China Far West - Kashgar and Shiphton Arch

The famous Kashgar Sunday market in 2001

Kashgar Sunday market in 2001

Kashgar Sunday market 2001

Kashgar in 2001

Kashgar in 2001

Kashgar 2001

Kashgar 2001

Kashgar Sunday market in 2016. The animal market moved to a new location outside the city. It is more organized but it lost some of its character.

Kashgar Sunday market in 2016

Kashgar Sunday market 2016. Also gone are the pigeon sellers. With the modernization the city, the pigeon raising has disappeared.

Kashgar Sunday market in 2016

Kashgar Sunday market in 2016

Kashgar Sunday market in 2016

At the Sunday market in 2016

At the Sunday market in 2016

Kashgar in 2001

Kashgar in 2001

Kashgar in 2001

Streets of Kashgar in 2016

Waiting for my turn

Best shave in Central Asia!

The new “old” Kashgar

A curio shop in Kashgar

A curious shop in Kashgar

One of many eateries serving tea and shashlik

Old Kashgar

Kashgar

Kashgar

China Far West - Pamir and The Tajik Games

The map of the Karakoram Highway (KKH). The northern part of the KKH cuts through the Chinese part of the Pamir Mountians

Muztagh Ata and Karakul Lake

Mt. Kongur

A Tajik Man at Lake Karakul

Inside the yurt near Lake Karakul

The Pamir Highway and the Muztagh Ata

Tashkurgan Fort

In Tashkurgan I was lucky to see the local festival and the Tajik game of Buzkashi (Persian: بزکشی‎, literally "goat pulling" in Persian) is a Central Asian sport in which horse-mounted players attempt to place a goat or calf carcass in a goal. Similar games are known as kokpar, kupkari, and ulak tartysh in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, and as kökbörü and gökbörü in Turkey, where it is played mainly by communities originally from Central Asia.

Buzkashi began among the nomadic Turkic peoples who came from farther north and east spreading westward from China and Mongolia between the 10th and 15th centuries in a centuries-long series of migrations that ended only in the 1930s.

The game consists of two main forms: Tudabarai and Qarajai. Tudabarai is considered to be the simpler form of the game. In this version, the goal is simply to grab the goat and move in any direction until clear of the other players. In Qarajai, players must carry the carcass around a flag or marker at one end of the field, then throw it into a scoring circle (the "Circle of Justice") at the other end. The riders will carry a whip to fend off opposing horses and riders. When not in use - e.g. because the rider needs both hands to steer the horse and secure the carcass - the whip is typically carried in the teeth.

The calf in a buzkashi game is normally beheaded and disemboweled and has 2 limbs cut off. It is then soaked in cold water for 24 hours before play to toughen it. Occasionally sand is packed into the carcass to give it extra weight. Though a goat is used when no calf is available, a calf is less likely to disintegrate during the game. While players may not strap the calf to their bodies or saddles, it is acceptable - and common practice - to wedge the calf under one leg in order to free up the hands.

In Tajikistan and among the Tajik people of Tashkorgan in China's Xinjiang region, buzkashi games are particularly popular in relation to weddings as the games are sponsored by the father of the bride as part of the festivities.

In Tajikistan, buzkashi is played in a variety of ways. The most common iteration is a free-form game, often played in a mountain valley or other natural arena, in which each player competes individually to seize the buz and carry it to a goal. Forming unofficial teams or alliances does occur, but is discouraged in favor of individual play. Often, dozens of riders will compete against one another simultaneously, making the scrum to retrieve a fallen buz a chaotic affair. Tajik buzkashi games typically consist of many short matches, with a prize being awarded to each player who successfully scores a point.

Female Section

Men Section

A Tajik men wearing the traditional hat.

The traditional Tajik dress

Muztagh Ata

Muztagh Ata

Mustagh Ata

Mustagh Ata

Approaching storm over Mt. Kongur

Mt. Kongur

Kongur from East

Kongur

Muztagh Ata

Afgani Lapiz Lazuli. Lapis lazuli has been mined in Afghanistan and exported to the Mediterranean world and South Asia since the Neolithic age, along the ancient trade route between Afghanistan and the Indus Valley, dating to the 7th millennium BCE. Quantities of these beads have also been found at 4th millennium BCE settlements in Northern Mesopotamia, and at the Bronze Age site of Shahr-e Sukhteh in southeast Iran (3rd millennium BCE). A dagger with a lapis handle, a bowl inlaid with lapis, amulets, beads, and inlays representing eyebrows and beards, were found in the Royal Tombs of the Sumerian city-state of Ur from the 3rd Millennium BCE.

The main street in Tashkurgan.

A butcher shop in Tashkurgan

Karakoram Highway in 2001

Chinese Pamir - the road from Kunjerab Pass to Tashkurgan in 2001

Chinese Pamir - border area with Afghanistan in 2001

The ride from Sost Pakistan to Tashkurgan is organized in the special bus. This was back in 2001.

Karakul Lake and Kongur massif in 2001.

Karakul Lake and Muztagh Ata in 2001.

Kunjerab Pass - China - Pakistan border in 2001

Chinese border marker - Kunjerab Pass

My first trip to Kashgar in 2001. It was a memorable trip - our Pakistani guide used us to smuggle Chinese alcohol to Pakistan for the chief of police of the North West Frontier Province. We were whisked through the Pakistani customs and delivered the goods to the chief shortly thereafter. On the way from China, the entire Pakistani bus was full of contraband. The Pakistani merchants gave a bottle of Chinese whisky to the Pakistani guard that stopped and boarded the bus along the way. The guard drank the entire bottle in 30 minutes, quickly passing out. The bus stopped, the guard was carried out and placed on the side of the road and we moved on.

Kunjerab Pass. To get to China, we had to take a special bus from Sost to Tashkurgan with a stop at the Kunjerab Pass. The Pass had no guards or checks. The Chinese customs were in Tashkurgan and the Pakistani customs were at Sost. The bus trip took all day due to stops etc.

Kunjerab Pass

Looking down to Pakistan from Kunjerab Pass

Karakoram Highway from Sost to Kunjerab Pass in 2001.

K2 Basecamp North, Shaksgam Valley Trip Summary

Kashgar – September 6, 2016

After a long and bumpy flight from Canada to Beijing and a long flight across China, I finally made it to Kashgar at 4pm.  I visited Kashgar for the first time in July of 2001 as part of the 6-week trip to Pakistan.  The colorful Sunday bazaar left quite an impression on me and I was taken with the sights and sounds of Western China.  I wanted to return ever since then.

This time, the city was completely unrecognizable from the time I was here in 2001.  The old city with its narrow alleyways was gone.  The new section of the rebuilt old city seemed lifeless at first.  I wandered around with sadness and disbelief but appreciative that I got to see the old Kashgar back in 2001.  I do understand that progress in necessary and that people can’t live in squalor to preserve history.  I guess that such rapid and complete change reinforces the awareness of the inevitable passage of time.  Old memories of the time that has passed.  The old Kashgar lives on in photos and books.  

Soon after I arrived, I managed to get a haircut and a shave and had tea in the same old teahouse that Mike, Joe and I kicked back on large beds and had tea back in 2001.  I have not done much exploring on my first day since I had a few days in Kashgar.  I was really looking forward to exploring it (changes or not) as I missed a few important sights back in 2001.

Kashgar – September 7, 2016

I got up really early due to the time change (I hate dealing with jet lag).  I had an interesting Chinese breakfast at 6am and by 7am I took a taxi to an important Afaq Khoja Mausoleum outside the center (5 km away).  It is the holiest Muslim site in Xinjiang.  The mausoleum was initially built in 1640 as the tomb of Muhhamad Yussuf, a Central Asia Sufi master who had come to this region of China in the early 17th century.

When I got there, the place was still closed so I had to wait for one hour.  All places of worship have become museums in the new China.  Because of this, these places are devoid of life energy and the spirit they embody.  The empty halls had no sign of life or religious activities.  The mausoleum had some beautiful architecture inside and outside the old buildings though, and the characteristic glazed green tile work of central Asia reflected the strong sunlight.  The main hall was quite impressive with the carved wooden columns propping up the roof. 

Next to the main hall, there was a stark Muslim cemetery.  It did not take much time to walk around the entire site to see it all.  The site was surrounded by tall poplar trees characteristic of Kashgar and this particular region.  There were also the new gardens (a new addition, dilapidated even before finished).  There was no one there and it was not very interesting. 

After visiting the mausoleum, I walked back to the city.  It was great to see the locals milling around.  The Uyghur people of Xinjiang are very colorful and represent the spirit of Central Asia for me.  I walked through the old bazar where the animal market used to be held.  It is still a huge bazar with many stalls selling everything under the sun.   I made a mental note to go back to the bazar after the trek. 

After leaving the market, I ended up in the still occupied remains of the old city that have not yet been demolished.   It was a sad almost abandoned and dilapidated ruin that would not be there in a few years.  It obviously did not look good to live in but it was fully occupied.  A Uighur lady invited me in to one of the houses.  It was a dark, windowless, cramped firetrap.  I climbed a cramped ladder to the roof for a better view of the surroundings.  I can see why the Chinese demolished the old buildings.  For starters, it would be impossible for a fire truck or an ambulance to get in.  I am sure that the locals prefer the new to the old as well.  For the tourists and for the nostalgic sense of history, the old is always better.  However it is not a museum but a living city that evolves and develops like the rest of the world.  The state of this last remaining part of the old city was so poor, that I think, it was just left to rot and crumble.  I remember in 2001 that there were entire areas of old Kashgar that looked like that.  Little did I know that the entire scene would not be there in a decade?  

I ended up in the new/old town and noticed that the locals have embraced their new houses and just carry on with their daily business as they did before.  Kashgar is still full of outside bakeries, meat shops, and sellers of all types, hawkers and barbecues smoking up the streets with the smell of shashliks.  The city is extremely atmospheric where the Chinese look like all other foreigners.  It is very interesting just to walk around and observe all the goings on.  

I made my way back to the hotel to rest and resumed my explorations in the afternoon. I wanted to get to a lesser-known site of interest by taxi.  I stopped a taxi on the street and showed the point of interest on the map to the taxi driver.  He could not read Chinese, English or even the map for that matter.  He drove me in the opposite direction and suddenly stopped in the middle of the road totally confused and refused to go any further.  I left his taxi equally confused. 

I flagged another taxi and the same happened.  The driver could not read the map in Chinese or Uighur.  Finally some passerby explained the directions to him and he took me.  He took me part way to the giant Mao monument and I had to walk from there.  The lesser sites were just that, lesser, and not worth the effort at the end.  Very little if anything remains of the original old Kashgar from the books of Shipton. 

Again, I hiked back to the hotel across the town enjoying the new/old city, eating watermelons and shashliks along the way.  It was very enjoyable to just wander around, getting lost in a foreign place and just explore.  A true joy of traveling.  The local bread is to die for.  When it comes from the hot outdoor oven it is extremely tasty and crisp.  It is cheap and filling.  The bread is shaped like a large pizza pie and sometimes it is sprinkled with various spices for taste.  Another staple of the street food are the mutton skewers with onions.  Absolutely delicious.  The melons, grapes, apricots – all sweet, fresh and locally grown.  Also there are many varieties if nuts and sweets.  All very good.  One could spend a week just eating various foods from morning to night.   In the evening, most of the central streets become outdoor restaurants.  The smell of barbecues and the ambiance of the crowds make the food taste better too.  

On the way, I went to the grand mosque in the main square.  The ticket price was 45 RMB!  Wow!  And really, there was nothing inside.  It is good though that the Chinese have not alter the mosque.    

September 8 and 9, 2016 Kashgar

Today the rest of the group arrived in Kashgar.  David, Janik and Walid came from Bishkek.  In the morning we did the city tour as a group.  We basically retraced all the steps I did on my own the day before.  We tried some good local ice cream (having Waheed, our guide, with us opened some new possibilities) and went for lunch to a good local restaurant.   After lunch we went to see the famous Shipton Arch.  It was a very nice drive through the outskirts of Kashgar and into the desert north of the city.  The Arch is the tallest natural rock arch in the world and it is located 70 km outside the city in a very remote and desolate surroundings.  The Arch is 460m tall (the same height as the Empire State Building).  The Arch was made famous in 1947 by Eric Shipton during his tenure as the British consul in Kashgar.  He described it in the book ”Mountains of Tartary”.  The parking was at an elevation of 2,400m. 

We followed a dry riverbed for some distance to a narrow canyon that was very narrow in places (we had to squeeze through it sideways).  The Chinese installed metal stairs in the steepest and the narrowest sections.  Finally after 45 minutes or so, the riverbed turned to the left and the Arch came into view.  We had to climb up the stairs to a grassy saddle to get to the best viewpoint.  The Chinese did a very good job with the trail I must say.  The Arch was much bigger than it looked on the photos that I saw in the National Geographic some years ago.  It was not possible to climb to the top of the arch without ropes, as the walls are vertical in places.  The Arch is orientated in the north south direction making the light for photography challenging.  Walid tried to climb the Arch with his sandals putting himself in a pretty precarious place as we all watched in amazement.  After admiring the Arch for a while and taking some photos, we retraced our steps and drove back to Kashgar in the dusk.

On the 10th we were supposed to go to the Karakul Lake but after driving for 1.5 hours, we arrived at the road blockade and learned that the road ahead was washed away and it was closed for repairs for a few hours each day.  Since the wait for the reopening of the road would have been a few hours, we decided to drive back to Kashgar.   On the way, we stopped at the mausoleum of Al Kashgari a Uyghur scholar from the 12th century who translated the Koran into Turkic language of Central Asia.  The hill behind the mausoleum provided us with some hiking and great views of multi colored canyons around the site.  All in all, a good little hike. 

After arriving in Kashgar, we went for a walk in the new/old city and came across an animal market located just in front of the ruined old original city I visited a few days before.  The old city provided a great backdrop for the animal market.  The dark clouds, the setting sun and the evening light made for some great photos.  It reminded me of the last time that we were here in 2001.  

Tomorrow we depart for the K2 trek!

September 11, 2016 Kashgar – Karglik

Before we departed for our K2 trek, we visited the Kashgar animal market.  The market was held outside the city in a less picturesque venue than in 2001.  It was also removed from the main bazar providing for less people and ambiance.  There were no horses and no horse riders testing the horses before purchase.  We also did not see any pigeon salesmen.  The spirit of the old market though, as I remember it, still lives on.  The place was packed with animal traders.  On the periphery of the main market area there were numerous food stalls serving traditional Uyghur foods including hand-made pasta.  It was fun watching the cooks swing large ropes of the raw pasta in the air.  The watermelon salesmen were scattered around the entire market serving delicious sweet Kashgari melons.  The mountain of rinds was usually an indication of how sweet and good their melons were.  Overall it was a very enjoyable experience with many photo opportunities.  I love this part of the world for its people and their delicious foods. 

After visiting the animal market, we had an uneventful 4-hour drive from Kashgar to Karglik on the Kashgar – Lhasa Highway.  We could see the mountains in the heat haze in the distance for the first time (not Karakorum, perhaps part of the Pamirs). 

Karglik was much more militarized than Kashgar, apparently because it is close to the China Pak border. We walked around town that was just a massive open-air super busy bazaar as the next day there was a Muslim holiday and everyone was out shopping.  The main square area had a great old mosque with prayers in progress as we entered.  The square and the area around the mosque were jammed packed with people shopping for foods, sweets in particular.  The place was hopping. 

We stayed at a sleazy hotel with a karaoke bar.  In my room, I had an assortment of disposable underwear, condoms, lubes and all paraphernalia for a good time.

September 13, 2016 Karglik – Ilik

Today at 9am we left Karglik for Ilik that is around 300 km away.  The drive started in the rain and a thick layer of clouds covered the mountains we drove through.  We were divided into 3 jeeps.  At first, the drive was through the flat desert-like outskirts of Karglik.  After 70 km or so, it became quite dramatic and we started to climb up a steep series of switchbacks to a 4,000m pass with great views over dramatic rocky crags.  We were following a massive Chinese military convoy consisting of at least 100 trucks. I admired their truck and how rugged they were to handle such challenging roads. 

The scenery could rival the Karakorum Highway (KKH) in Pakistan in its drama and grandeur.  From the high pass we descended into the Kun Lun Mountains through a series of serpentine switchbacks.  The further we drove, the better the scenery became.  We drove through deep and steep canyons, steep mountains with extremely rugged peaks, dry and inaccessible.  In some places, the scenery was even more dramatic than the KKH except it did not have the Indus River raging below us. 

As we drove further south, the scenery became even more dramatic.  At a rundown truck stop called Mazar we left the main Xinjiang – Tibet Highway and turned south towards the Karakorum mountain range.  We drove in a deep canyon of the Yarkand River surrounded by steep and massive mountains of the Karakorum Range.  After the last military checkpoint, we arrived in Ilik village. 

We settled into the house of the village Imam Daniel.  We all slept in a large room on a sea of carpets.  After a good dinner and a beer, we were off to bed at 8 pm.  I felt like I was on a high school trip sharing a big communal room with my trek mates. 

September 14, 2016 walk from Ilik to Susukoshulush Alt 3,750, 20 Km, 35C, 22,470 steps

We got up early and David and I went for a great walk up the Yarkand River valley.  The rising morning sun provided us with great light for photos.  The area felt wild and remote.  It was a great feeling that we were finally on the doorstep of the Karakorum. 

After the walk, we watched the camel men arrive and assemble the loads for the camels.  We had 10 camels (including a baby camel in training), a dog and couple of donkeys.  The camels were handled by 3 men who took care of them.  The men were:

Ushukar or Ushur who was 60 years old and as agile as a cat, he had been a camel man since K2 was first opened to foreign expeditions by the Chinese in the late 70s early 80s,

Amed – 31 years old,

Idris – 19 years old.

The name of the head camel was Karbugra.  The head camel is important as he sets the tone for the entire caravan.  As the head camel goes, the other camels follow.

The name Karakorum means Great Rock in the Turkic language (Kara means great and Korum means rock). 

Our chef was a Kirgiz man and his name was Abdul Karim.  Our guide, Waheed, was the owner of the agency that organized this trip and he was a Uyghur from Kashgar.  The name of the agency was Silk Road Expeditions.  David and I used their services just a few months prior on a trip through the Taklamakan Desert.

The camel caravan was a unique part of this trek.  Such mode of transport is not found in the Pakistani Karakorum or in Nepal.  I like these graceful animals and walking along the caravan made us feel like true explorers.  I was looking forward to taking great photos of the caravan along the way.   The caravan of camels in the rugged surroundings of the Karakorum Mountains made for a fine combination. 

The great walk of today started at 9 am.  We walked up a broad valley with dramatic scenery of the river below.  We could see glaciated peaks not too far away. 

The sandstone cliffs above the river were at least 50m high. The weather was very nice:  scattered clouds, blue sky and a lot of hot sun.  Everyone in the group was gelling very nicely.  We all walked at our own speed.

We arrived at a good campsite located at the bottom of a dry river channel.  The sandstone cliffs towered at least 50m above the campsite.  These cliffs are an interesting feature of the dry landscape of the north side of the Karakoram and are not found on the Pakistani side. 

I was quite tired at the end of the day too.  It was hot and being the first day, I did not feel quite acclimatized yet to handle all day of walking at 3,700m.  I had a little headache all night but it disappeared in the morning.  Fiume, a Chinese lady from Vancouver, fell flat on her face at the end of the day, dead tired. 

September 15, 2016 walk from Susukoshulush to Aghil Pass camp at 4,250m 14 Km, 18,680 steps

The day started with crossing of numerous small streams and rivers.  For the first 2 hours we continuously crossed water: sit, change boots to crocks, back to boots and repeat.  At some point I just gave up the boots and walked in the crocks.  The trail ascended a river valley up to a narrowing in a deep canyon.  Then, the trail took a sharp turn to the right and climbed up a tributary stream coming down from another narrow valley.  Rugged mountains surrounded us and the dark rain clouds on the horizon indicated that it could start raining at any time.  The weather was unsettled and it did snow later that night.

The walk seemed longer than it really was.  Eugenie had a mental breakdown in the camp and Fuime was totally done (maybe from altitude issues).  She actually arrived at least two hours behind everyone else.   She was sent down with one of the camel boys back to Ilik the following day.  Although the terrain was relatively flat, it was very rugged.  Combined with the heat and dust, the effort was just too much for Fuime. 

Once we arrived at the camp, I went for a little acclimatization climb.  The hill turned into vertical red rocks quite fast so I could only go up a few hundred meters.  The view from the highest point was great never the less.  The stormy sky provided great ambiance for photos.  From the high point I watched Waheed and Fuime arrive in the camp late and very slowly.

The night was quite cold and it rained and then snowed.  The rain clouds descended all the way to the bottom of the valley and it did not look good for the pass crossing.  The tent was covered in frost inside and it was totally wet.  Since we were sheltered from the sun by high mountains, nothing dried in the morning. 

September 15, 2016 Aghil Pass camp – Aghil Pass – Shagskam River camp 1 3,940m, 30km, 39,000 steps. Cold and windy on the pass.

We got up at 6 am (before sunrise).  Due to the altitude I woke up a few times during the night.  It was difficult to sleep at 4,250m since I was not yet fully acclimatized.  From our camp, it took 2.5 hours to get to the Aghil Pass at 4,750m.  The pass is quite broad and open but vey windy.  It is flanked by mountains with hanging glaciers on both sides.  It felt really special to be there given the history of exploration associated with it.  The view from the pass was excellent to the north Gasherbrum Glacier and peaks that I mistakenly thought were the Gasherbrum. 

The famous Shakskam Valley was down below and I was happy to be finally here.  The scenery was very grand but different from the Pakistani side.  Although we were not on glaciers, the dry river valley flanked by needle like mountains was very dramatic.  The descent from the pass to the Shakskam River was very, very long.  By the time we descended to the river itself through a weakness in the sandstone cliff, it was late afternoon.  We crossed the Shakskam River on camels for the first time, the experience that I found to be quite unnerving. 

The camels were attached to one another forming a long train with the camel man riding a donkey in front, pulling the head camel by a spike in the camel’s nose.  We all sat on top of loaded camels on unstable bundles of bags tied to each of the camels by ropes.  Once the camels started to move, the entire pyramid of stuff with us on top swayed back and forth and sideways and shook, making it feel very unstable. We arrived at the sandy camp quite tired and late.  It was a very long day. 

September 16, 2016 Shakskam River camp 1 to Shakskam River camp 2 plus hike to K2 viewpoint.  40,000 steps 3,950m.

In the morning we were told that today we would have many camel assisted river crossings.  Somehow, the camels went ahead.  I separated form the group and crossed the Shakskam River myself following the camel train.  During the day I crossed many channels but only once I felt uncomfortable with the murky cold water of the Shakskam River.  The experience of crossing many rivers in the Arctic came in handy today.  I actually found the experience of crossing the river fun, as I had to look for the best place to cross, like a puzzle. 

Once I got to the other side of the main Shakskam River channel and caught up with the camel train, I realized that there was one more main channel to cross and it looked too deep for my comfort.  I hopped on the camel and before I knew it, I was on the other side.   Once I dismounted, I saw our group in the distance in great agitation running up and down by the riverbank.  Obviously someone fell in the river.  I alerted the cook who had a minimal understanding of English to ask the camel men to go and help.  They however, had prayers to take care of first.  They dropped to the ground in the middle of the stone covered valley of the Shakskam and started their prostrations to Allah.  After 15 minutes or so, they went back to retrieve the group from the other side of the river. 

As the camels with the group members made their way across the main channel, I watched as David fell of his camel backwards and landed in the river on top of his backpack.  Then Mike almost fell off too, hanging by his fingernails.  He looked very precarious and he was barely hanging on.  It turned out that Eugene fell in the river while trying to cross it and was swept away.  Walid and Gilles jumped in and helped her out of the water.  After the adventure, it was another hour to the camp. 

As we were approaching the camp, I saw a trail snaking up a hillside in the distance.  After arriving in the camp at 15:30, I asked Walid if he wanted to go up and see what was up there.  On the map it looked like we could get to the top of one of the mountains flanking the river valley.  We climbed up to a series of ridges that formed a pass between the Shakskam River Valley and the Muztagh River Valley where the Chinese BC was.  From the top of that pass, we got our first incredible view of K2.  It looked impossibly steep and high.  It was partially covered in swirling clouds.  We could also see the entire area around the Chinese BC, the surrounding mountains and up the Sarpo Lago Valley.  A grand panorama in a great late afternoon light.  As it was getting late and quite windy, we turned around and made our way back to the camp.  It was a fine hike. 

Along the way I found a skull and horns of a Himalayan Blue Sheep.  I took it, although it was quite heavy, to give to Gilles.  He was not too keen on taking it, but Walid wanted it. He put it in his duffel bag only to later drop it from fear of an airport search. 

September 17, 2016 Shakskam River Valley2 to Shipton Camp (Chinese BC) 20 km, 3,850m

We started in brilliant sunshine and beautiful weather.  It was supposed to take only 3 hours to the Chinese BC but it actually took us 7-8 hours with a river crossing at the very end.  The last few hours were on the flat never-ending stone plane.  It was quite tiring and boring, like walking across a massive gravel pit. 

We had to cross the Shakskam River a few more times.  Once we rounded a corner, the beautiful pyramid of K2 appeared again in the distance.  As before, K2 was towering over the entire range and the glacier below.  After we turned from the main Shakskam Valley, the Muztagh River stretched before us on the large gravel plain.  Three large valleys feed the Muztagh River Valley:  the K2 Glacier Valley, the Sarpo Lago Glacier Valley and the Crevasse Glacier Valley.  The Sarpo Lago Glacier is very long and terminates at the Trango Pass in Pakistan (the very pass used by Shipton to enter this region from British India).  The Crevasse Glacier leads ultimately to Shimshal Pass, also in Pakistan.  The K2 Glacier is the one we were supposed to explore.  The rivers draining each of the massive glaciers are large.  The Sarpo Lago Glacier and the Crevasse Glacier flow from large ice fields at their upper ends.  This is the wildest and the most rugged high mountain area in the world.  The best area in the world for trekking, climbing and exploration.  It remains the least explored mountain range in Asia. 

After today's walk, I was quite exhausted.  The walk was much longer than expected and the heat that was beating us down added to the tiredness.  The river draining the K2 Glacier was the last obstacle before we reached the camp.  It was fast moving and turbulent but not too wide or deep.  One of the camel men was waiting for us at the river with a donkey and a camel.  Mike crossed on the donkey without a problem.  When I got on the donkey, my long legs basically dragged under the donkey in the water, hitting the boulders in the river.  It was quite amusing to everyone.  I probably could stand up straight over the donkey and the small donkey could just walk under me.  I should have just walked across the river with my boots on and the result would have been the same. 

Once we crossed the river, it was another mile or so to the camp proper.  We were getting increasingly impatient to arrive at the camp as we run out of energy.  We walked by the memorials dedicated to climbers who died on the K2’s north face:  Chinese, Japanese and Russian. 

Finally we reached the camp that was situated in a large oasis full of small bushes with lush green grass and a clear stream flowing through it.  The Sarpo Lago Valley and the Crevasse Glacier were visible from our camp.  Shipton and Tillman used the same camp during their exploration of this region in 1937.  It was a beautiful spot with green grass and wonderful views all around. 

September 18, 19, 20, 21, 2016 K2 Glacier 25 km each way 4,700m

We started the walk to the K2 glacier after lunch and walked to the Pakistani BC at 4,000m over a large hill right behind the camp.  We walked in beautiful weather.  As we reached the top of the hill, the view to the K2 glacier and K2 at the end of it, opened up.  The black snout of the K2 Glacier with the K2 River emerging from under the glacier was right below us.  The descent to the Pakistani BC was down a steep moraine on a very narrow path with a 100m vertical drop to the rocks below.  It took us 3 hours to get there.  At the Pakistani BC a German group set up their kitchen tent that we borrowed to eat dinner and breakfast the next day.  In the evening we had a fabulous view of the sunset on the K2 pyramid.  The night was clear and cold.

The following day, Mike and Eugene decided to return to the Chinese BC and after they left, we continued on to the Italian BC.  At first, we had to cross a field of very large wobbly boulders, then up a rotten moraine that partially collapsed in a recent landslide.  We finally reached the Italian BC after 3 hours of uphill walking.  The Italian BC is situated at 4,350m.  The view from this spot was magnificent.  K2 was visible from the bottom to the top towering over the K2 glacier directly in front of us.  We pitched our tents on an elevated platform above the glacier and facing K2.  After lunch we went for a two-hour walk further up the valley to scope up the way for the following day.  The passage forward looked shaky, the moraine was steep and partially covered by recent landslides.  The glacier was quite broken up.  Gilles and Walid went ahead and scoped up a route for the following day of exploring. 

The next day we left at 9am and started walking up the narrow valley beside the K2 glacier.  The terrain was quite challenging, as we had to negotiate numerous landslides with the broken black K2 glacier to our left.  The towers of ice above us were 20-30 m high and were becoming more and more jumbled the further we went.  After 3 hours we finally reached a moraine and the side glacier that blocked any further passage. 

On the right hand side there was a large hanging glacier descending steeply over a rock cliff ultimately connecting to the K2 Glacier.  This side glacier consisted of huge jumbled crevices that were impassible.  In front of us, the K2 Glacier was heavily broken up and was joined by other large glaciers in the distance flowing down from the Chongtar Amphitheatre.  The peak of Chongtar II South, 7,180m and Chongtar I, 7,315m was right in front of us.  We were now 155km from the starting point of our trek and 7 to 10 km from the base of K2.  Yet, the mountain was huge and seemed to rise vertically in front of us.  As Tillman said:  “attracting with its grandeur and repelling with isolation”.  We spent a good hour with Walid admiring the views. 

After some time, the rest of our group appeared in the distance:  Gilles, David, Janik and Waheed were sitting 800m away and not moving any further.  Finally, Walid and I decided to go down and meet with them.  Once we got to them after 25 minutes of walking, they were quite upset that we run ahead of them.  We offered to take them back to the viewpoint where we were a short while before.  It was a good thing that we went back as the lower afternoon light was much better for photos.  We lingered there until 4.30pm and then went back to our camp at the Italian BC. 

On the way back to the tent I saw a good photo op that required me to descent a steep moraine to a pool of water reflecting the pyramid of K2.  Once I got down, it was impossible to get back up and I had to continue down in a narrow water filled gully squeezed between the steep moraine and the glacier itself.  I got back to the tent just before it got dark, wet and quite tired.  Waheed and Janik got stuck in the dark without headlamps and we had to guide them with lights and shouting indicating the location of the camp in total darkness.

The following day, we almost run out of gas for cooking before we started our descent back to the Chinese BC.  All in all, we had great 4 days of exploring and definitely it was the highlight of the entire trek.  After all, this is why we came here:  to see the K2 and the K2 Glacier.  We were very lucky with a spell of such fine weather and awesome views of K2.  I was not so lucky in Pakistan in 2001 when the entire mountain was covered in clouds. When I was at the K2 BC on the Pakistani side, it rained. 

As we were descending down to the Pakistani BC, the K2 was hidden behind a thick cloud cover.  It looked like it was snowing further up the K2 Glacier where we came from. 

The forecasts that Dreena sent me via the sat were quite accurate.  I really wished that I had more time to explore this fantastic region and I felt rushed to had to go down so soon.

Once we arrived back at the Chinese BC we were quite tired.  We had 9 days of nonstop walking over the distance of 200+ km.  I took the afternoon to wash up and wash some of my clothes as well. 

September 22, 2016 Rest Day – Hike to Sarpo Lago Valley

Today was a rest day for some but I decided to go and check out the Sarpo Lago Valley that we saw in the distance.  This basin is such a great area to walk around and explore.  The entire area is huge and it would take a couple of weeks to properly see it.  The entrance to the valley looked near but once I started to walk, it did not seem to get any closer for a long time.  I walked for 8km by myself to see if I could get to the snout of the Sarpo Lago Glacier but I clearly underestimated the distances.  I could see the Crevasse Glacier across the Muztagh River and a sea of massive peaks lining its sides.  It all beaconed to me and I wished so much that I had more time to go there.  Later I asked Waheed about a possibility to do an exploratory trek there and he told me that the Chinese would not issue a permit for it. 

I was surrounded by distant storms that provided excellent backdrop for some dramatic photos.  One of the mountains had a dark cloud forming on its summit that made it look like a steaming volcano.  I enjoyed the walk very much, the silence, the solitude and sense of exploration.  There were no people around us for at least 100km radius.  It was a true mountain wilderness.  I returned to the camp at 6pm just in time for dinner.

September 23, 2016 Chinese BC to Shakskam River camp 2. 17.8 km, 28,000 steps

Today felt like a long day mainly because I was getting tired.  We were now approaching 200km mark (with my extra 20km walk the day before).  The morning weather was brilliant allowing us to get the last view of K2 in the morning sun and blue sky.  From the distance, K2 looks much higher and steeper.  It is like a giant tooth, steep, almost vertical.

At lunch David and I caught up with the group and Walid was missing.  We shouted and looked for him and got quite worried.  Waheed, the guide, went looking for him and while he was gone, we spotted Walid far away with binoculars.  Mike got really angry, as it was not the first time that Walid just took off without telling anyone. 

As I am writing this at the dinner table at the camp, the two Ws are not here yet and are at least 1.5 hours behind.  We had to cross many rivers today and ride the camels that were wobbly and unstable.  The camel men would not wait for no one and we basically had to follow them leaving Waheed to look for Walid.  During one of the river crossings, I fell of a camel and jumped back just in time avoiding a wipe out.  The second time, the old camel man plopped me on the most unstable load in the caravan.  I ended up sitting on a blue plastic crate that was tied to the mountain of bags 15 feet off the ground.  Just when we reached the edge of the Shakskam River, the crate rolled throwing me off and again I jumped off just in time.  Had it been a few seconds later, I would have ended up in a fast flowing river.  I was officially done with the camel riding.

When the camel begins to cross the river, it steps down from the bank into the river channel.  The bank is 1 - 2 feet high.  The camel moves down and forward stepping off the bank, making the cargo shift forward as well.  One has to hold on for dear life in order not to fall forward.  When the camel exists the river the motion is repeated in reverse and the movement is backward.  One has to hold on very tight not to slide off the camel.  The entire process is like riding a rodeo horse in slow motion but sitting on a mountain of unstable cargo and surrounded by a fast flowing river. 

When Waheed finally found Walid, they realized that they were left without a donkey or a camel for river crossings.  It was now late afternoon and the river’s volume increased.  Walid’s legs are quite long but poor Waheed is like a blue expedition barrel:  round and maybe 5 feet tall with short legs.  Any river crossing without a camel would be quite a challenge for him.  When the river was swollen, it was almost impossible.  It took the two Ws a few hours to find shallower channels to cross without the aid of the animals.  Walid arrived first and was pretty shaken up.  He damaged his phone by getting it all wet in the deep river.  He did apologize to everyone though and all was forgiven rather quickly.  Mostly, we were just happy that no one was hurt. 

After the arrival and reconciliation, we were watching one of the determined camels escape his captivity and run down the valley almost the entire distance covered by us today.  We were rooting for the camel and cheering him to run all the way to Pakistan where he would be free and could roam the valleys.  Unfortunately for him (but good for us) he was captured and brought back were a lesson of submission was waiting for him from the head camel man.  It was established who was in charge.  The camels are quite feisty and have big personalities:  aloof and proud but stubborn.  Every one of them is different.

September 24, 2016 Shakskam River camp 2 to Shakskam River camp 1

After making up and group hugs (mainly spearheaded by our acting morale officer Gilles), we were all friends again.  We had many river crossings again but I was dead set against getting back on one of the camels.  I decided to cross the river on my own and David followed me. He was done with camel riding as well.  At one point we got to a spot that seemed impossible to cross.  The main channel of the river was fast and deep.  I managed to get across but poor David lost his footing and I had to catch him before he floated away.  We were quite fashionable walking down the Shakskam Valley in nothing but our underwear. 

After a long day and many river crossings, we made it out of the Shakskam Valley to a new campsite overlooking the massive jagged peaks across the river.  Right next to our campsite, there was an entire hill made from red and gold sandstone.  It was a great contrast to the white snow higher up making for some great photos. 

September 25, 2016 Shakskam Valley camp – Aghil Pass – Aghil Pass camp

The walk up the Aghil Pass was tiring and long.  At the top of the pass I decided to wait for the camel train to take photos with the views of the camels and the mountains behind.  The wind was blowing like hell and it was bitterly cold.  I parked myself behind a rock wall and enjoyed the magnificent view from the pass sheltered from the fierce wind.  I waited for at least 40 minutes in this bitter wind and froze my ass off.  When the caravan arrived, I saw Janik and Brigitte riding the camels.  I was wandering how could they stay warm sitting atop a camel in this wind?

The pass, although wide, is surrounded by steep mountains and hanging glaciers.  Just across the crest of the pass, there is a small lake that was mentioned in the Shipton’s book.  The plateau around the Aghil Pass is very scenic.  The descent seemed longer and I walked most of the distance by myself.  I was surrounded by such grand scenery on all sides.  It was sad to leave this place behind.  

September 26, 2016 Walk down to River camp 1

Today we started yet again in beautiful weather.  We left the Aghil Pass and the valley behind.  We stopped at a Kirgiz herder’s hut and purchased a young sheep to cook later in the evening.  It was quite expensive ($100 US).  The two Kirgiz girls manning the camp stay there for 8 days until a replacement comes up from the village.  They live in a very basic stone hut with minimal provisions.  We had tea and watched the camel man kill the young sheep in a fast and efficient manner. 

Later that evening we had a great fire with skewers of mutton from the sheep.  The meat was excellent.  We ate under the sky filled with magnificent stars and the Milky Way stretching across the firmament.  The trek was almost done as the following day we would reach the road and meet our ride back to Kashgar.   

This side of the Karakorum is very different from the Pakistani side:  it is lower in elevation (4000m as opposed to 5000m); it is warmer and much drier.  It is nice not to sleep on ice and glaciers.   

 September 27, 2016, finish and drive to Karglik

We walked for an hour to reach the waiting jeeps.  We had a beautiful drive over the Kun Lun Mountains with fantastic views in great weather again.  The drive through the mountains rivals the Karakoram Highway on the Pakistan side.  It is almost better as there is no danger from terrorism.  I remember when Ghulam (our guide in Pakistan) hired a driver to take us from Islamabad to Skardu.  The driver looked like Osama Bin Laden and was hired for our protection.  Ghulam reasoned that if any thug or a terrorist would see him driving, we would pass safely without being stopped.  This was all that Ghulam could do at the time. 

On the way to Karglik we stopped at a 5,000m pass for some spectacular photos over the Kun Lun range.  The road we were traveling winds down the mountains like a giant serpent.  The drive to Karglik took 9 hours over the distance of almost 300km. 

The following day, we drove from Karglik to Kashgar via Yarkand.  Yarkand is a famous Silk Road town that we wanted to see since we were driving by it anyway. 

In Yarkand, we drove to the historical center and walked around the old town.  It was worth seeing due to its historical significance.  We walked by the Royal Tombs, the main Mosque and through the old alleys.  After the short visit we left for a rather boring drive back to Kashgar through flat desert.  Kashgar was 550 km from Ilik. 

In Kashgar we took care of some last minute shopping and then everyone left to his or her respective destinations.  I had another short excursion planned:  Pamir and Tashkurgan.  When we visited this area in 2001, I felt like we did not spend enough time along the Chinese stretch of the Karakoram Highway.  Since I was already in Kashgar, I wanted to revisit it. 

Summary of the trek:

278 km total distance walked plus 20to Sarpo Lago Valley and 5 to K2 view point = 300km

20 km a day on average

8,000m total ascent and descent

Temperature range from plus 38C to minus 8C

4,900 maximum altitude

40 river crossings

K2 Glacier is 43 Km long

Chinese K2 (BC North), Shaksgam Valley - Chinese Karakoram

The incredible Western China - Xinjiang home of the Karakoram Mountains and the mighty K2

Xinjiang and on the horizon the Tien Shan Mountains of Kirgistsan

Western China - Xinjiang

The incredible Xinjiang

Xinjiang

Tien Shan Mountains of China

Tian Shan Mountains of China

Tian Shan Mountains of China

Tian Shan Mountains of China

The Tian Shan Mountain Range of China

Tian Shan Mountains

Tian Shan

Beautiful mountains near Urumchi. Bogda Peak or Bogda Feng is the highest mountain in the Bogda Shan range, in the eastern Tian Shan mountains, China, at 5,445 m and the northernmost 5,000 m or higher peak in Eurasia.

For information regarding the Aghil Pass see here

The Xinjang - Tibet Highway

Kunlun Mountains and the "Kashgar - Tibet" Highway

Kunlun Mountains

The Kunlun Mountains

The Xinjiang - Tibet Highway

The road from Mazar to Ilik though north Karakoram Mountains

The north Karakoram

Yarkand River in Ilik

The Karakoram around Ilik

Ilik - the camels arrived

Start of our trek - the north Karakoram mountains

The awesome deep gorges of Northern Karakoram

The camel caravan in the river bed of North Karakoram mountains

The gorges of the north Karakoram - near Aghil Pass

Near the Aghil Pass

The approach to the Aghil Pass

The approach to the Aghil PAss

The approach to the Aghil Pass

The last camp before the Aghil Pass

Aghil Pass

The high Karakoram from the Aghil Pass

The view from the top of Aghil Pass towards the Shagskam River Valley and the main Karakoram Range

Descending the Aghil Pass

The Shagskam River Valley

Preparing to cross the Shakgskam River

Our caravan in the Shakskam River valley

Shagskam River Valley

Shagskam River Valley

These mountains make you feel so small

Crossing one of the main channels of the Shagskam River

In the summer, the entire valley is filled with water

The view of the Shagskam River Valley that we followed to get to K2

The Shagskam River Valley

View of the Chinese Base Camp - the last non glacier camp before K2 glacier

K2 - the steep north ridge

The Chinese BC and K2 (on the left)

Looking west down the Shagskam River valley - the area is closed to trekking by the Chinese army

Sarpo Lago River valley

K2 - 4km of rock

North Ridge of K2

The confluence of the Shagskam and the Sarpo Lago RIvers

Approaching the K2 Glacier

K2 Glacier and K2

K2 Glacier

K2 Glacier and Italian BC, K2 in the distance

The Italian BC on the K2 Glacier

K2 - the north face and the north ridge

The Italian BC on the K2 Glacier

A side glacier flowing into the K2 Glacier

K2 and a side glacier

Mountains along the K2 Glacier

Skyang Kangri 7545m at the end of the side glacier flowing to the main K2 North Glacier

Skyang Kangri and K2

Skyang Kangri 7545m

Skyang Kangri 7545m

K2, Pakistan is on the other side

Unnamed peaks 7174m and 7152m. On the right, Peak 6639m

Unnamed peaks 7174m and 7152m.

The memorial to disappeared climbers of K2 north

At the memorial to the climbers who died on K2’s North Face

Looking down the Sarpo Lago River valley

Crevasse Glacier

The lower section of The Crown is visible on the right

Looking up to the Sarpo Lago Glacier

Skamri Glacier Valley

Peaks above Skamri Glacier

Approaching Aghil Pass

Aghil Pass

We stopped for tea at a local herder’s hut

North Peru Chachapoyas Trip Report

August 2/3, 2016 Lima/Callao Peru

We arrived in the port of Callao on a cold and gloomy morning by ship from New York.  The sky was overcast and the misty low clouds shrouded the coastal mountains with fog.  The port of Callao is far from the city center by bus or taxi.  It is thankfully close to the airport and that’s where I was heading.  At the airport I met Keith and his girlfriend Kathy, my companions for this part of the journey to Northern Peru.  Our plan was to explore the lesser know archeological sites near the city of Chachapoyas.  

The city of Chachapoyas is named after an ancient culture of the Chachapoyans that inhabited this region of the Andes.  Little is known about them and what is known comes from the accounts of the Spaniards who made the first contact with the Chachapoyans during their conquest of the Inca Empire.  The region contains many undiscovered archeological sites that are less known than those around Cusco but not less fascinating or interesting.  The region is also not as developed and the tourist infrastructure is in its infancy.   English is not spoken and some knowledge of Spanish is necessary.  

The city of Chachapoyas is located 450km inland from the Pacific northern coast of Peru.  To get to it, one needs to travel by bus through the Andes.  There is no airport or railway line so the bus is the only way to go.  

After an uneventful flight from Lima to Chicklayo, the starting point for our bus journey, we landed at the half civilian and half military airport.  There were many military jets housed under concrete canopies to protect from the ever-present dust and the hot sun.  

We were met by a friendly driver who was waiting for us on the instructions from Ernesto, the agency owner from Chachapoyas who was organizing this trip for us.  

The driver took us to the bus terminal (a small one for one bus company only).   We checked in for our journey to Chachapoyas, left our bags and went for dinner in the center of town.  Our first impression of Chiclayo was that is was not a tourist town although the nearby Llayanbeque is where the famous museum of Sipan and Moche Cultures is located.  We would explore it on our way back from Chachapoyas. 

We walked around Chicklayo in the diminishing daylight.  The town was busy with the evening rush hour traffic.  The main square had a beautiful municipal palace and a colonial church, which were nicely restored.   It was a typical South American Plaza de Armas:  old men sitting around, ladies walking arm in arm for an evening stroll, homeless dogs waiting for scraps and vultures circling overhead.  As it was getting dark we headed to the recommended restaurant for dinner.  We had a good local food as recommended by the driver.  

We got back to the bus station at 9pm for the overnight bus to Chachapoyas, located 450km inland and 10 hours away.  The bus was surprisingly very good.  We sat in the lower deck in the executive class with reclining seats.  It was clean and comfortable and after the obligatory loud movie and food we dosed off until we almost reached our destination.  

August 3, 2016 Chachapoyas and Kuelap

We arrived in Chachapoyas quite tired after the overnight bus journey.  At the bus station we were met by Ernesto and his driver.  He took us to the hotel “Villa de Paris” where we checked in and left our bags.  The hotel was a beautiful property consisting of a few small buildings with rooms. Flowers and green trees surrounded the property.  We had two hours to unpack and rest before we would start our explorations.  

After two hours Ernesto collected us to go to the ancient fortress of Kuelap.  The fortress is located at an altitude of 3,000m on top of a ridge.  In the Peruvian Andes, high ridges and mountaintops are the usual location of ancient ruins.  It is often the location of the ruins that makes them so special.  Kuelap was no different.   The mountain road leading to the citadel of Kuelap snaked along a valley with steep mountains on both sides.  The bottom of the valley was at least 1000m down the steep drop-off from the road.  Along the way, we passed by a construction site of the Swiss made cable car that will take tourists to the fortress bypassing the road.  Although it will make the trip faster, it will also diminish the feel of remoteness, which makes thus place special.  

We arrived at the ridge top around noon under gray sky and rain-threatening clouds.  There were no other foreign tourists at all, only a few Peruvians. From the parking lot we had to hike up to the imposing 30 feet high walls surrounding the citadel of Kuelap.  The site has only one accessible entrance through the ancient gate to the city.  The site is not thoroughly excavated and hides many mysteries and secrets under the tick vegetation.  

The citadel of Kuelap was built between 600 and 900 years before Machu Picchu.  It’s located on a higher mountain and is a larger than Machu Picchu.  Just 30 years ago the trek from Kuelap to the nearest road took a staggering two months to complete. 

The citadel is surrounded by steep walls and has only two entrances allowing access.  One of the entrances is crumbling and the walls in this area were reinforced with timber beams.  It is not safe to use so only one access point remains.   In its glory days, it is estimate that 5000 people lived inside the citadel. The inhabitants were known as the Cloud Warriors.  The Cloud Warriors were conquered by the Incas in 1470 (who in turn were conquered by the Spanish 70 years later).  

The citadel of Kuelap was very interesting.  Not much is known about the Chachapoyans and to this day, the exact purpose of the citadel is not known.  The Chachapoyans had contact with the Spanish and the Incas.  They actually aligned with the Spanish to fight against the Incas.  We wandered around the ruins and the rebuilt circular houses of the Chachapoyans.  There is also one Inca structure of unknown origin and purpose.  One distinguishing feature of the Chachapoyan architecture is the geometrical pattern on the circular houses symbolizing the jaguar and snakes (the animals which were revered for their strength).   

After Kuelap we stopped for late lunch in a small town where Keith had his first coy (Guinea Pig, also the food of the ancient Chachapoyans).  Later that day we ended up in a local coffee shop in the main square of Chachapoyas for excellent coffee, pisco sour and an apple pie. 

August 4, 2016 Chachapoyas and Karaja

Today we went to a mountain burial site of Karaja.  The journey from Chachapoyas took 2 hours by car followed by an hour walk through cornfields.  

Karaja is an old burial site located on a steep ravine.  The sarcophagi of Karaja are often used as a symbol of the tourism in the region.  They are very striking in their design.  They are 2.5 meters tall effigies of human figures with characteristic faces reminiscent of the Rapa Nui Moai statues.  They are painted in white and red and adorned with human skulls.    

Unfortunately, the sarcophagi located on the cliff have been looted – a common occurrence in Peru.   It was hard to see the sarcophagi from the bottom of the cliff and I had to use my log telephoto lens to get a better view.  This was probably the least interesting of all the sites around Chachapoyas.  It is a long drive from the city and the site is actually very small.  Never the less, the story surrounding the site and the difficulty of access to the sarcophagi is worth seeing.  At the bottom of the cliff we saw a bundle of human bones that were dropped by the looters as they opened the burial sites on the cliffs.  It was interesting to see the country site along our drive and to see the small town near the archeological site.  We had a chance to meet some locals and have lunch at one of the local eateries.  The site is not developed for tourism at all and does not offer any amenities.   

After our excursion we had a nice dinner in an asado restaurant in Chachapoyas. We ate some mystery meats, drank cold beer and listened to live Peruvian music.  All that for $15 for 4 people!  Obviously the mass tourism and its prices have not arrived here yet.  The town of Chachapyas does not have any visible signs of affluence, no fancy shops, no expensive restaurants or fancy cars.  Everything is inexpensive and the people here are very nice, down to earth and friendly.  It is more similar to Bolivia and very different from Cusco.  It is also safe with almost no violent crime.  The city of Chachapoyas was established at the same time as Lima.  Wile Lima grew to a multi million metropolis, Chachapoyas stayed at 30,000 people.  It is the administrative capital of the province of Amazonas although due to its altitude of 2300m it does not feel very tropical.  

August 5, 2016 Revash and The Museum Leymebamba 

Today we took another 2-hour drive to Revash.  Revash is another interesting burial mausoleum.  On the way to Revash we spotted many burial sites dotting the high cliffs.  Revash is located on a high, long escarpment overlooking a broad valley.  The road to Revash is very spectacular climbing up among the mountains.  The views got progressively better as we gained altitude.  I found it remarkable that the locals cultivate all mountain slopes sometimes at a steep angle with no terracing so common in the Inca territories. 

The parking for the archeological site of Revash is in a non descript village with no souvenir shops of any kind.  Again, a clear sign of little tourism in this area.  

We had to hike to the cliffs along a large sidewalk built by the locals.  

The Revash mausoleum reminded me of the cliff dwellings of the Anasazi Indians in the Canyon de Chey in Arizona (apparently there is no real connection).   The site is very spectacular with imposing views to the valley below.  Not much is known about the Revash culture.  The mausoleum had nothing left in it after it was looted.  It is actually closed to intruders and the visitors can only admire it from below from the specially built platform.  The mausoleum consists of small house-like structures with symbolic roofs located in a cave on a steep wall of a long canyon.  The walls of the mausoleum’s houses are adorned with paintings of animal figures and some geometric shapes.  At the time of use, mummies were placed inside the houses.  Again, it is the location of the mausoleum and the spectacular surroundings that make this place so special.  

After Revash, we drove to the village of Leymebamba to see the fantastic museum of the mummies found in a site called Laguna de Condores.  The museum contains amazing artifacts that were found along the 220 mummy bundles by the lake called Laguna de Condores in 1997.  The mummies were found by the local farmers who attempted to sell the mummies for $200 a piece.  The local authorities intersected the sale and thankfully retrieved the remaining artifacts intact.    The find was so spectacular that an entire museum was built to house it.  This was the first major site that was not looted and it gave many clues to the mysteries of the Chachapoyan culture.  It also legitimized the Chachapoyans as a distinct culture in the scientific circles.  

“This museum was built to provide a place for the preservation of the mummies and archaeological materials recovered from Laguna de los Cóndores in 1997. This work was conducted by Centro Mallqui with contributions from the international community from Austria, Finland, Italy and the U.S., as well as significant contributions from the Institute for Bioarchaeology, the von Hagen family and the Discovery Channel.
The local community contributed with building materials and labour. The people of Leymebamba own the museum and are represented by a civil identity. Centro Mallqui runs the professional and administrative work of the facility. It was inaugurated in 2000 with the presence of the Minister of Education of Austria, Dr. Elisabeth Gehrer. The museum was built using local construction techniques like packed earth with wood and tile roofs. These were complemented by modern technical resources to meet the conservation and exhibition requirements for archaeological materials.
Most of the cultural remains on display are Chachapoya and are from the time of Inca domination in the area. It also has a room dedicated to traditional cultural continuity in the region.” From the museum webpage www.museoleymebamba.org

When we arrived at the museum there was no one around.  Ernesto had to find the key keeper to open the museum for us.   Later, we met 3 French travelers who made their way from the French Guiana up the Amazon River.  They had lots of time, little money and many interesting stories.  One of the highlights of their trip was hiking the Roirama on the Venezuela/Brasil border.   

We were not allowed to photograph inside the museum but I could not resist sneaking a few photos of the mummies and the most interesting displays.  It was one of the most interesting museums in Peru.  The mummies were all housed in a special temperature controlled chamber in the exact state that they were discovered.  They were placed on shelves 4 levels high.  Only a few bundles were unwrapped and analyzed.  Given the massive amount of material from this find, the archeologists will be busy for many years.  Some of the unwrapped mummies were on display as well.  The mummy bundles had effigies of human faces pained on them and their grotesque expressions looked spooky.   It was difficult to imagine that these were once proud living beings with their own dreams and ambitions.  They all must have been well to do as the peasants and commoners do not get mummified and placed in mausoleums.   Asi es la vida – literally!

“The Mummies of the Laguna de los Cóndores

The preservation of the human remains from the Laguna de los Cóndores is extraordinary. What could account for such preservation in an area of high rainfall and humidity? In spite of the rainy climate and the water, which often falls in sheets from the overhand protecting the chullpas, the dry ledge where the chullpas are located harbors and dry and cold microclimate that contributed to the preservation of the organic remains. The Chachapoya appear not to have embalmed their dead; rather, they deliberately chose burial sites whose microclimates enhanced preservation. The evidence suggests that it was the Inca who introduced the Chachapoya to procedures such as embalming and evisceration.

Preliminary studies point to the skill of the Laguna de los Cóndores embalmers. The skin of the mummies has been treated and appears leathery, while unspun cotton placed under the cheeks, in the mouth and in the nostrils, preserved facial features. They controlled decomposition by emptying the abdominal cavity through the anus, sealing the orifice with a cloth plug. The bodies had been reduced to their minimum volume and weight: joints are strained to the point that the flexed position is almost unnatural. Finally, the bodies were wrapped in layers of cloth, creating a microclimate that promoted conservation.” 

The Laguna de los Cóndores

Deep in the cloud forest blanketing the eastern slopes of the Huallaga watershed, a row of stone burial houses perches high above a lake. Tucked into a ledge on a limestone cliff 100 meters above the Laguna de los Cóndores, the structures stood untouched by humans for almost 500 years. Composed of six intact chullpas or tombs and the foundations of a seventh, the burial site is one of 18 funerary sites documented on the limestone cliffs looming above the Laguna de los Cóndores. Although the farm hands who had discovered the burial site in late 1996 churned through the tombs, slashing mummy bundles with machetes and destroying valuable contextual information, the more than 200 mummy bundles and a wide array of burial offerings indicate that the finds date to Chachapoya (ca. AD 800-1470), Chachapoya-Inca (ca. 1470-1532) and early Colonial (ca. 1532-1570) times. 

The tombs’ builders took advantage of a natural ledge in the limestone cliff. The tombs are nestled against the cliff, which serves as their back wall. The builders modified the ledge by levelling the floor and carving smaller ledges into the cliff onto which they built low masonry walls set in mud mortar that supported the back roofs of the chullpas. Each tomb is about 3 meters high and divided into two levels by a platform of small logs. The structures are roughly quadrangular in shape and built of limestone blocks set in mud mortar. All the chullpas face the lake and the ancient settlement of Llaqtacocha.” From the museum’s website

It makes me wander what the life’s struggle all about – looking at these forgotten people, forgotten nation, nothing is known of them.  Who were the Chachapoyans? All that is left is the room full of dead and many mysteries.  

The museum also contained fine Inca weavings preserved in excellent condition and beautifully displayed.  Also, there were many items of Inca pottery, headdresses with plumage from the Amazon and Inca knot writing.  

After spending last few days looking at various archeological sites, ruins, excavated mummies and looted sarcophagi, I concluded that Northern Peru is fascinating.  The sheer number of interesting places, the history, the mysteries and the enigma surrounding these people was mind-boggling.

August 6, 2016 Gocta Waterfall

Gocta Waterfall is the 3rd highest waterfall in the World.  In order to get to it, we drove for a short distance from Chachapoyas in the opposite direction from Kuelap.  On the way we stopped at a small site with ancient petroglyphs that are a few thousand years old.  Another mystery as not much is known about them.  We drove down a spectacular river valley with high rocky cliffs towering above us on both sides.  In some places, the canyon was so narrow that the road builders had to blast a near tunnel though the rock.  It was very scenic and reminded me of the Karakoram Highway in Pakistan.  

After a short drive (40-50km) we turned onto a gravel road that took us uphill to the trailhead to the falls.  The hike to the base of the falls is 6 km through a temperate forest full of palms, coffee plants and other tropical vegetation.   The waterfall consists of 2 separate parts:  the upper falls 300m high and the lower falls 500m high.  Only from far away both parts of the waterfall are visible.  The slender white ribbon of water cascades from the high cliff to the lush valley below.  The water comes from a series of lakes fed by rainwater.  The ground surrounding the lakes is like a sponge so the water continuously seeps through feeding the lakes and the waterfall. 

Once we got closer to the waterfall the upper part disappeared from view.  The hike was surprisingly strenuous with the total elevation gain of 800m through s series of ups and downs some of which were quite steep and long.   

Ernesto and I conversed in Spanish surprisingly well and I managed to get my point across on variety of subjects.  

The waterfall is located at the head of a long valley and is surrounded by a circular escarpment.  Due to almost constant mist from the falling water and spray the vertical cliffs are overgrown by moss and vegetation.   The green walls give the cirque a tropical look with the water of the Gocta Falls falling from great heights and other numerous smaller falls dripping down all around.   Apparently during the rainy season, the waterfall is so powerful that it is impossible to approach it.   I wanted to stay longer and take it all in but everyone wanted to go back.  

After returning to Chachapoyas we ended up in the now familiar coffee shop.  We were lucky to see a great performance of local musicians playing fusion of great Peruvian traditional music and modern tunes.  We were the only spectators and the musicians had as good or better time than us.  

August 7, 2016 Chachapoyas

Today was our last day in the beautiful Chachapoyas.  We started the day with a drive to an awesome canyon with sweeping views to the valley down below.  The sky was metallic grey with angry clouds and strong wind.  The surrounding country looked wild, cold and uninviting although beautiful and mysterious.  It was difficult to believe that we were so close to the Amazon rainforest.  We were alone on the edge of this deep canyon looking down at the the river over 1km below.  Near the parking lot there was a concrete observation tower where a lone lady from a nearby village was selling souvenirs and gave us a pottery making demonstration.  It was quite interesting to see especially considering that she did not use a wheel to turn the pottery.  The pottery was baked in an open fire and not in an enclosed kiln.  

We drove on to another high viewpoint even more spectacular.  The view extended over the entire region from this high point.  We could see various villages that we passed on our way to see many archeological points of interest during our stay here.  In the distance we could even see the Gocta Waterfall.  All these high ridges (some are 4000m high) are criss crossed by a network of old tracks that the ancients and the contemporary inhabitants used to get around.  The weather was not the best for photography but it was an incredible place to see and admire.  We passed through some overgrown and unexcavated ruins waiting for future excavation.  

After the tour of the various viewpoints we stopped at a local fair with numerous stalls selling local products such as chocolate, coffee and vine.  The air also had performances by local dancer and musicians.  We then returned to Chachapoyas for the overnight 10-hour ride back to Chicklayo.  

August 8, 2016 Chicklayo – Sipan

We had some time in Chicklayo before our flight to Lima so we hired a car and a guide to take us to the nearby Huaca Rajada, famous for the tombs of the Lord of Sipan.  The flat desert plain of coastal Peru was home to the Moche culture (among many others).  The tomb of the Lord of Sipan was discovered in 1987 and I remember reading about it in the National Geographic magazine.  The find contained the most amount of gold ever found in the Americas and only second to the tomb of Tutankhamen in the quantity of gold found in the world. 

“Scientific analysis of the skeleton of the Lord of Sipán show that he was approximately 1.63 meters tall and was about 35–45 years old at the time of his death. His jewellery and ornaments, which included headdresses, a face mask, a pectoral, (the pectoral was gold and had the head of a man and the body of an octopus) necklaces, nose rings, ear rings and other items, indicate he was of the highest rank. Most of the ornaments were made of gold, silver, copper and semi-precious stones.

The Lord of Sipán was wearing two necklaces with beads of gold and silver in the shape of maní (peanuts), which represent the tierra (earth). The peanuts symbolized that men came from the land, and that when they die, they return to the earth. Peanuts were used because they were an important food crop for the Moche. The necklaces had ten kernels on the right side made of gold, signifying masculinity and the sun god, and ten kernels on the left side made of silver, to represent femininity and the moon god.

Buried with the Lord of Sipán were six other people: three young women (possibly wives or concubines who had apparently died some time earlier), two males (probably warriors), and a child of about nine or ten years of age. The remains of a third male (possibly also a warrior) was found on the roof of the burial chamber sitting in a niche overlooking the chamber. There was also a dog, which was probably the Lord of Sipan's favourite pet. The warriors who were buried with the Lord of Sipán had amputated feet, as if to prevent them from leaving the tomb. The women were dressed in ceremonial clothes. In addition to the people, archaeologists found in the tomb a total of 451 ceremonial items and offerings, and the remains of several animals, including a dog and two llamas.” 

The site is 70km from Chicklayo on a dusty desert plain.  It is vary hot here!  The villages that we passed on the way to Huaca Rajada (the site of the tombs) were very poor.  The tom was discovered by one of the peasants from the nearby village who was looking for gold.  The existence of old burial sites was known to the locals and they were actively looking for them.  After the villagers discovered the tomb, the local police raided the house of the man who found it, killed him and sold the gold to a private collector.  

The site consists of 14 gravesites.  The gold and artifacts were removed and placed in the nearby museum.  The bodies and the artifacts were replaced with replicas to show the exact state and condition they were found in.   The replicas show all the gold, position of the bodies of the kings and the people that were buried with them.  Each gravesite has a display describing in great detail the contents and composition of each site.   Among the gravesites are two adobe pyramids that were used as a burial platform by the Moche people.  

At the site, there is a great museum showing actual contents of one of the lesser tombs.  Even this lesser tomb filled up the entire museum with the actual skeleton, gold, copper, pottery and other items.  It was all very interesting and difficult to fathom that in the middle of such poverty, there was so much gold and opulence of the royals. 

The contents of the main tomb of the Lord of Sipan are in the museum in Lambayeque.  Unfortunately it was Monday and the museum was closed.  We did visit another museum of Bruning.  The museum was based on a collection of a German man, Bruning, who purchased many artifacts from the locals (most likely looted).  The museum was filled with so much gold that it did not seem real.  In the basement of the museum, newly discovered contents of a burial site of a Moche Queen were on display.  The tomb was discovered in 2015.  It was discovered intact and was not looted.  

Peru North - Kuelap, Chachapoyas and Royal Tombs of Sipan

The map of the ancient Inca Road

Gilded copper feline head - from the museum of the Lord of Sipan graves.

Gocta Waterfall - the third highest in the world

In Chicklayo - the gateway city to the Chachapoyas region. We flew to Chicklayo from Lima and then took a 9 hour bus ride to Chachapoyas.

At the local market in Chachapoyas

Getting to Ravash Mausoleum involves driving across this countryside

The Andean road to Revash

From the road, we had to hike a few miles to the escarpment with the elaborate graves of Revash. Revash, near the village of San Bartolo, 60 km (37 miles) south of the city of Chachapoyas, is a late Chachapoya funerary complex with chullpas (mausoleums) built high into limestone cliffs, at an altitude of 2,800 m (9,182 ft) above sea level.

Constructed of rock and adobe, plastered and painted pink and cream, they look like little houses, but are in fact tombs. Most were ransacked long ago; a few yielded some bones and funerary offerings for archaeologists to examine.  

Revash mausoleum is located on a rocky shelf over a deep canyon at an altitude of 2,800m.

Revash's funeral mansions are almost intact. The mummies that used to be located inside were destroyed by looters.

While there are many funerary sites, such as Karajia, El Tigre and La Laguna de los Condores, to be found in the Amazonas region, the ones at Revash differ in that they take the form of miniature villages, located in a straight line in a cavity excavated in the rocky wall of the imposing canyon.

The walls of the chullpas are made of stones placed on mud mortar. Each has a rectangular floor and one or two floors. Instead of a front door, they have side doors. The cliff-side forms the back wall. 

The sloping roofs are purely symbolic. They were protected by the cave, so the roofs did not have to withstand rain or sun.

Revash's chullpas have mouldings around the tops of the walls, which are painted with figures, such as felines, South American camelids, people, and circles. 

The town of Leymebamba - main square

The town of Leymebamba

The town of Leymebamba where the magnificent Museo de Leymebamba is located.

The mummies were wrapped in these bundles (on display in the Museo de Leymebamba)

Mummies from the Chachapoyas culture from about 800 AD are displayed at the Museum of Leymebamba. The Leymebamba Museum was built by the Austrians and inaugurated in 2000, specifically to house 200 or so mummies and their burial offerings. The mummies were recovered during a 1997 excavation of Llaqtacocha, a Chachapoya settlement on the banks of Laguna de los Cóndores, a lake about 50 miles south of Chachapoyas.

Studies conducted on these mummies by experts have revealed much information about them. For instance, by studying these mummies, experts are able to understand the manner by which they were embalmed. As another example, by studying a mummy’s teeth, the age of death may be obtained, as these are indicators of age. Additionally, artifacts associated with each mummy may be used to infer the role they played in society whilst they were alive. For example, a mummy wrapped in nets may be said to belong to a bird catcher, a prestigious job in this ancient society, as bird feathers were highly prized. Due to the cold and dry environment these mummies were placed in, much has been preserved, including organic remains, which may be further studied to understand these mummies.

Mummies at the Museum of Leymebamba. The archaeologists recovered the mummies from Laguna de los Cóndores, protecting them from further accidental damage and the grave robbers. It was in 1997 that the Laguna de los Condores caught the attention of archaeologists. In the previous year, workers for a Leymebamba-based cattle rancher named Julio Ullilén stumbled upon the necropolis. As they found it to be full of mummies, they began to hack the bodies up, in the hopes that they would find precious metal artifacts that they could sell. The local police had to intervene when a fight broke out amongst the looters over the spoils, and many of the artifacts, which had been taken by Ullilén, were later confiscated by the police. In April of the following year, an archaeologist by the name of Peter Lerche was sent to the site as an official representative of Peru’s National Institute of Culture to conduct a preliminary survey of the damage that had been done to the mummies. Lerche’s initial estimation was that there were about 60 or 70 mummies interred in the necropolis, and hundreds of associated artifacts scattered on the cliff ledge.

Mummies at the Museum of Leymebamba in a climate controlled room.

Laguna de los Condores mummies likely held high positions in Inca society, due to the elaborate burial process and the lack of wear and tear on the bones usually associated with manual labour. Sites such as the Laguna de Los Condores mausoleums were crucial to the Incas' success in taking control of the region, culture and the people, as they replaced the Chachapoyan way of burial with the Inca tradition of mummification.

When the Incas conquered this area, they replaced the funerary pattern. They emptied the mausoleums [of the pre-Inca Chachapoya dead] and conquered their spirit by conquering their sacred places".

The valley leading to Gocta waterfall

The Gocta waterfall

Gocta Waterfall

Lower bowl of he Gocta Falls

Sonche Canyon near Chachapoyas

Pottery maker

The Andean cloud forest near Chachapoyas, 700 km north of Lima

Many un-excavated ruins dot the landscape around the canyon.

An old Inca mummy

The spectacular road to Kuelap. You can see the construction the cable car in the distance.

Kuelap fortress is located on the ridge/mountain top in the distance at the altitude of 3,000m.

Kuelap, a fortified city on top of a mountain, is one of the most impressive and significant pre-Columbian ruins in all of South America, perhaps only matched in grandeur by Machu Picchu.

And yet, for the time being, it still receives only a fraction of the visitors that go by train or make the trek to Machu Picchu.

This is the largest and most important Chachapoya site, beautifully located at about 3,000 m (10,000 ft) on a craggy mountain-top overlooking the Utcubamba River valley, giving superb views.

Most of the site was constructed from AD 900 - 1100, although some remnants near the main entrance have been carbon-dated to the 6th century AD.

The Incas added a few buildings after they conquered the Chachapoya in the 1470s.

For three centuries after the Spanish conquest, Kuelap lay forgotten by the outside world, until its re-discovery in 1843 by a local judge, Juan Crisostomo Nieto.

Kuelap - a pre Inca Fortress in the Andes. Built by the Chachapoyas, the fortified citadel of Kuelap was home to the Warriors of the Cloud. Kuelap is one of the largest ancient stone monuments in South America.

There are only three entrances, all of which are narrow and highly-defendable.

The main entrance, used today, slopes upwards and becomes increasingly narrow, with high walls on either side, ending in a section which allows only single-file foot traffic. One can easily imagine that attackers would easily be picked off and would find it impossible to enter.

At the other end of the citadel, a 7 m (23 ft) high D-shaped torréon (lookout tower) dominates the wall. In its base, archaeologists discovered a cache of 2,500 rocks which would have been a perfect size for slingshots.  

The many buildings in between are slowly being restored through a project that began in 1999.

Some of the walls are decorated with tiled friezes in rhomboid or zigzag patterns which are a hallmark of Chachapoya architecture. The mural decorations include representations of the eyes of felines, snakes and birds, all different gods to the Chachapoya.

Mysterious Kuelap. Kuelap was built around the sixth century A.D., and continued to be in use until the 16 th century A.D. The most enigmatic structure is the inverted cone-shaped tintero (inkwell) found at the south end, with a face carved in bas-relief on its eastern side.

The function of this 5.5 m (18 ft) high temple is unknown, although several proposals have been made, including as a solar observatory, water tank, and jail.  

The discovery of offerings in conjunction with this building has led archaeologists to consider this to be Kuelap’s main ceremonial temple. 

The main structure is an awe-inspiring, walled stronghold, almost 600 m (2,000 ft) long and 120 m (400 ft) wide. The massive wall, built of large limestone blocks, sometimes reaches heights over 17 m (50 ft), although much is about half of that.

Kuelap - the Chachapoyas were conquered by the Incas sometime in the second half of the 15th century. Kuelap fortress was left alone by the Incas, and the Chachapoyas continued to live there until the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century when the Chachapoyan civilization collapsed.

The view from the Fortress of Kuelap.

Sarcofagos de Karajia highlights the coffins of the Chachapoyas culture. Found in in a ravine, the sarcophagi sit in the Amazonian Luya district. Constructed of clay, sticks and grasses, with exaggerated jawlines. Their inaccessible location high above a river gorge has preserved them from destruction by looters.

Karajia (sometimes spelt Carajia), about 48 km (30 miles) northwest of Chachapoyas, is known for the larger-than-life-sized sarcophagi which were sometimes the final resting places of Chachapoya nobility.

Here, standing upright, up to 2.5 m (8 ft) tall, they are bullet-shaped structures made of mud, wood, and straw, topped with an oversized head, colourfully painted, and placed in ledges high on cliffs. Characteristically, each sarcophagus has a face painted to look out over the valley below.

Inside, there were mummies and offerings, long since removed by looters and archaeologists, but the sarcophagi remain, eerily staring out into the distance.

The Chachapoya always buried their important dead high up, in difficult to access locations, looking towards the rising sun or a village, and close to water. 

The remoteness of the location meant that it was not until 1985 that an excursion led by Federico Kauffmann Doig was successful in finding the Karajia sarcophagi.

It it thought that the sarcophagi of Karajia contained the highest officials from the fortress of Kuelap.

Archaeologists believe that the characters with a skull on their head were warriors; while the symbols on one of the sarcophagi points to one of them being a woman.

There are numerous looted sarcophagi in the valleys around Chachapoyas. The inaccessible location did not seem to be a deterrent.

Local restaurant

On the road to Karajia

Rock art from the Bronze Age at the Pitaya petroglyphs near Chachapoyas.

Pitaya petroglyphs near Chachapoyas.

Chachapoyas - main square. Chachapoyas is capital of the Department of Amazonas, with a population of around 50,000. 'Chacha', as it is called locally, is a quiet, pleasant town with an attractive historical centre, a number of interesting churches, and balconied 19th-century buildings.  

Although founded in 1538, none of the early Colonial buildings remain. The Plaza de Armas is home to a small museum and is a great place to people-watch, as the locals enjoy an evening paseo (stroll) around the plaza near sunset, followed by a coffee.

The main attraction of the city, however, is as a base to explore the spectacular natural, archaeological and cultural highlights in the surrounding area.

This once was the land of the pre-Inca Chachapoya, the 'cloud people', still shrouded in many mysteries, with hundreds of lost cities and cliff tombs with recently-discovered mummified warriors, in huge and largely uninhabited cloud forests and Andean highlands.

Chachapoyas

Mesmerizing presentation of health potions at the local market.

Laguna de los Condores, located in northern Peru’s remote Chachapoyas region, became one of the country’s most important Inca sites in 1997 when archaeologists discovered hundreds of mummies in a mausoleum built into the steep surrounding cliff-face. Those bodies are now conserved in the nearby Leymebamba Museum, but thousands more preserved corpses are thought to remain in 17 other mausoleums hidden in the jungle-covered mountains – still unexcavated due to the high cost of archaeology work in this remote region.

According to bio-anthropologist Dr Sonia Guillen, Peru's leading expert on mummies, the Laguna de los Condores excavation is one of the most significant discoveries relating to the Inca period in South America, as it’s one of only two known large Inca burial sites to have escaped destruction by Spanish conquistadors.

"The finding was sort of a miracle". "These mummies are very significant, because they are the first to show us how the Incas prepared their dead in the royal way. They cured the skin to preserve it and made it into leather and they extracted the organs through the anus."

The mummified bodies were then wrapped in woven textiles and surrounded with artefacts and offerings, such as pots, feathers, woven baskets and quipus: knotted Inca tools that recorded stories and accounting. 

The Laguna de los Condores mummies likely held high positions in Inca society, due to the elaborate burial process and the lack of wear and tear on the bones usually associated with manual labour. One of the reasons the Inca mummified their elite was to keep them connected with the community.

At the market in Chachapoyas

At the market in Chachapoyas

At the market in Chachapoyas

At the market in Chachapoyas

The Archeological site of the Royal Tombs of Sipan. A Moche culture of pre Inca northern Peru. The gold found on this site was the largest gold find in all of Americas. It filled up 3 museums. The archaeological site of Sipan lies next to the modern village of the same name, 28 km (17 miles) east of Chiclayo. The road passes through lush sugarcane fields and the village of Pomalca, home to a popular brand of Peruvian rum.

Of the two pyramids (better called 'funerary platform mounds') at the site, the smaller one, Huaca Rajada (Cracked Pyramid) is so-called on account of the deep gullies eroded into its flanks.

It has yielded fabulous treasures from a series of deeply-buried tombs of the pre-Inca Moche culture, who lived in the valleys of Peru's northern coast some 1,500 years ago.

Archaeologists believed that upper-class homes topped the larger pyramid, although none have yet been found. You can climb a short way up the larger pyramid to a viewing platform overlooking Huaca Rajada.

Excavated in 1987-88, the main tomb of the Lord of Sipan dates to about A.D. 350.

In late 1988, another royal tomb was unearthed at a much deeper level in the funerary mound. The man within this tomb—buried about 300 years before the Lord of Sipan—is known as the Old Lord of Sipan.

In 1987, archaeologists decided to take a closer look at one small platform on the west side of the archaeological site called “Huaca Rajada,” close to the little village of Sipán, just 18 miles (30 km) from Chiclayo. Until then, they had no idea they’d been standing on the biggest and most valuable ceremonial tomb in the whole of Northern Peru. Untouched by looters – unfortunately, a rarity in many excavation sites – these gold, jewelry, and artifact-filled tombs of priests and royalty may be the most important archaeological discovery in South America for the past 30 years. 

This huaca (ancient Peruvian sacred object or monument) consists of two large, heavily eroded pyramids to the east of the road and a smaller platform on the opposite side of the road. Recent investigations have centered on the smaller platform, often called simply "Huaca de Sipán," which was used for burials of the highest ranking people within Moche society. This is where the Lord of Sipán’s mummified body was found. Everything that was discovered inside the tombs of Sipán is displayed in the Tumbas Reales Museum in Lambayeque, perhaps the greatest museum in Peru.

The Lord of Sipán, buried 1700 years ago, was 5’4” tall and died of an undetermined illness at 35-45 years of age (the average life expectancy of the Moche population). His tomb is called "the richest tomb of the New World,” filled with gold, silver, copper, ceramics, fabrics, shells, jewelry, knives, food, sacrificed animals, and 6 other people, possibly servants or family members –including, it’s speculated, multiple wives.

Starting in the middle of November 1986 a team of looters led by an unemployed car mechanic named Ernil Bernal began to tunnel into Huaca Rajada. On or around 6 February 1987 the looters encountered Moche bricks in the ceiling of their trench. Upon locating a number of gold beads between these bricks, Ernil Bernal punctured the roof of the tunnel and a torrent of gold, silver and other Moche antiquities literally poured out on top of him (Kirkpatrick 1992: 20).

From what can be pieced together from archaeological excavation, interviews with key participants, and the results of various law enforcement investigations, the looters had located an intact elite Moche tomb (Alva and Donnan 1993). Samuel Bernal, one of the original looters of the tomb interviewed by Atwood in 2002, described finding a layer of hundreds of ceramic pots which were mostly destroyed while the looters searched for more valuable metal objects (Atwood 2004: 42). Over the next few nights the looters filled rice sacks with gold and silver artefacts which they transported to the Bernal family house. Arguments broke out among the looters regarding how the profits from the sale of the Sipán material were going to be split. As a result, one of the looters contacted the police who, with the aid of archaeologist Walter Alva, intervened at the site and effectively halted the looting (Alva and Donnan 1993). The exact trail of many of the objects out of Sipán is unknown.

The Lord of Sipan, like other Moche noblemen, was buried in a cane coffin surrounded by small pottery vessels containing food such as yams, chilies, sweet potatoes, and corn.

But he was not buried alone. The bodies of three women, two soldiers, one boy and several llamas were also found in the tomb. The Lord of Sipán was wearing two necklaces with beads of gold and silver in the shape of maní (peanuts), which represent the tierra (earth). The peanuts symbolized that men came from the land, and that when they die, they return to the earth. Peanuts were used because they were an important food crop for the Moche. The necklaces had ten kernels on the right side made of gold, signifying masculinity and the sun god, and ten kernels on the left side made of silver, to represent femininity and the moon god.

n 1988, a second tomb was found and excavated near that of the Lord of Sipán. Artifacts in this second tomb are believed to be related to religion: a cup or bowl for the sacrifices, a metal crown adorned with an owl with its wings extended, and other items associated with worship of the moon. Alva concluded that the individual buried in this tomb was a Moche priest. Carbon dating established that the skeleton in this second tomb was contemporary with the Lord of Sipan.

The third tomb found at Huaca Rajada was slightly older than the first two, but ornaments and other items found in the tomb indicated that the person buried in the tomb was of the same high rank as the first Lord of Sipán burial. DNA analysis of the remains in this third tomb established that the individual buried in the third tomb was related to the Lord of Sipán via the maternal line. As a result, the archeologists named this third individual The Old Lord of Sipán. The third tomb also contained the remains of two other people: a young woman, a likely sacrifice to accompany the Old Lord of Sipán to the next life; and a man with amputated feet, possibly sacrificed to be the Old Lord's guardian in the afterlife.

A total of fourteen tombs have been found at Sipán.

The Brüning Museum, also known as Museo Regional Arqueológico Enrique Bruning de Lambayeque was inaugurated in 1966 and it is located in two blocks of the principal park in Lambayeque, Peru. It was based on the collections of Hans Heinrich Brüning, a German researcher.

It is an excellent museum based on the collections that Bruning gathered at the end of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century. The Peruvian government acquired this collection from Bruning in 1924. This museum has been constantly enriched by pieces obtained in confiscations, donations and discoveries. The most recent procurement are the pieces acquired in the Tomb of the "Lord of Sipán". His remains and the mortuary trousseau are displayed at the museum. The Golden Room shows up to 500 works of art.

Wapta Icefiled Area, Alberta, Canada

The overview of the Wapta Icefiled area.

Peyto Peak and Peyto Glacier

Peyto Peak

Peyto Lake Below. Observation Peak is on the horizon.

On Peyto Glacier

Peyto Glacier

Peyto Glacier

Dolomite Alpine Circuit - in the distance is Mt. Hector

Mount Hector

Mt. President and Vice President. These two peaks are the highest in the Yoho Valley. We traversed the glacier and climbed the peaks from Emerald Lake side and descended to the Stanley Mitchel ACC Hut.

Approaching the Presidents from Emerald Lake

On Mt. President from Emerald Lake

On Mt. President. The approach from Emerald Lake.

Emerald Lake is visible in the distance

High on Mt. President. The glacier is becoming more and more dangerous as large crevasses are opening up due to melting.

Approaching the President /VP col

The col between Mt. President and Vice President where we bivied Mount Pollinger is visible behind the tent.

The summit of Mt. President 3,138m. Emerald Lake is below.

On the summit of Mt. President 3,138m. The Lake Louise group is on the horizon.

The Presidents from Whaleback

The Presidents Glacier and the col where we camped

The Presidents

Iceline trail. East slopes of Mt. President

Lake Louise group from the Iceline trail

Along the Iceline Trail

Iceline Trail

Takakkaw Falls from the Iceline Trail

Peyto Lake

On the way to the Peyto Glacier

Peyto Glacier

Peyto Glacier

Peyto Glacier

Peyto Glacier

Wapta Icefield

The view of the upper part of the Peyto Glacier

Wapta Icefield

The Wapta Icefield

Peyto Glacier

Peyto Glacier

Peyto Glacier

Wapta Icefield

Peyto Lake

Peyto Lake

Bow Lake

Wapta Icefield and Bow Falls from the Bow Lake

The approach to the Bow Hut

The stone bridge on the way to the Bow Hut

The approach to Bow Hut

Bow Hut

The view from the Bow Hut. Mt. Jimmy Simpson is on the left

Moving on from Peyto Hut, Crowfoot Mountain is on the left

Approaching Peyto Hut

Wapta Icefield

On Wapta Icefield

On Wapta Icefield

On Wapta Icefield

On Mt. Rhonda. Yoho glacier is visible descending to the Yoho Valley. The iceline trail is on the right int he distance.

Summit of Mt. Rhonda

Peyto Lake and the Peyto Hut from the summit of Mt. Rhonda 3,062m

Peyto Lake and Peyto Hut (small green dot) from Mt. Rhonda

Wapta Icefield from Mt. Rhonda

Mt. Collie and The Presidents on the left.

Mt. President and Vice President on the right and the Lake Louise group on the left. Yoho Glacier descends into the Yoho Valley.

The mountains on the Freshfield Icefield from Mt. Rhonda

Mt. Gordon from Mt. Rhonda

The closeup of the Presidents, Whaleback Ridge and the Isolated Peak

The Corwfoot Ridge is on the horizon.

The Peyto Glacier and Peyto Lake in the distance.

Summit Panorama from Mt. Jimmy Simpson

Peyto Glacier from Mt. Jimmy Simpson

Bow Lake and summit panorama from Mt. Jimmy Simpson

Mt. Jimmy Simpson 2,947m

Peyto Glacier from Mt. Jimmy Simpson

Bow Lake from Mt. Jimmy Simpson

Bow Lake

Crossing Bow River en route to Bow Peak

Early summer on Bow Peak

Bow Peak

Mt. Hector from Bow Peak

Hector Lake from Bow Peak

Mt. Balfour, Hector Lake and the Wapta Icefield from Bow Peak

The view of Bow Lake from Bow Peak

The panorama north from Bow Peak

The panorama from Bow Peak looking South towards the Wapata

Hector Lake from Little Hector Peak 3,124m, The large mountain is the Balforur Peak.

Lower slopes of Mt. Balfour and the Pulpit Peak from Mt. Hector. The Balfour Pass is above the Hector Lake.

Hector Lake

Bow Peak from Little Hector Peak 3,124m with Bow Lake beyond.

Looking east from Hector

Looking east from Hector

Bow Peak from Hector

Mt. Lefroy from Hector

Mt. Hector Glacier

Mt. Hector Glacier and Hector Peak

Mt. Hector from Little Hector

Hector Lake from Mt. Hector

On Observation Peak

The view from the summit of Observation Peak 3,174m. Maramota Peak is to the left of the lake.

Summit panorama from the Observation Peak

Crowfoot Mountain and the Crowfoot Glacier with the Bow Lake from Observation Peak 3,174m

Mt. Hector from Observation Peak 3,174

Mt. Hector in the distance

Bow Peak from Observation Peak 3,174m. In the distance are the peaks of Lake Louise group with Mt. Temple towering above them all.

Bow Lake from the Observation Peak

Bow Lake, Wapta Icefield and Mt. Rhonda from Cirque Peak 2,993m

Looking towards Peyto Lake from Cirque Peak 2,993m

Mt. Hector (in the distance) and Bow Peak (right) from Cirque Peak

Wapta Icefield from the Cirque Peak

Bow Lake and the Crowfoot Mountain

Bow Lake, the Crowfoot Glacier and Crowfoot Mountain

Mt. Balfour (left) and the Presidents in the distance

Wapta Icefield from Crowfoot Mountain

The Presidents in Yoho (far on the left), Mt. Gordon (right)

Bow Lake and Cirque Peak from Crowfoot Mountain

Bow Lake and Crowfoot Glacier

Crowfoot Mountain

Looking north from the summit ridge of Crowfoot Mountain

Wapta Icefield from the Crowfoot Mountain

Crowfoot Mountain - view towards Bow Hut

Crossing the Bow River to get to the Pulpit Peak

Hector Lake

Mt. Hector from the Pulpit Peak

View from the Pulpit Peak south-east

Pulpit Peak (left), Hector Lake and Mt. Hector

Pulpit Peak on the right

The Caribbean and the Panama Canal

St. Marteen

Saint Lucia

Tobago

Bermuda

The coast of Panama

The entrance to the Panama Canal

Panama Canal visitor center

Panama City

Panama City

The viewpoint for the Bridge of the Americas was built by the Chinese

The Bridge of the Americas

Panama City

Panama City skyline

Old City Panama

Old City Panama

Panama City Cathedral

The golden altar in the cathedral

Old Panama City street art

Old Panama City

Old Panama City

China Far West - Ancient Silk Road Trip Summary

My own account of the journey is supplemented with the narrative and useful information from the travelchinaguide (www.travelchinaguide.com) unless otherwise noted.  

May 1 - 2, 2016

It is a beautiful sunny day.  I am at the airport in Calgary.  I am hoping for some beautiful views of the Rocky Mountains on the flight from Calgary to Vancouver.   I have a long journey ahead from Calgary to Urumqi via Beijing.   

Far East Russia from 35,000ft

During a long flight from Vancouver to Beijing we had beautiful views of northern Russia (probably the Magadan region).  It looked like a cold and desolate place with rolling barren hills covered in snow.  We finally landed in Beijing after 11 long hours.  The passport control and flight transfer were very fast and efficient.  I had to wait for 4 hours for the next flight to Urumqi. I was totally exhausted and crashed on the seats at the airport.  I was not looking forward to another 4-hour flight.  Finally, after a long wait, I got onto the Air China flight as the only white guy.  We arrived in Urumqi at 00.30 although the local time was 10.30pm.  The air in Urumqi, although cooler, was filled with a distinct small of soot.  

On arrival, I met Waheed, our Uighur guide who is also organizing the K2 trip for us in September of the same year.   He took me to the hotel where David was already waiting for me.  David arrived on Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul in the morning.  Istanbul is only 5 hours away (almost as far as Beijing!).   Our centrally located hotel was very gaudy and tasteless in décor but very comfortable and provided me with a welcome rest considering how tired I was. 

At first glance, Urumqi seemed like any other huge Chinese city.  It was full of concrete buildings and highways with little regards for beauty.  The city has 5 million inhabitants.  While driving around on the elevated expressways, we saw a forest of apartment buildings and office towers.   Apparently, this city is a hub of trade with all the Stans of Central Asia and part of the new Silk Road.    

May 3, 2016 Urumqi – Turpan

We got up quite early and went for breakfast.  The breakfast food was somewhat unusual:  steamed buns with mutton and steamed buns with dates and raisins. It was actually very good, not the usual eggs and bacon or the Chinese buffet.   After the breakfast David and I went for a quick walking tour of the city near the main bazar and the hotel.   The part of the city that we were walking in had a very different feel to it.  The restaurants were serving the traditional foods with kebab grills outside.  The architecture was different too with more central Asian accents and design.  Since it was quite early in the morning, nothing was open so we decided to return to the hotel and meet Waheed.  

From the hotel, we drove to the Provincial Museum to see the main attraction:  the Tarim mummies.  The museum was excellent, clean and very interesting.  The main attraction were the Tarim mummies.  I read a book about these mummies and saw many photos of them over the years.  The display in real life had all the mummies from the book I read.  The museum had many displays in English although not all.   The mummies are shrouded in mystery.  They are very old and the origin of the people whose graves were discovered is unknown and subject to much speculation.  An analysis of their clothing revealed that the possible origin is somewhere in central or northern Europe.   

The Provincial Museum

“One glimpse of the corpses was enough to shock Victor Mair profoundly. In 1987, Mair, a professor of Chinese at the University of Pennsylvania, was leading a tour group through a museum in the Chinese city of Ürümqi, in the central Asian province of Xinjiang, when he accidentally strayed into a gloomy, newly opened room. There, under glass, lay the recently discovered corpses of a family--a man, a woman, and a child of two or three--each clad in long, dark purple woolen garments and felt boots. "Even today I get chills thinking about that first encounter," says Mair. "The Chinese said they were 3,000 years old, yet the bodies looked as if they were buried yesterday."  

But the real shock came when Mair looked closely at their faces. In contrast to most central Asian peoples, these corpses had obvious Caucasian, or European, features--blond hair, long noses, deep-set eyes, and long skulls. "I was thunderstruck," Mair recalls. "Even though I was supposed to be leading a tour group, I just couldn't leave that room. The questions kept nagging at me: Who were these people? How did they get out here at such an early date?"  

The corpses Mair saw that day were just a few of more than 100 dug up by Chinese archeologists over the past 16 years. All of them are astonishingly well preserved. They come from four major burial sites scattered between the arid foothills of the Tian Shan ("Celestial Mountains") in northwest China and the fringes of the Taklimakan Desert, some 150 miles due south. All together, these bodies, dating from about 2000 B.C. to 300 B.C., constitute a significant addition to the world's catalog of prehistoric mummies. Unlike the roughly contemporaneous mummies of ancient Egypt, the Xinjiang mummies were not rulers or nobles; they were not interred in pyramids or other such monuments, nor were they subjected to deliberate mummification procedures. They were preserved merely by being buried in the parched, stony desert, where daytime temperatures often soar over 100 degrees. In the heat the bodies were quickly dried, with facial hair, skin, and other tissues remaining largely intact.“ discovermagazine.com

From Urumqi we drove in the rain to Turpan through dry and jagged mountains. Once we left Urumqi the rain cleared and it became very windy and sunny.  The extremely strong and consistent wind is the reason for many wind turbines that dot the landscape in this area.

The landscape reminded me of Southern Alberta with wide open spaces, few trees and a lot of wind.  It had some strange beauty to it, and given where we were, also some mystique.  

After a two-hour drive through an increasingly dry and desolate landscape we spotted a line of green on the horizon.  It was the oasis of Turpan.   

Our first stop in Turpan was the Karez Water System which transports water from distant mountains through series of underground tunnels to the oasis of Turpan. The tunnels stretch for many kilometers and they have to be continuously maintained.   Given that this was all built 2000 years ago the task was monumental in its scale.  Working in the tunnels without natural light and in tight spaces was dangerous and difficult.  The displays in the museum were very well done.  The museum and the tunnels were located in a vineyard with beautiful walkways under a canopy of vines providing welcome shade from the blazing sun.  We went to one of the underground tunnels. It was cool, narrow and had a clear spring running through the middle of it.  

“In Xinjiang, the greatest number of karez wells are in the Turpan Depression, where today there remain over 1100 karez wells and channels having a total length of over 5,000 kilometres (3,100 mi). The local geography makes karez wells practical for agricultural irrigation and other uses. Turpan is located in the second deepest geographical depression in the world, with over 4,000 km2 (1,500 sq mi) of land below sea level and with soil that forms a sturdy basin. Water naturally flows down from the nearby mountains during the rainy season in an underground current to the low depression basin under the desert. The Turpan summer is very hot and dry with periods of wind and blowing sand.

Turpan's karez water system is made up of a horizontal series of vertically dug wells that are then linked by underground water canals to collect water from the watershed surface runoff from the base of the Tian Shan Mountains and the nearby Flaming Mountains. The canals channel the water to the surface, taking advantage of the current provided by the gravity of the downward slope of the Turpan Depression. The canals are mostly underground to reduce water evaporation and to make the slope long enough to reach far distances being only gravity fed.”

After Karez we drove to the Emin Minaret.  It was already late in the day and the sun was setting.  We were the last guests inside the minaret complex. The complex consists of the mosque and a cemetery.  The place had a beautiful feel to it and it looked very pretty in the low light of the setting sun.  The complex is located in a fertile oasis of vineyards and poplar trees.  It has a very Central Asian feel about it.   We left just before sunset.  

“Emin Minaret is the largest old tower in Xinjiang and the only Islamic tower among the hundred famous towers in China.

Standing 2 km (1.24 miles) east of Turpan, it was built in 1777 in honor of the heroic Turpan general, Emin Khoja. He was an outstanding patriot who defended the unification of China throughout his life. He had eight sons but the eldest son died of illness at a young age. Influenced by him, all his remaining sons made contributions during the war against Jungar rebellions. It was Suleman, his second son, that built this minaret with his own money. This is the reason why the minaret is also named Su Gong Ta. Upon Emin's death, Suleman inherited his father's rank and became the second Turpan ruler.

At the entrance to the minaret, two steles were set up. On one is a Chinese inscription which explains that the purpose of building the minaret was to show gratitude to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and to commemorate exploits of Emin Khoja while the Uigur inscription on the other stele gave thanks to Allah.”

On the way to the hotel we picked up a basket of sweet mulberries.  We stayed in the nice Huozhou Hotel in Turpan.

May 4 Turpan

We got up early again mainly due to the time change, had good breakfast in the hotel and left at 8am for another action packed day!

First we went to the Jiaohe Ancient Town.  It was aligned with Genghis Khan and then ruined by him.  The site was just sand ruins of an old city with very few recognizable buildings still standing.  It was similar to Palmyra in Syria although at the opposite end of the ancient Silk Road.  The ruins are perched on a mesa above two rivers that run around it.  Although we arrived there at 9 am, it was already very hot. Turpan is located in the Turpan depression and it is one of the hottest places of earth.  In its day, the city was quite large and it is relatively well preserved considering that the main material used for its construction was nothing more than mud bricks. It is so hot and dry here that one must wander why would anyone choose this as a location for a settlement?  After the walk around the ruins, we shared a juicy and sweet watermelon between all of us.  The watermelons and grapes here are the best in the world due to ideal climate. 

The ancient city located on a mesa

“One of the world's architectural wonders hides in Yarnaz Valley, 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) west of Turpan. Like a willow leaf, the ancient city of Jiaohe (Yarkhoto) with a history of 2300 years lies between two rivers on a plateau atop a cliff of over 30 meters (98.4feet). The largest, oldest and best-preserved earthen city in the world, Jiaohe is 1,650 meters (5,413 feet) by 300 meters (984 feet) at its widest; with an area of 220,000 square meters (2,368,168 square feet). It was included in the World Heritage List on June 22, 2014.
 
The ancient city was the capital of the former Cheshi State. An Indian proverb says, 'Intelligence is bound to exist where two rivers meet'.  Jiaohe, meaning in Chinese where two rivers meet, is such a place. According to historical records it was home to 700 households, 6500 residents plus 865 soldiers.

Jiaohe distinguishes itself from other ancient cities owing to three features. First, it had only two city gates, the South and East Gates. The main South Gate vanished long ago, leaving a huge breach. The East Gate cut by the cliff was virtually non-existent. Second, the city faces cliffs on three sides, so there are no city walls commonly seen in other ancient cities. Third, all the buildings were dug from earth, and wood was rarely used.”

Driving back to Turpan we passed many vineyards.  From Jiaohe we went to even larger (although worst preserved) city of Gaochang.  This was the capital city of this region and aside from a few barely recognizable structures and massive walls, not much remains.  The Gaochang City was a major stop along the ancient trading route (the Silk Road).  Its prominence was between the 1st and 14th century.  This was the capital of the Uighur people.   The site is huge with massive city walls surrounding it.  Most of the buildings are gone though which is no surprise considering that it was built from mud.   We had the entire massive site to ourselves and we were surprised about how empty it was. We did run into a lone Uyghur man playing a traditional instrument among the ruins.  Walking around the city was a great experience and one could feel a great sense of history.  It was really hot though and it was difficult to walk around.  There was no shade and no trees.  

We also visited the Astana graves – the cemetery for the citizens of the Gaochang City.  The site was quite large but most artifacts that were found here were taken to the Provincial Museum in Urumqi.  We descended into one of the crypts that held the human remains.  Unfortunately, we did not have enough time to see the Turpan Museum which looks quite interesting.  

“In the boundless desolate Gobi Desert stand the ruins of the ancient city of Gaochang, shining like a resplendent precious stone inlaid in the barren desert and shining on the Silk Road. It is located at the foot of the Flaming Mountain, about 46 kilometers (about 29 miles) southeast of Turpan. Withstanding the test of time and weather, the ancient city of Gaochang, and the ancient city of Jiaohe, are the best-preserved ruins of the ancient cities in China. These two cities were added to the World Heritage List on June 22, 2014.

The city was initially built as a garrison town in the first century B.C., called Gaochang Wall, and later renamed Kharakhoja, Kocho or King City. It was a key point along the Silk Road. During the successive dynasties, it was ruled as Gaochang Prefecture, Gaochang Kingdom and West Prefecture. By the 14th century, the city was damaged and abandoned due to warfare between Mongolian aristocrats and Uigurs. After 2,000 years, the weather-beaten ancient city still displays its past greatness and glory even though the walls are incomplete the magnificent outline remains.”

“The Astana-Karakhoja Ancient Tombs are part of the Underground Museum of Turpan and the Living Archives of Gaochang. Astana means capital in Uigur; Karakhoja was a Uigur hero who protected his people from a vicious dragon.

The tombs are located 42 km (26miles) southeast of Turpan city and 6 km (3.7miles) from the Ancient City of Gaochang. The tombs were the public cemetery of the ancient Gaochang residents, both aristocrats and commoners. Among the excavated 456 tombs, the Gaochang king's has not been found.

The tomb complex is 5 km (3.1miles) from east to west, and 2 km (1.2miles) from north to south. Gravel boundaries separate the tombs by family. The paternal family burial order was strictly followed, similar to the system in the Hexi Corridor (today's Gansu Province), and even in central China. Generally, husband and wife were buried together. In some cases, one man was accompanied by two or three women.

A slope of over 10 meters (32.8 feet) long leads down to the chamber. The chamber is 2 meters (6.6 feet) high with a flat ceiling or a dome. The dead are placed on an earthen or wooden bed in the back of the chamber. They had wood in both hands and wore cotton, linen or silk clothes. Around them are miniature pavilions, carts and horses, parades, musical instruments, chess sets, pens and ink, grapes, melons, dumplings and pancakes -- to be used by the dead in another world. Owing to the arid climate, the relics are very well preserved; dumplings are the same as today's, and the stuffing is as intact as it was when fresh. Murals with vivid pictures of humans, animals, flowers, mountains, and rivers decorate some chambers. A painting of ladies playing chess illustrates the happy life of aristocrats in the early Tang Dynasty (618-907).

Among the more than ten thousand cultural relics excavated are over 2700 books, epitaphs, paintings, clay figurines, and pottery, wood, gold and stone wares, ancient coins, silk and cotton textiles. The time recorded in the books ranges from 273 to 772.”

From Gaochang we drove to the nearby village of Tuyoq, which is a Muslim pilgrimage site for the local people.   The village is quite interesting and picturesque nested against the Flaming Mountains.   We had luch here in a small restaurant and the owner did not want any payment! We had very good local food finished by a serving of delicious mulberries.   The homes’ internal courtyards are shaded by a canopy of vineyards with large bed platforms in the yard for relaxing and sleeping outside.  It is a great invention from this part of the world.  We also had great mulberry juice and local yoghurt which was very refreshing on such a hot day.  

After wandering around Tuyoq minarets and small chapels, we drove like mad (which was a great improvement from the 40km/hr pace before lunch) to the Bezeklik Buddhist Caves.  

The cave complex is located in a spectacular spot dug into a cliff above a deep river canyon.  Across from the caves rise the Flaming Mountains.  Unfortunately only a few of the caves were open and the others were hidden behind metal doors.  The site was devoid of tourists with quite a few bored looking local security guards entertaining themselves with games on their mobile phones.  

What remains of the caves’ interiors is interesting to see.  The original frescoes were rudely cut out but Europeans in the early 1900s.  The views from the complex were very impressive especially in the low light of the setting sun.   

“Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves stand high on the cliffs of west Mutou Valley under the Flaming Mountain, 45 km (28miles) east of Turpan. Of the 83 original caves, 57 remain. In addition, the murals cover an area over 1, 200 square meters (12,917 square feet) in more than 40 of them.

Beginning in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the construction experienced Tang, the Five Dynasties, Song and Yuan. The Caves had been the Buddhist center of Gaochang. Near the end of the 13century, the royal family of Gaochang moved to Yongchang, Gansu. Around this same time, Buddhism in Turpan began to decline in popularity with the introduction of Islam. Subsequently, the religious importance of The Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves became less apparent. Many of them were destroyed during the ensuing religious clashes. Vandals dug out the eyes of many of the portraits human figures contained in the murals. Later, at the beginning of the 20century, foreign explorers robbed the caves of much of the treasures. Despite all the destruction, the surviving parts, such as the delicate Buddha seat and the bright color of the murals, give us some idea of its past glory. 

Bezeklik Caves was the royal temple of Huihu (the predecessor of today's Uigur) State and the present remains were enlarged or renovated during that time. The murals take us back to the ancient Huihu State, where we can see the King and Queen and people from all walks of life. The inscriptions, written in ancient Uigar, Chinese and other languages, provide authentic reference for valuable historic research.”

From the caves, we drove 50km back to Turpan and ended up in the food market in the center of the city.  The stall owners were just getting started and were getting the coals going for the shashliks.  We had some good dumplings in a broth (like the Tibetan momos) and good shashliks with cold local beer.  We had a great dinner for less than $10 for 4 people.  We ate outside in a great setting among many local people milling about. The place was very busy!  

Overall Turpan is a very attractive city.  It is small and does not feel like a typical Chinese metropolis like Urumqi.  It really feels more Central Asian than Chinese.  At night it looks even more attractive than during the day:  cooler, less dusty and very colorful with neon lights and illuminated shops.  All in all it was a great day with many interesting sights.

May 5 – Turpan – Kuqa

Today we drove 700km from Turpan to Kuqa (Kucha).  The quality of the highways is excellent here and such quick travel would be impossible even 10 years ago.  This is one of the positive aspects of the Chinese development.  The road passed the easternmost extremity of the Tien Shan Mountains.  It was extremely dry with massive sand dunes descending right to the road.   The sand was sandwiched between black rocks that rose vertically for 100m or more.  The road was winding through a dry river valley and it was a two-lane highway all the way.  We then crossed into even stranger looking plateau of eroded conical badlands and the southern end of the Tien Shan Range.   

Today was a very long drive.  We stopped for lunch in Korla, the 3rdlargest city in Xinjiang.  It looked very Chinese with no distinguishing features. There were a lot of apartment buildings under construction.  Apparently the government gives incentives to the people from east China to move here by offering attractive prices for housing.   After rainy Korla we drove into the evening with fantastic distant views of the snowy Tien Shan Range.  The great white peaks were rising above the clouds with the setting sun illuminating colorful eroding rocks.  It was very beautiful – the open spaces with miles and miles of desert and the white peaks on the distant horizon.  

After arriving in Kuqa at 6pm (too late for sightseeing), David and I went for dinner to a Chinese restaurant.  Unfortunately the menu had no pictures and it was all in Chinese. It was quite difficult to order anything and only after the help from one of the patrons we could choose something. Thankfully the 5 English words that the helping man knew were critical tour success:  chicken, spicy beef and beer.   It is very difficult to move around here without speaking Chinese. There are no English signs, no one speaks English and no maps are available in English.    

May 6 Kuqa (Kucha)

Today we had another action packed day.  We got up early again mainly due to the lingering effects of the time change.  After good breakfast in the oversized restaurant of the Grand Hotel where we were staying, we drove to Subashi Ancient Buddha complex outside Kuqa.  

It is a splendid site located in a beautiful spot.  Unfortunately, in the near distance there is a cement factory and a huge power plant surrounded by a forest of high voltage transmission lines. Never the less, the site was great and we had the entire place to ourselves.  We concluded that very few foreign tourists come here as we were being noticed a lot while walking around.  We did not see any other foreign tourists here.  The people here are very friendly, no one minds being photographed and readily poses for us.   This is really no surprise considering the difficulties with communication and accommodations.  

We spent the morning at the Subashi site admiring the beautiful landscape of eroded mountains surrounding the site.  After, we drove to a nearby watchtower with great views of the nearby badlands.  The landscape here is very dry and rugged.  We also saw more Buddhist grottos in the distance but like other places we passed, it was all locked up.  

“The Subashi Ruins occupy a relatively large area, divided by Kuqa River into eastern and western areas. The eastern area is over 530 meters (about 580 yards) long and over 140 meters (about 153 yards) wide and the western area is over 680 meters (about 744 yards) long and 170 meters (about 186 yards) wide. The extent of the ruins reflects the temple's past brilliance.

Subashi Temple witnessed the development and the height of splendor of Buddhism in this land. The temple was built in the first century and reached its peak during the sixth to the eighth centuries in the Sui and Tang dynasties. In the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907), on passing by on his way to India to obtain Buddhist sutra, the hierarch Xuanzang was so impressed by the splendor of the temple and the popularity of Buddhism in this area that he stayed for more than 2 months. During later years, the temple had over 10 thousand monks and many hierarchs came from the interior of China to promote and develop Buddhism. Unfortunately, wars of the ninth century destroyed the temple, and it never recovered. It was finally abandoned in the thirteenth to fourteenth centuries when Islam was introduced to Xinjiang and began to prevail.”

We continued on to the Kizil Grottos through the ancient pass in the Tien Shan mountain range.  The rock formations we passed were very rugged and strange.  They looked like the entire mountain was pushed vertically from the ground – like giant teeth of a dinosaur.  Further along, we passed through even more badlands and dry rocky landscape stretching to the horizon.  

The Kizil Cave complex is very large spread over cliffs of dry mountains. We had to leave our cameras behind while visiting the caves but were allowed to take our phones (that also had cameras in them?!).  Out of the 300+ caves, only 4 or 5 were shown to us and not even the best ones.  Again, we saw a lot of staff just sitting around, bored and not willing to make any effort to show us anything above the bare minimum.  Regardless, it was great to see the complex as the location was very spectacular.  It got very hot and hazy in the afternoon.  We walked around the site for another 2 hours after the initial tour.  We ended up in a side valley with many other grottos dotting the cliffs around us.    The path terminated at a spring coming out of the circular rock.  There were many prayer flags strung on the trees indicating that it was a significant site.    The presence of the prayer flags was unusual as this was a Muslim area and the Buddhist religion was no longer actively practiced here.  Each grotto had a security camera next to its entrance. Some caves were severely damaged with no obvious access point.    From Kizil we drove back to Kuqa and ended up in the old town.  Waheed and I went to explore as David was sick from the food he ate the day before. 

“Sixty kilometers (37.2 miles) east of Baicheng County, the Kizil Thousand-Buddha Caves sit on the cliffs on the northern bank of the Muzat River, 7 kilometers (4.34 miles) southeast of Kizil town. Cut the third century to eight or ninth century, it is the earliest Buddhist art treasure trove in China, even one century earlier than the famous Mogao Grottoes. Currently there are 236 coded caves preserved, which are divided into west and inner valley and rear mountain areas extending to over 3 kilometers (1.86 miles). On June 22, 2014, it was included in the World Heritage List. 

The Kizil Thousand-Buddha Caves are corridor of murals surpassing other existing caves in China in its abundance in content, quantity and long duration. It is significant in Buddhism as well as in the history of Qiuci. Baicheng County, where these caves are located, used to be under the reign of ancient Qiuci (today's Kuqa). As a communication hub of the ancient Silk Road, Qiuci was the political and economic center of the West Region as well as the focal point of Central Asian and Indo-European cultures. Several facts support these. The earlier caves took the shape similar to Bamian Caves and the murals suggested the influence of Gandhara arts, a Buddhist visual art prevailing in today's Northwestern Pakistan and Eastern Afghanistan in First Century B.C. and Seventh Century A.D. The written documents discovered here were composed in Tocharian B language, a branch of the Indo-European language family that originated in central Asia during the first millennium.

Qiuci's geographic location became to be the center of Buddhism in the West Region as well as a key point for propagating Buddhism in the Central China. Before it was taken place of by Islam in 13th century, Buddhism prevailed in Xinjiang for more than one thousand years. This explained why caves or grottos, an important medium of Buddhist arts, which illustrated sutra by architecture and murals, have been found in Xinjing.

The Kizil Thousand-Buddha Caves come in two forms, one as living quarters with earthen bed and simple facilities, and the other one as temple for worshiping. Caves of different form and function were combined into one unit. It is assumed that one unit was one temple. This is to say that temples stood shoulder to shoulder in the Kizil Thousand-Buddha Caves at that time.

The murals in the Kizil Thousand-Buddha Caves are reputed as "The most beautiful murals in Central Asia". They are found in 81 caves with a total area of more than 10,000 square meters (11,960 yards). The diamond grid pattern is the most impressive feature. There is a story about Buddha's reincarnation in every gird. Each story was portrayed by a single picture instead of a series of pictures as in Mogao Grottoes.”

In the old Kuqa city, we had fantastic shashlik wrapped in the local bread. It was served by a very friendly man and his wife.  We then walked over to a large mosque which is second in size in Xingjang.  The old town was very original and maintained its Uyghur feel.  I got a shave and a haircut for $1.5 (10 yuan).  We walked though an endless market with many delicious looking and smelling food stalls.  It was great for photos and the experience.  I wanted to eat more of the delicious foods but I was still full from the late lunch we had.   The inhabitants of the old Kucha are all Uyghur with very few Chinese around.  The general feel of this place was reminiscent of the old Kashgar that I visited in 2001.  

We walked back to the hotel, which was at least 10km away.  It was a good way to see the city.   I like Kuqa a lot except the industrial sites on the outskirts of the city.  

May 7 Kuqa – Hotan via Taklimakan

Today we started at 7 am for the long drive through the Taklimakan Desert. This desert is known for the extreme conditions and remoteness.  We drove for 100km from Kuqa before we started to see the encroaching desert. The Tarim River inner delta provides enough water to keep the Kuqa oasis green and fertile.  After about 200km the sand became more dominant and the true Taklimakan Desert began.  The scenery was bleak and foreboding – a true sand desert.   The road cut right through the middle of it in a straight line like a vain of life.  We stopped for lunch in a spot with a tin roof providing protection from the blasting sun and brisk wind.   

Before Hotan, we stopped at the Rawak Buddhist Stupa – another example of the strong Buddhist influence along the ancient Silk Road.  The stupa is located among sand dunes in the most scenic part of the desert we have seen so far.   We stopped to take photos of the sand dunes.  They seem to stretch for miles into the horizon.  They are not as high as the Gobi dunes but they are larger and cover a vast area.  Again, the desert looked foreboding and remote.  

Rawak Stupa

“The ruins of Rawak Vihara are situated in a completely uninhabited area of the Takla Makan desert. The more or less constant winds erode the monument steadily. According to the archeological accounts, sand dunes previously covered a large area of the site. In 1901 and 1906, Aurel Stein excavated at the southern/southeastern corner of the large, rectangular (ca. 50 × 44 m) wall that surrounds the stupa; in 1926 Emil Trinkler (1896-1931) excavated the southwestern part.  The wall is ca. 4 m high and 1 m thick. The stupa walls were completely covered with sculptures of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, life-sized or a little larger. The coloring of the sculptures was of a deep red. The sculptures, of which Stein found 91 in number up to 1906, were modeled of unbaked clay on a wooden frame of branches of trees and fastened to the thick wall via wooden pins. After the rough sculptures were modeled, the outer surface was covered with fine stucco and was painted.” iranicaonline

We also stopped at the tomb of a Muslim scholar who died in the 10thcentury fighting Buddhism.  The place is called Mazar of Imam Asim.  He was from Bukhara or Kashgar (no one knows for sure).  Now this tomb is a place of pilgrimage and a mausoleum.  The area is dotted with many prayer flags.  Everyone was looking at us with curiosity and we seem to generate a lot of interest among the locals.   Some of the poles had sheep skins stuffed with straw and put vertically to make it look as if the animals were impaled.  The place had a weird feel to it. 

From Mazar we drove to Hotan and spent an hour checking into the hotel. We learned that in Hotan, foreigners are not allowed to stay in hotels independently, only as part of an organized group.  Without a guide there was no way to communicate with anyone.  The hotel was quite seedy.  Each room had condoms, red bull, change of men’s underwear and socks. It was most likely a front for a brothel.   

May 8 Hotan 

Today is Sunday, the day of the famous Hotan market.  We started a little later today.  At 9.30 we went to the animal market.  Frankly I was expecting the market to look like the animal market that I remember from my visit to Kashgar in 2001.  This market was much more organized with metal enclosures for the animals.  The small section of goat and sheep sellers was very lively though.  A good sheep sells for $500 and an average one for $200. We were the only tourists there and possibly the first tourists in a very long time.  People at the market were keen to pose for photos and engaged us in conversation asking where we were from etc.  Waheed had to translate quite a few times and he did a great job of bridging the gap between cultures.

The Kashgar market that I remember was much bigger and located in a large field by the river.  There were many more people selling and buying all sorts of animals (from birds to horses).  The only advantage of the Hotan market were the camels, even though they were in enclosed pens.  Overall the Kashgar market was much better and I am happy to have seen it back in 2001. Today was also very hot (+37C) and walking in the heat and dust was rather tiring.   

We left the animal market after 2 hours or so and drove to the Sunday bazar. The Sunday bazar in Hotan is huge! The streets surrounding the bazar are swarming with people.  Inside, ladies dressed in their Sunday best create a festival of colors.  There were crowds of women vendors dressed in bright and vibrant dresses swarmed by their customers pushing and shoving.  Hotan is known for silk and especially a certain pattern of print.  Most ladies were wearing garments made from a variation of that pattern.   The market had a great feel to it and it was a fantastic place to photograph people in their natural environment.   We also ate well, shashlyk and watermelons of course! The watermelons stands are great, just walk up and start eating slice after slice.  You pay $0.30 per slice!  There were also many sellers offering various types of remedies for afflictions such as skin conditions etc.  Normally a large crowd would gather around them listening intently to the sales pitch.  Others were selling skullcaps, pots, teapots (and making them), spices, nuts, ice, and many other things.  It was a great experience that had to be seen to be appreciated.  

After the main bazar, we wandered into the carpet market.  It was empty and abandoned as compared to the action outside the carpet market.   The carpets on offer were mainly imports from Iran, made from silk and quite expensive.  We took a break from the oppressive head at a tea stall and since it was only 3pm, we decided to drive to the jade market.   The jade market is huge as well although by the time we arrived, the market action was wrapping up.  We saw some incredibly expensive jade rocks ($25,000 and up!).  To us they were just rocks so quite worthless.  To the Chinese though, they have a value of gold.   It is strange how the value of an object is determined by one’s culture and not by its intrinsic utility.   The Chinese come from all over China to this market to purchase jade for which this area is famous for.  Hotan’s jade trade dates back 2000 and this area supplied the entire country with jade from the Kunlun Mountains.  

May 9 Hotan

In the morning we went to a carpet factory to see how the famous Hotan carpets are made.  The factory was small and located in a beautiful park.  A dozen or so women worked at the weaving stations making beautiful rugs.  The design of each rug is done on a computer and the weaver just follows the pattern on the loom.  The finished product is very expensive in hundreds if not thousands of dollars. This small tour concluded our visit to the beautiful corner of China.  

May 12 – Longman Caves (Eastern China)

After our tour of Western China, I went to Beijing and other cities in the eastern part of China.  While in Zhengzhou I booked a driver for a day trip to the famous Longman Caves.  The caves are located near ancient capital of China and represent the eastern extremity of the ancient Silk Road.  

We met the driver at 6am for 1.5 hr drive on an excellent highway between Zhengzhou and Xian.  The caves are situated at the foot of a rocky escarpment along a 1km stretch of rock on a river.  The site is very impressive and grand.  The honeycomb of caves and carved monuments is astonishing.  Each cave was carved out by hand leaving the lump of rock (attached to the mountain) from which the statue of Buddha would be carved out last (a monumental task).  The most amazing were the tall statues over 17m high. To carve those, the entire mountainside had to be excavated first and then the residual rock was made into the imposing statues.  The entire effort took over 200 years to accomplish.  Since we arrived early, we had the entire site to ourselves before the tour groups showed up.  We have not run into another white tourist while we were inside.  This seems to be the situation during my stay here.  

The east side of the site had fewer caves and it was less grand. 

The Longmen Grottoes, located on both sides of the Yi River to the south of the ancient capital of Luoyang, Henan province, comprise more than 2,300 caves and niches carved into the steep limestone cliffs over a 1km long stretch. These contain almost 110,000 Buddhist stone statues, more than 60 stupas and 2,800 inscriptions carved on steles. Luoyang was the capital during the late Northern Wei Dynasty and early Tang Dynasty, and the most intensive period of carving dates from the end of the 5th century to the mid-8th century. The earliest caves to be carved in the late 5th and early 6th centuries in the West Hill cliffs include Guyangdong and the Three Binyang Caves, all containing large Buddha figures. Yaofangdong Cave contains 140 inscription recording treatments for various diseases and illnesses. Work on the sculpture in this cave continued over a 150-year period, illustrating changes in artistic style. The sculptural styles discovered in the Buddhist caves of the Tang Dynasty in the 7th and 8th centuries, particularly the giant sculptures in the Fengxiansi Cave are the most fully representative examples of the Royal Cave Temples’ art, which has been imitated by artists from various regions. The two sculptural art styles, the earlier “Central China Style” and the later “Great Tang Style” had great influence within the country and throughout the world, and have made important contributions to the development of the sculptural arts in other Asian countries.”

China Far West - Ancient Silk Road

Map of Western China - Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Regions

In the Kashgar market

The Kashgar old tea house

100 year old tea house

The story of the 100 year old tea house in Kashgar

100 year old tea house

100 year old tea house

100 year old tea house

Kashgar shop

Streets of Kashgar

Tajik beauty

The Shiphton Arch near Kashgar

Tashkurgan old fort and the Pamir Mountains near the border of China, Pakistan and Afghanistan

Old Fort of Tashkurgan

Old Fort of Tashkurgan

Tashkurgan

The Chinese Pamir

Near Tashkurgan

Muztagh Ata

Karakul Lake and Muztagh Ata

Mt. Kongur

Mt. Kongur

The Karakoram Highway (KKH) connecting Pakistan and Xinjiang

The Karakorum Highway

The Karakorum Highway

The Pamir Mountain Range along the Karakoram Highway

The Kunlun and Karakoram near Hotan

Road through Kunlun Mountain Range south of Yarkand

Road through Kunlun Mountain Range south of Yarkand

The Subashi Temple near Kucha

An old stupa near Kucha

The Emin Minaret or Emin Tower stands by the Uyghur mosque located in Turpan, Xingjiang, China. At 44 meters (144 ft) it is the tallest miaret in China

The Subashi Temple near Kucha

Near Turpan

The Taklamakan Desert has very little water, therefore it is hazardous to cross. Merchant caravans on the Silk Road would stop for relief at the thriving oasis towns.

The dusty trans Taklamakan Highway

The trans Taklamakan Highway

Taklamakan Desert

The sea of sand - Taklamakan Desert

Taklamakan Desert

The Jiaohe Ruins, also known as Yar City near Turpan.

Goachang Ancient City near Turpan

Goachang Ancient City

Goachang Ancient City

Near Turpan

Near Turpan

Small town near Turpan - the base for the Goachang Ancient City

Mural in one of the Kizil Caves.

Inside one of the Kizil Caves. A central pillar design allows the pilgrims to circumambulate around a central column which is a representation of a stupa. Anti portrait Muslims had Buddhist portraits obliterated during the wars over hundreds of years in which Buddhism was replaced by Islam

The desert surrounding the Kizil Oasis

The Kizil Oasis

Kizil Caves

The Kizil Caves complex is the largest of the ancient Buddhist cave sites that are associated with the ancient Tocharian kingdom of Kucha.

Kizil Caves complex

Inside one of the Kizil caves

The earliest caves are dated, based in part on radioactive carbon dating, to around the year 300.

The Kizil Caves - unfortunately most of them are closed

The caves were probably abandoned sometime around the beginning of the 8th century.

Kizil caves

Kizil Caves

Sad state of the Kizil Caves

This walkway led to a water spring which a holy site for Buddhists.

In Hotan

Hotan

In the market of Hotan

The delicious bread at the Uyghur market in Hotan

Carpet shop in Hotan

Hotan Sunday Market - the grant main gate

Hotan Sunday Market

Hotan Sunday Market

The famous Hotan silk - this pattern is characteristic to the area of Hotan

Different types of watermelon seeds

At the Hotan market

Hotan Sunday Market

Hotan Sunday Market

Hotan Sunday Market

The famous silk of Hotan

Hotan Sunday Market

Hotan

Hotan

Hotan

Yumm! Fast Food at the Hotan Sunday Market

Hotan

Hotan

Hotan

Carpet shopping in Hotan

It is plus 40C so a cup of crushed ice is nice

The main mosque in Urumqi

Turpan

Inside the Emin mosque.

In the Provincial Museum in Urumqi

Tarim Basin mummies in the Urumqi Museum

The incredible Tarim Basin mummies in the Urumqi Museum

The Tarim mummies are a series of mummies discovered in the Tarim Basin in present-day Xingjiang, China, which date from 1800 BC. 'The Beauty of Loulan" - the oldest Tarim mummy.

Many of the mummies have been found in very good condition, owing to the dryness of the desert and the desiccation it produced in the corpses. The mummies share many typical Caucasian body features (elongated bodies, angular faces, recessed eyes), and many of them have their hair physically intact, ranging in color from blond to red to deep brown

The Emin mosque.

The Jiaohe Ruins, also known as Yar City near Turpan. From 450 AD until 640 AD it became Jiao prefecture in the Tang Dynasty

The Jiaohe Ruins

The Jiaohe Ruins

The Jiaohe city Ruins

The Jiaohe Ruins

Buddhist stupa at Jiaohe Ruins.

The Jiaohe Ruins

Buddhist stupa at Jiaohe Ruins.

Gaochang, also called Karakhoja, Qara-hoja, Kara-Khoja, or Karahoja, is the site of a ruined, ancient oasis city on the northern rim of the inhospitable Taklamakan Desert

The Buddhist stupa of Gaochang city ruins.

Gaochang ancient city.

Gaochang ancient city.

Gaochang ancient city.

Gaochang city was built in the 1st century BC, it was an important site along the Silk Road. The old city defensive wall.

Gaochang ancient city.

The Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves near Turpan.

There are 77 rock-cut caves at the Bezeklik site. Most have rectangular spaces with rounded arch celings often divided into four sections, each with a mural of the Buddha. The effect is that the entire ceiling is covered with hundreds of Buddha murals.

Old ruins near the Bezeklik Cave complex.

The old caves near the Bezeklik Cave complex.

in Turpan, Xinjiang

In Turpan

Kucha

Kucha

Kucha

The old and new Kucha.

Kucha

The Subashi Temple

The Subashi Temple is a ruined Buddhist temple near Kucha in the Taklamakan Desert, on the ancient Silk Road, in Xinjiang, China

The Subashi Temple

The Subashi Temple

The Subashi Temple.

The Subashi Temple

The Subashi Temple

The Subashi Temple

The Subashi Temple

The roads around Kucha

The road in Western China near Kucha on the way to Kizil Caves.

Old Kucha

Kucha Grand mosque is the third largest mosque in the region, was rebuilt in 1932 on the site of original 16th century mosque.

The Grand Mosque of Kucha.

The prayer hall of the Grand Mosque of Kucha.

Kucha, Xinjiang

Kucha, Xinjiang

Blacksmith shop in Kucha

The streets of Hotan

At a bakery in Hotan, Xinjiang

Xinjiang carpets in Hotan

Rawak Stupa near Hotan

Imam Asim Tomb near Hotan on the edge of the Taklamakan Desert

Taklamakan is one of the largest sandy deserts in the world, ranking 15th in size in a ranking of the world's largest non-polar deserts.

Taklamakan - means: once you get in, you never get out.

Taklamakan

Taklamakan is the paradigm of a cold desert. Given its relative proximity with the cold to frigid air masses in Siberia, extreme lows are recorded in wintertime, sometimes well below -20 °C

At the Hotan animal market. Hotan is is a major oasis town in southwestern Xinjiang. Hotan has always depended on two strong rivers - the Karakash River and the White Jade River to provide the water needed to survive on the southwestern edge of the Taklamakan Desert.

Once ubiquitous but now seldom seen pigeon keeping. In Hotan.

Road near Kucha

Jade processing in Hotan - Hotan jade is famous all over China

Karglik

Karglik main mosque

Karglik mosque

In Karglik

The Grand Mosque of Yarkand

Yakrand

Old Yarkand

Old Yarkand

Old streets of Yarkand

Yarkand

Mongolia Trip Report Part 2 - Golden Eagle Festival and The Gobi

September 19, 2015 Sagsai Golden Eagle Festival Day 1

We set off at 9 am from Olgi to Sagsai for the Golden Eagle Festival with much anticipation and curiosity.  In reality, this festival was our main reason to come to this part of Mongolia.   We were not quite sure whether this event would be a genuine local festival or one put on exclusively for tourists. 

Arriving for the Festival

We arrived in Sagsai early as the organizers were just starting to set up.  Although the festival was supposed to start at 10am it really did not get going until after 11.30am.  While we were waiting around for the festival to start, we were watching the participants (eagle hunters) arrive on horseback from all directions.  They were arriving from their gers (round Kazakh tents), which dotted the flat planes around Sagsai.  One of the participants was our guide Baku’s uncle whose ger we visited the day before on our return trip from Mt. Khuitan.   It was all very exciting for us to see.  The eagle hunters rode slowly across the plain with their majestic eagles perched on their arms. 

Once all the participants gathered (there were around 40 of them) they had a parade that culminated with a gallop across the festival grounds.  They were all dressed in traditional Kazakh winter clothing made from felt and fox fur.  They were also wearing the traditional Mongolian or tall Kazakh hats made form fox feet fur.  Their large eagles were perched on their arms supported by wooden stands resting on saddles.  As they were galloping, they raised their eagles in the air forcing the birds to spread their wings as if getting ready for flying.   

After the parade, the eagle hunting competition began.  Each eagle hunter launched his bird from the top of a small hill situated behind the festival grounds.  The bird was being called to swoop down and grab the bait that was being pulled on a long line by the assistant’s horse down below.  The assistant was on a horse and the bait was a dead fox attached to a long line.   To an eagle, viewed from above, the dead fox looks like the real animal running through the field below.  The assistant called the eagle with a special whistle-like “call” to get the bird’s attention.  If the eagle made an accurate landing, it was rewarded with raw meat.  The speed of the flight and the accuracy of landing were judged and tabulated.  The winner and his eagle were awarded a medal and a cash prize. 

Ready to fly!

The panel of judges

I went up to the top of the hill and watched the eagles being launched by their owners.  They took great pride in their birds.  They also took great pride in their appearance and their culture.  It was definitely a men’s world.  They seemed to relish each other’s company.  It was wonderful to see and experience.  I took some great photos of this rather wild and surreal scene.  We were also surrounded by fantastic scenery that provided a backdrop for the whole event and the photos.   The morning competition was not very successful due to high wind.  The wind’s noise was blocking calls from the assistants to the eagles from the plain below.  It also made the flight difficult for the birds.  Once the morning part concluded we headed for lunch of shashlyk on the festival grounds. 

Shashlyk stand

The best shashlyk in Mongolia

After lunch, the weather changed from sunny and clear to overcast.  The wind became even stronger with powerful gusts.  Goat-pulling contest was the main afternoon event.   In this event, two horsemen pulled a carcass of a goat from one another until one person successfully took possession of it.  The pulling can take a long time and extends to fields around the main stage.  The entire thing is very unpredictable, involves some serious horse acrobatics and much strength.  It is fun to watch, as the audience has to run away from the horses.  There is much cheer, dust and action. 

The goat pulling contest

The goat pulling contest

As this event was taking place, the wind picked up even more and we decided to depart around 4 pm.  On the way out, I purchased a hat from one of the eagle hunters.  The hat is made from fox legs and unfortunately 6 of them were required to make one hut.  As much as I felt sorry for the foxes, it is the culture here and the foxes are hunted mainly for the pelts.  

Day 1 was a great success and we really enjoyed it.  It definitely did not disappoint.  Although other tourists were there, the festival was definitely a local affair with the participants and the local audience really getting into the competition and the spirit of things.    

September 20, 2015 Golden Eagle Festival Day 2

We were excited to see what Day 2 would bring after very enjoyable Day 1. We arrived at the festival grounds at 10am.  We did not expect for the proceedings to commence any sooner than the day before.  As we were arriving, we saw many camels arriving for the camel race.  We were happy that the events were different from the day before and not a repeat of the same.  At the end we missed the camel race – it was supposed to take place in the afternoon but was moved to first thing in the morning.   The festival is somewhat chaotic but this is what makes it special too. 

The second day of the festival was less showy as most tourists were gone and the place filled with the locals.  The locals came from nearby villages and settlements.  The locals were a motley crew for the most part:  mostly country folk on horses.  Most of them quite rough looking.  With a bit of local hooch, the sparks would fly pretty fast with these guys.  In order to fit in and make it in this environment, one has to be tough.  Kids start riding horses at 5 or so and can handle animals with confidence.  There was a boy among the participants, maybe 10 years old who had his own eagle and was riding a horse like a pro.  The women are also physically tough and can ride horses very well.  Despite the rough looks, everyone was extremely nice and welcoming.  They were always smiling and made us feel very welcome.    

The Old and the young

In the morning, the eagle-hunting contest was held again.  This time, the birds were flying better, catching foxes and making a good performance.  I stood down below the hill watching the assistants on horseback pulling foxes.  While this part of the festival was going on, a local bus arrived with the entertainers.  The bus arrived while the eagle hunting competition was still under way so the entertainers just interrupted the eagle-hunting contest and got on with their part of the show.  The performance was held in front of a large truck parked in the empty field.   The area soon filled up with old women and kids.  The men on horses and camels ringed the seated spectators.  Many of them had eagles perched on their arms.  It was all very surreal.    The entertainment consisted of three local singers, two of them dressed as medieval princesses and one old less attractive one.  One of the princesses roused the crowd with a lamenting song about Kazakhstan.  Considering that ethnically all the participants and spectators were Kazakhs, their hearts must be more Kazakh than Mongolian. At the key moment of the song (when the word Kazakhstan was sung), the men on horses would lift their eagles in the air and then lower them quickly forcing the birds to spread their wings.  This was accompanied by loud cheers and some really bad quality audio from large speakers set up on the bed of the large truck.  The song was so popular that the princess had to sing it again to great cheer from the crowd.  All of it took place in the strong wind with clouds of dust blowing around.

There was also a young artist playing a traditional Kazakh guitar-like instrument.  Although enjoyable, the boy’s performance was not at the same level of excitement as the princesses.  As the concert was winding down, a large brawl broke out among the horseman.  Suddenly the crowd became very agitated with many people running away from the stage.  Groups of men on horses with eagles perched on their arms started galloping around.  Some guys on horses and camels were chasing someone.  It was all very wild.  A man got into a car and sped away.  As the car was driving away, the locals pelted it with large rocks.  Apparently, a sponsor of the event, a representative of a company called “Blue Woolf”, kicked an 80-year-old local in an argument and others got very upset.  As the fight abated, the entertainers packed up their instruments and the bus left as quickly as it arrived.  Wild.

The festival continued with sheep pulling, horse races and prize ceremonies.  The winner of the eagle-hunting contest got a medal and $50!  He was very proud and posed for a photo for me with his eagle sitting on his arm. 

The Winners of the 2015 Golden Eagle Festival

One the prizes were handed out, the festival wrapped up pretty quickly.  Also, the wind started to blow really hard with large clouds of dust (we needed a long shower to wash it all off afterwards).  On the way back to Olgi, Secon run out of gas in his Łaz.  The Łaz was a total piece of shit.  None of the gauges work, there were no seat belts, and the engine jolts, vibrates and overheats.  The abhorrent condition of this “vehicle” did not stop Secon from driving it at 100km/hr (while the gas lasted) on bad roads while passing others in clouds of dust.  It was Mongolian Wild West driving!

We ran out of gas…

Overall the festival has exceeded our expectations.  It was wild, authentic with a total feel of an exotic remote central Asian culture. The people were great. They take great pride in their culture.  Everyone participate eagerly in the competitions and gave their 110%.  It was great to have had this opportunity to participate in such an authentic event.  We met some visitors from Kazakhstan who told us that the Kazakh culture survives in Mongolia.  In Kazakhstan, the Soviets killed the culture and the current government modernized the country that finished the nomadic traditions off.  Nothing of what we saw in Sagsai exists in Kazakhstan.  Overall coming to the festival was worth all the effort! 

September 21, 2015 Olgi and Lake Tolba

We had some time to spend in Olgi so we decided to go on the town.  In the morning we walked to the local museum.  It was a rubbish museum located in unkempt grounds in an old and dirty building.  The museum had a couple of bored but nice employees who eagerly sold us tickets and turned on the lights for us.  The main floor had an exhibit of old, dilapidated insane looking stuffed animals in rickety dioramas made in the 1970s.  On the walls were some faded old photos with explanations in Mongolian.  The room smelled musty and there was a cover of dust and old age on all of it. 

The second floor paid homage to the glory of communism.  It included an array of goods produced in the 60s and 70s by local factories.  In contrast to the glory and pride proclaimed by the museum’s exhibit, one has to look at Olgi and it is difficult to see the bright side of the legacy of the communist era. Other gems of the exhibit were numerous medals, photos of pioneers, cosmonauts, a carpet weaving of Brezhnev, old people posing with local apparatchiks and plenty of medals.  It was pretty clear that no one ever comes here and that the story of self-congratulating was all b/s.   The top floor had a ger and a swing.  Overall it took us 30 min to take it all in and we both concluded that the quality of the museum is consistent with the overall vibe of Olgi. 

The people responsible for the socialist disaster

After the museum, we wandered into the market area of Olgi (called “The Black Market”).  The “market” is made up of many shipping containers of all ages and sizes sitting side by side in a muddy field.  It looks like a scene from the Mad Max movie.  Many container shops were closed so we did not have had a chance to browse what was on offer.  Perhaps some other day…

The Black Market

We then wandered to the Grand Mosque, which is “grand” only in the name.  The small building in is the advanced stage of decay.  Everything in Olgi is unkempt, dirty, dusty and half finished.  We saw a wall being constructed:  a bunch of poor fitting bricks piled one of top of another without any cement.  The “builders” did not even demolish the broken parts of the old wall but piled the new bricks on top of its ruin.  Everything here is so dilapidated and brutalist and feels like the inhabitants just gave up on life.  In winter, the place is very cold and even greyer.  Everyone heats up homes or gers with coal, and this town must feel and look, like a Russian gulag.  Yet, the people living here make it their home and miss it when they leave and long to go back.  They have beautiful memories associated with Olgi and its dilapidated surroundings.  I do understand this very well as once I also lived in a grey and dilapidated city, like Olgi, that I remember fondly and nostalgically.  I think that it just shows you that what makes a place special is not how pretty it is but family, friends and a sense of belonging. 

The Grand Mosque

The Wall

After the city tour, Secon took us to Lake Tolba.  The scenery along the way was beautiful.  Vast expanses dotted with distant peaks and ridges some of which were already dusted with snow.  At Lake Tolba, there was a permanent encampment belonging to “Altai Expeditions” and a small house of the caretaker whom we visited.  David and I hiked to a nearby hill for a great view of the lake and the surrounding area.  The sky looked dark and ominous.  The view of the green lake from the summit was fantastic and we also saw three little petroglyphs on the summit. 

Small petroglyphs on the summit

After the hike, we had lunch with the family of the caretaker.  The meal consisting of Plov was served in a large bowl and placed in the middle of the table.  We all ate from the same bowl with spoons.  After eating lots, Secon and the host belched loudly proclaiming that it was indeed a good meal.  I like this custom, belching sends a clear and unmistakable message to the host that one has enjoyed the meal.  I did belch too, wanting to fit in with the locals.  David could not overcome his Britishness and despite my encouragement, did not participate in the belch fest. 

After much belching and slurping, we left for Olgi. Secon drove uncharacteristically slow putting me to sleep with the jolting Łaz. He drove in the middle of the road following the dividing line.  We were all full of food and comatose.  I was concerned that Secon would veer off into a ditch.  Along the road we were driving on, there were many random traffic signs and the road markings made no sense.  For example, passing was allowed in most dangerous spots and forbidden on long and clear stretches.  In another spot, the speed limit would go from 50 to 20 to 10 in a span of 25 meters for no apparent reason as we were on a straight and clear section of the road.  We were back in the concrete hotel in no time.  In the evening the wind picked up considerably creating a dust storm and loud noise. 

In the late evening a trio of already drunk Russians arrived and continued drinking vodka until late hours of the night.  This was after we had two nights of drunk and loud Chinese screaming and yelling all night in the hallway.  The sound of drunken parties resonated loudly among the empty concrete building. 

As I was lying awake on the bed that was the hardest of all beds in Mongolia. I was wandering how would we fly off tomorrow in the strong gale?   At this point we had no guide so if we did not fly, we would be stuck here on our own. 

The entire organization of our trip here felt very “Mongolian”.  At that point I had not even paid for the trip and there was no one making the effort or expressing interest in collecting the payment.  We seemed to be bouncing from place to place with no oversight but somehow sticking to the original plan.  It seemed that like everything in Mongolia, it was all left to chance and the wind (which there is plenty of here).

September 22, 2015

We woke up at 6am ready for our departure from Olgi to UB.  On the way to the airport we needed to stop at a gas station to be even able to get to the airport.  There was no gas left in the car.  Once we arrived at the airport, the building was dark and looked completely abandoned.  The only sound was the strong wind blowing around and there was no one in sight to ask about the situation.  There were no signs posted anywhere.  Our driver called someone on his mobile and told us that the departure time was changed to 17:00.  We went back to Olgi to the concrete hotel.

Our ride to Kovd

To kill time, we took a walk around Olgi again, sent some postcards and had a good lunch at the Turkish restaurant where we met Sophie Howarth from Australia.  By accident we overheard some people at the table next to ours talking about the flight to UB.  Evidently, the flight has been cancelled. The flight would now take off from Kovd, a city 6 hours away.  Apparently, the airline provided a free bus that would depart at 1:30pm.  We quickly paid and left to collect our bags from the concrete hotel.  As we were walking back to the hotel, a car pulled up with our bags and took us to the bus.  The bus was a dilapidated throwback to the 70s with hard and torn seats and scruffy windows. 

We took off from Olgi and soon after the road became quite bad.  The views were fantastic tough and I was glad that we had a chance to see this part of Western Mongolia.  We drove by Lake Tolba again, over a high mountain pass and through canyons and rivers.  It is a stunningly beautiful country with great vistas and great people.  After 10 hours of bone shaking ride, we arrived in Kovd that seemed cleaner and much more organized than Olgi.  We had a good late dinner and were taken to the airport for a 2.30am flight.

Lake Tolba

Western Mongolia

The flight finally took off at 3.45am.  We were very tired once we arrived in UB at 7.30 am.  We met J, our new guide and went to the hotel to repack.  We would soon leave for the Gobi.    

September 23, 2015 Karakorum – on the way to the Gobi

After quick repack, we checked out and took off for the Gobi.  The drive from UB to Karakorum, the old capital of the Mongolian Empire, was rather boring as compared to the beautiful Western Mongolia the day before.  We drove through a series of rolling green hills and arrived in Karakorum at 5pm.   Karakorum is the ancient capital of Ghingis Khan’s empire.  There is not much left of the original city.  There is a small monastery, massive walls and a few small structures inside the walls.  There is also a good museum that displays a model of the ancient city.  The display is very educational and we discovered that Ghingis’ Empire was actually quite open to the world.  He imported artisans and architects from as far as Italy.  Now the site feels abandoned.  The temples are not restored and do not seem to be used for religious purposes.  We walked around the site, took some photos and retired to the ger hotel nearby.  We had a nice night in our private ger with hot fire stove providing heat until 2 am.  Once the fire died, it was another cold Mongolian night.   

Our setup for the night

Five star Ger

September 24, 2015 Gushinus = “Paris,Texas”

From Karakorum, we drove all day on a boring and shaky road.  The scenery reminded me of Southern Alberta and Eastern Montana – flat prairie and big sky.  We stopped at a grand horse memorial in the middle of nowhere with many skulls of horses.  The memorial is apparently dedicated to a famous race horse named Arvagarkheer: “local authorities decided to build on this equestrian reputation by constructing a large complex of stupas, or Buddhist shrines, in the center of Arvaikheer valley. These 108 stupas, collectively called “Morin Tolgoe” or “Horse’s Head,” surround a painted statue of Arvagarkheer” (www.patrickinmongolia.worldpress.com)

Many horse owners come here and leave the skulls to ensure that their horses are as effective as the one to which the memorial is dedicated to. 

We stopped for the night at Gushinus, a small village in the middle of nowhere.  It felt like the end of the world.  The village looks like a Stalinist gulag.  I can just imagine what it looks like in the winter.  Everything here is broken and ugly.  The hotel is a Soviet dump with hard beds and a stinking shitter outside.  The little place where we ate was the only place in town to eat, but it did have Wi-Fi!!!!  The roads are covered in thick layer of dust that is blown around by cold wind. 

Gushinus

The Centre of Gushinus

Gushinus

September 25, 2015 The Gobi

Today we drove for 7 hours from Gushinus to the Gobi.  It turns out that the Gobi is VERY, VERY far away from anywhere (including UB) and it is not easily accessible at all.  Majority of driving is on remote tracks through remote country.  There is no other way of getting there. 

We had great scenery right after we left Gushinus and, as we approached the Gobi, the scenery got progressively better.  We arrived at the large sand dunes named Khongor, in time for sunset.  The dunes were very impressive and huge, stretching into the horizon.  The mountain range surrounding them provided an excellent backdrop.  There was a river and a lot of greenery right by the massive sand dunes.  The Gobi National Park is very large, open and barren.  To get from one end of the park to the other takes a number of days.  The park is very varied in scenery but it takes a long time and a lot of driving to get from one place of interest to another.

Approaching the Gobi

We climbed 300m to the tallest dune in the area.  The climb to the top of the massive dunes was not hard although climbing sand hills with 45 degrees incline is not easy.  Once I crested the ridge of the dunes, a great vista appeared before me.  The wind was blowing hard picking up sand with force.   We waited for 1.5 hours for the sunset admiring the wonderful views all around us.  Due to the blowing sand, we felt like we were being sandblasted.  I had to cover my face tight to prevent fine sand from being blown into my eyes, ears and mouth.  I walked along the crest of the massive dunes for some distance.  The walking was not easy and the sand would slide from under my feet as I walked.  The sliding sand would make a singing-like sound hence the name “singing sand dunes”.  The wind was strong and created a plume of sand blown across the ridge of the sand dune like snow.  Finally the sunset came at 7.45pm and provided us with beautiful orange light for photos.  After the sunset we ran/slid down the sand back to the car.  I had a kilo of fine sand in each shoe and inside my socks. The views and the experience were worth all the long driving to get here.  It is truly an amazing spot.  Mongolia has amazing nature but the towns and villages are quite the opposite.

Climbing the sand hills

Strong wind across the 300m high dunes

We seem to have the wind accompanying us in Mongolia everywhere we go.  The wind is strong and cold and it is always blowing hard.  It is the nature of open and barren spaces though and it is a part of the Mongolia experience.     

After admiring the dunes, we drove to our hotel for the night.  The hotel was another ger camp.  It was a nice and spacious complex and we seemed to be the only guests there.  The food was excellent and the service was first class.

September 26, 2015 Flaming Cliffs

We got up at 6.30am to go see the sunrise at the dunes.  The spot we chose was much closer and lower than the dunes we visited the day before.  It was still dark when we left the camp and it took a while to get to the dunes.  We had to cross a small river and hike across a scrub field to get to the sand.  The morning was windless and the silence rang in my ears.  As the sun came up, the soft light illuminated the sand changing from pastel to bright orange.  The low light accentuated all the ripples and wind formations on the rolling dunes.  Within 45 minutes it was all over and the light became flat and bright. 

Morning light…

On the way back from the dunes David rode a camel back to the camp.  I could not do it as my ass was still in pain after the horse riding incident.  I sat on the camel for a photo and his spine wedged up my ass preventing me from continuing.   I had a vivid flashback of the excruciating horse ride in the Altai.    I was good with 5 minutes on the camel.  David, our guide and a local camel driver rode back to the camp surrounded by a herd of goats.  It all looked very biblical.  I left the guys to enjoy the pilgrimage and I returned to the ger camp for a great breakfast.  After David returned to the camp, we showered and left for the Flaming Cliffs. 

My 5 minutes of fun

The distances in the Gobi are huge!  The space is wide open and grand and the sky is big!  As we drove, we watched massive rain clouds emptying their watery load over distant mountains.  The views were superb and the light was changing every ten minutes.  This place reminded me of the Burang Plain near Mount Kailas in Tibet. 

On the way between the ger camp and the Flaming Cliffs we stopped at Bulgi.  Bulgi is famous for tomatoes.  I was very surprised that anything could grow in this inhospitable and barren place.  We got invited to a ger of a local lady who wanted to sell us some tomatoes.  Her daughter was breastfeeding in front of us and paid no attention to the three strange men coming into her house.  A Japanese comment I heard somewhere applies here:  Mongolians have shame but no modesty while we, in the West, have modesty but no shame.  We purchased tomatoes and 16 km later we arrived at the Flaming Cliffs.  The camp was located on top of a barren plateau with grand vista in all directions.  The entrance gate to the complex had a metal dinosaur attached to it.  Considering the fame of the spot for the dinosaur fossils, it made sense.  I recall reading “Bolek I Lolek in the Gobi” when I was a kid!

The Gobi

The Flaming Cliffs is a famous escarpment at the edge of a large plain of the Gobi Desert.  It is famous for dinosaur fossils and it is the first place in the world where extremely well preserved dinosaur eggs were found.  The escarpment is very eroded and has steep edges and indentations like small canyons with numerous sandstone formations.  The rock is composed of red sandstone reminiscent of the Utah Canyons of the USA.  The place looks beautiful in the sunset light when the entire cliff glows red and orange, hence the name “Flaming Cliffs”.   We spent two hours walking around the edge of the cliffs waiting for sunset.  After sunset we went to the dinosaur ger camp.  It was a very cold night!

The Flaming Cliffs

September 27, 2015 Yalyu Am – Vulture Cliffs

In the morning we took a car tour of the Flaming Cliffs.  We went to a small desert forest and walked among the cliffs and rock formations.  It was very beautiful.  We could see condor nests high on the cliffs.  This was our last day for seeing new things.  It was amazing how fast the trip went by and how action packed, unpredictable and wild it was.  Mongolia is an extremely photogenic and wild country.  It has a lot of wide-open spaces with animals grazing everywhere and distant mountain ranges on the horizon.  Towns and cities are rather unattractive and uninspiring.  They have a Soviet feel to them.  The country is difficult to get around but seems very safe.  The roads are not well maintained and the country roads are in poor condition with very little traffic. 

Ger Hotel at the Flaming Cliffs

The Mongolians are tough, resourceful and hardy.  They remind me of the Tibetans.   They were all very trusting, kind and welcoming to us.  Everywhere we went, we were met with smiles and kindness. 

The day of driving to Yalyu Am, our final destination in the Gobi, was uneventful.  Our guide, a city boy, was ready for return to civilization.  David and I were also tired and ready to go back home.  Mongolia is not an easy country to travel in.  In the Gobi, the beautiful spots are hundreds of kilometers apart along poor roads taking many hours of travel.  According to our guide we had a 10-hour drive back to UB with nothing to see along the way. 

The Yalyu Am or the Vulture Cliffs is a long a dark canyon with icy spots. We did not see any vultures though. We hiked through the canyon and visited the local museum where some dinosaur eggs were on display.  Overall it was the least interesting spot of the Gobi but worthwhile seeing nevertheless.  We spent the last night in a nice hotel.  The following morning, we got up before sunrise and commenced our daylong trip back to UB.  Indeed there was nothing to see although a dead horse with vultures on the side of the road provided a welcome distraction. 

Petrified Dinosaur Eggs

Vulture Canyon

We stopped in a small town for lunch and I snuck out to visit the local museum nearby.  The town was nice but had nothing of interest to us. 

September 30, 2015 

During our last evening in UB, I finally met the owner of the agency and paid for my trip!  We did some last minute shopping in the Central Department Store, which had the best section for locally made goods.  UB was easy to get around and our hotel was in a very convenient location. 

The flight from UB to Beijing was less than 2 hours.  In Beijing I was picked up and delivered to a hotel near the airport.  I slept for 12 hours – my first good night in at lest two weeks – soft bed, warm and no wind!

My final observations about Mongolia:

1.     UB is a crowded city with horrible traffic jams. 

2.     The further away from UB the more basic the conditions.  Outside the capital city, Mongolia is like a time warp to the 1950s. 

3.     Mongolian people are very nice and honest.  The country is very safe.  In dealing with people everything is honest, upfront and clear.  There was no shifty business.

4.     The distances are long and the lack of good roads makes everything very far. There are countless tracks in the desert and it would be very easy to take a wrong way. 

5.     The wind always blows and in the evenings it blows hard.

6.     It is a cold country.  Sleeping in gers is cold!

7.     Central Mongolia is not as scenic and interesting as Western Mongolia and the Gobi.  The Kazakh culture of Western Mongolia is very interesting and unique.  The Kazaks are very different from Mongolians.  They are rougher and livelier.  They seem to be more passionate people while the Mongolians seem to be more passive and reserved.

8.     Hiking here is good but maybe not worth the effort and expense of multiple visits.  It is not a cheap place to visit and travel in.   Once needs a good car and a driver.

9.     Travelling independently in Mongolia would be very difficult and time consuming.  Very few people speak English outside UB although some speak Russian.  There is VERY limited infrastructure for tourists although home stays are an option.  The food in villages is mainly mutton based.

10.  Good meat and grill were hard to find in Mongolia (surprisingly!).  The best shashlyk was at the Eagle Festival at a makeshift BBQ stand.

11.  Leather goods and wood products were very cheap and of excellent quality.  

10 hours of nothing…

Mongolia Trip Report - Part 1 - Beijing, the Great Wall of China and the Altai

Part 1: Mt. Khuitan (Cold Mountian)  

September 1, 2015 – September 30, 2015 

Participants:  David and Derek 

The overriding feeling about this trip is the unknown factor and the difficulty in dealing with the Mongolians.  We will see how it all works out as I have a gut feeling that they are a shifty bunch (it turned out that they are not shifty but extremely disorganized and random).   

September 2, 2015 

Prior to the departure from Canada I had a lot of headaches with various minor issues related to this trip.  My plan was to take the train (part of the Trans Siberian railway) from Beijing to Ulaanbaatar.  The train ticket turned out to be a problem though.  The process of purchasing the ticket online via the Mongolian office turned out to be quite difficult.  After 30 e-mails the office still issued me the wrong ticket.  So I decided to fly from Beijing to Ulaanbaatar on Air China instead.  I was disappointed, as I was looking forward to sitting on the train for 36 hours and looking at the flat and feature-less Mongolian steppe go by.  The main difficulty was poor knowledge of English on the Mongolian side during my email exchanges.   

Before leaving Calgary, I was contacted by Tracey who arranged for me to met Isaac, the Chinese CA office rep, upon my arrival in Beijing.  Isaac met me at the airport and brought me to the Friendship Hotel.   Originally, I booked a hotel closer to the center of Beijing but unknown to me at the time of booking, the reservation was going to be cancelled due to the military parade that was to take place during my stay in China. Of course, I was not told that the reservation was cancelled and without Isaac’s help, I would have been stranded without a hotel.   After I arrived in Beijing, Isaac and I went for a nice Peking Duck dinner.  I was very tired after the 10.5 hour flight (with all the extras, it took 14 hours to get to Beijing).  During the flight, I had a spectacular view of the Denali Range in Alaska. We flew right in front of Denali in perfect weather.   On the same flight I also met a guy who taught English in Beijing and gave me some good ideas for things to see and explore since I did not have had the time or energy to read up about Beijing before I left.  I just left it to chance.  

September 3, 2015 Beijing  

Today was the date of the great parade and the entire city was on lock down.  I decided to take advantage of it and went to the Great Wall of China.  

One of many parks in Beijing

I realized very quickly that in China, in general, people do not speak English.   I went to the part of the Wall called Mutyanahu located relatively close to Beijing.  The drive did not take long on the modern highway through a concrete city. Beijing’s suburbia look like many other large cities in the world.  The same drab concrete warehouses.  The concrete city lacked any soul or character. The mass of concrete blocks and office buildings, the foreign stores, the people dressed in western clothing.  There seemed to be nothing uniquely Chinese about it at all.     

We arrived at the Wall at a modern looking complex full of souvenir shops and western fast food joints.  Even the Burger King was there.  Again, there was nothing Chinese about this place.  

To get to the Wall proper, one has to take the cable car.  The cable car takes people to the ridge between two sections of the Wall.  The Wall is build on ridges spanning a few mountains at an elevation of 1000m.   The guard towers and the wall seemed to go on for a very long distance.  After a 5 hour walk, I passed through the restored section and got to the old part of the Wall that was just a foot path on top of a heap of rubble that long time ago was a solid wall.   

The entrance to the Wall trail was in the middle of the restored section.   First, I had to go all the way in one direction. After I reached the end (blocked off) I had to go back all the way to the mid point and repeat the process in the other direction.  The ruined watchtowers, in various stages of disintegration, dot the ridges into the distance.  Those sections are not accessible and are purposely blocked off by the officials.   

Since the Wall trail follows the ridges, the views in all directions are very spectacular.  The trail along the Wall is quite steep in places – 70 or 80% like climbing a ladder.  The trail is like a roller coaster, up and down on a giant staircase.  In the heat of plus 30C it was quite a workout (I spent a little bit of money on water from many happy vendors capitalizing on the heat applying a 400% markup).   There were not too many people at the Wall (almost empty) as it was the parade day.  Consequently, I had the entire Wall to myself.  Also, due to the parade, the factories around Beijing were closed (so the sky could look blue on the TV broadcast) which meant that the sky also was blue for me.   I really enjoyed the trip to the Wall and decided to go back again.   

We got back to Beijing after a short drive and I asked the driver to drop me off by the local supermarket near the hotel so I could stock up on the essentials. On the way to the hotel, I passed a “Bruce Lee” fast food restaurant and an Exquisite Merchandise Shopping Centre. Under the veneer of modernization the old China was surviving. 

Friday, September 4, 2015 Beijing – Temple of Heaven

Today I went to China’s National Museum since it was raining.  I took the clean and efficient subway to the main shopping street in central Beijing and had to walk from there to the Tiananmen Square as the subway stations around the Square were closed due to the parade.  The museum is located right by the Tiananmen Square.   In order to enter the Square, I had to go through an airport like security screening complete with x-rays and body search.  Once in the museum, x-rays again.  

The architecture around the Square is rather Soviet Brutalist in style.  It was all very interesting to see for me.  The building housing the National Museum is huge. The museum displays the history of China from the ancient to modern.  Some of the artifacts were 5000 years old.  By the time I got to the year 1200 of the modern era, the exhibit was almost over – this is how old and rich the Chinese history is.   I really enjoyed this museum.  The bookshop had very limited amount of books or materials in English (like everywhere in Beijing).  The lack of exposure to English (no printed materials, TV or radio at all) explains why so few people speak it.  Even the young people working in places frequented by tourists do not speak any English.  

After the museum, I made my way to the south section of the very large Tiananmen Square.   I found a good Chinese restaurant and had nice spicy Chinese dishes:  Cashew Chicken and Duck Hearts.  I waited the rain out in the restaurant and then made my way to the Temple of Heaven and Earth that was quite a ways away (looked close on the map).  The temple is located in a huge beautiful park.   The temple is restored and is very beautiful.  It is however a museum and lacks a soul of a real temple.  

After the Temple of Heaven, I took a motorbike taxi back to the Tiananmen Square.  

September 5, 2015 Jinshaling Great Wall

After my first excursion to the Wall, I decided to go again as it was quite spectacular.  At 7 am in the morning, I met Mr. Personality to take me to the Jinshaling Wall located 120 km outside Beijing in Hebai Province.  The highway was very good but it costs $10US each way to travel on it.  It seems to me that most things here cost and sometimes cost a lot.  To get to the Wall was $10 plus $15 for a cable car ride to the ridge.  The main problem is that it is very difficult to get any information without knowing how to speak Chinese.  At the Jinshaling Wall, there is a huge building with “Tourist Centre” sign.  The cable car seemed to move at the speed that was slower than walking.  

All the nuisance was soon forgotten though.  The location and scenery of this sight is absolutely spectacular.  The views span for miles in all directions along many ridges and peaks of green mountains.  It was fantastic.  I walked towards Senatai section of the Wall but was stopped by the gate (I did not know why as I could see the Senatai section close by).  I wanted to climb the steep hill on the Senatai side with the guard tower at the very top.  Since I could not go there, I went back the other way.  I had the entire wall to myself as there were no people there. After some distance, I was again stopped by a gate and prevented from continuing on the other direction as well. Unknown to me at that time, it is a military area.  The gate had a barbed wire and signs that it was a “closed military area”.  I spent 5-6 hours walking along the wall as far as I could in both directions.  I had a great time but was disappointed by the limited area I could cover.  The concept of walking the wall as far as one wants is not possible as it is closed off.  

We drove back to Beijing in gridlock traffic.  

September 6, 2017 Summer Palace in Beijing

Today was my last day in Beijing.  Being tired from my Great Wall explorations the day before, I decided to go back to the Forbidden City to take some photos but after meeting Isaac for a coffee in the morning, I learned that the Forbidden City was closed due to the Parade (maintenance was the official reason).  So I decided to go to the Summer Palace instead.  The Summer Palace was located only a couple of subway stops away from my hotel.  The light was very harsh for photography and the Palace was quite crowded for Monday. The Summer Palace covers a huge area consisting of a very large park and a large lake.  Inside the park, there are numerous pavilions and temples.  My first impression of the place was not the greatest – contrived, crowded and run down.  However, after some exploration, the place turned out to be very interesting and varied.  The large pagoda was brilliant with very elaborate and beautiful architecture. The Garden of Eternal Harmony was another beautiful spot in the complex.  I spent the entire day walking around and still did not see all the places in the complex.  The complex was full of Chinese tourists and I did not run into any foreigners at all! The lack of English makes navigating in China very difficult.  

Dressing up for a family photo

Summer Palace

China is still a mysterious land for me.  I dreamt of visiting it when I was 14 years old and back then, it seemed like an impossible dream.  I am glad to have had the opportunity to see it and experience it for myself.    

September 8, 2015 Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia 

After a 2 hour flight from Beijing, I arrived in Ulaanbaatar at 11 am.  On the approach to the airport, the Mongolian landscape looked very pretty with rolling green hills and yurts.  It was exactly what I expected Mongolia to look like. Ulaanbaatar from the air looked like a mid size city with two large electricity power plants right in the middle of town.  The smoke stacks were very large spewing smoke over the residential buildings. The city was surrounded by a forest of gers (a ger is a yurt or a local round tent).  I was supposed to meet David in a hotel in Ulaanbaatar. 

On arrival, I was met by an old guy that looked like he just got off a horse.  He took me to his rickety car and we spent the next 1.5 hours stuck in a horrible gridlock that seems to be permanent in the city. We went to the hotel and after a small confusion I met David in the room.  We left almost immediately after I arrived as he had an appointment with the eye doctor who works in the hospital that is supported by a charity that David is involved with.  We got a tour of a public hospital in UB and it was quite interesting.  All staff were female as apparently, in Mongolia, a doctor is a female profession that is low paid.  After the hospital tour we ended up in a Japanese restaurant where we had dinner of Mongolian meat skewers.  

David and the strange monument in UB

We walked around UB and it was an interesting experience.  The city looked different from other cities I have been to. The economic growth was quite evident by the amount of new construction.  The center was full of cafes, shops and modern office buildings. There was a sense of progress in the air.  We visited the State Department Store that had an excellent Mongolian craft section. The Department Store was probably the most attractive place to shop in the entire country under the communist rule. 

Mongolian wedding - dressed in their finest

September 9, 2015 Ulaanbaatar

After breakfast, we started our city tour.  We got picked up at 9am and our first stop was a large Soviet monument of the Mongolian and Soviet bromance.  The monument was located on top of a hill and it was quite grand although neglected (a closed chapter in Mongolian history for the new capitalist regime).  From the hill we had a great view of the city partially covered by smog from the two power plants.  UB looked like a mix of new and old.  The old had a grim communist look.  The infrastructure in UB was quite old and crumbly as well: sidewalks were broken or non-existent, the infrastructure seemed poor and inadequate for the number of people.  At the bottom of the monument, there were some souvenir sellers and army veterans, decked out with medals from the Great War, reminiscing about the good old times.  There was also a T34 tank that apparently made it all the way to Berlin in 1945!

From the monument we drove a short distance to the Winter Palace of the Mongolian religious and political leader before the communism.  It was an interesting place (a rare example of old Mongolian architecture) but run down and unkept. The museum had an interesting display of old items and a great photo of an elephant that was walked to Mongolia and unfortunately did not last long after arriving.   

After the Palace, we went to the Gaydan Temple, the main temple of the Yellow Hat Buddhism sect in Mongolia.  The temple was full of very unfriendly and fat monks milling about.  They were quite nasty, unpleasant and outright hostile at times.  The temple complex consisting of a few buildings and a large concrete parking lot was not large and could use some fixing up.  There were “No Photos” signs everywhere as if they were holding some secrets there.  Since there were no tourists, the standoffish attitude was rather ridiculous and uncalled for.   The largest building of the complex houses a large statue of Buddha that was quite impressive.  At the entrance to the hall, a monk was collecting cash for even a greater statue that was to be taller than the Statue of Liberty.  One can dream! One has to wander what was the point of such megalomania while the local population was scrapping by on an average monthly income of $400 per month.  It was an interesting place but lacked the feeling of the Tibetan temples, which follow the same lineage of Buddhism.  

We already have a great tall Buddha, but wait…

Our Buddha will be bigger than your Statue!

Gaydan Temple UB

After visiting the temple, we went to the National Museum that had was stale and dead and had an abandoned feel about it.  We walked through the dusty exhibits and were done in 20 minutes or so.  We walked over to the Ghingis Khan Square and had a bad coffee and a stale cake.  After a fantastic cultural performance, we ended up back in the hotel at 10pm.  We repacked and went to bed to wake up at 4 am for our flight to Olgi In Western Mongolia on Aero Mongolia.

The booming UB

September 10, 2015 Olgi – Western Mongolia

We took the 6 am flight from UB to Olgi in Western Mongolia on Aero Mongolia on Fokker F28.  As we flew west, the landscape changed considerably to large barren hills with snow capped mountains in the distance.  It all looked very dry.  We landed after the 3 hour flight in Olgi airport consisting of a runway and a old rundown building.  The town, although looking large from the air, turned out to be an outpost with dirt roads and goats running around.  

Olgi

We were picked up by Gangama (our mountain guide), Baku and Secon (the fearless driver who took particular liking to David).  We all pilled up into a Russian łaz and drove  to collect our cook lady.  The plan was to reach the gate of the Tavan God National Park that day.   The National Park is located 180 km west from Olgi at the end of a dirt road.  

We drove through beautiful landscapes dotted with gers and grazing animals. There were a lot of animals as the nomads were in the process of collecting them from remote pastures and returning to their winter homes closer to Olgi.  We stopped at a mountain pass from where we had a fantastic view of the panorama of the entire Mongolian section of the Altai Range.  The range spans China, Russia and Mongolia.  Mt Khuitan is the tallest mountain in Mongolia but not the tallest in the Altai Range (It is Mount Bielucha located in Russia). The clouds indicated that bad weather was coming. After 5/6 hours of driving, we arrived at the gate of the national park.  Our cook made a fantastic meal and we went for a stroll in nearby hills.   The white peaks of the Altai Range seemed very close rising from behind the brown hills.  

Little Laz vs Mongolian roads

September 11, 2015 Mt. Khuitan base camp

Two camel drivers arrived in the morning.  The Bactrian camels used by them are very common in Central Asia. The camels can carry loads of 200kg each which is much more than 50kg for a horse.  The camels are very large and graceful.  Their noses are pierced with a large spike which is used to control the animal.  When pulled, the spike is quite uncomfortable for the animal.  Before the loads were placed on each camel, we had a quick ride around our camp.  

The Mongolian cowboy

We left on foot before the camels for the trek to the basecamp 15 km away.  The walk is quite easy, on rolling hills through easy terrain and partially on a jeep road.  After an hour we reached the top of a hill with a large chorten.  The chorten had many blue prayer flags and food offerings.  I hang the Nepali prayer flag I received from Rajendra on it.  

From the chorten, we had a great panorama of the Altai and the large glaciers.  The peaks, although not too high (Khuitan is 4,340m), were ice and snow covered and looked impressive.  There were no trees around us and it was difficult to judge the distances.  What seemed close was actually far away.    We took our time and arrived at our camp site after the camels.  We took some photos of the camel caravan along the way.  The weather was still very beautiful with clear blue sky.  We made the decision to climb Khuitan next day to take advantage of the weather.  The forecast for the days after was not good.  We were also joined by some American women who had limited time as well and wanted to climb Mount Khuitan with us.  They had porters and we had the guide. 

September 12, 2015 Naraam Dal 4,180m

We got up at 5.30am under a clear sky.  We left the camp after breakfast with the objective to reach Mt. Khuitan’s advanced BC on the glacier at the altitude of 3,600m.  Usually, the climb of Mt. Khuitan is done over 2 days.  The first day is from the BC to the ABC – 5/6 hours to 3,600m.  The second day is from 3,600m to the summit and back to BC.  I was under the impression that the climb was basically a walk on an easy grade slope.  The walk from the BC to ABC was on a large snow covered glacier for 10km.  The confluence of glaciers form a massive snowfield surrounded by five holy mountains.  The snowfield has some crevasses and had quite a bit of fresh snow.  The walk was easy but the wind was ferocious and right into our faces.  The wind was so strong that at times it would push me over.  As we got closer to the ABC we caught up with the porters who left some time before us.   The porters were huddling from the strong wind uncertain whether to continue.  

Most of the group decided to retreat as it became obvious that climbing Mt. Khuitan in this wind would not be possible.  One of the American ladies, Linda, asked me if I would climb Naraam Dal with her.  It is slightly lower than Khuitan (second highest in Mongolia) and one of the 5 holy mountains.  The summit seemed quite close to us so I agreed without hesitation.  I parted with David and the porters and we set off. After an hour or so, Ganga became quite sick to the point that she would stop and just kneel over in pain.  She decided that she would not continue and unclipped from the rope leaving Linda and I to finish the climb on our own.  Linda led the way through the wind and snow.  The wind increased in intensity as we ascended.  The climbing against the wind was quite something.  I also had to stop every 30 to 40 steps to rest due to the altitude (we were not acclimatized at all).  

I dropped my backpack below the summit ridge and we continued on.  We reached the middle summit of the 3 summits forming Mt. Naraam Dal after some scrambling on wind blown rocks.  Since we were now above the main ridge of the range, the wind became crazy strong.  The visibility was good though and we could see far into Russia and China.  We could see Mt. Bielucha, the highest mountain in the range located in Russia maybe 100km away.   The last summit along the ridge was 100m away but once we peaked over the ridge, the wind became absolutely ferocious.  It was difficult to keep upright and I started to get really cold.  I took photos from the high point and quickly descended to where I left my backpack.  The views all around were very grand, we could see the entire face of Mt. Khuitan and the large glaciers flowing down into the valleys below.  We were now right on the border with China and Russia above Mt. Malpuchin.  I did not realize that we were at 4,180m, which explains why I felt so tired and winded once we reached the top.  After the photo stop, we descended to meet Ganga lower down trying to navigate back among hidden crevaces.  

We headed down together and arrived back at the camp at 5pm or so.  Ganga was so sick that she asked for a horse to take her back to the camp.  The porters used horses to ferry the loads to the start of the glacier.  After I got back to the camp, I was really tired but happy to have done the second highest peak in Mongolia.  The wind seemed to have calmed down a bit and the sky was still blue without a cloud.  

September 13 and 14, 2015 Khuitan BC

We woke up to the sound of rain falling on the tent.  So the weather forecast was accurate after all and it was a good decision to have done the climb of Naraam Dal the day before.  The caravan of the Americans departed in the morning in the rain giving us an opportunity to take some good photos of the packed camels.  

cold

After lunch the rain changed to snow and by the evening, it snowed a lot.  We had a lot of time to talk as we were now snow bound. We learned that our cook’s family kills a lot of animals for the winter:  6 sheep, 2 goats and one yak.  They eat all the meat between November and August.  An average Mongolian nomad family has between 400 to 500 goats or sheep but no more than 3,000 animals.  Ganga comes from a family of 11 kids.  She grew up in the southern Mongolia, the coldest part of the country. Her family killed more animals for the winter.  

We were trapped in our tents due to the snowstorm and the severity of the storm was much more intense than we had expected.  It definitely put a dent in our plans and forced us to wait it out.  It was cold and wet – a full on winter.  

Burried and cold

Burried

September 15, 2015 Malpuchin 4080m

Last night snowed and blew hard for many hours.  When I got up to pee in the middle of the night it seemed that we would get totally buried.  The tents were almost covered under the cover of thick snow.  In the morning, the first signs of clearing up made us feel optimistic. We could spot some blue above our heads but the mountains were still behind a thick layer of clouds.  

Buried!

Although the wind was still blowing hard though, we decided to hit the trail feeling tired of sitting around.  We had breakfast at 8.30 and hit the trail at 10 am.  First we walked to the Russia/Mongolia border signpost.  It was a cool place with great views into Russia and back to the Altai on the Mongolia side with swirling clouds all around.  We then decided to go up Mount Malpuchin.  This was another one of the 5 holy mountains. 

The border between Russia and Mongolia

We ascended the ice/snow slope of 45 degrees incline that sheltered us from the wind. As soon as we cleared the ridge, the wind picked up considerably. At -10C the wind felt like -20C.  We walked up the snow-covered ridge to the summit. The views were obstructed partially by the clouds and we could not see Mt. Khuitan at all.  The only good view was to the south down the long glacier.  David struggled a bit but made it to the top. I did not have any problems and found the ascent quite easy.  I did not cough or had any other usual problems with the elevation.  I was a little tired but nothing like the Naramdal experience a few days prior.  Evidently the acclimatization was progressing.  

The wind on the summit was oppressive – cold and super strong, almost knocking us over. The wind formed mini tornadoes and a huge plume across the summit ridge.  The climb down was fast but I was concerned about the hidden crevasses under the fresh snow.  The entire ice slope was covered by a foot or more of fresh snow, making us feel concerned about possible avalanches.    

Summit ridge of Malpuchin with strong winds

We punched through one hole in the snow to reveal the blackness of a crevasse under our feet.  The problem was that the snow slope was smooth and we could not tell any undulations usually formed by a crevasse.   Ganga pressed on and since we could not communicate due to the wind we pressed on behind her.  If it was not for her pushing on, I would have turned around due to the wind.  On the summit ridge the wind was blowing really hard.  On the summit, I sent a SPOT message and took some photos.  We got out of there pretty fast.  Right behind the summit, a dark cloud threatened us ominously with more snow. As we descended the sky darkened and it got colder.  

One thing about our experience here is the constant wind and cold.  I am cold in the morning with cold boots and feet, cold in the afternoon and cold in the evening.  At night it is freezing in the tent.  The wind blows all the time so stopping during hiking or climbing is not pleasant.  We are alone in the great wilderness and have the entire place to ourselves.   We do not seem to be able to escape from the cold though.

September 16, 2015 White River

We got up to under a blue sky and white blanket of fresh snow all around us.  The scenery was very alpine.  It looked much more beautiful than the brown grass and brown hills when we arrived.  It was also -10C inside the tent and much colder outside.  The inside of the tent was covered with frost and the outside was encrusted in hard frozen snow.  My boots were completely frozen and it took some time to work my feet into them.  The evening before we were treated to a spectacular light show of the setting sun and the storm clouds.  Fantastic for photos.  

The glaciers of the Mongolian Altai

We packed up everything after digging our tents from the snow and ice and left the basecamp with camels for the lower camp at White River.  On the way, we stopped to photograph the caravan of camels carrying our gear.  It was brilliant and worth all the snow and cold.  It was picture perfect with white all around except the camels and horses carrying our stuff.  We could see a wall of the Altai Mountains in front of us with large glaciers flowing from the north.  One of the peaks at the head of one of the large glaciers has not yet been climbed. It looked quite doable. 

The descent to the White River was boring at first crossing a large plateau.  Once we got closer to the White River, the view became spectacular with gers and grazing animals dotting the landscape. Behind the meadows, a wall of white peaks surrounded the valley.  It all looked especially pretty with the recent snow on the peaks.  We descended to the flats of the meadow and had lunch in one of the gers. I tried the local brew made from fermented horse milk and also local yogurt.  After lunch, the wife of the ger owner was selling little wool camels.  After lunch we walked down for another half kilometer and stopped in another ger where we spent another cold and freezing night (it was minus 3 inside the ger).  The ger was heated by a stove fueled with shit of the animals grazing all around us. It is strange that the Mongolians will not allow us to burn garbage not to upset the fire god but they will burn bag-loads of shit.  There must be a dispensation for shit burning in the Mongolian heaven.  

September 17, 2015 White River

Today, Ganga had a brilliant idea to go and explore rock carvings in the nearby valley. Since the valley is 10 km away, the idea was to utilize the Mongolian horses.  Riding this bloody horse was the MOST unpleasant, painful and horrendous experience EVER.  It had long lasting nerve damaging consequences for me.  After I got off the horse, I was in such excruciating pain that I could not stand up on my feet or walk.   I was stiff, in pain.  My legs and my ass were in pain.  No matter how I would turn in the small saddle, my ass hurt.  My legs hurt due the circulation being cut off.  The horse was too small, the saddle was too small and I was just too bloody big for this horse! And then there were the horse farts!  The farts just finished it all.  They placed me on the small horse and, since I was too big and heavy for the small horse, he refused to move (his load is usually 50kg and I weigh almost double that).  So to give him some encouragement, the Mongolian tied my horse to his horse and pulled it.  As his horse was pulling my horse, his horse started to fart away from all the effort. The farting was so intense that I was engulfed in the oppressive cloud of horse methane.  It was discomfort all around!  The small saddle would wedge up my ass, and as the horse went down to cross rivers or up the hill, the pain intensified.  I could not feel my legs and I had pain up my ass (with bloody wounds due to the saddle ramming me).  I asked to dismount an hour before we reached our camp as I could not stand it any more.  I collapsed and then sat on the ground for at least 40 minutes regaining the circulation in my legs.  I then limped back to the camp in pain.  The experience left a numb feeling in my feet due to nerve damage that eased with time but still lingers on 3 years later.  It was the most painful thing I have ever experienced and worst than a dentist drilling my teeth without an anesthetic. 

Crazy! Poor horse and poor me. We were just not meant to be together…

On the way to the petroglyphs we passed a mysterious gravesite with headstones. The gravesite was quite large with tall gravestones (like markers with faces carved in the obelisks) pointing to the sky.  There were four principal gravestones with male faces that looked like leaders or army men. The setting was beautiful in a narrow valley with beautiful larch trees changing colors.  The only trees for many miles around!  The trees make this place special and auspicious. 

Mysterious gravestones

The petroglyphs were very interesting as well.  There were many of them depicting animals and hunting scenes.  Apparently some of them are over 10,000 years old!   There were carved into a large reddish rock overlooking a large valley.  It was a very beautiful and worthwhile excursion minus the horse.  

In tow and engulfed in farts!

the petroglyphs

September 18, 2015 Drive back to Olgi

I am done with this part of the Altai and the cold/wind especially.  We saw the same view for a week as we camped in the basecamp.  We had snow, wind and cold, which made hiking around impossible and unpleasant.  I was surprised with the intensity of the cold and the ferociousness of the wind especially on Naramdal.  I was not expecting it nor was I prepared for it. The elevation seemed to be quite low (low 4000m) for such extreme conditions.  It will be good to sleep in a normal building and take a hot shower. 

On our drive back to Olgi our Łaz kept breaking down with astonishing regularity. The driver, Secon, would fix it “in the field” by first removing the front seat and tinkering with the large engine buried beneath.  He would strike the engine with small rocks and slowly replace the radiator fluid with our supply of drinking water.  As were leaving the White River camp, Secon could not start the engine at all.  He crawled under the car in his bulky coat and tried to blow life into the dead lump of metal.  

Please God! Please! Do not let it break down again!!!! Secon focusing on the road ahead.

Regardless of the dead engine, and not to put any dent into our plans, we loaded up the Laz  and rolled down the hill hoping that the engine would engage by the force of gravity. And to our surprise, it did!  Once started, we had no problems with it except with constant overheating.   

As we drove, the views were absolutely spectacular with changing light.  We came across a horseman with his animals.  He posed for photos and seemed to enjoy the attention.  Thanks to the constant breakdowns and the need to tinker with the engine, we had plenty of time and opportunities for spectacular photography.  Along the way, we stopped in Tsingle Village to visit our cook’s mother who was 68 but looked 88.  She had 12 children and received many medals from the government for such fine production efforts.  The first medal was for kid #4 and then one more medal for each additional kid.  She was also mentioned in a locally published book as one of the top 10 child producing females (the winner had 18 kids!). We had lunch, looked at some felt carpets for sale and then took off. On the way to Saksai, the Laz broke down few more times.  

We arrived in Saksai at a ger of a local Kazakh family.  The family head was an eagle trainer and one of the participants in the Eagle Festival we came to see.   We had some tea and partook in a feast of goat head.   The head was placed in the middle of the table and we all shared the meal with eyeballs being the biggest delicacy.  

Eyeball anyone?

After the goat head experience, we proceeded to Olgi, which took an hour instead of 20 minutes due to numerous breakdowns.  We arrived in Olgi at sunset at the Eagle Nest Guesthouse.  It is a Soviet style concrete building with poor design and horrible sound proofing.  We had a dinner with Ganga at a Turkish restaurant Pemulke.  Ganga was going back to Ulaanbaatar on the 19th.  She showed us a photo of the frozen Polish climber Tomek Kowalski on Broad Peak in Pakistan.  She took the photo while climbing there the year prior. The Polish climber was just sitting there, slightly tilted over, frozen solid looking like he was about to get up any second.  He was dressed in the red Orlen polar down suit with a yellow climbing rope tied around him.  It was a very sad thing to see…

During the night, the hotel was loud with drunken Russians and Chinese fighting and screaming until 3am.  

See Part II for The Golden Eagle Festival

and adventures inThe Gobi 

Mongolia - The Altai and the Gobi

Our objective was to climb Mt. Khuiten. Instead we climbed Mount Nairamdal and Mount Malchin.

The confluence of the Potaniin and Alexander Glaciers.

The confluence of the Potanin and Alexander Glaciers

Mt. Khuitan at sunrise

Approaching Mount Khuitan on the Potaniin Glacier.

On the Potaniin Glacier.

Potaniin Glacier

Mout Khuitan from the summit ridge of Mount Nairamdal 4,180m

Looking down to Potamiin Glacier from Mount Nairamdal 4,180m

Mount Malchin 4,050m from Mount Nairamdal 4,180m

Russian Altai - Mount Bielucha from Mount Narimdal

Potiamiin Glacier

Mount Khuitan

Potiamiin Glacier

Mount Malchin 4,050m

Mount Malchin

Summit ridge of Mount Malchin and the Potiamiin Glacier

Potianiin Glacier

Entrance to the National Park of Tavan Bogd in Western Mongolia

After the storm on the Potiamiin Glacier

After the storm on the Potiamiin Glacier

Russia - Mongolia border

Mount Mulchin

Mount Mulchin - the summit at 4,050m

 Nick Kirkpatrick wrote in the Washington Post: In parts of China, Kazakhstan, Russia and Mongolia, using eagles to hunt is deeply rooted in a culture in which men worked with birds of prey as early as the 15th century. It’s a rite of passage for Kazakh boys in western Mongolia who learn the craft as early as 13. Passed down through generations, the tradition has a strict set of rules and practices. The hunts happen during winter, when teams of hunters chase their prey by horseback and release an eagle to make their kill. Hunting once provided furs and meat during harsh winters, but the tradition is battling a dwindling number of hunters. [Source: Nick Kirkpatrick, Washington Post, February 10, 2015]

The tradition of eagle hunting is more than a thousand years old. Genghis Khan is believed to have engaged in the sport. Marco Polo described it. In the Mongol era, it is said, a fine eagle and good horse cost the same price and both lent prestige to their owner. The Kazakhs inherited the sport from their Turkic and Mongol ancestors and were practicing it when they emerged as an ethnic group in the 15th century. As one falconer told National Geographic, “When Kazakhs came into the world, they were eagle hunters.”

The Kazakh eagle (golden eagle), according to Reuters, “is one of the world's fiercest, with a wingspan of 6.6 ft, razor-sharp talons and the ability to dive at the speed of an express train -- up to 190 mph.” Hunters prefer females because they are larger and regarded as more aggressive. Females weigh up to seven kilograms, which is a third heavier than males. It takes a great deal of strength to hold one of these large birds in your arm. When horses are on the move the eagles unfurl their wings for balance.

 A quality golden eagle is worth $12,000 or more and can hunt for 30 years or more. Many hunters train and keep several birds in their lifetimes, generally releasing them to the wild after 10 years. Golden eagles are skilled hunters. In the nest of one large female, scientists found the remains of 27 foxes, ten gazelles, two eagle owls and one marmot. Golden eagles are struggling in the wild in some places because there is not enough wildlife for then to eat.

 Golden eagles can be very dangerous. They occasionally become out of sorts and even dangerous to their owners. Golden eagles have known to vent their anger from a lost kill on a hunter or its horse. People have lost eyes.

Hunting takes place riding a specially trained horse, (called a "bercut”). To allow a rider to carry an eagle a special device (a “baldak”) is fitted onto the saddle to support the rider’s arm. A skilled pair, berkutchi (hunter) and bird, can typically catch 50 or 60 foxes, a dozen badgers, a couple of lynx and 4 or 5 wolves in a normal 4 month season, which starts in the late autumn [Source: advantour.com]

 Maria Golovnina of Reuters wrote: “When it snows on the steppes of eastern Kazakhstan, hunters saddle up and gallop off with eagles on their arms in search of prey. The men follow the animal tracks in the snow then release their giant eagles into the air to snatch up foxes and rabbits. "Hunting is my life," said Baurzhan Yeshmetov, a 62-year-old man in an embroidered velvet tunic, his eagle perched on his arm staring menacingly into the foggy hills. When he is not hunting he works as a taxi driver in Kazakhstan's financial center Almaty. [Source: Maria Golovnina, Reuters, December 6, 2009 \^/]

Sent out to hunt fawns, foxes, or other small animals, the eagle dives down on them and kills them. But often it is also capable of killing young wolves when they cannot negotiate the deep snow. Sometimes the eagles hunt in pairs, just as they would in the wild. Eagles rarely fail to catch their prey, which it quickly kills, usually by breaking the neck in its powerful claws. [Source: advantour.com]

Eagles hunters mainly hunt hares, marmots and foxes. The hunter works on horseback. The primary object of the eagle is to catch the prey and grasp it long enough until the hunter shows up and clubs it to death. The eagles are given a piece of meat as a reward after each hunt. They are kept hooded when they are not hunting to keep them calm. During winter hunts, when temperatures can drop to forty below, a hooded eagle is swaddled in leather and carpets to keep warm.

Describing a hunting eagle, Sebastian Allison of Reuters wrote, “High on a hillside overlooking the sweeping central Asian steppe, a horseman gazes down on the snow-dusted plain....At his signal a gigantic golden eagle glides effortlessly from the horseman’s arm towards the plain, circling once or twice as it soars higher...Movement on the steppe. A new urgency in the eagle’s flight. A tilt of wings as its seeks out the things that caught his eyes. The fox is in its sights. The hunt is on....The bird of prey swoops like lightning and with a tearing of its terrifying, razor-sharp talons the fox’s run is over.”

 “You don’t really control the eagle,” Asher Svidensky, whose photographs of hunting with eagles were published by BBC. “You can try and make her hunt an animal — and then it’s a matter of nature. What will the eagle do? Will she make it? How will you get her back afterwards?” [Source: Nick Kirkpatrick, Washington Post, February 10, 2015]

Saksai Golden Eagle Festival

“Although eagles can live for thirty years, the hunters keep each one for only about ten years, then release it to live out its last years in the wild. The bird is taken far away, and the hunter sometimes has to hide, or wait for darkness, to keep it from following him home. When Mohan talked to Shuinshi, in 2012, the old man had released his last eagle the year before. “It was as if a member of my family had left,” he said. “I think about what that eagle is doing; if she’s safe, and whether she can find food and make a nest. Have her hunts been successful? Sometimes I dream about these things.”

Hiking in Western Mongolia

Western Mongolia

Western Mongolia

Olgi - the capital of Western Mongolia

Mongoilan long distance bus service

Western Mongolia

Western Mongolia

The site of Karakorum may have been first settled about 750. In 1220 Genghis Khan, the great Mongol conqueror, established his headquarters there and used it as a base for his invasion of China. In 1267 the capital was moved to Khanbaliq (modern Peking) by Kublai Khan, greatest of the successors of Genghis Khan and founder of the Mongol (Yüan) dynasty (1206–1368) in China. In 1235 Genghis Khan’s son and successor, Ögödei, surrounded Karakorum with walls and built a rectangular palace supported by 64 wooden columns standing on granite bases. Many brick buildings, 12 shamanistic shrines, and two mosques were once part of the city, which also was an early centre for sculpture, especially noteworthy for its great stone tortoises.

In 1368, Bilikt Khan, the son of Togon Timur, the last emperor of the Mongol dynasty of China, who had been banished from Peking, returned to Karakorum, which was partly rebuilt. It was then known as Erdeni Dzu (the Mongol name for Buddha), because during the 13th century lamaistic Buddhism had made progress under Kublai Khan. In the Battle of Puir Nor in 1388, Chinese forces under the leadership of the emperor Hung-wu invaded Mongolia and won a decisive victory, capturing 70,000 Mongols and destroying Karakorum. Later it was partially rebuilt but was subsequently abandoned. The Buddhist monastery of Erdeni Dzu (built 1585), which today remains only as a museum, was built on the city site.

In 1889 the precise location of Karakorum was discovered by two Russian Orientalists working in the area, and in 1948–49 the ruins were explored by members of the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R. Among their discoveries were the site of Ögödei’s palace (in the southwestern part of the city) and the remains of a late 12th- or early 13th-century Buddhist shrine.

Karakorum - the capital of the Genghis Khan Empire

The ancient capital of Genghis Khan - Karakorum

The ancient capital of Genghis Khan - Karakorum

The Gobi desert, one of the world's great deserts, covers much of the southern part of Mongolia. Unlike the Sahara there are few sand dunes in the Gobi; rather you'll find large barren expenses of gravel plains and rocky outcrops. The climate here is extreme. Temperatures reach +40° C. in summer, and -40 in winter. Precipitation averages less than 100 mm per year, while some areas only get rain once every two or three years. Strong winds up to 140 km/h make travel dangerous in spring and fall. Great Gobi National Park is one of the largest World Biospheres, with an area larger than Switzerland. It contains the last remaining wild Bactrian (two-humped) camels, wild ass, and a small population of Gobi bears, the only desert-inhabiting bear.

The Gobi sand dunes

The Gobi sand dunes

The Gobi

The Gobi

The Gobi

The Gobi

During a pause in a snow storm in the Altai Mountains

Western Mongolia

The Gobi

The Altai Range

The Gobi

Flaming Cliffs in the Gobi

The Gobi

Ancient markers and grave stones in Western Mongolia

The Gulf: Qatar, UAE, Oman

Doha, Qatar

The museum of Islamic art

The amazing curio shop

Things one can buy in Doha

Dubai

The view from 123 floor of the Burj Kalifa

The Gulf

Oman

Muscat, Oman

Canada - Kananaskis Country

Kananaskis Park

The most popular hike close to Canmore: Ha Ling Peak

wild weather in Canmore

Spring in the Rockies

Grizzly Peak

Grizzly Peak in mid November

Sparrowhawk

Sparrowhawk

Sparrowhawk

Sparrowhawk

Mt. Lougheed from Sparrowhawk

Mt. Rae 3,200m

Opal Range from Mt. Rae

Spray Lakes

The trail to Wind Pass and Rimwall

The summit of Rimwall, the mountains in the background: Wind Tower, Mount Lougheed, Mount Sparrowhawk.

The summit of Rimwall with Spray Lake below.

Haig Glacier

Big Sister near Canmore, Alberta

Wind Tower and Mt. Lougheed From Mt. Nestor

Mt. Nestor

Mount Joffre dominates the view - from Mist Mountain

Mt. Joffre’s north face on the right

The “trail” to Joffre

Approach to Mt. Joffre

Wild cloud formations on Mt. Lougheed

Approach to Mt. Joffre

Mt. Joffre BC. Mount Joffre is the white peak in the background.

Lower part of Mt. Joffre

Climbing the north face of Mt. Joffre

North face of Mt. Joffre

Looking back at the basecamp

Summit ridge of Mt. Joffre

High on Mt. Joffre

Summit of Mt. Joffre 3,450m the highest mountain in the Kananaskis area

Looking south from the summit of Joffre

Looking south-east

High on Mt. Joffre

Loose descend from Joffre

Descending from Joffre

On Mt. Chester

The summit of Mt. Chester 3,054m

Winter in Kananaskis

On Mt. Buller

Spray Lake from Mt. Buller 2,805m

Mt. Buller

Mt. Assiniboine group from Mt. Buller

Bow Valley

Bow Valley and Mt. Grotto

Mt. Shark 2,786m

Mt. Assiniboine from the summit of Mt. Shark

Mt. Shark

Mt. Lougheed

The summit of Mt. Lougheed 3,107m

Mt. Sparrowhawk

View from Mt. Lougheed

Mt. Lougheed

Grizzly Peak

View from Grizzly Peak

Summit ridge of the Grizzly Peak 2,536m

Jordan and Suez Canal

Red Sea

Aqaba Jordan

Petra is down below

Egyptian Airforce patrolling the entrance to the Suez Canal

US Navy repositioning from the Persian Gulf

The wall lining the Suez Canal and the guard tower at the entrance

Egyptian guard post

The Great Wall and the North East of China