So, we took a shared taxi from Ruoqiang towards Magnai, through a 3.800 meters mountain pass in the Altun Mountains, flanked by 5.000 m peaks. I expected to find landscapes like in the Andes Cordillera, like these:
- Tag Archives altun mountains
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Cycling through the Altun Mountains (and living to explain it)
When searching documentation for this post (Ruoqiang to Mangnai Zhen, probably the only difficult part of this trip), I stumbled upon a blog (I should say, a photo blog) with photos of a bike trip from Golmud to Kashgar. Two guys and a gal went from Golmud to Mangnai Zhen, and then entered the Altun Plateau.
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A diversion in Qiemo or map-makers horror vacui
“At the end of the first stage we rattled through Yamatu, a place prominent on mapswith no more justification than a tumble-down fort where half a dozen soldiers contemplate their chickens while waiting for tips from escorted travelers” (Owen Lattimore, High Tartary). When preparing today’s post I was on a trip, and I only had my Gizi 1:2,000,000 map, which shows a road, due South of Quiemo, that crosses places like Munaybulak, Kadalik, Bäshtograk to join the main road Qiemo-Ruoqiang at midway. I though that it should be a rather interesting diversion, at the feet of Altun Mountains, and, again, a road less travelled. And, probably, more interesting than the Cherchen River I planned