An empty North Korean highway: One will see some cars and other vehicles in Pyongyang. I wouldn’t go so far to say that there is traffic, but one will at least look both ways before crossing a street in the capital city. This contrasts rather strangely with the countryside of North Korea where one can … Continue reading
In my previous writing on Turpan, I alluded to the area being famous for its grapes… Well, they’ve had a lot of time to get it right. There is evidence of grapes being grown around Turpan since at least the Han Dynasty (206 BC–220 AD). And the high esteem in which grapes from Turpan are … Continue reading
In the buildup to the post in which I intend to examine the conflict in Xinjiang, I have been focusing on many of the highlights of the region. In general, I think it helps one better understand events in the present if they are aware of the cultural depth and history of a society. When … Continue reading
As promised in the most recent post on the Karakoram Highway – part of the Karakoram Highway experience includes Karakul Lake and the Kyrgyz people, both nomads and permanent residents, that live in the region. Karakul, whose crystalline waters beautifully reflect the surrounding glacier-capped peaks, is surprisingly unspoiled, with almost no development along its shores. … Continue reading
Stretching more than 800 miles from Kashgar in China’s western Xinjiang region to Abbottabad in Pakistan, the Karakoram Highway is the world’s highest transnational roadway and a testament to modern China’s determination to shape and contain nature’s most daunting obstacles. Completed in 1979, the roadway’s official objective was to foster trade between Beijing and Karachi, … Continue reading
This scene report may be a thousand years too late, but this is the action in Jiaohe right now… Said to be the largest, oldest and best-preserved earthen city in the world, the remains of the ancient city of Jiaohe are incorporated into an island in the middle of the confluence of two rivers near … Continue reading
Located on the outskirts of Turpan, the Emin Minaret and Mosque were constructed in 1777 to honor a military general from Turpan, Emin Khoja (which is where the name derives from). Designed by a Uighur architect, it was constructed using the local materials available at the time – brick and wood. The textured bricks were … Continue reading
The Velvet Rocket 