Karakoram Highway in HD! Adventure of a Lifetime from Kashgar (China) to Pakistan
Join me as we explore China's Karakoram Highway, one of the highest paved roads in the world with some of the most beautiful scenery in the world...and the perfect place to stage a cycling adventure!
Are you planning a trip along the Karakoram Highway? Grab a copy of the FarWestChina Xinjiang travel guide:
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Equipment I use:
- my drone:
- my stabilized camera:
- my big DSLR:
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The Karakoram Highway stretches from the ancient Silk Road oasis of Kashgar in China's Xinjiang region all the way to Abbottabad in Pakistan. The entire road is about 1300 kilometers and passes by some of the most beautiful scenery that this planet has to offer.
On the Chinese side of the Karakoram Highway, there are a number of great sights to see.
A couple hours outside of Kashgar, the first stop you'll run into is the White Sands Lake (白沙湖), an amazing contrast of what looks like desert meeting a gorgeous lake.
Further south, the amazing Karakul Lake (卡拉库里湖) sits at the base of the Muztaghata mountain, part of the Pamir mountain range. It was here that we stayed in a Kyrgyz yurt along the shore.
Rising in elevation, we cross the Subash pass (苏巴什) and ride through the Taheman Grasslands (塔合曼) before finally arriving at Tashkorgan (塔什库尔干). It's a journey that used to take 10-12 hours by bus but now takes only 5-6 hours thanks to new and improved highways.
If you're considering traveling along the Karakoram Highway, I hope that this video will push you to giving it a try. You won't regret it!
Market in Leh, Ladakh
Shops selling, garments, clothes, blankets, bags, sunglasses, woollens in a small market in Leh, Ladakh.
If you wish to take some memories from Ladakh, the world's highest hill station, then shopping is the ideal choice. One can find traditional curios and all kinds of trinkets in the colorful markets of Ladakh. Shopping in Ladakh is all about buying traditional Ladakhi artefacts like Buddhist relics, tangkhas and prayer wheels, copper samovars, wooden masks, silver jewellery, turquoise and coral stones, pashmina and cashmere shawls and stoles, hand-woven blankets and rugs, woollens, fossils and other curios fill the shops in Ladakh. The most famous items that tourists can buy are local handicrafts, organic products, tribal jewelry, pearls and semi-precious stone. They all make good buys to carry back home and can be bought for very good prices, after a bit of bargaining and haggling, of course. Some shops sell what are loosely called antiques - their provenance is often doubtful, so the buyer needs to be careful as to what he picks up and what he pays for it. The best place to buy local crafts is at the artisans' workshops - the stuff is usually authentic and less the middleman's commission.
Ladakh is a region of India in the state of Jammu and Kashmir and lies between the Kunlun mountain range in the north and the main Great Himalayas to the south, inhabited by people of Indo-Aryan and Tibetan descent. It is one of the most sparsely populated regions in Jammu and Kashmir. It is also known as the Land of High Passes. Ladakh is the highest plateau of state of Kashmir with much of it being over 3,000 m (9,800 ft). It spans the Himalayan and Karakoram mountain ranges and the upper Indus River valley. Ladakh district was a district of the Jammu and Kashmir state of India until 1 July 1979 when it was divided into Leh district and Kargil district. Each of these districts is governed by a Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, which is based on the pattern of the Darjeeling Gorkha Autonomous Hill Council. These councils were created as a compromise solution to the demands of Ladakhi people to make Leh a union territory.
The economy of Ladakh rests on three pillars: the Indian Army, tourism, and civilian government in the form of jobs and extensive subsidies. Agriculture, the mainstay only one generation ago, is no longer a major portion of the economy, although most families still own and work their land.
For centuries, Ladakh enjoyed a stable and self-reliant agricultural economy based on growing barley, wheat and peas and keeping livestock, especially yaks, cows, dzos (a yak-cow cross breed), sheep and goats. At altitudes of 3,000 to 4,300 m (10,000 to 14,000 ft), the growing season is only a few months long every year, similar to the northern countries of the world. Animals are scarce and water is in short supply. The Ladakhis developed a small-scale farming system adapted to this unique environment. The land is irrigated by a system of channels which funnel water from the ice and snow of the mountains. The principal crops are barley and wheat. Rice was previously a luxury in the Ladakhi diet, but, subsidised by the government, has now become a cheap staple.
There are about 1,800 km (1,100 mi) of roads in Ladakh of which 800 km (500 mi) are surfaced. The majority of roads in Ladakh are looked after by the Border Roads Organisation. Another common route in regular use was the Kalimpong route between Leh and Lhasa via Gartok, the administrative centre of western Tibet. In present times, the only two land routes to Ladakh in use are from Srinagar and Manali. There is one airport in Leh, from which there are daily flights to Delhi on Jet Airways, Air Deccan, and Air India and weekly flights to Srinagar and Jammu. There are two airstrips at Daulat Beg Oldie and Fukche for military transport.
Source: Wikipedia
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