Karakol and the Pamir Highway

Of course, the other awesome thing about Kashgar is the stuff in the vicinity. Whether than is heading further southeast towards the desert, north to Shipton’s arch, south down the Pamir highway, or west to the ‘stans, Kashgar is a great home base for adventure. I myself was able to round up a crew to do a large chunk of the Pamir highway, though we did not go all the way to the border because it would take too long. Instead, we visited Tashkorgan and overnighted in yurts at Karakul lake. The drive out was interminable and terrifying, thanks to road construction and a driver that greatly overestimated his driving ability. Several potholes we hit nearly planted my noggin in the roof.

As a side note—drivers here are quite dangerous. People might write it off as a “cultural difference”, but the fact of the matter is that driving down a mountain road at taking blind corners at 60 miles an hour while burning rubber while half of the people in the back don’t have seatbelts on (seatbelts were not present in these seats, for unknown reason), is just unsafe and stupid. Driving like a maniac adds nothing, while threatening everything. If confronted with this situation, be sure to keep the driver in line, because it is your life at stake. It was obvious our guy was clueless because even though he pretended to be a cool rally car driver, he braked on the turns instead of accelerating into them. Amateur.

The drive itself is gorgeous (literally, full of gorges). Despite the devastation to nature caused by the construction around us, it is still an awesome drive. Rocky, red mountains give way to narrow gorges and snowy peaks, before finally coming out onto a plateau with massive mountains and more glaciers than I could count. I am a huge glacier fan. The plateau all the way to Tashkorgan is the best part, with grasslands and villages and high, snowy mountains. Tashkorgan has an old fortress which had been covered in pathways, concrete, and cameras, Chinese-tourism style, but to see it, the old Zoroastrian church, and the yurt-speckled grassland below was very interesting

Staying at the yurt at Karakol was one of the greatest experiences, to be certain. At first I wondered if it was touristy, but luckily we stayed in yurts further down the road from the main camp. Also, having since seen other yurts, I can confirm that these were reasonably authentic. It was run by a couple of Tajiks who were very helpful in preparing authentic food and keeping the fire stoked. Watching the sun set over the mountains was as impressive as watching it rise the next morning (I got up an hour too early, but watching the entire sunrise in solitude was worth it). Even at night, the moon lit everything up and the view was still spectacular. There were several other tourists staying with us, and they were actually very nice. One Chinese girl named Mona who spoke excellent English was very hospitable and even shared her group’s food with me. Between the new friends, the mountains reflecting in the lake, and the solitude of the morning hours, Karakol was a place that made the whole trip worth it.