Pakistan - 2 - The Karakorum Highway

The Karakorum Highway

October 14th 2008

From Kashgar we have been riding on the Karakorum Highway - the road that both China and Pakistan completed in 1982 as a way of improving links between the two countries and to help China offset the power of their Southern neighbour India. The road is incredible, as it passes through the Pamir, Karakorum and Himalayan mountains cutting it's way between 7000m peaks, and until it was built the route itself hardly had as much as a donkey track on it. It passes over the 4700m Khunjerab pass. The original silk road traders and even Marco Polo, didn't even use this route but one further West called the Mintaka Pass.

On the Chinese side it climbs up through big wide gently sloping valleys and as befitting 'The New Romans' the road is wide and perfect. Once you reach the top and cross into Pakistan, the road and the landscape changes completely. Suddenly the mountains become ridiculously pointed, the valleys incredibly steep sided and the road itself becomes a marvel of engineering and human endeavour dropping over 1000m in only a few km, winding it's way around hairpin bends and down what seem like insurmountable obstacles. The road on the Pakistan side is rebuilt in part almost every year, suffers from loads of landslides during spring or after heavy rain, and this year the Chinese signed a four year contract to bring the Pakistani side up to international standards. If they manage it, it will be one of the wonders of the world if it isn't already. On the top of the pass there is a placard commemorating the effort of the Pakistani soldiers who first began the road in 1968. Here is the text: