Jul 13, 2008 - First stop on the Silk Road

We left Beijing without a problem and spent two nights in Urumqi (pronounced oo-loo-moo-chee). While there we saw some natural wonders and went to a museum containing artifacts from tombs. The city has a diverse population with a high percentage of muslims. At the night market I took some pictures of fruit at different fruit stands. At a melon stand the seller wanted to see the pictures and liked them very much. He had me show his two female companions and they thought the melons looked beautiful. The two women let me take a picture of...

Jul 9, 2008 - Urumqi

Although it is only a three-hour bus ride between Turpan and Urumqi, there is a world of difference between the two cities. Obviously there is the difference of size. Urumqi is the Xinjiang Provincial capital, and has a population of approximately 3 million. It is a modern city, with steel and grass skyscrapers, congested highways, fashion malls and those pesky, yet convenient, American fastfood outlets. It is also an oil city that attracts Russian, Pakistani and Kazakh businessmen (there are very few businesswomen in this neck of the...

Jul 5, 2008 - The End of Our Silk Road - Turpan

The next stop on our Silk Road journey was the City of Turpan (pronounced Tulufan for some reason?) We finally crossed into the Xinjiang province, China’s most Northwestern province, which borders with Kazakhstan, Pakistan, India, Russia, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan (I’m still not convinced that the last one is really a country!). Turpan is situated in the Turpan Depression – the second lowest place on Earth after the Dead Sea. As a result of its location, the place is an oven in the summer, with summer temperatures...

May 23, 2008 - Sandstorm: Tashkurgan - Kashgar

In the morning there was mercifully no sign of the man from Hanoi when I got on the bus to return to Kashgar. It was slightly clearer weather than yesterday and the mountains looked better than ever. A quick and reckless trip back to Kashgar saw me there just after lunch. In the late afternoon the sky darkened and the wind picked up. Within a few minutes visibility had dropped to a few hundred meters and there was dust and sand flying about everywhere and the streets had emptied. The gale rattled the windows in my room for about an hour and...

May 22, 2008 - Pamir mountains: Kashgar - Tashkurgan

The bus was due to leave at 9:30 and by some miracle of mind over hungover matter I got to the bus station by 9. I was sitting on the bus feeling like death warmed up when a crumpled face with a Uighur cap appeared. Oh God, no, I'm suffering enough already. "You go to lake?" [Please God, let me die now] "No, Tashkurgan" "This bus go to lake?" "I don't know" [I did, but since the bloke with bad dress sense and a scythe had failed to appear, the only chance was to deny all knowledge of anything] "You go with me to lake?" "No, I travel...

May 18, 2008 - Urumqi

After 17 hours on the sleeper bus we arrived in Urumqi, a modern city which has pretty much lost any feel of being a Silk Road town. After the Xiahe disaster I've decided I have time to go to Kashgar so I bought a ticket at the train station and stayed at a nearby hotel. Found a decent pub (the Fubar) in the evening, run by an Irish guy named Manas who has been in China for over 5 years. Pleasant evening playing pool and drinking Japanese beer.

Oct 30, 2007 - Turpan

Foer vi skal opp paa de hoeyeste fjell, stopper vi opp i verdens dypeste dal for aa trekke pusten skikkelig (Hvis det er mindre oksygen i luften paa 5000 moh, saa maa det vel vaere mer oksygen paa 150 meter under havet?). Jo har vaert i alle andre deler av Kina enn Xinjian-provinsen, og vil gjerne faa med seg saeregenhetene til "vestlandet" - Noe som er lett aa forstaa! Xinjian-provinsen er hovedsakelig muslimsk, men Islam er forskjellig i ulike deler av verden. Her har de f.eks. funnet ut at det er langt til Mekka (Alle gode muslimer maa...

Oct 25, 2007 - Irkeshtam - Kashgar, Kina

Kashgar, Xinjian provinsen i Kina. Endelig sivilisasjon! Dog, sivilisasjon ala Kina. Kina har det med aa vaere usivilisert paa sin maate. Kina tok Xinjian fra Uighur-folket og henretter dem i hopetall naar de vil ha tilbake landet sitt. Uighur-folket flykter dermed inn i sentralasia. Vi moette paa et par i Usbekistan og Kirgisistan. Og Kineserne sier det saa fint til BBC: "Only we, the Chinese, know what is going on inside our country. We don't want the outside world to interfere. The Chinese government is working for the happiness and...

Oct 4, 2007 - Tashkurgan

At last, I'm moving on from China to Pakistan. Those that I've met who've been to Pakistan have all said very good things, and I can't wait to get there. It takes about a day and a half to do the journey from Kashgar and over the border to Sost, via the Karakoram Highway (KKH), one of the world's great road journey's. Here's and extract from Wikipedia which provides a better explanation of the KKH than I can: "The highway, connecting the Northern Areas of Pakistan to the ancient Silk Road, runs approximately 1,300 km from Kashgar, a city...

Sep 27, 2007 - Kashgar

The train journey from Turpan takes 24 hours, and on it I meet and American guy called Chris and Dominique from France, and the three of us hang out together whilst in Kashgar. The scenery on the way surprises us all; there's less sandy desert and more snow capped mountain peaks than we expect. I've heard many good reports of Kashgar berfore arriving here, and its worth the hype - its impossible to wander around Kashgar and not be impressed. The feel of Kashgar is very different from Eastern China - the population is 90% muslim Uigher and...

Sep 25, 2007 - Turpan and the surrounding areas.

Ive taken yet another overnight train, this time to the town of Turpan, in Western China. Its here that I notice for the first time the muslim influence of China, and its Uigher population. I've hired a taxi for the day from a very happy go lucky guy called Gilan, who takes me to an old Uigher village called Toyuq. Its just about on the tourist trail, and this being China there's an entrance fee into Toyuq. Whilst there I met three Americans and we follow each other around for an hour or so, and one of them is brave enough to get his beard...

Aug 26, 2007 - Shit and Sand! - Xiahe - Kashgar

So - Back down to the pollution that is Lanzhau and actually despite its accolade it turned out to be quiet clean! Had a great evening eating Korean food (yes, slightly unusual for China) and drinking local beer on the street. Following morning it was shopping for food and drink for the deserts and continue on our journey up the Silk Route for our first of many bush camps. After a very hot afternoon on the road we started to look for a suitable spot to camp. The scenery changed dramatically from the mountainous plateaus - more like southern...