The trip to Tashkurgan and Karakul Lake was really amazing. The scenery was absolutely spectacular: we took the Karakorum Highway there and back. I don't know if I've ever seen grander, more sweeping views of snow-covered mountains, broad grasslands, and desolate deserts. It was really incredible.
People in that part of Xinjiang aren't Uighur, they are Tajiks and Kazakhs (thus dressing and looking differently), and many of them still live as nomads for at least part of the year. There were many still-in-use yurts, surrounded by grazing goats, horses, camels, etc. The driver told me that many of the houses appeared empty because their inhabitants were out on the grasslands for the summer. Tashkurgan has a old castle or fort (it's quite large though so really castle is a better description) which overlooks all of this. We climbed to the top amid its crumbling mud brick walls and could peep through the battlements and arrow slit holes onto the nomad encampments in the valley far below.
No comments:
Post a Comment