Karakorum

KARAKORAM May-June 1996

I have called this very exciting travel 'Karakoram' even though it involves parts of Uzbekistan, Khirghizstan, China and Pakistan. We pass through the old stamping ground of Genghis Khan and we drive over one of the mightiest roads built by man: the Karakoram Highway is in a remote Himalayan region of Central Asia and the road is often unpredictable.

I have now arrived in New Delhi, India, from Kathmandu, Nepal. The temperature is now 115 degrees and I quickly find an air-conditioned room at the Janpath hotel in a quiet part of the city. I have decided to leave my Visa problem until tomorrow after I talk with the travel Agent. Because I had two Chinese Visas in my passport, the Chinese consul in Nepal decided to cancel one. I needed separate Visas for Tibet and for Kashgar, China, on this trip.

It is another hot day, about 120 degrees, I find a Tuk Tuk and after going round and round, we finally found the Chinese Embassy. It took me a lot of explaining to get the new Visa, he said I should come back in two or three days, well this was not an option for me I fly out tomorrow. So after a few fake tears on my part and a lot of begging, he agrees it will be ready at 4.30 this afternoon, plus it cost $40 for the one day service (think I got took here). Now, this Embassy closes at twelve noon and I am told to come back and stand by the big gate and someone will hand me the passport through a small opening in the gate. Am I worried about that part, just a little bit. The Tuk Tuk driver agrees to come back to the hotel and bring me back at the correct time.

We are now back at the appointed time, standing outside a very tall gate, then a small slot opens up and a man asked for my name. I told him and he thrust his arm out with my passport in his hand. I breathe a sigh of relief as everything looked good on my Visa and I quickly retreated back to the air-conditioning of the hotel for the rest of the night.

Next morning I am at the airport, getting ready for my flight to Tashkent, Uzbekistan. An interesting check in, in parts of Asia you check your bags in at the counter and then when it comes time to get on the airplane, you walk out onto the tamarack and there are all the bags sitting beside the aircraft, you must identify them again before they will be put on the airplane. I traveled this section with Uzbekistan Airlines and this plane looked like an old DC 3. When I got on the airplane it even looked older. I sat in a seat and found the seat backrest would not stay up so I changed to another, and as I looked around I realized just how shabby the interior was. Bits and pieces of the interior fabric was coming off the walls.

I safely arrive in Tashkent which is the Capital of Uzbekistan and the weather is still in the three digits. Tashkent was all rebuilt after it was destroyed by an earthquake in the 1960's. At the hotel I met up with the rest of the group and we went to see some of the old city and some old Mosques. Souvenirs are only available at the museums or on Tourist sites. My impression of Tashkent was a flat uninteresting city.

The dress and people of Tashkent

Everyone in our group are a little miffed, we all thought this would be a group of 12 with two cars and now we are a group of 23 and a Bus.

The next day we fly to Bokhara, the ancient Silk Road city and we will be here for two nights.

The group has turned out to be great fun with lots of interesting people, some who have remained great friends. Our sightseeing included the tallest monument in town, the Kalyan minaret or the 'Tower of Death', from which prisoners were once hurled to their death on market-days. We have dinner this night in a local house and drank the local wine, which we all enjoyed. Next day we explore the narrow, twisting alleyways of the old quarter where the windows of the mud-baked houses face only toward the inside courtyards.

Having a cup of tea, you sit down and put your feet up.

Today we drive to Samarkand and spend the night here. Samarkand was stormed by Alexander the Great and reduced to ashes by Genghis Khan. Then it was made into one of the most glittering cities in the 14th century by Tamerlane. Today, it is a marvelous city with great mausoleums; and the Gur Emir the tomb of Tamerlane himself, with its ceilings of gold. There was much to see here.

The next few days are spent on the Bus and we stop only for the overnight accommodations. We continue on to Fergana via Kokand and the Fergana valley again on the Silk Route. We drive into the mountains and the forests of Khirghizstan on a road little traveled by westerners. We spend the night at Karakul situated on the remote Toktogul reservoir.

We continue our journey to the Khirghiz capital of Bishkek, driving across two high passes in the Ala-Too mountains. Bishkek is situated at the foot of the Tien Shan range. We stay the night here, but are too late for any sightseeing. In fact, we went out for an evening stroll and decided to look at the train station and they immediately locked it up when they saw us coming. I wonder if it has to do with fair skinned, silver hair, tall people, we enjoyed a chuckle over this.

Khirghizstan is a beautiful country, it is surrounded by snow covered mountains and has long green valleys and hills. This is where the local people bring their horses to pasture and also bring their Yurts and stay for the summer. Tonight we stayed in a Yurt at Naryn, these were a specially constructed version of nomad tents. There were eight single beds around the perimeter of the Yurt and each person had their own bed. Mine was right next to the entrance and about 3.30 a.m. I suddenly felt my arm being lifted up and a man was looking at my watch to see what time it was. Well I yelled, we all yelled and he did a quick exit. I thought he was drunk, and next morning we all thought it must have been the cook because at breakfast there was a big plate of cold fried eggs. It was interesting indeed.

Next day we resume our journey and cross the Torugart pass at 11,726 ft (3574 m) and cross into China where the scenery gives way to a remote landscape of Xinjiang province.

We reach Kashgar in the evening and stay here for three nights. Our luggage was being inspected by Customs and did not arrive with us, but it finally did come to the hotel at one a.m.

To-day we saw a lot of Kashgar and had a great time exploring the city especially on the Motor Cycles with side cars. One person could sit behind the driver and the other sits in the side car. It was great fun we explored all day and night. The people all come out at night, they set up their board games, drink lots of tea, talk and play small musical instruments. We had a very good hotel in Kashgar, it was very modern and was the best yet.

Next day we went to the famous Sunday Market, it is classed as the most colorful and exotic market in Asia. Uighur and Irghiz traders of camels, goats, leather, basket ware, rugs, daggers, jewelry and a thousand other goods gather here from many miles away to trade and barter. We spent the entire day here and still did not see it all. It is a sea of humanity and animals.

That night we went to the local "Weiger" dance and costume and show.

Although we are in China, it is hard to distinguish the people as what I perceive to be Chinese, there are so many different tribes in this part of China. I have thoroughly enjoyed the time spent in Kashgar.

After leaving Kashgar, we join the Silk Route and drive into the mighty Karakoram. You can see the snow on the mountains far away and as we begin our climb the scenery changes. The mountains are completely different, they are rugged and wild looking and appear to be falling down constantly. the road is excellent in some places, but washed out and in other places it is buried due to rock slides.

We got out of the vehicle three times and walked over snow avalanches, and around rock slides and debris. Our vehicle takes a different route, any where the driver thinks he can get up and over.

We arrive in Tashkurgan early enough for a little site seeing and we went to see its 'stone fortress', this is a city dating back to the Tang dynasty. We saw the old Fort, and a few of us climbed all over the old rocks, we could not see where to pay when we entered so we just went in.

After a while a man caught up to us and then we paid, but he was very nice and insisted on helping me down the mountain side of rocks, he held my hand and carried my coat all the way down. Our hotel had no water for showers and limited power. My bed to-night had a rice or bean pillow and I slept very well on it.

We have a long drive today going through magnificent mountains and snowy peaks and glaciers. We go over the high plateau, which is populated by Kirghiz nomads. At one of the most remote borders in the world we cross the Khunjerab Pass at 15,584 ft ( 4750 m) into Pakistan. After passing through Sust, we begin the gradual descent to Hunza and its fertile valley with trees and small pleasant villages. People from the Hunza valley are said to live longer than any other inhabitants of our planet.

Crossing the Border China - Pakistan

We have no problem crossing frontiers, customs and check points but now we are stuck. It is now 5 p.m. and we, along with about 30 other vehicles are stopped because of a slide and we cannot move until help comes. At 7 p.m. a backhoe arrives and within 30 minutes he had the slide area passable (not by our standards). We arrive in Karimabad at 8.30 p.m. and this village is on a steep hillside and only jeeps seem to get up and down the roads. We transfer to the jeeps and go to the hotel where the rooms are real tiny, just room for two single beds and a night stand in between, no place for luggage (except under the bed). We are here for three nights. Luckily, my roommate Molly and I are very compatible, you have to be in a room so small.

The past few days I have had stomach problems, I think anything with Cilantro in it makes me sick. People in Asia seem to use Cilantro in everything they cook. (as of the year 2003 as I write this, I still cannot tolerate Cilantro).

Hans, Marge and Lily, Eating Watermelon

Our time is free here, we can do whatever we want. A group hiked up to the Ultar glacier. This was up a steep gorge, rocks, boulders etc. I went two thirds of the way and then decided to head back down. The famous Hoppar and Boppar glaciers were both closed due to dirt slides. It is very hot today, so I took a jeep up the long hill and spent some fun time shopping.

After a great nights sleep we were up early and after breakfast a few of us hiked up to see the Fort and were back by noon.

Hans, and a great view of mountains

I do not have a problem with keeping the breakfast down, it is just lunches and dinners. After dinner we had a cultural performance and dances. Men with swords danced to a three piece band that was so-so, and all the locals did a solo dance as well just for our entertainment.

During the day I was out walking with Hans, when a car full of Pakistan college students came and asked if they could have their picture taken with us. That was sure a switch, usually we are the ones taking the pictures, however I think we were the oddity our size and hair coloring being the difference.

Transportation on the Highway for the locals.

During this trip we started out on a bus, then switched to our vehicle which was a large flat bed truck with a box put on it with seats. It is very uncomfortable and you are thrown around constantly, and if you happen to be tall then there was very little leg room.

Our Transportation

Our group has many nationalities, Greek, German, Canadian, American, Chinese, Australians, English and others. I have become friendly with most of this group. The Greek contingent have decided to leave the trip early, they have had enough of the ruggedness of this trip. Our group tour ends in Islamabad, so I have agreed to meet Andreas ( a former Greek member of Parliament) in Islamabad and then fly to Lahore for two days of sightseeing. My plane back to America leaves from Lahore.

We leave Karimibad and drive to Gilgit and stay the night here. The town of Gilgit is famous for polo, but we were not lucky enough to see a game. The Highway is fascinating, I do like the mountains of Pakistan. On our way to Gilget we saw where the Karakoram and Hyatras mountains meet and a plaque was installed there for this meeting of mountains.

Next day, we drive down the twisting valley of the Indus to a small town of Besham which is on one of the old trade routes from Swat. This was the only town in any of my travels that I have ever been very uncomfortable going outside. The town and the shops are full of men, I saw very few woman on the streets. Lucky for me my friend Hans went to the shops with me but I will be darned if I was going to ask any of these Muslim male shopkeepers to sell me some underwear. I was very uncomfortable in this village so we went back to the hotel very quickly. This town is where I saw my first Albino person.

Today we leave the mountains behind and drive through fields and small settlements and descend to the plains, we visit the ancient ruins of Taxila before reaching the twin cities of Islamabad/Rawalpindi, we are here for two nights and this is where the tour ends. In Rawalpindi like any other city in Pakistan there are numerous mosques and shrines, one of the most outstanding and one of the largest mosques in the world, the Shah Faisal Masjid, was recently built here. It is built at the foot of the Marghalla Hills and its gleaming white, tent-like design is an extraordinary site. We are at the Hotel Salima and today we had lots of time for shopping and our final group dinner was absolutely first class and so much fun.

Our final dinner, cannot remember if this was sheep or goat.

Next day, the group starts to break up, each going back to their homes and my friend Hans is off to London to see the Opera. I had gotten up early and had coffee with each group as they left. I was sad to see some of them leave, I have made great friends with Hans and Lily who is a nurse in Saudi Arabia.

It was raining lightly as the people left and a young boy brought me this leaf to hold over my head to keep the rain of my hair... It did work.

What a fairy tale, this day will turn out to be for me. Andreas (the Greek) had phoned me at the hotel and said there would be a car picking me up to take me to the airport for the flight to Lahore. I thought possibly we were just going to share a cab. To my absolute surprise, I was picked up in a Blue Mercedes with the Greek Flags flying on the car. The Greek Ambassador and Andreas were in the car, they were old friends. I was taken to the airport, though I never did see the normal airport. I was whisked into a VIP lounge where my ticket was attended to. I drank tea and ate little cakes and was then ushered onto the plane ahead of others. I felt like the Queen.

The flight was less than an hour and we landed in Lahore and I was again taken away from the airplane by the honorary Consul and put into another car right at the gangplank. I must say traveling with a Greek Cabinet Member is certainly exciting. The honorary Consul entertained us all afternoon and evening. We are staying in the best hotel possible called the Pearl Continental. The newest and the largest in Pakistan at this time. It had 300 rooms and they are adding 300 more with a 58 store shopping plaza. We were taken to his private club for dinner and we were told to order anything we wanted to eat, and it would be cooked for us. I ordered a piece of chicken and a baked potato with absolutely no sauces on either one. I did not want any cilantro or anything else to upset my stomach at this time and the food was wonderful. He also gave us drinks, I asked for a Scotch on the rocks but it must have been a single malt, it was not to my taste, so I poured it out on a plant when he was not looking.

I slept really well in my room, the cost was $250. per night, but because I was with the diplomats it was $125. The room was so great I could have spent my entire time in Lahore in the room, not only was there a terry cloth bathrobe for after showers, there was also a black satin one on the bed for lounging. Of course the bed was turned down each night and there were baskets of fruits, candy and nuts.

Next day the fairy tale continues; the car came and picked us up at 9.30 a.m. and the Driver took us to sights all morning, the Fort, the Palace and the largest Mosque in the world. The weather is humid and rainy, all the Pakistan people think it is very cold, however the humidity is too much for me I was dripping wet and it was not from the rain. The Driver brought us colas and held the umbrella over my head. The one thing he did, that I do not think we would get away with at home, if there was a crowd looking at something, he slowly pushed them back so that I could go forward and look.

We are back at the Hotel now, (did I mention that there were numerous armed guards on each floor at all the elevators and exits). Andreas is sitting outside by the pool in the muggy weather, reading and relaxing. I am in the air conditioned dining room having a great fruit salad and keeping cool. In a few more hours I leave for the airport and Andreas stays on for several more days. It was a marvelous time, spent in the company of a great Greek man. This has been an exciting trip and I have made some very nice new friends.

The flight from Lahore to Bangkok was full of young Pakistan men and for an Islamic crowd that is not suppose to drink alcohol, they sure put away the free booze on the plane.

It was a long, long flight home to Idaho and I came back with lots of memories.

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