Distance: 142 miles – Travelling time: 2 hours 15 minutes + 2 hours – Temperature range: 12 -21°C
Having spent the night at the basic but passable Embassy Motel – no electricity nor hot water but a comfy bed with the ubiquitous garish fleece blankets (thankfully new and not smelling of goat!) – past the dry port and along an improbable dirt track clinging to the cliff edge. We went in good spirits and optimism to the customs and immigration office, with armfuls of paperwork impressively collated by Murray, to get the necessary documents to exit Pakistan with our vehicle. The promised half-hour to process our paperwork took 3 hours and rather stretched patient pleasantries were passed with an array of customs officials of varying importance. The most senior, the Deputy Collector of Customs, an initially stern bearded Pathan – an erudite and educated man from the bad lands of Dera Ismail Khan, on the border of South Waziristan – proved to be engaging and very hospitable and not a little embarrassed at the length of time the whole procedure took (the Internet was down and satellite connections to the authorising body in Karachi were intermittent).
The early morning view from our motel. Half on hour of yoga on the roof top set us up for the day ahead – no health and safety here!
Relations at Customs warmed to a point of receiving the honoured Customs plaque
At the dry port of Sost, 40% owned by China
We waited for the export agent to finally produce a document sufficient to allow us to drive away from Pakistan. We set off up the Khunjerab Pass and into the Khunjerab National Park – luckily we had just enough Pakistani rupees left to pay the foreigners’ fee to enter (800 PRp per person) and to allow us to continue to the border with China – one cost we hadn’t foreseen. We drove for another breath taking hour to get to the Chinese border.
With one last Pakistani check point at Dih we cruised higher and higher until we reached China. Saying farewell to the last Pakistani officials – and taking a call from the ISI whom it appears had been tracking us all the way – we crossed through the border and into China. Goodbye Pakistan, an incredible land of beauty, eyesores, genuine hospitality and occasional hostility – and not least adieu to PIA!!!
Then we crossed into China at the Khunjerab Pass – 15,396 ft – the highest border crossing in the world! Very exciting . . . right up until we got to the immigration and customs check point. We waited for 3 hours in the car without being told what we were waiting for. It was chilly, we weren’t allowed out of the car and the young border guards kept a very close eye on us – but with a smile so it wasn’t intimidating, just befuddling. The effect of the altitude started to kick in after while, probably not helped by low blood sugar and not keeping properly hydrated. At 4,655 meters headaches can kick in at the temples and one’s breathing can become quite shallow – in the customs post a bank of oxygen masks on tap for flaky travellers were visible but not deployed.
Last Pakistani checkpoint
The Khunjerab Pass into China – what was to follow was not for the faint hearted.
Eventually at 8.45pm we were made to take EVERYTHING (and we have a LOT of stuff) out of the car and to put it through a scanner then the car went through a massive scanner (and fried the iTrip; our means of listening to music from the iPod – thank you Cherubs for our fantastic playlist!) We then had to put everything back in double quick time as they closed at 9pm. Crazy – but helped by three lovely Pakistani lorry drivers. Murray’s passport was held and he was told he would get it back at the next checkpoint, which was slightly disconcerting.
We were feeling pretty miserable by then and it was dark and we were hungry (our first rule of not driving in the dark was about to be broken and we were daft not to have cooked up something from our rations during the 3 hour wait). We were then made to drive in a convoy of lorries for 2 hours to get to another immigration check point at Tashkurgan. Interesting to note that the entire route through the Wakhan corridor to Tashkurgan is lined with barbed wire and covered by CCTV for the full length of the route. We were at the back of the convoy so Murray took the initiative to overtake and be right behind the lead car so we weren’t covered in dust from the lorries the whole way. Eventually in Tashkurgan we followed the car all the way. . . . to a hotel – it wasn’t the lead car!!! Oh my goodness. It was midnight, all the signs were in Chinese and we had no idea where to go and Murray’s passport was somewhere else with a Chinese official. Eek!
Amazingly we met a Pakistani on a motorbike who showed us where to go. On it went, more checks, more queues, the car was disinfected and we then went to the passport check (just like at the airport), where Murray’s passport miraculously reappeared, to find our visas weren’t correct. Argh!!!! Horrendous. Fortunately by this stage we had met our Chinese guide, David of Xinjiang Nav International Travel, and he used our Diplomatic passports to get us through. What a day! There’s more but I think that’s enough for now to give you a flavour of how it’s been. Murray was super cool and didn’t get cross once. He was amazing. I remained suitably quiet.
Whitesides on the Road 