And I ran, I ran so far away I just ran, I ran all night and day I couldn’t get away – Flock of Seagulls If you have not read our account of how we got to Wuqia, where we underwent border processing, check it out here to get some background on what …
Recent attacks in Kashgar and the government’s new decision to ban burqas in Xinjiang’s largest city, Urumqi. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/13/world/asia/uighurs-xinjiang-kashgar-police-attack.html?_r=0 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2869905/Capital-Chinas-Xinjiang-ban-burqas-public-report.html
Our journey to leave China began at the crack of dawn, six a.m. Xinjiang, eight a.m. Beijing. We piled out of our hotel quietly, trying not to attract police attention. The streets were deserted. A few taxis petered past us. We waited outside one of the bus stations where shared taxis gathered. The few cabs …
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.
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 …
Here is some news on the assassination that we covered here: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/30/world/asia/jume-tahir-murder-verdict-xinjiang.html?_r=0