Documentary about Karakoram Highway (KKH) to China

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• published: 04 Jun 2011
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The Karakoram Highway is one of those legendary roads to travel in Asia. The name implies it's a big 2 or 4 way street. In fact, it's not even close to a "highway" but it is a road. This road is the road that connects Pakistan to China, for many years. It's a magnificent road! KKH as it is known starts actually in Abbottabad. Up to this town the road is 4 way street and pretty busy. The legend of the KKH is long and spectacular. Everybody has heard of the legendary Silk Road. As the legend goes, it was the road where silk was transported from China to Europe. The truth of the Silk Road is slightly different. In the old days there were no merchants traveling the whole route. In fact, silk and other goods from China were transported via different roads, which includes the legendary road Marco Polo traveled. However, goods were usually traded in cities on the roads going west and south (looking from Chinese perspective. Therefore we can't say there was one Silk Road. In fact, there were many. The Karakoram Highway as we know the road nowadays was one of those Silk Roads. From Kashgar (or Kashi as it is known in China) goods were transported over the Khunjarab Pass to the lower lands of the western Indian subcontinent. It was a hard and dangerous road. And even today, it's still a hard road. The Karakoram highway ends in Kashgar, the great trade city in the far west of China. Marco Polo writes about Kashgar. Walking on the legendary market, and reading Marco Polo's diary, one can see there's not much changed in 700 years. Kashgars' Sunday Market is still a must have seen in the whole of Central Asia and China.