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GROUP JOURNAL FOR
Day 12 MONDAY WEST CHINA -
KASHGAR - Krakorum highway We left the hotel at 8:30 for our bus trip on the Krakorum highway (called the Pakistan-China friendship road) thru the Pamir plateau to Karakul Lake. It was warm with clouds and smog. Our first stop was a "typical Uyghur" cemetary. The burial sites were different sizes and shapes, constructed of the local brownish sand like material. It was quiet this morning as all activity takes place on Thursdays. We were driving on a dirt highway, while the donkey carts were on the new, paged, but "under construction" super highway! |
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The "Folk Musical Instrument Village of Xinjiang China" was our next stop.Young boys and men were learning the craft of making beautiful folk instruments. They were of all sizes and shapes, many inlaid, made with loving care, and several men demonstrated the beautiful tones they produced. The young women we saw were learning to sew. And there appeared to be other classes going on.Along the highway were huge greenhouses, and piles of coal in stacked in front of homes.Encountered a large local market, amazing how much variety is packed into a small space. Several restaurants boasted a Television, and those were packed with patrons. The animal market was in a natural amphitheatre. Abduhl bought pan bread, bagels, watermelon and grapes from a local vendor. He borrowed a knife from the watermelon vendor. We stopped on the return trip to return the knife to a surprised man. We drove along a huge flood plain with sparse vegetation, dotted with camels, along the Ghez river. Gorgeous red sandstone hills and walls. Stopped at a very spartan checkpoint, (with vendors!), past an ancient saray (caravan site) where Marco Polo stopped, by the surreal looking Kumtagh (or sand mountains) and the surrounding lake (more vendors!). The highway follows the river and in many places it simply cut out of the mountain. There was construction work going on and the road builders and their families live along the highway in tents. And, 6 hours later, after "rock" stops, we arrived at Karakul lake. It is a beautiful turquoise blue color, surrounded by snow covered, glacier filled mountains that rise to 25,000 feet. A lovely area! It was cold and windy, so we all climbed onto one bus for our "picnic." Vendors were selling thru the bus windows, and camel herders were selling rides. The day gave us a taste of the gorgeous and varied geography of the area. |
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