The Karakoram

12th August 2006 – Dun Huang
Our bus slowly squeezed its way through the Pamir Gorge. Flanking us on either side were the barren reddish brownrock cliffs which rose from the river bed like giant sky scrapers, towering hundreds of metres above us. We were on the Karakorum Highway which would take us above 4,000 mtrs to the Pakistan border and past K2, the world's second highest mountain. The landscape was desolate yet astoundingly beautiful and the roar of the river deaferning as it thundered below us: its errosive force relentlessly pounding at the very foundations of the road. It was through terrain like this that in excess of 25,000 Pakistani and Chinese workman had laboured for more than 20 years to forge this 1,300km trade link across the Karakorams.
Small islands of green provided spasmodic grazing for nomadic flocks of sheep and goats while deserted mud brick houses, flat roofed and reminiscent of peasant Spanish or Moroccan styles, clung desperately to the river banks. As we moved higher, huge snow clad mountain peaks pierced the clouds and thin fingers of glacial ice inched their way ever downward: the 'Father of Ice' (7,500 mtrs) has over 30 glaciers making this truely the H.O. for glaciers! At almost 4,000 mtrs the air was cool and chrisp and the sky a hazy blue as we stopped for lunch, Mutton Soup, and bread from our hoast familys own kitchen. It would be near here that we would spend tomorrow evening with local families in their round Teepee like 'Yhert' houses on the shores of a turquiose blue glacial lake before returning to Kashgar on Friday.
Seven years ago we began this journey up the Karakorum from Pishawa in Pakistan and were given a white crystal from K2. Our journey today from the Chinese side somehow compleeted this for us.