8-Day Kashgar Adventural and Cultural Tour

Activities: This tour is designed to explore the natural, historic and cultural beauty of Kashgar and it’s people. You will be traveling on the world famous Karakorum Highway, experiencing Kirgiz, Tajik and Uyghur culture and custom. Trekking to the world’s tallest natural arch, visiting the largest bazaar in Central Asia, and the 2,000 year old Kashgar Old Town will all be part of the tour.

Day1

Place & Transport: Arrival to Kashgar

Day’s Activities: Pick up from Airport then transfer to your hotel.

Place to Stay: Kashgar

Day 2

Place & Transport:Kashgar to Karakul Lake

Day’s Activities: Karakoram Highway, Opal Village, Red Mountain,Corner Lake & Sand Mountain, Mt. Muztagh Ata & Mt. Konger, Karakul Lake

Place to Stay: Karakul Lake

Today we take a drive on Karakurum highway, renowned as the highest paved border crossing in the World and regarded as one of the World’s most beautiful highways). We will see the following on our drive: Opal village is a 1 hour drive from Kashgar. It is a good location to take photos of village life and traditional activities like bread making and Uyghur food stalls. Half an hour drive from the village we will arrive in Oytagh Red Mountain. The mountain valley is surrounded by a beautiful backdrop of multi-coloured mountains topped by snowcapped peaks. Corner Lake (BulungKul) is a tranquil shallow lake where you can take very nice photographs of the lake withstunning reflections of the sand mountains. Karakul Lake is 3600 meters above sea level. It is located between Mt. Muztagata (7546 meters) and Mt. Gonger (7719 meters), which are said to be 2 of the 6 most beautiful mountains in the World. We will visit the local Kyrgyz Yurts and listen to their stories about traditional ways of nomadicmountain life.Picnic lunch: We will then enjoy our picnic lunch of fruits and fresh bread that we purchased in Opal village in a beautiful picnic spot overlooking the Karakul Lake.

Day 3

Place & Transport: Karakul Lake to Tashkorgan then to Khunjerab Pass (Optional)

Day’s Activities:Subash Pass,Tashkorgan Stone City, Tashkorgan Grassland,Khunjerab Pass

Place to Stay:Tashkorgan

We will take 1.5 hours drive from Karakul lake to Tashkorgan.Tashkurgan is an interesting small town located on the Pamir Plateau.  This area was extremely isolated untilthe rebuilding of the Karakurum highway in 1987 and even today the local community still lives in a very traditional fashion with only a single road reaching here from Kashgar, so it has retained a certain uniqueness.This region is commonly known as the main road of the “old Silk Road” the main route leading from China to West Asia. The average elevation is 4000 meters.we will visit the Stone fort, located in downtown Tashkurgan. It has a history of more than 2000 years. In times gone by it was the central palace of the Tajik kingdom.Khunjerab Pass (elevation 4,693 metres (15,397 ft) is a high mountain pass in the Karakorum Mountains on the northern border of Gilgit-Baltistan and the Xinjiang Autonmous Region of China. The name is derived from Wakhi for Blood Valley.The Khunjerab Pass is the highest paved border crossing in the world and the highest point on the Karakoram Highway. The roadway across the pass was completed in 1982, and has superseded the unpaved Mintaka Pass and Kilik Pass as the primary passage across the Karakorum Range.On the Pakistani side, the pass is 125 km (78 mi) from Sust, 270 km (170 mi) from Gilgit and 870 km (540 mi) from Islamabad. There is a security outpost in Dih, and a customs and immigration post near Sust. On the Chinese side, the pass is 130 km (81 mi) from Tashkurgan, 420 km (260 mi) from Kashgar and some 1,890 km (1,170 mi) from Urumqi.

Day 4

Place & Transport:Tashkorgan to Kashgar (300Km)

Day’s Activities:Tashkorgan, Stone fort, Tashkorgan grassland, Subash pass

Place to Stay:Kashgar

We take the Karakorum Highway back to Kashgar and arrive in the late afternoon.

Note:Guests will need to carry their passports on this tour as they will be required to show these at the Gaz check point (around an hour after the colorful mountain on the first day and also on the way back to Kashgar).

Everybody at this point needs to be registered by the authorities due to its close proximity to many bordering countries.

It is also advisable to bring warm clothes as temperatures can be colder than those found in Kashgar at the higher altitudes.

Day 5

Place & Transport: Kashkar to Yopurga (130 km)

Day’s Activities:Drive from Kashgar to Taklamakan Desert

Place to Stay:Camp in the Taklamakan Desert

This trip takes you on an exciting camel trek through the Taklimakan Desert. Legend says that you can enter this desert but never leave!! The direct translation of Taklimakan is ‘Sea of Death’. Legend states that this area was once a prosperous city where many lived.  The people were not good at following the rules of religion and it is believed the Gods punished them by raining sand down upon them, the town and all its inhabitants perished under the sand. When the wind blows up into a storm you can sometimes glipse gold and other artifacts from this ancient buried village.

Transfer from Kashgar to Yopurga, the last village before the Taklimakan Desert. We will stop at Yopurga village to purchase food supplies for the trip and then continue to the edge of the desert.  We will then load our baggage on camels and begin the trek.  The trek normally commences at 14:00 local time.  The afternoon is spent on camel back through the desert.  Dinner is provided and accommodation for the night is in tents.

Day 6

Place & Transport:Yopurga to Kashkar

Day’s Activities:Drive from Desert to Kashgar then Shipton’s Arch

Place to Stay:Kashgar

This is the world’s tallest natural arch. Though long familiar to locals, it was visited in 1947 by English mountaineer Eric Shipton, while he was traveling between Tashkent and Kashgar – and made known to the West in his book Mountains of Tartary. The arch once figured in the Guinness Book of Records for its exceptional height, but editors of the book could not verify the location of the arch exactly, so the listing was dropped.It was only as recently as May 2000 that an expedition sponsored by National Geographic rediscovered the arch for foreigners.The height of the arch is estimated to be 1,200 feet, about the height of the Empire State Building. The span of the arch is roughly 180 feet. The “true” height of the arch is debatable: viewing the arch from the east (normal approach route) it appears to be 200 feet tall from the top of the 100 foot rubble pile; from the west side (approachable via a technical canyon ascent), the height is closer to the estimated 1,200 feet. The height depends upon what constitutes the base of the arch, which is either the base of the rubble pile (which is partially under the arch and where the span achieves its maximum width) or the floor of the west side canyon head, 900 feet lower.

Day 7

Place & Transport:Kashgar City tour

Day’s Activities:ApakHoja Tomb, Kashgar Sunday Market, Kashgar Old Town, Id Kah Mosque, Handicraft Street

Place to Stay:Kashgar

We will begin our tour of Kashgar City by visiting the ApakHoja tombalso called fragrant concubine tomb (Xingfei in Chinese). This is avery tranquil place and a beautiful example of Uyghur Islamicarchitecture.Next we will head to the Infamous lively Sunday market renowned as thebiggest market in Central Asia. It is said you can buy anything youwant from the Sunday market except chicken milk and Cow eggs.We will then enjoy lunch in a typical Uyghur restaurant.After lunch we will wander through the narrow winding streets of thehistoric Old town brushing shoulders with the friendly Uyghurresidents. Located at the spiritual heart of old town is Id KahMosque, the largest mosque in China. We will go inside and have thechance to understand a bit more about the Islamic life of the Uyghurpeople. We will pass down Handicraft Street where we can view potsbeing hammered, wood craftsmen at work and traditional musical Instrument workshops.

Note: For entering the Mosque visitors should dress respectfully, noshorts or short sleeved shirts and women should cover their heads witha scarf.

Day 8

Place & Transport:Fly Out from Kashgar to Your Next Destination

Day’s Activities:Kashgar Airport Drop Off

In the morning our guide and driver will take you to the Kashgar Airport for your onward flights home.