Unexpected Experiences
It ended up being spectacular. Easily, my favorite day of the trip so far.
We drove through the Taklimakan Desert and into foothills, stopped in the last
village for melons and the started out assent.
We drove up, and up, and up. Everywhere you looked was
breathtaking. We passed a mountain that
was over 7000 meters and were stopped when a herd of camels blocked the
road. For the last three hours or so I
we were on a gravel road with no shoulder and no guardrail.
The Silk Road in my head
When we finally got to the lake it felt
like I had imagined the Silk Road to feel like.
We were less than 40 km from Kyrgyzstan and a old Kyrgyz woman brought
us into her stone house and let us eat our picnic on her floor. It was one of those singular experiences that
don’t happen all that often as a traveler.
The moment feel important, and important, and I was truly aware of how
lucky I am to be able to travel and meet people like her. We also had the best melon in the history of
all melon. No exaggeration. Honey melon.
Is that a thing? Whatever. We bought it from an old man on the side of
the road and it was infused with magic deliciousness. I don’t even like melon but if you ask me to describe
ambrosia to you now I am pretty sure that I would describe the taste of that
melon.
Somewhere special
We walked along this small mountain lake
every once in a while assuring a local that we didn’t need a ride on his horse,
or yak, or camel. You can feel the
purity of the air, see how clear the water is.
This place is probably visited by thousands of people every year. It isn’t as if it is undiscovered. But there remains that sense of self that
some places retain. As if it is saying
to you, “You do not change me. I shall
remain.” There is construction of a
highway through the pass. In two years
you might be able to drive from Kashgar to Karakul Lake in an hour. I wonder how that will change things.
After
the crowds
The throngs of tourists were gone by
this time. Kashgar is a city just for
us. The locals went about their lives as
we wandered through the old town and the new old town. We peaked into shops where they were making
copper pots, tasted the local honey that one man had brought in on a donkey
cart that morning. Kashgar is an unexpected side of China. My idea of Chinese culture and cities has
been formed by my experience of living in Beijing. But Kashgar reminds you that China brushes up
against Uzbekistan, Kygystan, Kazakstan, Afganistan, and Pakistan.
The mosques were different in style
than I had become used to seeing in Morocco.
I hadn’t realized how similar all the mosques there were until I saw
these. The minarets were different and
there was something about their tile work that reminded me that I was still in
China. In Kashgar they cannot broadcast
the call to prayer. The Mosque relies, as
it has for the last thousand years, on the voice of one man. I notice that when you are that close to the
man doing the call to prayer (What is the correct term? I cannot remember. I will have to look it up.) it becomes much
more personal. He isn’t just doing the
call to prayer. He is doing the call to
prayer for YOU.
The people here looked different. 80 to
90% of the population of Kashgar is Uygur.
This is China’s largest Muslim minority but you can see a thousand
ethnic backgrounds as you look at their faces.
The Uygur ethnicity seems to be a melting pot of all the peoples of the
Silk Road. It reminds you that China
always has one more face to show to you.
The last thing that we did was go the
the Sunday Animal Market. If I was
looking for authenticity, I found it.
Men came in from all over to sell their cows, goats, sheep, donkeys,
horses, and camels. There were sheep
coming in on motorcycles, cows shoved willy nilly into trucks, and goats were
tossed around like hay bales. I got in the way more times than I can count. It was all interesting but you can’t forget
that this is someone’s real life and that you need to make sure you are messing
it up unintentionally. I didn’t see any
outright cruelty but it made me think that it was time to think about becoming
a vegetarian again.
And just like that it was over. We try to quantify the experience as we pack
our bags.
Do you think that travel has something to teach us?
What an incredible experience. I'm currently planning my next expedition, so I'm revelling in reading all the travel posts I can to tide me over until I next get on the plane!
ReplyDeleteIt was amazing. I would go back to Kashgar in a heartbeat. My mother is coming to visit in about a year and a half. Last April she visited and was able to see all the things in Beijing so the next time she comes I want to show her Kashgar.
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