Kashgar to Tashkurgan County---G314

Night Scene of Kashgar

G314

Someone said that you never know what is gonna happen in next second. I have to admit it is true. Guess what happen？ The friends, who I hiked in Kanas with, they came to Kashgar as well. So we made a group again! Our next target was Tashkurgan!

Tashkurgan, located in eastern part of Pamir Plateau, is one of the Kashgar Prefectures. Most people in Tashkurgan are Tajik people and Uyghur people. Based on Wikipedia, there are two groups in Tajik people. One speaks a variety of Persian (Farsi) and the other one speaks Pamir Plateau dialect. Tashkurgan county is the largest settlement for Chinese Tajik people. Their symbol is eagle. If you comes to Tashkurgan, you will see the Eagle Statue in the center of this small county. They called themselves Eagle's descendants.

We decided to hire a local guide and drive us to Tashkurgan via G314. G314, is the highest paved international road which connects China and Pakistan. It runs about 1,300 kilometers, with an average elevation over 4000 meters. Due to its elevation, someone called this road "Eighth wonder of the world".

Sand Lake

Sand Lake

We were told that the scenery along G314 was fabulous. However, before we left, we were informed that people, who wants to enter Tashkurgan, even Chinese, need to get a border-permit. With that permit, they could be allowed to enter Tashkurgan county,  It seemed that we didn't have a choice. Three of us went to local police department to register and get this done. Luckily, just took a pic and finished some forms. We got that permits. But I mean still, as a Chinese, you cannot travel a normal place in your home-county  which was not reasonable, right?

I have to say that the scenery along G314 was amazing. Sand Lake, Karakul Lake, and Kara Kunlun Range, every piece of it was created by god.

Karakul Lake

Great Memory

We took a lot of pictures and had a rest at Karakul Lake, which has an altitude of 3,600 meters. We had to slow down a little bit in case of altitude sickness.

Unbelievable, Right?

Altitude goes up

Tashkurgan's Border Sign

We were in the K2 Youth Hostel

Finally, we arrived at a newly-open youth hostel in Tashkurgan, called K2 International Youth Hostel. That is  another hostel I highly recommend.