Taxkorgan

This a small outpost high in the mountains where the air is thin and bitter, the mountains jagged and white and the wide plain lush and green. The streets are simple here, consisting of unassuming houses, some established as restaurants and hotels. Take a road east and an ancient structure appears - the stone fort of old, an ancient fortress of the Silk Road where caravansary and merchants rested and traded. The history is immense, evidenced by its ancient appearance and crumbling façade. This was the same fort Marco Polo described in his famous travel book eight-hundred years ago, and remarkably the same Ptolemy of the Roman Empire wrote about nearly two thousand years ago. Scant information is found about this fort, other than it being in an exceedingly strategic position in the Pamirs and having been destroyed, yet rebuilt, on multiple occasions. Taxkorgan, as unassuming as the town may be, holds a vital piece of history to the Silk Road.

Surrounding Taxkorgan are endless grasslands dotted with nomads tents and livestock. The grasslands are interrupted by numerous streams rolling along the contours, perfectly providing a perfect source of fresh water for all the creatures who live here. The yurts are decorated in many colors, curiously warm compared to the outside cold, and smell of freshly made naan and milk tea. The people who call these yurts home have been welcoming strangers for a long time. Not quite Tajiks, and entirely not Chinese, these locals of Taxkurgan have a mixed and debated lineage. Most agree they are of Persian descent, and were ancient nomads who settled in the high plains of the Pamir Mountains. They could be called Sarikoli, or Pamir Tajiks. One such nomad we met, an old man with an English hat, baggy trousers, and long coat, called himself Bage. His shy puppy went by Ruckece. Together, they formed a hospitable team, characteristic of these Pamir Tajik locals.