Asia Trip - Day 5 (Sunday, August 7, 2011)

Kashgar is an oasis city bordered by Kyrgzstan, Tajikstan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. It is approximately 90% Uyghur, 9% Han Chinese, and 1% other. The majority of Uyghurs are Muslims.

 View of Kashgar from our hotel room.

This is where the recent unrest occurred (Saturday, July 30, 2011), which left 15 people dead. The China government blamed the violence on "terrorist". While we were there, there were trucks driving around the streets with huge speakerphones telling the public to say "no to terrorism". China says one of the terrorist group has links to Al-Qaeda. However, based on our guide, the unrest is more likely due to ethnic tensions between the Uyghurs and Han Chinese. Our guide, a Uyghur, told us there continues to be a lot of discrimination towards Uyghurs. Uyghurs go to different schools than the Han Chinese. Kashgar was also recently approved as a Special Economic Zone. Driving through the city, you can see a lot of new construction. With the new construction, China is trying to attract more Han Chinese to move to Kashgar. With more Han Chinese, this only oppresses the Uyghurs even more, and it seems as if that's what the recent violence has been about.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14356532
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/kashgar-07312011182722.html

Another view of Kashgar from our hotel room. There was construction all over the city. In the back you can see the border of the desert which circles the oasis city. I'm not sure how they're going to get enough water if China is trying to increase the population and development of this city.

Military trucks and soldiers in the square next to our hotel. There were soldiers parading through the streets and security checkpoints for the cars throughout the city. Wasn't brave enough to take pictures of those.

 More soldiers. Wasn't sure if it was a pressurized water gun on top of the car. Statue of Mao Zedong in the background.

Anyways, we missed the Sunday livestock market because we needed to get to Lake Karakuli that day and it's about a 4 hour drive one-way, on mostly unpaved roads. We needed to leave early enough because the glacier melt creates unsafe conditions in the afternoon, cutting rivers through the road, and there's a chance the car may not be able to make it back.

It was an amazing drive to get to Lake Karakuli. Red rock mountains, huge glaciers and snowy mountains in the background, glacier rivers, green meadows, sand dunes, camels, sheep, goats. Wasn't really able to capture the beauty of the place in pictures.

 

Drive to Lake Karakuli via Karakoram highway, which connects China and Pakistan.

 Drive to Lake Karakuli on the Karakoram highway. Camels.

 Drive to Lake Karakuli on the Karakoram highway. Sand dunes next to a glacier lake. View of the left side of the lake.

Drive to Lake Karakuli on the Karakoram highway. View of the right side of the lake. Surreal to have sand dunes on the left and snow-capped mountains on the right.

Drive to Lake Karakuli. Pit stop by the road. Kyrgyz people, an ethnic minority in China.

Drive to Lake Karakuli. Shot out of the car.

Finally got to Lake Karakuli after a long and bumpy ride. There's a security checkpoint along the way, so don't forget to bring your passport if you go. The air is refreshing here compared to the hot stuffy air of Kashgar city.

 Lake Karakuli. Grazing.

Lake Karakuli.

Lake Karakuli.

Lake Karakuli.

Lake Karakuli. The Kyrgyz people selling souvenirs.

Lake Karakuli. Kyrgyz kiddos.

Lake Karakuli. The shops, which looked like these metal storage containers.

Lake Karakuli. A look inside the shops.

Lake Karakuli. The Kyrgyz people live in yurts.

Made the long drive back to Kashgar. Made it back safely. Tried to stop by the livestock market to see if there was anything left.

 All that was left of the Livestock market. Just some sheep in the back. It was also Ramadan during our visit in Kashgar and Urumqi. Almost all Uyghurs are Muslim, so there were probably less people at the Sunday market also.

Called it a day.