Osh Kyrgyzstan
I should have read the itinerary provided by CBT Kyrgyzstan more carefully. How could I have thought that a guided tour of Osh would be a good idea after six hours in the car? All we needed was a lazy walk to stretch our legs. The kids nearly flipped when they heard that we were Read the Rest…
May Snow in Sary Tash
The road from Irkeshtam Pass to Sary Tash, the first Kyrgyz town of any size, twists and groans up the Pamir Alay. The Pamirs in Tajikistan are visible on your left, the Tian Shan on your right. On the day we passed there was no line between earth and sky, the clouds and the snow Read the Rest…
Crossing Irkeshtam Pass from China to Kyrgyzstan
As we left Kashgar for Osh in Kyrgyzstan I expected a long but fairly uneventful travel day. The reality didn’t deviate too much from my expectations but even with that the experience couldn’t have been further from mundane. It started when the Chinese taxi driver dropped us at the China-side border post. The broad two-story Read the Rest…
Women of Kashgar
One of the things which I found endlessly fascinating in Kashgar, China was the variety of womens’ dress. In the photo above, you can see plenty of Uzbek ikat-patterned sik in blue and purple. Every woman is either wearing a long skirt or has leggings on to cover her legs. Yet even as you notice Read the Rest…
The Road to Pakistan: Upal to Tashkorgan
In the Upal market a man driving sheep passed by. We followed him out of the market proper towards the livestock area. There were three or four guys in white coats sitting by the entrance. Odd, I thought. The lady taking entrance fees waved us through since it was pretty obvious that we weren’t buying Read the Rest…
The Road to Pakistan: Kashgar to Upal
There were police checkpoints all the way out of Kashgar. Our taxi was stopped and re-directed off the main (paved) road on to an unpaved side road. The driver was not happy. We were just back on the main road when we came to a Y fork. A Chinese driver was waved through but our Read the Rest…
Markets in Kashgar
One of our reasons for going to Kashgar was to visit the famous Sunday Market. To get there we wandered through the Old Town and happened into the local fruit-and-vegetable market.
An Afternoon Walk in Kashgar
Kashgar, China. We’d reached the city I’d wondered about for months – reading and learning about its’ history as a trading post between East and West, Chinese, Pakistani, and Central Asian traders for hundreds of years. I wanted to get out, walk around and see for myself. Murph decided to come along too but our Read the Rest…
Western China Yardangs and Handynasty Great Wall
This is a Yardang. A what? I hear you ask? A Yardang is a desert rock formation carved from thousands of years of sand and wind erosion. They look freaky. This one is about three stories tall. I’m so glad I could share that with you, now you won’t have to take a hot, dusty Read the Rest…
Two Weeks In Western China
This is the map I used to describe our intended China itinerary in my brief “Phase III: China” post in early April. What I didn’t mention at the time was how nervous I was about visiting Western China. Pick a concern (food, language, hygiene, transport, possible ethnic violence) and I’m sure I wound myself up Read the Rest…
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