The Oriental Caravan's

Postcard from Kashgar

(Please click on an image to see it enlarged)

CLICK HERE to see the 'Postcard from Lanzhou'

8/8/2001

Dear All,

After its momentous journey across the mighty Khunjerab Pass that separates the snowy mountains of the Karakorum from the sandy wastes of Chinese Turkestan The Oriental Caravan has come to rest at the desert oasis of Kashgar.

Taking tea at a Kashgar wayside inn

Hiking near Gulmit

Valiantly overcoming all obstacles in their way, be they the treacherous, inching glaciers of the Himalaya or the labyrinthine vagaries of Chinese bureaucracy, all aboard the Caravan are today enjoying a welcome break before we resume are march across the Tartarian tundra.

For here in Kashgar the nightime sky is filled not just with stars but with the songs and laughter of travellers from all across Central Asia and beyond and, so too it seems sometimes, with the ghosts of caravans long since vanished into the sands of time.

Temporarily stuck on the KKH

Looking toward Mt. Rakaposhi from the Mir's throne in Baltit Fort

Many of those in town today are traders from all over greater Turkestan and China, here for the Sunday Bazaar, the largest open air market in the world.

From here the Caravan continues across the forbidding Taklamakan Desert to the wondrous Buddhist grottoes of Dunhuang and thence to push deeper and deeper into the heart of the awakening dragon of China herself.

Much further? Day 1 en route to Besham.

Abdul Qayum (above) - Gilgit's famous Spanish speaking carpet dealer.

Many thanks in particular must go to all the friends along the way, both old and new, who have helped to guide us. For all those at home and abroad please enjoy here some of the photos we've taken along the way.

Hameed - sporting the latest offering from The Oriental Caravan's summer collection - a T shirt set to become de rigeur among the highways and byways of Northern Pakistan.

We'll write again soon and if at anytime you want to send an email to any of us don't forget The Oriental Caravan is online and rolling!