Silk Road - Xinjiang Karakul III, Karakul it is!

As our journey goes, I was happy even I felt sick.  After dinner, with me laying, we were around the little stove, getting warm and chit-chating.  That was when we heard the auto-vehicles sound.  The time should be closed to mid-night.

A Chinese showed up with 4-5 people who dressed like army.  They screamed at our host, then turned to us and said - you are not allowed to overnight at a local stay, you must stay at the "hotel".  That was very clear to us right there, he is the "hotel" manager. I raised and asked - according to?  One of the man in the army dress who looks like the leader said - according to the law and regulation at the border.

We were forced to leave, put in a van, drove us to a place look like a military station.  I asked them to show me the border law and regulation.  They were pestering around and gave me a little booklet and pointed to a page.  Then, I read, nothing in there related to the matter.  The I turned and said - I speak and read perfect Mandarin, I need your Batch # and your military post position.  They were shocked and angry and asked - why you need it.  I said - to report to the China Central Tourism Department on what happen here when I am back to Shanghai.  They were really upset and screamed at me again. That was when that "hotel" manager quickly said - never mind, just drive them to my place.  He then mumbled to himself in Mandarin - don't know where come a 丫头, don't afraid of danger!

When we arrived at that "hotel", the manager wanted us to pay for a hotel room plus USD20 for "entrance fee of Karakul".  We were like "huh?" and refused to pay.  He couldn't do much as we just sat at the reception.  Finally, he put us into a yurt and charged us RMB30 per night.  I had altitude sickness, but my mind was clear, could still argue :-)...  And it was very clear to us what was the situation here.  We heard tons of stories through many channels, but nothing like living through it yourself. It couldn't be clearer than this as a case of abusive and corrupted power with the suffered civilian.

In case you don't know, Karakul lay just in front of the Karakoram Highway, "next to" will be the better word. That was the reason we refused to pay the "entrance fee".  There was no  fence nor gate, the lake is used by local as a pasturing area.  There was also not declared as any UNESCO status.

The next morning around 5am as we woke up, well, we didn't really sleep the whole night.  It was so cold and my girl friend got many cold sore on her face.  We saw Karakul morning scene.  At that time, we knew why Karakul is like a legend for travelers to pass by even it is in the middle of no where and so far from everywhere.
As the highest lake on Pamir plateau, junction with Tian Shan and Kunlun mountain ranges, Karakul is surrounded by snow capped mountain all year round. The lake is famous for its ability to reflect, due to the clarity of the water and the snow on the mountain throughout the year. The colour of the lake looks different at different giving time, from dark green to azure and light blue.  It all depends on your luck of the time.

Early morning before sun rise.

 

The sun is rising with the yurt we stayed over night.

Far back, the so called "hotel".

My pants felt so loose and I never felt this light before.

Since I had not eaten anything for almost 24 hours, only liquid, I felt so light like I lost at least 5kg over night. After walking around till 7am, we packed up and went to the reception.  We sat there, the hotel people kept looking at us but they served us hot tea.  We ate our biscuit, sat quietly as the bus will only come at 9am-11am, it depends. So happened, there was a group tour here.  The guide talked to us, turned out, he is from Malaysia!!! The group is from Singapore.  So rare, but so coincident!

Around 10am, we went out to the side of the Karakoram Highway to wait for our bus to go back to Kaxgar.  Sun was fully raised, the scene changed. Karakul, changes its scene every minute with different amount of light.

Photo from Wikipedia

There are 9 peaks in total.

Fui was at the road side of Karakoram Highway.

It was such a twisted feeling.  Physically, I felt sick.  Mentally, I felt joy! I can still feel the happiness at that moment.  In life, you couldn't ask anymore than such moment!