After a rather cold night in the Jiaontong Binguan (Tashkurgan lies at 3,200m), my plans to get a 6:00am local time headstart flew out of window. It was fairly clouded outside. So, I thought I didn’t need to rush as it would be a cool all day. Finally, I got out of a warm bed at about 7:30am, repacked my stuff and had a light breakfast. I was on my bike one hour later, heading for a market to get something for later (bread, canned meat and water). The hotel manager said there shouldn’t be a problem with food on my way to Kashgar but I already learned to discount this type of advice as most of people I asked had no idea about speeds, distances and effort required in cycling.I was glad I did buy some extra stuff as right before turning onto the China - Pakistan Highway again, I met a group of Dutch cyclists waiting for a bus to the Khunjerab pass and to Pakistan. They just came from Karakul lake yesterday and said there was nowhere to eat or get food enroute.
The first 40 kms from Tashkurgan were almost too easy with above 24 km/h average speeds. It was almost windless, with only a slight tailwind. The road was as excellent as yesterday, the only difference was that I got to enjoy it on my bike;) It wound its way through a few narrows and entered the Tagharma basin with my first views of the stupendous looking north side of the Muztagh Ata massif (in turkic: Father of Ice Mountains, 7,546m high). I passed through some villages, greeted by little kids and curiously watched by older folks. No one really spoke English but they greeted me with a plenty of hellos;) Kids especially…
At about kilometer 40 or 41 I stopped in a small roadside shop, in fairly big village (no idea what it was called, Chinese writing is to me like Egyptian hieroglyphs, completely incomprehensible;). The shop had most of stuff I really didn’t need: cigarettes, liquor, some harder-than-rock sweets. But it also had last two cans of Sprite which I grabbbed. The shopkeeper was happy to talk to me. He didn’t really mind that I didn’t understand a word. I only suspected that he wanted to know my country, so I showed him my passport but he could only read the Chinese visa page;). Then, I just rattled the list of a cities I planned to bike through in China and he looked at me in amazement after I pointed to my bicycle. Before I left, he showed me that the road was going to go up and up…
He was right, for the next 31-32 kms the KKH was slightly gaining elevation with every kilometer. As I headed higher it became windier (luckily it was tailwind pushing me uphill even faster) and cloudier with Muztagh Ata’s western flanks enshrouded in heavy grey low-lying clouds. After about 15-16 kms from the start of the climb, it became more of a undulating climb at about 3,800-3,900m altitude through Subash plateau, passing near some either a police or a military (judging by jeeps painted in camouflage) checkpoint, before climbing again all the way to approx. 4,100m at the crest, and 72 kms from Tashkurgan. The descent offered awesome views into another wide basin with also lot better glances at Muztagh Ata, thanks to clearing clouds.
But before I reached the top, I stopped for a quick lunch. I left the bike on the road and jumped down under a small bridge with dried out creek, just to escape strong winds. I felt the altitude was getting to me a bit. This was the first time since crossing the Babusar pass in Kaghan valley that I cycled this high. But after the lunch and another can of sugary soda, I felt better again, ‘racing’ toward the top with help of strong tailwind;)
The downhill ride was fast in some spots and in others I had too watch out for strong sidewinds trying to knock me off the bike;) I only stopped at the bottom of the basin, near ruins of what supposed to be small shrines in an abandoned cemetery. From there, I probably had the best views for Muztagh Ata. Still going slightly downhill, I was able to add kilometers quickly and after 92 kms from Tashkurgan I saw the Kara Kul lake for the first time, in a distance. With the road now flat and strong headwinds, I slowed down and near Karakul was joined by a local motorbiker who asked me where I was going to stay overnight. He was Kyrgyz, spoke decent English and his name was Mahmud. He offered me a yurt to stay in. So, I told him to show me the way there… The first one was near the village and too close to the road, the second one he showed me was below the Karakul resort, hidden from the KKH by a small hill, therefore lot quieter, with unbelievalbe views of both: Muztagh Ata, to the south, and the 7,719m high Mt. Kongur, to the norhteast, with Kara Kul lake in a foreground… Unfortunetaly, I had to rely on my imagination mostly as the mountains were becoming increasingly hidden by clouds.
The yurt was OK, 30 yuans for the night. I arrived here about a half an hour after three. I wasn’t sure my Belgian friends, Tim and Evelyn, would make it. I thought they wanted to do the Tashkurgan - Kara Kul stretch in two easy days, anyways. So, I had the whole yurt to myself. The owner was nice to fetch me 10 cans of Coke from the village, now about 2 kms away. I had a short nap in the afternoon and woke up to a light drizzling rain with clouds completely covering the whole lake. At the 7:00pm dinner in the nearby yurt I met four Chinese tourists from all over China visiting Xinjiang. One of the girls was actually looking into an adventurous journey to cross Pakistan, Iran into Turkey before flying back home to Beijing. The other girl in the group was from Hongkong and was fairly well-traveled. She visited Pakistan already during 1989, in the year, as she said it, of “the big event” in China. I was initially confused what she tried to say but than it hit me: “Tiananmen Square”. I said it aloud and she nodded with her head but never said the words herself. I thought it was a big taboo, at least officially, to mention it in China. I think the wanted to know what I thought about it but I just didn’t feel as getting into politics so soon in China;)
I see what the weather will be like in the morning and might stay here an extra night. I’d really like to see both of the Pamir’s high peaks in all their glory…
Start: Tashkurgan, Xinjiang, China
End: Kara Kul, Xinjiang, China
Distance: 102.45 km
Elevation: +1,165/-610 m
Time: 5′14″
Avg: 19.6 km/h
Total: 3,298.8 km
Riding/Total days: 42/79
September 19th, 2006
Posted by
Rich |
China, Cycling, Himalayas |
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I woke up early, just to repack all my things for the bus journey. This will be actually my first time to use bus on my route rather than biking it. But there was no way around it. After 2001, the Chinese Immigration offices were moved to Tashkurgan and Chinese wouldn’t allow anyone to move between the Khunjerab pass and Tashkurgan independently.Before leaving the Badakhshan Hotel in Sost, I had a quick breakfast with a couple of fellow travelers, also heading for China. The meeting time at the Pakistani Customs office was at 8:30am. I had enough time to buy some water and snacks for the journey. (Soopers rule!!! The best bisquits in Pakistan, by far…) Everything went smoothly but it still took us more than two hours to finally depart. Or, I thought so. After about 300 meters we stopped again at an Immigration office. Another half an hour wasted to get our passports stamped and finally we headed for the border.
While waiting for our bus driver to get back, we met four motorcyclists from Korea (www.dokdorider.com) heading for China too. They were on their on the last leg of their around the world journey. So far, they logged in 25,000 kms in 6 months. One more month left;) Plus, they were promoting (read ‘were sponsored by’;) the “Dynamic Korea” message from the Korean Overseas Information Services about “Korea’s easternmost island Dokdo” (www.korea.net) Cool guys with amazing motorbikes and plenty of electronic gizmos: GPS, HDTV cameras, sat. phones, etc.
Some 35 kms later, we entered the Khunjerab National Park, after paying 240 Rps. The ride was OK. I didn’t get much of a view as we were riding in a deep gorge before lastly emerging through a set of switchbacks on the Khunjerab pass itself (4,730m high). We quickly stopped for photo ops on the actual border crossing and headed down a few hundred meters to the Chinese security checkpoint. Again, we got out of the bus and this time our carry-on bags were checked. I don’t know what they were looking for but most of us Westerners and Japanese tourists got off easy unlike Pakistani traders who were checked extremely thoroughly…
From the checkpoint the bus ride was easy as the road on the Chinese side was immaculate. I really mean it! The best and smoothest piece of tarmac I’ve seen anywhere during my travels in Asia. Pakistani and Indian roadbuilders should take a closer look at Chinese how to build roads;) OTOH, we had an extra passenger, a Chinese security guard, making sure no one got off the bus before going through the Immigration and Customs in Taskurgan first.
Landscape changed dramatically too: Leaving the Karakorams (it means in turkic ‘Black Mouuntains’) behind we entered wide steppes of Xinjiang and Central Asia. I enjoyed passing scenery from my seat on the left side: a few walking camels, small settlements of mudbrick houses and the Pamir mountains behind which lies Tajikistan. I actually slept a fair bit too.
In Tashkurgan, I was lucky enough to get through the Immigration as second, ‘pissing’ off many Pakistani traders who were again slowed down and thoroughly checked by the Chinese;) Btw, throughout my travels in Pakistan I had only good experiences with Pakistanis but the bunch of traders I met on my Sost - Tashkurgan bus were the worst kind: rude, dumping their luggage in my seat repeatedly, moving my backpack and throwing it on the floor. I really didn’t know where they came from??? So, when one of them tried to push his way around in the Immmigration line again and again he got a ‘a bit rougher treatment’ from me. After that he stood full three feet behind me eyeing me with suspicions…
Back on my bike, I said quick goodbyes to a French - Austrialan couple I met on the bus. They were heading for Kashgar and later for Kyrgyzstan. I wanted to get to my hotel, Jiaotong Binguan (Traffic Hotel) with cheap dorms, at 15 yuan per person in a four bed room. It was about 1 kilometer away from the Immigration building. I was sure some of the same faces from Sost and the bus would join me shortly;): Juan, an amazing Argentinian hitch-hiker around the world, freelancing for a few newspapers. He really traveled through some unusual places: Kurdistan in Iraq and central Afghanistan!!! (www.acrobatoftheroad.blogspot.com) The other two beds were taken by a young Belgian cycling couple doing the KKH in Pakistan and China and then continuing to Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia.
But I was so hungry I couldn’t wait. The main square wasn’t too far. I discovered good, albeit expensive Chinese hazelnut milk chocolate: ‘Dove’ for 8 yuans;) and a great Uighur restaurant near a traffic circle on the southern end of the plaza. With my non-existent Chinese or Uighur, I walked in and saw a huge plate of thick noodles with meat and greens in front of a customer and I just pointed that I wanted the same dissh. Later, I found out it was a fairly popular Uighur meal: laghman. Plus, a free pot of green tea. All that for only 6 yuans!!! In the hotel’s restaurant, I could only get two lonely fried eggs for the same price. I liked it so much that I came back in two hours for more, this time I dragged all my roommates in there, too;)
Tashkurgan and China looked eerily familiar with its drab architecture and megaphones on every corner noisily spitting out news and propaganda. Not much different from small towns of the socialist Czechoslovakia, I grew up in during the 1970s and 1980s… Even stores, so-called general stores, looked the same. You could buy there anything from food, alcohol, shampoo, watches, radios, clothing to even shovels… In one store, amazing… Plus, only the ‘official’ buildings looked perfectly clean and modern, on the surface, at least;)
Start: Sost, Northern Areas, Pakistan
End: Tashkurgan, Xinjiang, China
Distance: approx.225 km by NATCO bus (1,500 Rps basic fare, 250 Rps extra for a bike, plus 10-20 Rps bakshish for a too insistent baggage loader in the morning)
September 18th, 2006
Posted by
Rich |
China, Himalayas, Pakistan |
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Batura Peaks again, originally uploaded by Rich.
More detailed report coming up, hopefully;)))
Start: Karimabad, Northern Areas, Pakistan
End: Sost, Northern Areas, Pakistan
Distance: 92.02 km
Elevation: +1,635/-1,180 m
Time: 6′06″
Avg: 15.1 km/h
Total: 3,196.3 km
Riding/Total days: 41/77
September 18th, 2006
Posted by
Rich |
Cycling, Himalayas, Pakistan |
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I decided to have a few days rest in Karimabad. I woke up with sore throat and muscle pain. In the end, it actually worked out better as I didn’t want to reach Sost on Saturday as there wouldn’t be any NATCO busses to Tashkurgan the next day.After a great breakfast in the Cafe de Hunza, I went up to the Baltit Fort for a guided tour. BTW, yes, the Cafe was expensive but possibly the only place in Pakistan where I could get a real cappucino or espresso or macchiato, outside of five-star hotels, and amazing walnut cakes or nutella pancakes;)
The fort itself was painstainkingly taken apart and then put together during the early 1990s by Pakistani and British archeologists using traditional Balti building techniques. It was hard to tell that this originally 800-year old structure was in fact only 10 years old;) Rooms on three levels featured old photos, slide show, pieces of local clothing and furniture, kitchen utensils, old maps and treaties, hunting trophies, traditional Hunza musical instruments and much much more…
And the views from the roof were absolutely amazing, stretching across the Hunza valley toward the massive Rakaposhi - Diran ridge in the south or to the towering Ultar peaks in the north (Ultar II - 7,388m). Plus, the guide was knowledgable and entertaining with good sense of humor, too. The rest of my day was spent eating and browsing local bookshops. I’m a complete sucker for good maps and climbing/trekking photography…
Karimabad is such small town that I kept bumping into familiar faces: Zdenek, the Czechie trekker; his new friends from Poland: Martin with his girlfriend Agnieszka (link in Polish), also ’round the world’ travelers; Margaret, the British traveler, with her friendly guide Mumtaz whom I met in Minapin and Tim and my ‘unnamed’ Rakaposhi BC hiking fellow both British. I also got to know them in Minapin.
But there were also some new interesting folks I met here: British threesome working for an international NGO in Peshawar, visiting on a short break up here in Hunza and Chitral. Very interesting to quizz about their experiences in Pakistan. Another day, I met two young Americans, in their early to mid-twenties, who invited me to join them while I was waiting for my dinner at Hidden Paradise restaurant. I guess I must have looked kind of lonely but I was actually burried in thoughts about my Tibet part of the trip: schedules, food supplies, etc.;) BTW, the restaurant was a great place to sample local Hunza dishes. They had been working for NGOs here in Pakistan, too, just visiting Hunza on a short vacation. In fact, one of them, spent most of his life here, in Islamabad, only going to a college in the U.S. They were both working in Kashmir and helping to set-up basic health centers. It was interesting to hear about their experiences here in Pakistan: views on local politics and future of Prez. Musharraf, effectiveness of NGOs, role of religion in Pakistani politics, women standing in a society, etc. They were still outsiders but living here long enough to have much better understanding than a passer-through like myself… We also talked a lot about climbing and mountaineering in Pakistan;)
September 16th, 2006
Posted by
Rich |
Himalayas, Pakistan |
2 comments
I woke up very tired after the amazing trek to the Rakaposhi BC yesterday. Just too tired and weak than I normally feel. My raspy voice and dry throat weren’t good signs either. After a long breakfast during which I mostly spent talking with Margaret, a British lady in her late fifties or early sixties and frequent traveler to Pakistan, and her Pakistani guide Mumtaz, I went back to my room to decide what to do next: stay here in Minapin or go to nearby Karimabad. Minapin was a small Nagyr village with nothing really to do, just lounge aroundd the Diran Hotel. Plus, weather also helped to make my mind up: cloudy and overcast at almost noon, always a good weather to cycle, as long as skies don’t open up and drench me completely;)
Despite not feeling 100% well it was only 30 kms cycling so I decided to go for it. On my way back to the KKH I passed through the village of Pisan again and stopped by signs announcing “Death to Israel” and “Down with U.S.A.” For the first time I had seen such open and ‘opinionated’ displays in Pakistan. I pulled out my ‘big-zoom’ D-SLR and under curious eyes of handful of locals I took a snapshot of it. No one said a word…
After 4 kms of the dusty dirt road I was back on the KKH and headed northeast toward Karimabad. After quiet start it became gusty quickly and started drizzling soon after. There went my hopes for a dry day of cycling. I put on a rainjacket and kept pedaling through many small villages: Nasirabad, Murtazaabad, Hassanabad and Alliabad on the Hunza side of the valley. I couldn’t see much of the mountains rising up steeply from the Hunza river valley in the rain anyway so I just kept cycling. People were friendly returning my greetings. Kids, as everywhere else past Gilgit, were excited to see me either running toward me or next to me. But they never forgat to ask for “one pen”… Interestingly though, girls here weren’t afraid of me and greeted me with an occasional “Hello” or “Bye bye”.
After less than three hours, with breaks, I reached easy-to-miss turn-off to Karimabad and was met by an Austrian mountain biker dressed in full lycra kit. He was coming up all the way from Gilgit but unloaded. All his gear was in a hired support jeep. What a way to travel;) Riding the rather steep New Ganish road together we talked a bit in between our heavy breathing. He just came to Pakistan on MTB vacation, hired a local guide with a jeep and explored not only the usual KKH stretches but also some hard to get to dirt roads in Baltistan and Chitral. Something to think abot when I come back again, even though my priority would be climbing, trekking and then biking again.
When reaching the first set off hotels, I said goodbye to the Austrian fellow, never got his name, and I headed toward the bazaar. I didn’t really want to stay in the usual backpacker’s hangouts: Haider Inn and Old Hunza Inn. Too many people, no time for writing and with my scratchy throat I didn’t feel like talking to all the familiar faces I kept meeting throughout my travels in Pakistan… I met the Belgian cycling couple again and they recommended the Hotel Blue Moon. A fairlly decent place to stay with nice views, good Chinese dishes and evening hot water. All for 400 Rps;)
I was pretty tired by then, my legs hurt and I couldn’t speak without much effort. Luckily, I had ZICAM throat spray and that always worked beautifully against cold in the past. After a shower and a meal, I just stayed in a bed, mostly reading my notes and guidebook or looking into a ceiling trying to figure out how my possibly extended stay here will influence my trip schedule, esp. crosssing of Tibet.
I only went out to take pictures of the Rakaposhi, Diran and Ultar peaks in setting sun. Later, I quickly jumped into an Internet place, near the flashy Darbar Hunza Hotel, only to discover it was just another hell-hole with slower than dial-up ’satellite’ service, on most days. I gave up any hopes to update my blog while in Pakistan. I guess it’ll have to wait until I reach Kashgar;)
Start: Minapin, Northern Areas, Pakistan
End: Karimabad, Northern Areas, Pakistan
Distance: 33.68 km
Elevation: +685/-395 m
Time: 2′28″
Avg: 13.5 km/h
Total: 3,104.3 km
Riding/Total days: 40/73
September 13th, 2006
Posted by
Rich |
Cycling, Himalayas, Pakistan |
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The day started early, with a wake-up at 6:00am, a quick breakfast, and by 7:00am we were on our way. I walked with a British fellow whom I met just yesterday day during a communal dinner at the Diran Hotel. Talkative and funny, it was easy to enjoy his company. Unfortunetaly, due to my advanced case of multiple sclerosis (j/k;) I couldn’t remember his name.The beginning of the trail was quite steep but luckily in the early morning we were out of sun’s direct rays so it was pleasantly cool walk all the way to Bang-i-das village with green fields, meadows and one very stubborn goat standing right in the middle of our path. He really didn’t want to let us through following us quite closely, shaking his head and wiggling his tounge at us. When he showed signs of going after us with horns, all gloves were off. We grabbed a few small stones and hurled it in his direction. Nothing happened. So, I found a fairly decent sized piece of rock and hit him straight. Finally, after a few repeated attempts the pain must have registered and he seemed to concede the battle. Actually, he was quite lucky to give up because I was getting slightly pissed off and was ready to jump and hold him by his horns and twist his neck. I’m sure that he wouldn’t like that;)
But due to the distraction, we missed a sign and went a ‘wrong’ way. Instead of going left we turned right, toward a waterfall, which in the end turned out to be a blessing in disguise as we discovered a beautiful alpine meadow with stunning views of Rakaposhi. Later, I found out it was a Gutumerung valley. We walked through the meadow higher up onto rocky morraine remnants when we realized that we were in a wrong valley. We knew that the Rakaposhi base camp was to the east, over an aspen covered ridge. With help of my hill-walking skills;) I quickly pointed out where was the best place to go over the ridge. I crossed a small stream and headed toward it. I found some old trails and just followed them all the way to the top. My walking buddy followed soon after.
The views I was treated to from the ridge were unlike from any other viewpoint. A complete panorama of Rakaposhi (7,788m) with a 16 kms long ridge connecting it with Diran peak (7,266m) and massive differently colored glacier streams flowing from this huge wall of stone and ice into a narrow gorge toward Minapin village down below. I could even spot Ultar peaks far across the Hunza valley to the north. Unbelievable sights, even the best photos couldn’t do justice to the whole experience of standing there in person. ‘Our’ ridge was approx. 3,400 meters high and it was right above the grassy campsite of Tagaphari where a few enterprising locals set up a tent, cooked simple meals and sold some soft drinks. Zig-zagging and sliding down steep some sheep trails, we reached the campsite quickly.
From the ridge I could see that the way across the glacier was certainly possible but just too long and time consuming. There were a few spots where a local guide could’ve come handy. Despite bringing my tent, sleeping bag, Thermarest and food, I didn’t fancy the idea to stay overnight at the Tagaphari meadow. Too many cows, sheep and people around to enjoy it. It just doesn’t mix well with my understanding of outdoors;) So, after relaxing and enjoying views from the morraine, we decided to head down to the village, this time the right way;)
After leaving the Tagaphari meadow behind, we had to carefully walk through an exposed section of loose rock (a few years old landslide) and then headed down steep trails toward Hapakun green meadows, passing by the sign where we fough the goat;) Thanks to him we did a nice loop rather than the more commonly done up-and-down trail. We reached the Diran Hotel after about 2:40 hours, slightly tired but exceedingly happy, and hungry, too;)
September 12th, 2006
Posted by
Rich |
Himalayas, Pakistan, Trekking |
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