Taxkorgan, China
37° 46' N 75° 13' E
Jun 26, 2006 10:08
Distance 194km

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Taxkorgan, Karakoram Hwy, Karakul Lake

Text written in: English

Well we booked a cab for the 2 day round trip to Taxkorgan, a town next to the Pakistan border, the last stop in NW China.  It is along the Karakoram hwy, the highest paved border crossing in the world.  Well most was gravel as being re-done.  Anyways what views!! 

From red wine sandstone hills, to the sand mountains around Karakul Lake and the Pamir Plateau.  So many different colours as the land changed constantly to go with the elevation.  The valley floor green with grass (in places), next sand and dirt hills, up to rocky slopes, to glacier covered mountains.  The Tajik people still live in yurts (round moveable houses) and tend to herds of camel, donkeys and sheep. 

Once in Taxkorgan we saw the ancient stone city, with walls still standing.  Had a great dinner of lamb kabobs and hand pulled noodles (kinda like speghetti) and a beer.  Good times on foreign roads.

The next day was the drive home, a bit clearer of a day, even hotter!  Was going good then Wham!  Dropped the transmission in our cab.  Not good place to break down.  Still 150 km from Kashgar on a road with little traffic.  Our cabbie attempted to fix it to no success obviously.  So he made a call to a buddy in Kashgar to come tow us.  But wait, need a tow rope.  So then we watch our guy take a piece of wire and reach up and grab onto the power line.  We were like, "This guy is going to electricute himself!"  Then he pulled the power line down to himself and cut it!  So what the hell!  He then rigged it up onto our bumper and we got towed all the way back to Kashgar.  While doing this we smoked off the brakes and were down to an e-brake only.  Then roasted that off.  Well it's not my cab.  Felt bad for the guy.  Took close to 6 hrs to get home from where we broke down.  Good times in Kashgar!

Photos / videos of "Taxkorgan, Karakoram Hwy, Karakul Lake":

He's riding a donkey! He haw! Yes PETA does not exist here! This is a market in Upal, much better, just older and more the normal way of life here, then the Sunday Kashgar market. This melon is a cross b/w honey dew and cantaloupe. It is so good! Actually all the fruit here was the best I have tasted. Local traffic jam / donkey jam at the Upal market. That's right, we are going, ahh, umh, er......... That way! There are 4 different levels of country and colour here. Some of the most amazing landscape I have seen! Beautiful colours in this mountain. These are the sand montains, with a local hut in front. There are actually sand dunes amongst the mountains, hence the name. This is a yurt. A round house that they live in and can move around to different locations. Camel in front of Karakul Lake. Us in front of Karakul Lake and Kongur Mountain. The so called highest paved hwy. Well they are re-doing it. It used to be pavment. Stone City of Taxkorgan. A view from the Stone City into the Pamir Plateau. Joanna walking around. Jo at the top. The city is still well preserved. Stone City from distance. Kongur Mountain (7719m) above Karakul Lake. Better views on day 2 of trip. The valley below us. Then we broke down. Dropped the transmission. There are worse places to break down. This is the power line our cabbie cut down to make a tow rope. I thought he was going to be electricuted. I couldn't even take the pic as I was like, "What is he doing?" There is the power line slash tow rope! And here is our tow home, all 150 km of it. These are what is left of our brakes.
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