Leaving Kashgar (temporarily), I head to Karakul Lake, to find they want to sell me a ticket to see the lake. I tell them where to stick their ticket and head on down to the lake anyway.
After a really cold swim in the lake, I take a nap. I awaken to the sight of five stark naked Kyrgyz boys bathing in the water. One of them takes this as the perfect opportunity to offer me a home-stay in his yurt. If he’d at least covered his package while he spoke, I would have thought about it.
I find a guy with a tourist horse and he offers me a great rate, 2 hours, 20 Yuan. Only catch is that he wants me to ride the horse to his village (it’s the end of the day and the horse needs rest). I don’t mind and take off into the mountains, with the poor boy left to chase us. After a few kilometres I stop and wait for the now exhausted boy to catch up. He asks if he can ride on the back of the horse, I tell him he can for 10 Yuan. He doesn’t get the joke.
With him on the back, we start heading back to his village. His friends catch up and they decide to make some more money.
Boy: To the village is two hours, 20 Yuan.
Me: Yes, two hours, 20 Yuan.
Boy: You will come back by motorbike.
Me: Great.
Boy: For 50 Yuan.
Me: Go f*ck yourself buddy, two hours I’m paying 20 Yuan, you can give me a lift back for free or we ride around here and you get off the horse.
Boy: Please motorbike for 20 Yuan.
Me (turning the horse around): Get off the horse, I’m getting my money’s worth.
Boy: No please, I stay on.
The horse at this point is exhausted and is barely moving, despite my `encouragement`.
Me: Your horse is dying, I’m getting off.
I get off the horse.
Boy: No look (hits the horse), see so much energy, let’s go two hours.
The horse will die if I ride it for two hours and he goes to take it home afterwards. I tell him no thanks and since it’s been under an hour, give him 10 Yuan for his pathetic business skills and out of pity.
He gives me a green rock and tells me I can have it as a present. I give him a sarcastic thanks since I can see where this is going. One minute later he points to my iPod and says present. I tell him he can have a smack upside the head instead, bid him farewell and hope the horse doesn’t die on the way home.
World’s worst businessman.
I spend the night in a concrete yurt (Kyrgyz tent) by the lake.
In the morning, I try and hitch a lift back. I offer 30 Yuan, the guy says 70. I tell him I paid 50 to get here. He tells me the local price is 50, but for me 70, I tell him to bugger off and start walking down the highway, the view is nice and the weather amazing. I’m picked up five minutes later by a jeep and meet some really cool people.
Greg is in Kashgar as part of the crew for a TV show that will have a group of British teens retracing the steps of Marco Polo by crossing the Taklamakan Desert, climbing a mountain and partaking in other fun activities. He’s a mountaineer and adventurer and shares some really cool stories.
Ali Tash is one of the translators/guides/geniuses that make things work and as I sit in the jeep he points out some landmarks, a former caravanserai (camp for the camel caravans that used to move along the Silk Road) and also handles a few fires that tend to arise from needing things done yesterday. He runs a tour company Uighur Tour, speaks fluent English, Chinese and Uighur (being Uighur himself) and is an incredibly likeable guy. If you’re looking to do a tour anywhere in Xinjiang (Kashgar, Urumqi, Taklamakan Desert, Muztag Ata etc), I’d recommend him as your first point of contact.
After arriving back at Kashgar, we catch up for dinner, Greg, Polly (also part of the team) and a woman who’s name escapes me (from CCTV and I hear is absolutely amazing getting past Chinese red tape). We chat about travels, mountain climbing and sailing. These guys are seriously adventurous, having climbed Everest and a half dozen other mountains between them. I plan on taking up climbing in Canada and now have the dream of one day buying a small sail boat and sailing the world.
Experiences like this make me recommend hitch hiking as a means of travel, even if it ends up costing the same as buses/trains.
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