1994-1995
Crossing the Karakoram: the Kunjerab
PassIt's a long hard journey up to the Kunjerab Pass at 4934
meters. There are only two ways to Japan from Europe overland
(and then sea), the Trans-Siberian Railway and the old Silk Road.
I am following what was the Silk Road. I left Istanbul two weeks
ago by train because I couldn't buy a plane ticket for Japan. I
passed across the huge plain of West Asia by train, bus, taxi and
on foot. I have been here with a fever and diarrhea since I left
Turkey. But I don't have much money anymore. As it is the middle
of August, the temperature in Islamabad is forty degrees
centigrade. But the more I go north, the colder I feel.
After one night in Susut, on the Pakistan side of the border,
a four-wheel drive Toyota left carrying eight Pakistanis and me
on board. On the way up to the source of one of the tributaries
to the Indus River, suddenly, the man sitting beside me holds his
head in his arms. He shudders a little and doesn't say anything.
He seems to have altitude sickness. It is much higher than Mt.
Fuji here, the highest mountain in Japan.
After awhile, the car arrives at the Kunjerab Pass. The pass
is on a plateau. Chinese soldiers come from the Chinese side by
jeep. They take souvenir photographs in front of a monument. I
have no jacket, so I stay in the car.
Two hours later, the car gets to Pirari, on the Chinese side
of the border. There's nothing but an immigration office, a money
exchange office and some restaurants in tents. I'm in the final
country of my trip, but it will take at least two more weeks to
get to Japan.
by Yuichi Koba
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