 The Karakoram
Highway follows a
network of ancient
trade routes linking
the Silk Road oasis
of Kashgar in
western China with
the Pakistani
capital, Islamabad .
Along the way it
crosses the
Khunjerab Pass
(4800m, 15,750ft).
During the 20 years
it digested lives of
many workers to push
level and blast the
present 1300km
(800mi) highway
through the
mountains: over 400
road-builders died.
The souls that paved
the way for the
modern tarmac road
named the Karakoram
Highway still seem
to flicker amongst
the sharp moving
shadows of the rocks
and the almost
countless but
crumbly lucent
glaciers that
constantly embellish
its existence. There
has always been a
long pass into, and
out of China over
what is sometimes
called the 'roof of
the world' but in
ancient times it was
a very perilous
pathway.
Starting near
Rawalpindi, the
bitumen sealed
motorway winds
through gently
rolling, sandy
foothills for
approximately one
hundred and twenty
kilometres before
intersecting the
Indus river. (Called
the 'Sind' by the
Urdu language
speaking Pakistanis)
it then twines along
the Indus's arc
north eastward to
within forty
kilometres of the
town of Gilgit.
Between these two
points, (about four
hundred kilometres)
the road sometimes
takes on a
'roller-coaster'
aspect as it dips
into, and out of the
Indus's wide river
bed. The final dip
is at this forty
kilometres point
when the road joins
the Gilgit river and
continues to within
twelve kilometres of
the town of that
name, then swings
North, crossing the
Gilgit river to join
the Hunza river. The
town of Gilgit is
twelve kilometres
off the actual
Karakoram highway
and is reached by a
fairly smoothly laid
and slightly
inclined tarred
road.
Although the
Karakoram Highway
inclines upwards the
whole way to the
pass it's not until
you get close to
Gilgit that you
begin to feel as if
you are in
mountains. Even so,
the town is only at
one thousand, five
hundred meters
(approx. five
thousand feet)
elevation and there
is still a feeling
of being in desert.
The barren, dust
laden and tan
coloured hills that
surround the area
give the impression
of being made from
sand, however, it
only takes a ride of
a couple of
kilometres north
from Gilgit for one
to get the
impression of being
in 'real' mountains
- very high, and
very sheer
mountains.
This is not to say
that the actual road
itself is steep -
it's not, it's just
that the demarcation
between the almost
sand dune like
foothills, and the
seemingly abrupt
line of six to eight
thousand meters high
glacier and snow
plaited mountains is
almost
overpoweringly
awesome.
The road then
accompanies the
Hunza river through
these mountains,
climbing gently
almost all the way
to the 4,700 metre
high Khunjerab Pass.
Only during the last
twenty-odd
kilometres from the
top of the pass will
you find short
stretches of
consistently steep
road gradients of
six to fourteen
degrees. At the top
of the pass, two
tall memorial stones
show that this is
the convenient
dividing line
between political
Pakistan, and
political China.
Both countries
respective customs
and immigration
posts are some
kilometres away on
their respective
sides of the pass.
Sust, the Pakistan
customs post is
ninety kilometres
before the peak.
Taxgorgan, the
Chinese customs post
and town of that
name, is one hundred
and thirty
kilometres from the
peak.
The pass also
separates two
differently named
mountain ranges, the
Karakoram range (on
the Pakistani side),
from the Pamir in
China. Within these
two massive ranges,
there are other
named but smaller
clusters of rugged
mountains, and a
quick glance at a
map can confuse one
as there is no
illustrated way that
one can separate one
range from the next.
On the Chinese side
of the pass the road
is given a different
name by the Chinese,
who call it, loosely
translated, 'The Big
Pakistan/China
Friendship Road'.
This continuation of
the Karakoram is
also smoothly
finished and well
graded. It scrolls
up and down through
generally wide
valleys for
approximately four
hundred and fifty
kilometres to the
camel market town of
Kashgar, which is in
the mostly
Taklamakan desert
filled Chinese
province of Xinjiang.
As most travellers
consider the
Karakoram highway
and the Big
Pakistan-China
Friendship Road to
be one and the same,
I have done so in
this guide, with the
exception that I
refer to the Chinese
road(s) by their
route numbers. All
Chinese roads have
designated route
numbers and periodic
'kilometre' markers
tell you what
numbered road, or
track you are on at
any given time, for
example, the Chinese
side of the
Karakoram road is
route number 314,
and you can stay on
this route half way
across China.
The actual kilometre
numbers on the
stones don't seem to
make any sense, and
they certainly did
not
 usually reflect
accuracy as compared
to both of our
cyclometers, which
always came out to
within a hundred or
so meters of each
another at the end
of every day. The
numbers on the
stones often showed
a ten or fifteen kilometre difference
to our daily total.
Traffic, Eating,
& Sleeping
Between Rawalpindi
and Mansehra
voluminous traffic
and the attendant
exhaust fumes make
for rather
unpleasant riding
conditions. However
after leaving
Mansehra traffic
becomes lighter and
remains so almost to
the end of the
highway in Kashgar,
China. The heaviest
traffic encountered
in Pakistan will be
tourist related
vehicles, i.e.,
buses and jeeps as
well as the four to
six convoyed Chinese
trucks bringing
merchandise and
foodstuffs from
China to Pakistan.
These vehicles
return empty. All
drivers are used to
cyclists, and
although they may
'skim' you sometimes
if there is a
vehicle coming in
the opposite
direction, I've yet
to hear of a foreign
cyclist actually
being hit. Vehicles
are rarely going
fast enough to cause
slipstream problems
and can be drafted
up hills, you may
however have to
dismount when a
vehicle overtakes
you on a hill - to
let the thick
exhaust fumes
settle.
Traffic on the
Chinese side of the
highway is mostly
four footed, rather
than twin axle,
except for the
aforementioned
trucks. We came to
the conclusion that
it was far more
dangerous overtaking
skittish donkeys,
horses and camels
than it was being
overtaken by
vehicles!
Between Thakot and
Chilas the road
snakes through the
area called Kohistan.
Up to about a decade
ago this stretch of
road was frequently
occupied by
transitory bandits,
(called 'Dacoits
-owners of the land'
by most of the
Muslim world) who
held up buses and
other vehicles
occasionally killing
the occupants. Some
people, including
Westerners,
disappeared as well.
There is still
occasional nocturnal
robbery along this
section of the road
and public vehicles
are provided with a
four man armed
police escort if
they travel through
it overnight. There
have been no
daylight raids for
several years and
travel between dawn
and dusk is
considered safe. It
is strongly
recommended however
that independent
travellers stay in
villages overnight
if they are not
confined to a
vehicle, i.e. if
they are animal,
pedal, or foot
powered.
Although maps do not
show them, there are
lots of small
villages straddling,
or within two or
three kilometres of
the road. The tracks
leading to off-road
villages are rough,
but rideable in low
gear. Almost all of
the roadside
villages have
restaurants where
'beds' can be rented
overnight. The beds
are actually wooden
framed, rattan laced
cots that double as
seats during the
day. One sleeps on
them 'as-is'; they
are quite
comfortable, but you
may be bothered by
mosquitoes and/or
the snoring or
talking of other
overnighters. The
cots are cheap but
they cannot be
rented by women!
Women can usually be
found a room in the
building that houses
the restaurant, or
sometimes, with a
local family. All
amenities are
spartan, toiletries
often being done in,
or near the closest
river, spring, or
water barrel.
Toilets are rare! |
