China - Page 1

I entered China over the height of the Karakoram mountain range, and spent roughly six weeks there. China unexpectedly proved to be the most diverse country I've ever visited. I ended up travelling through remote desert lands inhabited by Uyghurs (Turkic Muslim people), over the northern portion of the Tibetan plateau, and through valleys in Gansu province where Hui (Chinese Muslims) are the majority. Then only as I finally approached the Eastern coast did I enter what I thought was "the real Chinese part" of China. The westernmost province of China and the home of the Uyghur people, Xinjiang, proved to be a region of startling barren natural beauty, and had some of the most authentic and traditional un-westernized culture I've encountered. The Tibetan places we visited in Gansu and Qinghai were amazing, lots of high green plateaus, monasteries, yak-butter tea, and mud to spare. The Eastern part of China came as a bit of a surprise after all this time in other regions, I very suddenly realized how crowded that country can be when I got off my train into a sea of people at the station of the major city of Xian. Eastern China is much more modern, developed, westernized, and fast paced than the other parts. It's a fusion of old communist architecture, policies and habits mixing with rapid development, increasing freedoms, and that same frenzied consumerism found elsewhere in Asia. As is obvious, I really enjoyed China, it was one of the greatest travel destinations I've been to, with the great variety of geography, culture, experiences, and FOOD(!!!) it offers the traveller.

Oskar and I at the Khunjerab Pass, 4800m, ready to take on China. As we were waiting around and having out bags checked at the border post here, Oskar and I spotted a truck driver, just leaving China, with a full set of gold teeth, top and bottom. There must be some serious smuggling going on when you start to see truck drivers with gold teeth!

Another view of the Pass, barren cold and windswept, we saw a few yaks around here.

Oskar, the international door expert, wanted me to take this picture in Tashkurgan. Tashkurgan is a very cool place because it's the capital of the "Tajik Autonomous Prefecture" within China. Here you can see traditional Tajik clothing, foods, homes and of course the Tajik people.

We hitched a ride (no bus that day) from Tashkurgan to Lake Karakul, a normally stunning lake set between two very high Pamir Mountains, Mustagh Ata and Kongur. It was cloudy when we were there, with not many views. Here is a Kyrghiz yurt near the lake.

And here's my tent, with Oskar's feet hanging out, not quite as roomy as those yurts but a lot easier to carry around. This was another very cold night, damp and windy at 3700m. Slept with all my clothes on.

Gourmet dinner at Lake Karakul! Cornflakes and packaged milk we had left over from Pakistan, straight from the bag. Muztagh Ata (7500m) can be seen behind me.

After camping at Karakul, Oskar and I caught a bus to Kashgar, the first big city for both of us in quite a while, as we had been in the mountains in Pakstan for a number of weeks. It was also our first experience with Chinese cities. Pretty nice actually, we just rested for days and enjoyed cheep beer, fried rice, noodles, Uyghur bakeries, and internet. Here is a traditional old building in Kashgar, used as a metal shop. And a fine example of electrical engineering standing in front.