Xinjiang: Karakol Lake and the Karakorum Highway

We took a two day drive down the Karakorum highway to Karakol Lake with our Uighur guide, Abdul.  We stopped off at Upal village on the way for the Monday markets.

Coloured cliffs along the Karakorum Highway

 

 Approaching Karakol Lake

Karakol lake is an alpine lake at 3500m above sea level which is towered over by the mountain Muztagh Ata, 7546m. There are a few Kyrgyz families living in yurts where tourists also stay - ours came complete with a family and crying baby. We were fed salty yak milk tea made with lake water, presumably the cause of our next four days of fever and gastro.

Yurt, Karakol Lake and Muztagh Ata

It is a pleasant four hour walk around the lake through highland pastures past yaks, camels and the occasional motorcyclist offering a lift (for a price).

Yak

Geese

The Karakorum highway continues south, close to China's border with Tajikistan and a narrow strip of China's border with Afghanistan and towards the Khyber Pass into Pakistan.  We got as far as Tashkurgan, a Tajik town in the Tajik Autonomous County of China.  Tajiks are distinct in the language and appearance from other central asians: their language is closer to Persian rather than the Turkic languages.  Down the main street of Tashkurgan women were dressed in sequined cylindrical hats covered in scarves.

Tashkurgan

Tajik dress

On the outskirts of town is an old fortress that we could climb all over for a few yuan.  There was no information about what it is or how old, but wikipedia says it dates from the 12-1300s.

Tashkurgan Fortress

Great fortress

Luisa overlooking yurts

Tajiks, like the Kyrgyz, also live in yurts during the summer. We visited a swampy floodplain dotted with them near the fortress.  There were also also fresh water springs and, strangely, electricity and functioning lamp posts coming out of the grass.

Reflective yurt