Day 26, 25 June 2012 Kashgar to Torugart Pass- Naryn Kyrgyzstan

Today total distance traveled 380km

Tourugart Pass is regards as one of the most unpredictable border crossing in the world.

Torugart Pass (Chinese: 图噜噶尔特山口; pinyin: túlūgáĕrtèshānkŏu; Kyrgyz:Торугарт) is a pass in the Tian Shan mountain range on the border between the Naryn Province of Kyrgyzstan and the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of China.

Today we crossed into Kyrgyzstan from China. We met with two groups of travelers from Spain and Australia at the Chinese checkpoint and we took this opportunity to promote Georgetown Penang to them.

During the same time, we were interviewed by China national news agency CCTV running a documentary on Chinese border posts. The Torugart border was friendlier than we thought. We have no issue at all with both the Chinese nor Kyrgyz authority.

Our journey now has reached the halfway mark. As we crossed from China to Kyrgyzstan the road infrastructure became worse and for the most part from the border to Naryn was unpaved national roads.

Our guides for Kyrgyz is a lovely lady Meerim, a Kyrgyz native from capital Biskek whose origins were from lake Issyk Kol. She speaks fluent English and has a bubbly, charming personality.

As we drove along the way, the scenery was truly fantastic and no word can describe how we feel, perhaps a simple ‘ahhhhhhhh’ is best word to describe how we felt.

In addition, the 3750m pass is very cold, with snow and hail showers occasionally.

The semi nomadic lifestyle of the people now has changed. Paid shepherds now took over the traditional shepherds who are now just owners of the herd.

After about 3hours of bad roads, we reached Naryn. The place we are staying is a bed and breakfast and dinner was English and Central Asian.

We took a walk around town but not much to see in this former USSR garrison town, so we went back to our respective yurts and rooms.

Day 25, 24 June 2012 Kashgar

Woke up with fresh memories f the desert rain we experienced and the gushing water from the mountain that threaten to cut off our road.

The first thing we did in the morning was a quick drive to the local Volkswagen Servicing Centre to have our oil change done for our Land Cruiser.

Thereafter we went to the Grand Mosque Id Kah and had nice mutton soup and kebabs for lunch at a local eating house. Still in China but the Uyghur do not look one bit Chinese with the exception able to converse in simple Mandarin.

Known in Uyghur as the Yekshenba Bazaar, or Sunday Bazaar, what was once the mother of all markets still attracts up to one hundred thousand villagers and nomads, all riding their donkey carts from the surrounding area and gathering.

 Cold goat yogurt sour drink

Friendly locals sharing their fruits with us

 The puff shop owner

  

 Old Kashgar city

As night falls, light lit up the old city walls, but sadness lingers in the area, as desolate houses, half in ruins conditions and dirty faced children play with the sand blown in from the desert, and a lake, once the people’s park, now serves as a sewage pond.

In the middle of the city, a statue of the late Mao Zedong has effectively wiped whatever culture and charm this ancient city once had away. Now, just relics stand, eroded by the elements.

Day 24, 23 June 2012 Luntai to Kashgar

Today total distance traveled 833km

Today we will be driving 840km to Kashgar, now better known as Kaxi, an ancient city along the Silk Road.

Kashgar is an oasis city with approximately 350,000 residents in the western part of China which has an area of 162,000 km² and a population of approximately 3.5 million. 

 Sunrise in Luntai

Sambal udang anyone? Look carefully and you can see the sambal behind the thermos flask

Kashgar’s strategic position has determined its history. There was already a Chinese military government here when Xuanzang (the Buddhist monk) passed through on his way back from India in 644.

More recently, the late nineteenth century saw Kashgar at the meeting point of the three empires- Chinese, Soviet and British. Both Britain and the Soviet Union maintained consulates in Kashgar unil 1949.

It is almost as far west as we can possibly go in China before we head into Kyrgyzstan.

 Rain in the Taklamakan desert

Flooding in Taklamakan desert... something you do not see everyday

Along the way we stopped for diesel and lunch at Aksu, a modern, cookie and cutter city about halfway between Kashgar and Luntai. Turned out to be the last Han dominated city we will come across.

They had everything a globalised city would have from merchants to restaurant.

Arrived in Kashgar in the evening and in time for some BBQ mutton!

Dinner restaurant

 BBQ mutton

 Kashgar street

 Individually cooked mutton soup

 Kilims merchant

 The largest mosque in China, the Id Kah Mosque