Articles from this Category
14 October 2026
Leaving Kashgar Today we leave Kashgar for Beijing, then connect to Auckland after midnight. M has a flight an hour before ours and would leave for the airport separately not just due to the timing but also due to space constraints in a typical taxi. Before we parted ways, M asked me for the fourth […]
14 October 2026
Summary The Karakoram Highway is one of the world’s greatest road trips. When I decided to repeat the journey with Kim and Jo, I didn’t want the spare seat in our car to go unfilled. I wanted to share this special experience with a friend. Such a trip is expensive and difficult to organise for […]
13 October 2026
It was another relaxing morning before heading out around 1115 by car to the Tomb of Yusup Khass Hajip. M had decided to walk there as it was only 30 mins on foot. I would have been happy to do that too. Khass Hajip was an 11th Century Central Asan Turkic Poet. The site was […]
12 October 2026
Above: Plov, Central Asian style rice, in an extremely large pot. Exploring Kashgar’s fake old city We have time to relax again, with a lazy morning in bed followed by some muesli and fruit. Late morning, Kim, Jo and I popped out for a wander and found a Uyghur eatery just outside the fake old […]
11 October 2026
Transport hassle Today, we move from Tashkurgan to Kashgar, the last point on our trip. I had organised via WeChat messaging, for an MPV and driver to take us there for CNY800 (door-to-door). When he turned up at 1100, he saw the three white faces with me and promptly said that he couldn’t take us. […]
10 October 2026
Panlong Ancient Road It was dark when I woke at 0800 so I continued sleeping till 0900. China has only one time zone, so it really should be only 0600 if you go by Pakistan time just across the border. We took the hotel buffet breakfast at 0935 before it closed at 1000 and readied […]
9 October 2026
Leaving Sost I ran the hot water in the shower forever but to no avail. Kim went down to the lobby to report the issue. Jo & M had the same problem. After the staff had worked on it for a while, they managed to get the hot water working on M’s side of the […]
19 September 2026
Temple of Heaven After yesterday’s early start, we opted for a leisurely breakfast at 0800 today, as we need to adapt ourselves to local time in preparation for a further 3h of time change as we fly to Pakistan tomorrow. We ordered a car around 0915 for the ride in peak traffic to the Temple of […]
18 September 2026
Visiting the Great Wall at Mutianyu I had booked a car and driver to take us to the Mutianyu Great Wall. For four people, it was a good deal compared to taking a car to the departure point of a tour coach to the Great Wall and back. The standard itinerary was for a 0900 […]
17 September 2026
Forbidden City I woke at 0100, then 0400 before waking up properly at 0615. That’s not a bad night’s sleep after a longhaul night flight. D had arrived from Dali at 0100 and slept in while we had breakfast at 0730. The plan for the day was to go to the Forbidden City, a first […]