As we were traveling, Galen danced around in various places throughout Western China, using the Pharrell William’s song Happy as his dancing music. Some of the shots are done in hotels, an abandoned banqueting hall, on the interstate when our bus got stopped for thirty minutes because the road between Urumqi and Turpan was inexplicably …
Lei Feng was an interesting figure in Communist China’s historiography. In the 1960’s, after he was killed, his diaries were ‘discovered’ and he was turned into a propaganda hero who gave himself selflessly to the Party’s cause. Now, interestingly, he is being adapted for the new Party propaganda drive, environmentalism. This is what the old …
We came across this accident, on our way down from Karakul Lake, along the Karakorum Highway, while hitching a ride with Dan. I guess this is why most goods are taken up to Tashkurgan (and on into Pakistan) by pickup trucks.
The next morning, after that starry night, we hiked around the lake filming lambs and goats. We figured we had time to play around; the redneck Chinese truck driver had told us that he would probably be coming back sometime in the afternoon, so we cleaned our stuff out of the yurt and climbed back …
Here are some of the photos that I was not able to squeeze into the blog.
Galen did another photosession with some of the French and Dutch mountain climbers we mentioned in this section. I’ll let the work speak for itself.
Here are some of the amazing photos that Galen took during our night at Karakul Lake, beside the 25,000 foot Muztagh Ata Mountain.
Volleyball at the Edge of the World We were far off the beaten path now. Where we were, Karakul Lake, we were as close to Beirut as we were to Beijing. We were fifteen miles from Tajikistan, fifty from Afghanistan. Our driver dropped us off at the lakeside and told us that he would probably …
Continue reading ‘Karakul Lake – Volleyball at the Edge of the World’ »
In the farthest West of China After we found a driver, we milled around for half an hour, eating pilaf for lunch while we waited for the pick-up truck’s other passengers to gather. It was around eleven o’clock, Xinjiang Time, by the time we left. The redneck Chinese guy driving our pickup gathered several other …
We were trying to leave Kashgar for a lake on the Karakorum Highway, the world’s highest international highway, where we would camp out at Karakul Lake, just sixty miles from the town of Tashkurgan. Not sure where we could hitchhike from, we had originally wanted to take a bus there and hitchhike back. I went …