asia and incredible Tibet – Day 7

July 5, 2014July 5, 2014 by Kaushik

Day7:

Today’s Route Map:

This was absolutely a Chinese hotel and as expected we had a terrible breakfast and that was expected after our yesterdays lavish one. We left the hotel as early as 9.30 and the road then passed into a long, steep sided valley known as fruit valley in Ili Kazakh Prefecture. Rugged and beautiful with forests of dragon spruce blanketing the mountain slopes and wild fruit trees further down, this region famous for sweetest apples produced in China, named as Ili apples and high quality of honey collected from bee hives. After 30km of such a beautiful driving, the road diverts, straight road goes towards the Horgas Port in Kazakh border which is barely another 30 km and we turned left to East towards Yining. Yining is the capital of Ili Kazakh prefecture most of which borders with Kazakhstan. Border is as close as 80km from here it’s located 700km west of Urumqi where as 450 km east of Almaty which was until 1991 was Soviet Union. So you would feel like reaching an erstwhile Soviet town when you would be in Yining. From Yining the highway towards East is known as Highway 218. At first the road goes through tall poplar trees but soon emerges to reveal the Ili Valley in full glory. This is a vast valley with tilled fields and further away the sloping expanses of pastureland makes it soothing for your eyes. The road follows Kunes river as the valley is narrowed down and finally starts to ascend to Tineshan range again before entering Narat Valley. Even in Autumn the vastness of green grassland with Kazakh Horsemen roaming around with flocks of sheep, herds of cattle and horses will make you amazed. The grass started turning yellow but still good for grazing of thousands of animals. Narat (Nalati) Grassland is particularly lush and picturesque and this is a favorite place for domestic tourists. Foreigners until 2012 required special permit to enter this region but this year it was said to be relaxed and we were not asked for any permit anywhere but if you plan to visit this place, check it twice, in China anything can happen anytime. We enjoyed the grassland through out the day and stayed in a nearby hotel for the night.

China is quick to write off the winding roads and making bridge or tunnel to make things quicker:

G30 crosses the fruit valley before descending to Ili Valley:

Kazakh Man with his pet:

Narat Grassland:

You can stay inside the scenic area:

Or can stay even in the Kazakh Yurt:

Amazing Grassland:

Previous: Day 6

Next: Day 8/Part 1

Xinjiang, China’s Central Asia and incredible Tibet – Day 6

July 5, 2014July 5, 2014 by Kaushik

Today’s Route map:

The hotel at Karamay was also a 4 star hotel as per Chinese standard and we got first time in the trip the option of an English breakfast and needless to say we have made most of this unbelievable change of our luck for food and had the longest breakfast of the trip. When we started it was already 11:00 Beijing time. Our journey for the day was relatively short but still around 350km and we planned to take 217 further down till Kuytun and then turn right (west) to G30 towards Sayram Lake which is located close to the border of Kazakhstan. From Kuytun towards west, expressway G30 runs parallel to Tienshan through dark fields of cotton with lighter strips of land sown with corn. We saw lots of migrants pickers from erstwhile Soviet countries form lines with baskets on their back and walking from the field to other side towards waiting trucks to be filled with tons of cottons. The Rail road from Urumqi accompanies the highway all through till Jinghe where the railway finally departs by turning north towards Alataw port, historically known as Junggar Gate, the strategic pass between the high mountain ranges of Central Asia through millions of years, historically allowed human migration and conquering armies to bridge the Europe with Asia. Through this the North Silk route used to pass before it crossed Caspian Sea to cross over to Europe. Today the importance of this place is, that it’s the only year long open border and only rail route between Xinjiang and Kazakhstan. Other side of the border is Dostyk in Kazakh and from there the rail route skirts Alakol Lake and meets Turkey-Siberian Railway near eastern like of Lake Balkash, from there North will take you to Moscow and South to Almaty.
From the same point where railroad departs to North, G30 continues to west leaves Junggar basin and climbs through the broad valley of Tienshan. Once up, the first view will draw your attention towards the stunning expanse of vast blue water known as Sayram Lake. In Kazakh, Sayram means blessing, this is situated almost 2100 mtr above sea level and 30 km at longest and 25 km at widest point, makes it Xinjiang’s largest Alpine Lake. You can drive through 50 km through the circumference of the lake if you buy an entrance ticket from East gate and can drive out through South Gate. The lake is said to be formed almost 70 million years back because of a tectonic movement that caused the plate crust to drop almost 90 mtrs to form the lake. The lake gets frozen between December to April every year and then from May the water started melting and in Summer with the surrounding mountains slopes with grassy fringes creates a stunning setting for the deep azure colored lake with lots of wild flowers blooming all around. If someone really wants to enjoy the beauty of Sayram, he should be there in June/July. In Autumn we enjoyed the red and yellow grass and nomadic cultures and the gem like lake but the photographs we saw in visitor’s center certainly tells it’s the summer when one should visit this heavenly place. We stayed very close to lake in a hotel, which seems to be only hotel in the area, rest all accommodations are yurt type and in October, temperature at night drops drastically we decided to stay in hotel, after all still we had a long way to go.

On the way From Karamay to Kuytun in Highway 217:

Looks relaxed but watching everything, typical Chinese Cat

Pastureland:

On the way in G30:

Colorful Mountains:

Entering Sayram Lake Region:

Beautiful Road ascending through the mountains:

First view of Sayram lake:

Sayram Lake (In Kazakh Sayram means Blessing, we really felt blessed being there):

Kazakh Man with his horses:

The Lake from other side:

The amazing Landscape around Lake:

Pastureland around the Lake:

The winding road towards Tienshan:

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Xinjiang, China’s Central Asia and incredible Tibet – Day 5

July 5, 2014July 5, 2014 by Kaushik

Day5:

We started early as we had to trace back same route till Burqin and then taking Highway 217 to go to Karamay for night stay. Highway 217 heads south from Burqin cutting through the black rock ridges crossing the vast arid flatland in the middle of big nothingness. The mountains in east side are part of Tarbagatai range the runs southwest from Altai and creates natural boundary between China (Xinjiang) and Kazakhstan. From Highway 217, road diverted to further West to Jaminay town which is the border town known as gateway of Northern Kazakhstan. This border is open for foreigners with valid Kazakh Visa, across the border road continues to Zaysan lake and further a day drive will take you to Zaysan town. Highway 217 continues to South and enters a wind eroded rock hill region that is Xinjiang’s most renowned yardang landscape. Our main attraction today was to visit the Uryhe Ghost city, which claims in entrance gate as “Ghost City of the World”, Ghost city is nothing but actually a huge area of yardang rock formations which consist of sedimentary rocks (Millions of years back this area was a lake which dried up subsequently) that was weathered away at different rates by fierce wind erosion. This place indeed another photographer’s paradise during sunrise and sunset time. We reached there around 2.30 in afternoon and thought of entering there around 5 / 5.30 to enjoy the sunset over the amazingly shaped rocks. So just south of this place a Dinosaur Park has been built for additional tourist attraction and we decided to go there first. This area of Xinjiang is gifted with various prehistoric fossils from ancient time and in Jurassic age it is believed to be one of the major areas where Dinosaurs lived. My daughter enjoyed the Dinosaur Park a lot, took lot of snaps with different models of Dinosaurs. We gone to a local small town to give our stomach some relief and incidentally we got some fried noodles here (a big change from the boiled noodles we were having for last few days). We gone back to Ghost City around 5.00 and enjoyed some great color and a lovely sunset from there. Still we had to drive for almost 100 km to Karamay town which is known as Oil Capital of China and this area contains 1/3rd reserve of total oil of China. This whole area is covered with tens of thousands oil rigs all connected by underground pipes and extracting the black gold that has made this region more famous than any considerable history like other parts of Xinjiang. Cost of living in this area is now quite high as you would find lot of expats and Chinese from other parts of country has come and settled here for finding fortunes. Many big companies specially the oil companies have setup big offices here and as a result you would find many new and good hotels around this place. Next day our plan was to go further till Kuytun and then leave 217 to take Highway 312 (Now known as Expressway G30) towards further west towards Kazakh border region to Sayram Lake.

On the way back from Jiadengyu we crossed the vast grassland once again:

Crossing the Pastureland:

Nomadic Life would touch your soul:

The Altai Grassland is going to get over after this pass, see further ahead, the desert type landscape will return:

The Highway 217 Connecting Northern Xinjiang (Burqin) to Southern Xinjiang (Hotan):

Burqin at the bank of Irtysh (Only river in Xinjiang that meets sea, rest all gets lost in Desert):

Fun time in Dinosaur Park, this is the place kid enjoyed a lot:

The small town near Dinosaur Park where we had our lunch, try to find something written in English

Entrance of Ghost Town:

Yardang Landscape:

The place looks amazing in the colors of setting Sun:

Sun Set in Ghost Town:

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Xinjiang, China’s Central Asia and incredible Tibet – Day 4

July 5, 2014July 5, 2014 by Kaushik

Day4:

This was the day to explore the Kanas Nature Reserve more thoroughly for the whole day, we started in the morning but the whole reserve is more than 10000 sq km and too large to explore even in one month, so we started our visit with the three most famous bends of nine beautiful bends Kanas river took here, the names are dramatic (Sleeping Dragon Bay, Moon Bay and Fairy Bay), this area is very famous for it rich flora and fauna and only belt of Siberian Taiga forest in China is located here comprising Siberian larch, spruces, red pine, firs and birches. Pine we all know are evergreen trees and only here you would find even pine trees change their color in Autumn, something really worth watching. Kanas is a crescent shaped lake the main showpiece of this nature reserve fed by Altai glaciers and drained by Kanas River. Kanas means beautiful and mysterious place in Mongolians, a name the place really deserves. The pristine beauty of the lake and its lush forests, pure and fresh air and ever changing color of the lake and alpine forests and meadows shadowed by Altai peaks make it an inspirational sight. We enjoyed sometime near the lake in boat jetty and then took a nice walk along the Kanas river, it was really very refreshing and one of the ways to get away from madding crowd. We had a wonderful day through out and enjoyed it thoroughly, we gone back to Jiadengyu to our hotel to start our Southbound drive for almost next 10 days till we would reach Kunjerab Pass in the border with Pakistan (Pak Occupied Kashmir to be precise).

Sleeping Dragon Bay:

Boating is one of the major attractions in Kanas Lake:

Kanas Lake fed from Altai glaciers drains through Kanas River:

Amazing vista with fall colors and snow peaks in the background:

Kid is happy in the walking trail beside Kanas River:

The lovely walkway beside the river:

Irtysh, the only river in Asia that drains in Arctic Ocean:

Beautiful Landscape inside the Nature Reserve:

Tuvan Village:

Road to Jiadengyu from Kanas:

The Hotel at Jiadengyu:

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Xinjiang, China’s Central Asia and incredible Tibet – Day 3

July 5, 2014July 5, 2014 by Kaushik

Day3:

The hotel at Burqin named as Friendship Peak Hotel was really nice one, actually a 4 star hotel in Chinese standard and we had a good sleep and feeling much better after yesterday’s 12 hour drive. The breakfast was as usual Chinese here, we already knew we had to depend mostly on standard things like egg, cookies and lots of breads. The Kazakh bread we tasted here was nice, far better than Chinese noodles, we had it as much as we could, so we don’t have to again bother with Chinese food in between and bought fruits like date, apple, banana from Burqin. Our next stop would be Jiadengyu which is 150km away from Burqin and deep inside Altai area but as that’s just a gateway town for Kanas Lake, so everything is 5 times costlier than Burqin, so better to buy your foods and other things you need there in Kanas from Burqin rather than depending on Jiadengyu.

Route Map for the day:

The drive started and we soon realized it’s the completely different view of vast grasslands of Altai region with a nomadic culture all around. This area has a mixed culture of Kazakh, Mongols and Tuvans. This drive will offer you number of picturesque camping spots lined with birches, willow, poplar and crossing the expanse of Siberian Prairie land you would descend to a valley of forest and pastureland. We saw lots of nomadic settlements and their make shift camps who go down south as temperature plummeted to 40 degree below zero in winter and the whole area gets covered with snow. This region certainly adds to diversities of Xinjiang which looks purely Siberian landscape between November to May.

Burqin – A small town with close European look than Traditional Chinese:

A break from yesterday’s desert look, scenery turns green:

Vast Pastureland:

And Nomadic Culture with lots of Mongolian and Kazakh Yurt:

The vastness of grassland is simply amazing:

The road continues it journey to deeper Altai Region:

Reaching picturesque Jiadengyu – the Gateway of Kanas Nature Reserve:

Day3 Continued…

We reached Jiadengyu by noon and after check in the hotel there, we decided to explore Kanas lake on the same day. Kanas has a lot of walking trails around lake edge to provide fascinating hiking experience for those who are short in time and for those who can spend couple of days, hiking from Kanas lake to Hemu valley in east with an overnight camping at Black Lake is a great idea. Baihaba is another tuvan village in west but unfortunately being just close Kazak border fencing, foreigners are not allowed there. We took precisely 1130 stairs to go up the Guanyu (Fish Watching) Pavilion from where you can get almost a 360 degree view of Kanas Nature Reserve with full view of lake and the friendship peak further away, we were lucky to have a very clear weather and seen the whole Altai range with friendship peak clearly in front of us. Friendship Peak is more famous as 4 point borders of Mongolia, Russia, China and Kazakhstan and view from this 2000 mtr high pavilion is simply stunning with the curvy Kanas lake below. This area in Xinjiang is costliest in whole province, even in Jiadengyu / Burqin room rent for a night goes to 700 to 800 RMB in shoulder season and you won’t get any accommodation in high season of summer. There are few accommodations inside park area which are either too costly or too basic and we decided to stay the night in Jiadengyu only. The hotel was good but was crowded with Chinese tourists, actually the Kanas area is very popular among Chinese Tourists and we found people from far south east province of Chengdu or Guangzhou also came to visit in large numbers. The night was chilly, in September mercury plummeted 15 notches below zero and with central heating on we managed the night but getting outside for some night shot was just not possible, Siberian cold has something special in it for sure.

At the entrance of Kanas Nature Reserve: