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Backstreet kids -- Uyghur children pose for a photo
After a fitful night's sleep and several long card-playing sessions in the restaurant car, the train pulled in to the city of Wuwei in late afternoon hazy sunshine. After the dusty, barren plains of the previous day, the lushness of the surrounding countryside and intensive hillside terracing were a welcome contrast. Wuwei marks the beginning of the Hexi Corridor, a strategic and fertile strip of land running along the base of the Qilian Mountains, separating the expansive and unforgiving Gobi and Taklamakan Deserts. By far the easiest route into and out of eastern Xinjiang, the fortunes of the Silk Route were closely linked to control of the Hexi Corridor, and sections of Great Wall were constructed around it in an attempt to protect passing caravans from hostile tribes and bandits.

The train was now climbing noticeably, and by early evening the landscape had once again changed dramatically.  >>
Chinese Turkestan -- a long-time inspiration for die-hard travelers that brings to mind towering dunes, exotic bazaars and camel caravans laden with silk and spice. As my train crawled away from the drab confines of Beijing West station, headed for the Xinjiang capital of Urumqi, it wasn’t easy to get excited by such romantic imagery. Nonetheless, compared with humdrum urban life in the Chinese capital, I knew that the next two weeks on China’s wild western frontier were going to be a fascinating blend of the strange and scenic.  >>   
Uyghur cemetery at Upal
Xinjiang and the Silk Route
Leaving the desert, the train entered the foothills of the Tian Shan (Heavenly Mountain) range. Together with the great Altai and Kunlun ranges to the north and south, the towering ramparts of the Tian Shan form a forbidding natural barrier that encircles Xinjiang on three sides. Snaking between ravine and snowy peak, we abruptly emerged, mole-like, from one final tunnel, into the bright sunshine and verdant greenery of a heavily cultivated plain. Beyond the wind farms and swaying crops, Urumqi was finally in sight.  >>
Reflections at Lake Karakul (2) Friendly negotiations at Kashgar Market
To enter the labyrinthine, jumbled mass of backstreets centered around Kashgar’s dominating Id Kah mosque is to experience Uyghur life at its busiest and most authentic. Mud brick homes with ornate doorways jostle for space with quaint, diminutive mosques, shopfronts decorated with assorted cuts of mutton, and merchants plying their roadside trade. Groups of Uyghur men with sun-darkened, careworn faces and pristine white taqiyah (caps) sit on low stools, engaged in animated conversation, or gather round battered pool tables. Uyghur women in colorful headscarves and long dresses, occasionally veiled, walk arm-in-arm through the din and confusion, the epitomy of serenity and modesty.   >> As a feat of engineering, the Karakoram Highway is a triumph of man over nature (at least temporarily). It is the highest paved international road in the world, and follows a network of ancient trade routes linking Kashgar with the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. Along the way it crosses the Khunjerab Pass (4800m), otherwise known as the “Valley of Blood” - a reference to local bandits who took advantage of the terrain to plunder caravans and slaughter merchants. More blood was spilt during the 20 years it took to push level and blast the present 1300km highway through the mountains: over 400 road-builders died, and it didn’t take me more than a few hours in my hired taxi to see why.   >>
 
Frying lamian (Uyghur noodles), Urumqi Uyghurs talk shop, Kashgar old quarter                                      Kyrgyz villager, Karakoram Highway

　

　
　 Daniel Allen is a freelance writer and photographer from London living in Beijing. He can be contacted at dja.beijing@gmail.com, and more of his photographic work viewed at www.clearlyred.com. Text and photos appearing here may not be reproduced in any way without express permission from the author/photographer.
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