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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Next: Day 16

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:

Previous: Day 13/Part 2

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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.

Previous: Day 13/Part 1

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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 – Things to keep in mind

July 5, 2014July 5, 2014 by Kaushik

International Air Tickets: can be purchased from any recommended travel site like makemytrip, thomascook, cleartrip, etc. specially if you are looking to buy China Southern or China Eastern Airlines, Except Air China no Chinese Airlines have any India Specific site (read where you can purchase using INR), else you can go the Airlines sites of US/Canada/Hongkong and check where you get it cheapest after forex conversion to INR. Air China India site doesn’t sell tickets between Chengdu to Kathmandu or Lhasa to Kathmandu for some reason which Air China helpdesk could not explain, if you want to buy any of these scenic route flights your option is to use Air China’s US/Canada website but don’t try to buy them from their original site which is Chinese and accept Chinese card only.
Usually in China like other places, there are 60 days, 30 days, 15 days slab and if you can buy ticket even just before 15 days you get cheap price, but within 15 days makes it double and sometimes triple. Also as I said earlier don’t plan during Chinese New Year and Golden Week Holidays as airfare goes beyond roof during that time.

Domestic Air Tickets: To busy Chinese domestic Air tickets your best bet is ctrip.com, elong.net and travelzen.com These are the 3 very reliable sites to book Chinese domestic air ticket in English and and using visa / master card. Ctrip is biggest and have best deal where as travelzen’s advantage is it’s the only site that doesn’t charge additional 4% when you use a non Chinese credit card. Start following domestic ticket price 30 days before and anytime between 21 days to 7 days before journey you usually get the best price.

Domestic Trains Very popular in China and there are several types of train, for detail refer seat61.com china page and you will get invaluable information. Train Tickets are issued from Chinese official railway site (www.12306.cn) 20 days before travel but unless you are proficient in Chinese and have Chinese Credit Card you can’t use this site. Tickets are on sale 18 days before travel from various stations and city ticket booking office and through agents as well. If you take high speed bullet trains from Beijing – Shanghai, getting tickets are easier but if you try to get tickets of mountain trains from Beijing / Chengdu /Guangzhou / Xining to Lhasa, or some other busy lines, you would find it sold out on first few mins of selling. It’s even faster than what we see in IRCTC here during some festival. So specially for Lhasa train, you need to depend on agent and be ready to shell out high commission (sometimes same as ticket price, that means 100% commission) if you want better class like soft sleeper. During high season, even agent can’t guarantee your ticket in your preferred train and preferred class.

Few things on Lhasa Train:

1. You arrange your Lhasa Train Tickets through Tibet Agents and don’t try to get it of your own or by other agents as many things need to be coordinated with train journey date and it’s very slim chance you would get the train ticket of your own unless you try in leanest season of Dec/Jan.

2. Negotiate with the agent on commission but that depends on time of travel.

3. Currently there are daily 5 trains between Xining to Lhasa between 15.00 hours to 20:15 hours (Departure from Xining), The later train you take, you would get better view as you would cross most interesting Golmud – Lhasa section in day time. But getting tickets on a later train is more difficult.

4. Usually it’s cheaper and easier to travel by train in reverse direction. So if you fly in to Lhasa and take a train out, availability of tickets will be more, and cost of commission will be less.

5. In China, age doesn’t matter for concession ticket, what they check is height instead If someone is below 1.2 mtr, it’s free, between 1.2 to 1.5 mtr its half price, above 1.5 mtr full price. This rule even applicable for scenic fee entries. In station I heard (not seen) they have measurement tape to measure the height in case of any confusion

Bus Tickets:
There are lot of long distance buses (sleeper type) available between almost all cities and if you can tolerate Chinese smoking randomly inside bus, it’s an excellent way to save money as bus travel is not very uncomfortable and quite cheap. This also reduce your hotel cost if you can get yourself in a night bus. Bus tickets can’t be bought online, you have to purchase from local bus station 48 hours before journey or can get it through agent.

Local Transport:
Local buses are there almost in all cities where the cost of travel is just 1 CNY where ever you go. Cabs are available but charges vary between city to city, in Beijing /Shanghai it’s costlier than cabs in Kashgar. Remember in Tibet foreigners are not allowed to take a local transport.

Self Drive:
Whatever I read, that self drive needs Chinese Driving License as IDP convention was not signed by China. But big Govt travel agents like CITS arrange the self drive tour (that even includes Xinjiang – Tibet) – China Self-drive Tours
Also companies like Navo is specialized in self driving in China, manages a temporary 90 days China Driving license for tourists but as you understand it’s not easy and straight forward like driving in US and Europe or Australia.

China self-driving tours; foreigners drive Chinese vehicle in China & Oversea

Hire car and Driver:
Hassle free but moderately costly option is a good choice if you can find a local driver who can speak in English, which is extremely difficult to find in any part of China. Most cars go by daily rate which includes fuel, driver’s charge, accommodation, parking, toll (There are lots of toll roads in China). But ice on the cake is if you can find an English speaking driver who can have a guide license. Actually only licensed guides can enter into any designated scenic places and sometimes in some areas, guide is a must for foreigners. But taking a separate guide will cost you a bomb (charges anything between 60 to 100 USD per day just for guide). Somehow I managed to find 2 such English speaking drivers who has guide license in both North and South Xinjiang trip and both were found excellent in their service. I will post details about their contact later but as none of them linked to any travel agency (Just independent driver / Guide) the cost was much lesser than arranging it through an agency.
Thumb rule: Don’t take Chinese Drivers, their driving record is worst in world and also specially if you go to minority dominated place like Xinjiang and Tibet, Local Uighur / Tibetans are better bet as they speak fluently local, Chinese and English (for your case) and have lots of local contacts which is pretty helpful to know situation in advance in a country where information flow is restricted.

Money:
Though agents / drivers / guides will ask you send in advance, I managed to bypass that and didn’t send any advance, sending money to China means even recipient bank deducts 4% bank charge on the amount you remit, in dollar that hurts. Also there is no PayPal and Western Union possible between India and China, your only option is bank transfer which is having lot of paperwork, Chinese visa and travel is so uncertain if your trip gets cancelled, to get your money back, you have to again pay commission to Chinese Bank.
So my target was simple, carry cash, cash and cash!! Many forex dealer like your bank or Amex or Thomascook will try to teach you to be modern and carry a forex card but no one can offer a card that is loaded in CNY as a result you will pay 4% as forex transaction charge each time you swipe that. Also no of visa / master enabled ATM is few specially in remote areas. China is a country where you will face lot of paperworks and processes in anything you do, even encashing TC will be charged 25 USD and a lot of time, your 3/4 hours will be lost to encash 1000 USD.
Always carry Forex in USD which is most readily accepted in China, don’t try to bring CNY from India as that will cost you more rather than converting USD there in China (In China CNY-USD rate is fixed and even in black market if you encash dollar it’s still same) and Chinese Customs is strict on carrying with large amount of CNY. Completely torn bad notes even work (as they say) till it bears the face of Mao. Using black market to convert is easier and very quick but problem is if you convert more than you require and need to get USD back when returning you need another black market to do it as without proper receipts no bank will change your CNY to USD.
Credit Cards are used only in big cities and big hotels, otherwise, master / visa card is not much use in remote china.

Connectivity:
Most hotels have wired network, few have even Wi-Fi. But configuring it not easy even for wired, plug and play doesn’t usually work and the instruction written in room/ modem all will come in Chinese which you won’t understand, if you call someone in hotel, he won’t be able to read English in your screen, so depending on that is little difficult and unpredictable.
I carried a Chinese Data Card available from Matrix and it worked nicely and saved me many situations.

Mobile
Your international roaming will be too costly, getting a Chinese local SIM is easy (though need some paperwork in sensitive areas of Xinjiang and Tibet) but worst is their bill plan works only in City. So if I buy a SIM in Urumqi, it will start roaming just outside of it and many times won’t work at all. Best is to get SIM which works across whole China, though that is not easy to find, so again I chose Matrix and though charges were little higher than getting local prepaid SIM, it helped me escaping lot of hassles. You need a good mobile as sometimes our driver left us on road to park and then we had to talk 15 mins over mobile to find him out because you won’t be able to tell your exact location as everything around you is written in Chinese.

Others
Good to have a health insurance if you are in a long trip to China but later I saw in my Bajaj Alliance insurance, in fine print it was clearly written “Tibet is not covered specially Mansarovar Yatra”
If you are very social and can’t live without Facebook or may need Google or some of your favorite site, 90% chance you will see they are blocked in China. So you need a temporary subscription of some VPN or Proxy Server which will route your browsing through some servers located in Hongkong or US.
Take all your important document printouts in Chinese, like your name, your details, etc. and documents like Air Ticket, Hotel Voucher etc should be printed in Chinese, we were almost missing our flight as we didn’t care for this. You will rarely get someone even in an Airport which is 3 times bigger than Delhi T3 where people can read or speak English.
So with all these in our tiny heads, we started the trip on 20th September from home to catch a Kolkata – Kunming Flight of 21st Sep, early morning (12.30 am).

Approaching Thong La, through which Friendship Highway crosses High Himalayas, Can you spot the Kiyangs:

The below road, can you identify? That’s going to Manas Sarovar, Mt. Kailash:

Seems Heavenly:

After Cyclone Philin the snow was so heavy, Chinese machinery took 72 hours to open just one lane of the road :

Thong La around 5500 mtr:

Inside mighty Himalayas:

Never seen a sunset in Himalayas sitting on top of it. Unbelievable!! :

The Border Town between Nepal and China (Tibet) at last, in Chinese Zhangmu, in Tibetan Drum. The landscape changed drastically with more green and height is now just 2250 mtrs

First View of Kathmandu where our epic journey ends as we catch flight back home from here:

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Xinjiang, China’s Central Asia and incredible Tibet – Visa and Flights to China

July 5, 2014July 5, 2014 by Kaushik

There are many land borders of China with neighboring countries except with India, I knew of crossing overland to China from following countries:

1. Myanmar – With some requirement of additional permits from Muse to Ruili but note in Myanmar side you need special permits as these belt is infamous for Kachin militants, permit is not cheap either.

2. Laos

3. Vietnam – You can cross even in Train from Nanning

4. North Korea – Train crossing possible.

5. Russia – Only possible through Trans Manchurian Rail

6. Mongolia – Couple of borders along with possibility of using Trans Mongolian Rail

7. Kazakhstan – Both by road and train crossing possible.

8. Kyrgyzstan

9. Pakistan

10. Nepal

I have excluded Hongkong and Macau which are two special administrative region of China but you need separate Chinese visa to enter mainland china from either of these places. There are boat and road crossing between them.

So out of the above 10 countries which has overland border crossing with China, except Nepal, visa processing is same for others. This is more interesting topic of discussion who might have a dream of making it from Europe to Singapore overland as most likely you need to cross China sometimes (Unless India-Myanmar-Thailand overland is possible and you can get through Iran – Pakistan – India leg).

Other than that for lesser mortals, it’s much easier to fly into China, the visa requirement is same but it’s worth remembering one point, getting a Chinese visa from a third country (where you are traveling and not a citizen) is always difficult and dicey. Just before our trip in China, suddenly Chinese Govt stopped issuing visa from Kyrgyzstan embassy for non citizens and lots of foreigners who are making their ambitious Eurasian trip overland had to abort their trip midway. So when you plan to visit China through other countries, plan your route and visa accordingly.

Also whatever process I will describe below is actually what I experienced in Chinese consulates in India, a lot of people have different experiences in getting Chinese visa from one consulate to others in same time. So it depends on the consulate where you are applying for, check the history of it in some international travel forum. The Chinese visa rule changes very frequently as well, so before your trip, keep yourself updated with the process from local consulates.

In India, there are 3 consulates, in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata and they have their respective jurisdiction and as of when I asked them last.

1. People having passports issued from Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka can apply in Mumbai

2. People having passports issued from West Bengal, Assam, Jharkhand, Bihar and Orissa can apply in Kolkata

3. Rest all have to apply in Delhi.

There are many different types of visa and for tourists, it’s the tourist visa (Type L) which you need to apply and that’s important as with work / student or other visas, getting permits (specially in Tibet) is extremely difficult. So whatever we will discuss it’s about Tourist Visa.

The requirements were:

1. You need to have 6 months of validity in your passport on date of application.

2. Passport Issue should be within consulate jurisdiction as I mentioned above.

3. You need to fill up an application form with your photo.

4. A covering letter mentioning your intent of travel and a detail travel itinerary

5. Your 6 months bank statement signed and stamped by bank (Stupid that they don’t accept bank statement printout from net banking) where closing balance must be 1 lac per person (Means if you apply for your family of 3, you should have 3 lacs in your account)

6. Your confirmed proof of arrival and departure (Read Air Tickets and that’s the reason entering / exiting china overland is extremely difficult unless you catch an international train like Trans Siberian where you get physical ticket issued much earlier than your departure date)

7. Your confirmed hotel booking voucher in each place of stay (Yes for a 30 days trip, you need to show proof of hotel for all 30 days)

You have to apply visa through their authorized visa processing agent (VFS Global) in respective cities where consulate is located.
Now most important is Chinese don’t understand that China is vast and people may have interest to see something else than Beijing / Shanghai / Guangzhou. Specially if you mention XUAR or TAR, you would most likely be declined your visa. Mention of TAR would not allow you to apply for visa with VFS, and makes it extremely complicated as VFS would direct you to Consulate directly who has clearly mentioned as their policy that Indians are allowed in Tibet as pilgrims only and in a group visa. So better don’t be honest here, be correct!!

So now you understand requirement 4, 6 and 7 would make your lives complicated, this mean you need a fictitious itinerary to start with and then support that with relevant documents. To write it simply, I prepared

1. Itinerary of 40 days covering Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Kunming, Xian etc. Itinerary of 40 days will make you eligible to get 60 days single entry visa which makes life little simple as otherwise for a long trip if you are delayed you are risking yourself to get into the tangle to visa extension. (normally they issue a 30 days single entry visa)

2. Then support it with hotel bookings, not a real problem as you can use many global booking engine to do this and then cancel it without any extra charge.

3. The real problem is air ticket, you need to either get a full fare air ticket which is fully refundable or you need to book something very cheap (may be like Air Asia) which you can throw away. All Chinese Airlines have minimum cancellation charges of 500 Yuan, (Approx 5500 INR per ticket) for discounted tickets, Air India has slightly lower cancellation fees. This you can’t escape and it’s better to consider your loss as part of visa fees.

Air Connectivity:
Following Airlines were the choice for you to get your real and fictitious tickets.

Chinese:

1. Air China – Connects Delhi – Beijing and Mumbai – Chengdu (Seasonally connects Bangalore to Chengdu too)

2. China Southern – Connects Delhi – Guangzhou

3. China Eastern – Connects Kolkata – Kunming

Indian:

1. Air India – Connects Delhi – Shanghai

2. Jet – Connects Delhi – Shanghai

3. Spice Jet – Connects Delhi – Guangzhou

You won’t get any direct connection to Xinjiang from India, rather you have to change flight somewhere in China and more eastern port of entry you choose, longer will be your flying time and cost to Xinjiang as it’s in extreme west, flight time is almost same as Coast to Coast flights of US
You might buy an air ticket to Lhasa via Kunming/ Guangzhou etc. when you book it with international leg but it’s not at all recommended because to board Lhasa flight from anywhere you need to produce original Tibet Permit which is extremely difficult to get before entering China as they don’t send your permit abroad. So discuss with your agent on how you can make it. Only international connection of Lhasa is from Kathmandu where again your boarding will be denied if you can’t produce Tibet Permit but that’s a separate story we will discuss when we talk about permits from Nepal.

Entering China (Tibet) from Nepal:

This is handled in a separate way through a treaty between China and Nepal. Even if you have valid Chinese visa in your passport, if you try to enter through Nepal, that’s have no value, it will be cancelled by Chinese Consulate in Kathmandu. Only Group visa for a minimum group size of 5 people are issued (which in 2012 was even stricter and all 5 were to be with same nationalities which was relaxed in 2013) but catch is it comes with your Tibet permit as from Nepal you have to enter into Tibet first to get into China. So if Tibet is closed for foreigners, you won’t get to enter through this route.

Pros:

1. This visa is completely handled by Kathmandu based travel agents, I have never heard someone applying of their own going to consulate, so you don’t have to go through all the paper works and other hassles as I described above.

2. Tibet Permit will be coming with it, a big plus.

Con:

1. It’s only valid for 15 days, so whatever you plan has to be done within 15 days and it’s non extendable anywhere in China.

2. It’s a group visa, so it’s just a separate paper and not stamped in your passport and one person if got sick in your team and need to leave, your whole team have to leave together, group visa mean you will enter and exit through same port at same time.

3. Depends on Tibet Closure, so shouldn’t plan other part of China with this special visa.

4. Consulate in Kathmandu only opens 3 days a week and you need to be present in Kathmandu keeping one working day in hand to allow agent to complete paperwork, consult your Kathmandu agent for your detail plan and arrival in Nepal.

Most importantly be careful as you are taking a big risk of not acclimatizing yourself by taking friendship highway from Kathmandu side. At Kathmandu you are at 1200 mtr, at Drum (China Immigration) you will be at 2250 mtr and then in another hour or so you will reach Nayalam which is at 3750 mtr and the height will never go below 3500 mtr after that, next stop Tingri or Pelbar will be at 4200 mtr.

So if you take this route, it’s always advisable to flying to Lhasa from Kathmandu (The best scenic flight, much better than so called mountain flight of Nepal where you will glide past Lhotse, Nuptse, Everest, Kanchanjungha, before crossing High Himalayas to Tibet but air ticket is quite costly and better you buy it through agent as you don’t know when you get your visa) and then drive out to Kathmandu through friendship highway after getting acclimatized in Lhasa which has best medical facility in whole TAR.

Sheep graze in backdrop of the Himalayas:

Pieku Tso Lake, on the way to Saga, if you go to Mansarovar from Nepal Crossing at Drum, you will see this beautiful alpine lake:

Pieku Tso:

The Toyota Land Cruiser, King of Off-roading, the most trusted and reliable mode of Transport in Tibet for decades:

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Tag: Kashgar

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Xinjiang, China’s Central Asia and incredible Tibet – Things to keep in mind

Xinjiang, China’s Central Asia and incredible Tibet – Visa and Flights to China