Your writer admits to a prejudice. He’s
long been entranced with the oases of
far western China, and he’s hopelessly smitten
with the old kingdom of Hunza (“the
epitome of mountain grandeur,” our exemplar
Eric Shipton called it).
We fly west from Beijing to Urumchi and trace the Silk Road’s northern path to Kuqa (home of the magnificent Greco-Buddhist murals of the Kizil Grottoes), then to Khotan via the Taklamakan’s desert highway. Now one of the world’s most thrilling drives, up the Karakoram Highway, from the desert into the snowy Pamirs, gazing at giants like the glacier-clad colossus of Mustagh Ata (24,360 beautiful feet). We overnight high in the mountains at Tashkorgan, then cross into Pakistan’s (decidedly peaceful) Northern Areas at the 16,000-foot Khunjerab Pass, wending our way down through some of the rawest mountain scenery imaginable to 8000-foot Karimabad, Hunza’s largest village. After a nice dalliance with this heartmelting spot and its environs (“villages imbedded in foliage, neat terraced fields overhung by glaciers and icy needle-peaks, orchards perched on dizzy cliff-tops, and romantic castles built on crags,” Sir Claremont Skrine wrote), we snake our way back out through western China and on to the great oasis of Kashgar. We end in Beijing where we will take our time, visit lesser known temples, step into a private home deep in the city’s fast-disappearing hutong and end with a splendid farewell dinner in one of Beijing’s finest restaurants.
We fly west from Beijing to Urumchi and trace the Silk Road’s northern path to Kuqa (home of the magnificent Greco-Buddhist murals of the Kizil Grottoes), then to Khotan via the Taklamakan’s desert highway. Now one of the world’s most thrilling drives, up the Karakoram Highway, from the desert into the snowy Pamirs, gazing at giants like the glacier-clad colossus of Mustagh Ata (24,360 beautiful feet). We overnight high in the mountains at Tashkorgan, then cross into Pakistan’s (decidedly peaceful) Northern Areas at the 16,000-foot Khunjerab Pass, wending our way down through some of the rawest mountain scenery imaginable to 8000-foot Karimabad, Hunza’s largest village. After a nice dalliance with this heartmelting spot and its environs (“villages imbedded in foliage, neat terraced fields overhung by glaciers and icy needle-peaks, orchards perched on dizzy cliff-tops, and romantic castles built on crags,” Sir Claremont Skrine wrote), we snake our way back out through western China and on to the great oasis of Kashgar. We end in Beijing where we will take our time, visit lesser known temples, step into a private home deep in the city’s fast-disappearing hutong and end with a splendid farewell dinner in one of Beijing’s finest restaurants.
Days 1 & 2: USA to Beijing • Day 3: fly to Urumchi •
Day 4: fly to Kuqa • Day 5: Kuqa, Kizil Grottoes • Day 6: drive to Mingfeng across the Taklamakan Desert • Day 7: drive to Khotan • Days 8 & 9: Khotan • Day 10: drive to Kashgar • Day 11: drive Karakoram Highway to Tashkorgan • Day 12: drive to Passu via the Khunjerab Pass • Day 13: walk to Passu Glacier and Borit Lake, drive to Karimabad • Day 14: excursion to Dweaker Valley and Nagar • Day 15: drive to Gulmit • Day 16: drive to Tashkorgan • Day 17: drive to Kashgar • Days 18 & 19: Kashgar, Sunday bazaar and old town • Day 20: fly to Beijing via Urumchi • Day 21: Beijing • Day 22: return to USA.
Silk Road Oases and the Kingdom of Hunza
Trip Details
2008 Departures:
22 days
Activity Type:
Touring
Trip Price:From $7295
- October 2 - October 23
22 daysActivity Type:
Touring
Trip Price:
From $7295
- More Silk Road Trips
- More Touring Trips
