So I just got back from spending two weeks in The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. It's a big place with a long and complex history and home to almost every imaginable kind of climate and landscape. Not really meaning to treat NBR like my blog but you guys have generally been interested in my China wanderings in the past so I'm gonna share. It was pretty epic, hope you all enjoy.
My first stop was the provincial capital of Urumqi, known for being the furthest major city from a coastline in the world. If you know a little bit about the history of this place you'll know why some huge violent riots happened here in 2009. Right after getting off the plane I could notice the vibe was different from any other city in China I've been to.
I even saw APCs rolling down the main roads but wasn't fast enough on the draw to get any pics.
Huge ass, chunks of jade worth thousands of dollars each.
Uyghur kids are segregated from Han kids in schools. Han kids are guarded by swat teams and soldiers as they arrive to school.
Local food, baked dumplings stuffed with lamb, some more lamb meat and some rice.
Nang bread, an ancient staple. It takes weeks to go bad and it's yummy.
I bought a traditional Uyghur knife for Halal slaughtering, but was not allowed to carry it outside of the shop. Knives like this here are equivalent to a restricted firearm in Canada. Certain people can carry them for work but they need special permits. This law only extends to the city limits and the shop has a postal service ready to go so I just had it shipped back to Tianjin.
Two days later I took a plane to Kashgar. Wandered around for about two hours trying to find the youth hostel, got a little lost but didn't care. The local Uyghur people were ridiculously lovely, very friendly, saying hello to me and smiling wherever I went. not feeling like I was in China at all. Because technically I'm in China but I'm in a more realistic way, I'm not.
Chinese swat is always rolling deep in Xinjiang.
Next day I booked a driver to take me to Karakul Lake This would be my first altitude experience.
The road was bad but they're in the middle of building a super elevated freeway.
Ooops…
Lots of army trucks. I had to go through 3 military checkpoints. No problems though, just handed them my passport, told 'em I was a tourist and where I was going. Every cop and soldier I dealt with was quite friendly in fact.
Arrived at the lake.
I hiked a lap of the lake, 13kms at that altitude took me about 3 hours.
Came across a group of locals, they are Kyrgyz people here, one guy offered his home
to me for the evening. I accepted the invite. They like to ride horses and eat yak meat.
This is their village, the new buildings are the homes built by the Chinese government that nobody wants to live in because they have shitty insulation. Not nearly as well suited to this harsh environment as the traditional cob houses they've been living in for hundreds of years. Typical case of douchey humanitarians who didn't do their homework and thought they knew better.
Next day the guy offered to take me by motorbike to the Muztagh Ata mountain base camp for a small fee that I was more than happy to give him. Not nearly enough in my opinion but he wouldn't accept more. Elevation about 5000 meters. Summit is about 7500 meters above sea level. At 5000 meters I surprised myself by not feeling sick at all. I would lose my breath quickly walking around but no headaches or dizziness.
In June and July this place is full of mountaineering tourists. I arrived too early so the base camp bar wasn't open yet.
Base camp has it's own solar array and cell tower.
Dude on the left was my driver, good guy, hung out with me for three days driving me around on treacherous roads for a price I felt was more than reasonable. Guy in the middle was the local guide, the lady is his wife, this is their house. He's climbed to the summit of that peak twice before as a guide and porter for foreign mountaineering tourists. The climbing season is when he makes most of his yearly income. You could safely say this dude is about as hard as a coffin nail.
Then me and the driver continued on to Tashkurgan, a small town on the far western edge of China that is a stone's throw away from the borders of Tajikstan, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Lots of great scenery on the way.
On the other side of these mountains is Afghanistan, my driver told me lots of Taliban hide in these mountains. Sometimes they come a little too far and cross over into Chinese territory. They are usually arrested by patrolling Chinese soldiers and handed over to the Afghan authorities.
100kms further down this road is the Pakistan border but this is as far as I was allowed go. Any further and I need to be carrying a Pakistan visa and a special permit from the Chinese Public Security Bureau. Sometimes tourists are allowed to go and check out the border without these documents but not at the time I was there.
Tashkurgan is an old place but all the buildings here are new. Very quiet and pleasant town. There's no industry here and all the power comes from solar or wind so unless there's a dust storm the air quality is just as good as the Rockies. Because the population is small and it's so remote renewables are actually the most practical option in every way. The water comes from a glacier so you can drink the water directly from the tap.
Ancient stone city, 2000 years ago this was a major silk road trading hub.
Next day we drove back to Kashgar in a huge dust storm. No point in taking pictures because it was awful and I swear it reduced my lifespan. I'm still coughing from it more than a week later.
Next stop was Turpan. While the last week involved high altitudes this week was low altitude. Quite a bit below sea level. Temperature got up to 42 degrees while I was there. I saw many huge solar farms out in the desert during the train ride.
Ancient Buddhist Temple that I was not allowed to get anywhere near.
Ancient stone city.
Turpan is all about grapes. The grapes here are famous all over China and the local wine is excellent. The water here also comes from a glacier and can be drunk from the tap. At a local museum you can see the how the underground canals were built over a thousand years ago. There are grapes growing everywhere and they use these brick structures to dry them and make raisins. Grape harvest is in August and there's a yearly festival to celebrate it.
I have a friend here who I know from when he was studying in Tianjin. He organized an outdoor cookout about an hour's drive outside of town in my honor with his mates.
Saw this kid cruising down the road on this thing carrying his younger sibling.
After Turpan I headed back to Tianjin. Lots of adventures to be had in Xinjiang, if you're that type, keep it on your radar.
