-> Pik Lenin
The good old Lada Niva had a hard time finding the track leading to the Pik Lenin basecamp.
-> Pik Lenin basecamp
From here, every year more than 200 people start their personal tour de force up to the 7,134m high Pik Lenin. The way up there is divided by three more camps for pressure acclimatisation.
-> Amazing views
near the Pik Lenin basecamp
-> The long way to China
It was time to say goodbye to our hosts after this spectacular day. In a Lada Niva, we headed east to reach the border crossing Kyrgzystan-China the same day. We expected a town at the frontier, but we were disappointed, not to say shocked: The border post consisted of a huge parking lot for waiting Russian Kamas-trucks, transporting scrap-metal to China. The awaking giant cannot hold pace with iron-demand and needs to buy scrap from adjacent countries - to melt and further process it. So, the place bursted with a dubious athmosphere. Aggressive truck drivers, a shady 'hotel', a sketchy restaurant - rather not guaranteeing a safe and relaxing stay. In the middle of the night, we were woken up by an unpleasant knocking on our door - passport control. Luckily, the soldiers were not demanding us to bribe them - however, they insisted we should drink vodka with them.
> Welcome, says Comrade Chairman
We crossed the border the next day - and this time had to pay bribes, namely $50 due to some 'irregularities' with two of our passports. Anyway, we had arrived in China's wild west, Xinjiang. The largest province, with only around 20 million inhabitants, is inhabited by the local Central Asian people, the Uyghurs, and now, many many Han chinese.
The Mao-statue in Kashgar is supposed to be one of the highest in the entire People's Republic.