The Plan B Adventure

When we last left you we had finally had overtaken the evil Chinese boardguards, conquered the brutal roads of Kyrgyzstan and received more education than a full 4 years of public high school. We are happy to say things have gotten much easier (except for one final encounter with Chinese borderguards) as we entered Kashgar, China; jumped on the Karakorum (KKH) Highway and found ourselves among the enchanted mountaintop villages of Northern Pakistan.

As our 20-hour day concluded we settled into the friendly confines of the Qinibagh Hotel, which use to serve as the British Consulate during the Great Game days. We had three days in Kashgar…a welcomed break after an enjoyable yet exhausting last few weeks. Our guide, Abdul Rehman, wanted to show us many of the sights but we had to do half days as our ‘old’ bodies were weary and we needed the rest before our long trip through Pakistan.

Kashgar is famous for two things. Firstly, the city is home to the largest Muslim (local name: Uighur) population in China. As we absorbed this Uighur influence we found Kashgar to be one of our favorite Chinese cities, rich with delicious, different foods and smiling, friendly people. We sampled local cuisines like laghman-noodle soup, Chinese soft serve (ice in a bowl with sour yogurt…YUM?) and mutton intestines and lung. We wandered the handicraft markets of the main Muslim Quarter where you can buy anything from giant copper-engraved ‘hope chests’ to industrial-sized dumpling steamers. Secondly, Kashgar was (and still is) known across the world as having one of the largest Silk Road Sunday Markets. After seeing a gazillion markets in the last few months we have seen almost everything….but Kashgar impressed us with it’s uniqueness and ginormous scale!!!

Early in Sunday morning, we visited the Livestock Market which is probably one of the most memorable experiences of our trip thus far. The farmers, animal breeders, and middlemen of neighboring towns all come together to fill a giant arena where cattle, sheep, donkeys, goats, and horses are all poked, prodded, test-ridden, and negotiated over in a pursuit that has been happening for over 1000 years. It is fascinating to stand back and watch (with your guide translating) the process of middlemen joining buyer and seller while the seller’s son tries to keep all the sheep from scattering across the arena. Really, a most unique experience! Next, we visited the massive Sunday Market (without livestock) where the locals say you can find everything in the world except for Rooster’s milk. Due to the sheer volume of participants (over 100,000) this market consumes 60-80% of the city streets as well as its original building. Being that we are on a fixed income we were looking more for the cultural experience rather than a full blown shopping experience. Although we dabbled in a few purchases the culture was more than fulfilling. The colorful shop owners, ‘huckster’ 13-year olds, adorable Uighur children filled up our camera with a lifetime of memorable photos. The funniest, by far, had to be the Viagra bonanzas which included every man over 50 screaming and pushing as if they were Christmas-Eve shoppers trying to last available Furby doll. The culture, sounds, activity, and personality of both the bazaar and the Livestock market make them a 10 out of 10 on the ‘Worth It’ scale.

Our final day in China was spent setting foot on the famous Karakorum (KKH) Highway. As we wound through the end of the Pamir Mts and beginning of the Karakorum Mts we began to see the enormity of the landscape we were going to encounter for the next week. Over the next week, the KKH, the world’s highest navigable road way will us up to 16,000ft from Western China through three mountain ranges into Central Pakistan. Before we get to Pakistan, though, we must encounter the highest driveable border crossing in the world…..Khunjerab Pass and an even more insurmountable task, a final encounter with the Chinese border patrol. Many of you must be getting tired of our rants against the Chinese authorities so won’t belabor it but after another disorganized 3 hour wait (thankfully, this time with fellow travellers) we reached Pakistan by public bus and enjoyed the gorgeous scenery and wildlife as we stood eye-level with the clouds.

In our opinion, the KKH is really the most awe-inspiring, picturesque international highway in the world. It has everything from ibex and marmots going about life…to sheer, snow-covered mountain faces standing at 20-26,000 feet. The ride is a bit hairy (at least in Jeff’s eyes) as you view the 3000-ft drop-offs which sits less than a few inches away from the not-so trusty wheels of your Chinese public bus….as your driver avoids the recently cleared avalanche without the need to have the bus in gear!!! YIKES! Oh, well he’s done it a million times, right? Well, as we get to the Pakistan-side in Sost we find we are the first travellers to conquer the border crossing this year. Glad our driver shook off the rust and got us there safely. Our new guide, Abbas, was patiently waiting for us at Pakistani Customs and as he moved us through the friendly Immigration and Customs which out much delay we knew we were in for a great time.

Our last day in Kyrgyzstan started at 3AM. Have you (minus Jenni and Russ) ever had to set your alarm for 2:45AM? Not fun….ugh! But we were excited and off to conquer the newly-opened (2 years) Irkeshtam Pass. Through the mountains and across the plains we ventured in the pitch dark travelling in the back of our private minibus. Once the sun arrived Jeff (fearing heights) was stuck by the window for a harrowing ride up 18 serpentine-like turns to 12,000 feet and then down which in his eyes is even more frightening.

This journey is really like no other we’ve experienced. The ride from Osh to the Kyrgyz-Chinese border at Irkeshtam is only 260 KMs (162 miles) yet takes 8 hours. You must start at 3AM in order to leave the Kyrgyz highway (if you can call it that) by noon as they close THE WHOLE ROAD!! for repairs. In addition to this minor inconvienence you also must buckle in for the bumpiest ride of your life. This trip wasn’t as bad as the southern Chinese bus experience of Jan 2006 because we were smarter this time and hired our own transportation. This is the only way to do it…trust us!! Even though you’ve got six seats between the two of you get ready to use them all. The twists and turns….the bumps and bottoming out….the offroading into pastures and streams were all taken in unexpected comfort due to our great driver, entertaining guide, and luxurious minibus. We’ve been trying to find a way to describe the road condition but it seems impossible to articulate. As a reference to only a few of you…remember the road under the powerlines off 70th by LWHS that all the jeeps (and Findlay’s Fiesta) offroaded on?? Try that road for 8 hours!!! It was an adventure…..but that’s not the half of it!!

Arriving at the Kyrgyz side of the Irkeshtam border you can see that things aren’t going to be simple. From the requested bribe by the gate guard to the insanely, novice international commerce that is taking place you can’t possibly imagine moving through Customs and Immigration to China in under a few hours. Well..more like 7 hours! Get ready for this one….story for a lifetime. The border at Irkeshtam has three sections as far as tourists are concerned. The first is the Kyrgyz military or trade commerce only side. The second is a 2km Kyrgyz-Chinese neutral zone, which only one military can occupy at a time. And the last is a 5km stretch for Chinese military or trade commerce only use. The reason we explain this is your guide just can’t escort you to the border and introduce you to your next guide. In reality you need to patch onto a trade truck through both country zones and hopefully the receiving military will give you a lift in the neutral zone. Of course…with the Chinese you have no such luck. After Elnura tried adamantly to arrange for a smooth crossing the best we could get was a Kyrgyz military escort to the neutral border sight. From there we waited for the Chinese to finish lunch and then an hour later they arrived. Oh good..this looks positive especially as the Kyrgyz received beer and liquor from the Chinese in an apparent trade for us, some valuable American tourists.

Guess again…as we went to load our bags into the Chinese military truck they drove off laughing without us. Oh well, we should just have to hike our bags a few minutes to Chinese Customs and that will be that, right? Of course not! Nothing is that easy with the Chinese. As we attempted to walk into Chinese territory we were rudely pushed back into neutral territory and told to wait three hours. Apparently, people at Chinese Customs don’t work for lunch or the three hours after it. They had plenty of time to practice guitar, and stare into nothingness with their binoculars as we watched them….but apparently not enough time to give us a stupid little stamp to get into their god-forsaken country. Just us out there in the middle of the desert between giant mountains with no idea if we would be allowed in China….? As our nerves were beginning to fray and faces beginning to burn (literally) Becca looked skyward and witnessed a glorious (Old School reference) sight….the great American bald eagle was gently soaring overhead. Of course it was there as a sign for us (right?) and not searching for the multiple rodents that had been scurrying amidst our feet. At this point we will take anything…any sign! After “the sighting” it was only a short 3 minute wait and the gates were up. We got our entry stamp, passed along some friendly obscenities (you know, swearing with a smile), and looked for a trade truck to deliver us to Customs, only 5KM away. Oops, wrong again. No trade trucks were running into China due to some unexplainable upcoming 9-day holiday but needless to say after some comedic banter we had smiles on our faces and were off….

PG Version

Becca: I’m never coming to this country again.

Jeff: But what about the Olympics?

Becca: Jeff! I’m never coming back!

Jeff: What about our next Great Wall adventure?

Becca: Looks like it will be YOUR next Great Wall adventure!

Both of us: (Laughing at the absurdity of the situation and relishing the opportunity to relate it on the blog)

After a short 3k jaunt with full gear we arrived at Chinese Customs and into the arms of Abdul Rehman, our guide for the next few days through western China. Just a short 260km drive (this time 4 not 8 hours) later we arrived in Kashgar and settled into bed after our 20 hour (3AM…remember) adventure. Isn’t travelling the world fun?!! Most of the time, YES….sometimes, not so much. Well at least we know others on the Silk Road have endured much worse to experience its grandeur.

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