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The Karakorum Highway connects China and Pakistan with what must be the
most harrowing trail of asphalt on earth. From Kashgar to Islamabad, the
road stretches 1260 kilometers, and pierces the territory of at least five
ethnic groups (Uighur, Kirgiz, Tajik / Wakhi, Hunza / Nagar, Shin and Pathan).
At least nine languages (Chinese, Uighur, Kirgiz, Tajik/Wakhi, Burushaski,
Shina, Pushto, Urdu and English) are commonly heard along its length. The
highway was begun in the late 1960s after a warming of relations between
the two countries. China provided most of the engineering know- how,
building bridges to span Pakistan's treacherous rivers and blasting a
two-lane highway out of shear rock. Muscle was provided by thousands of
Pakistani and Chinese laborers, who wielded picks and shovels under a
blinding mountain sun. On the Pakistan side of the border alone, more than
400 lost their lives.
Nowadays most traffic on the Karakorum Highway consists of tourists and
hajjis--Muslims making a pilgrimage to Mecca--but small-scale trade has
revived as well. Pakistani businessmen come to Kashgar to load up on
thermoses, enamel wash-basins, and other items sold cheaply in Chinese
shops. They are also attracted by Kashgar's reputation as a place of
pleasure, for liquor and whores are not easily found in their
straight-laced homeland. Apart from the hajjis, few Chinese find their way
west.
The sheer difficulty of this road makes it a magnet for adventure- seeking
bicyclists, of whom this author was one. If steep ascents, thin air, long
distances, interfering officials, shabby hostels and unfamiliar food
aren't challenge enough, the cyclist must also contend with children for
whom grabbing the luggage rack of a passing foreigner's bike has become a
favorite sport. Yet the rewards are worth it: standing alone at the summit
of a pass, master of all you see; cheers from villagers as you pedal by;
visiting Kirgiz nomads on a great plain beneath Mustaghata; and, from the
Khunjerab pass, the long, long joy-ride down. It is an unforgettable
experience.
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