This should be the most special gate of China.

Here is the highest-altitude port in the world: Khunjerab Port is over 4,700 meters above sea level; here is Xinjiang’s highest national gate, with Khunjerab National Gate being nearly 5,000 meters above sea level.

In mid-summer in August, when the fruits are not yet ripe, the days here begin with down jackets during the day and minus ten degrees Celsius at night.

In other words, there is no summer in this place at all.

However, the winter here is very famous and is called the "Valley of Death".

Every October, "autumn" comes here: the roads are blocked by heavy snow, and all the birds have stopped. The ice in the canyon is so thick that you need to shovel it with a car. You can't find the way when you open the door... I really didn't know that I was stationed here.

How the sentinels survived the long night.

Therefore, experiencing the road leading to the border port has become the happiest thing in a self-driving trip to Kashgar, Xinjiang.

What I want to share in this article is my travel notes to Khunjerab National Gate in Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County, as well as the scenery along the way.

Let’s start from the beginning: Departure (?ω?) Taxkorgan is located in the alpine mountainous area of ????the border. The scenery here is generally divided into four layers: the ground layer, the mountain layer, the cloud layer, and the sky layer.

Once a person hides in a landscape, he immediately becomes one with the scenery.

There are many undeveloped "treasures" here, and every wetland is a natural wild park.

Due to frequent crustal movements, hot springs can be found everywhere.

Taxkorgan, with a total area of ??25,000 square kilometers, is my country's only Tajik ethnic autonomous county. Most of its tens of thousands of permanent residents are concentrated in an area of ??no more than 5 square kilometers in the center of the main city.

The land on the Pamir Plateau is not conducive to the growth of most animals, plants, and crops. According to Xuanzang's description in "The Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty", for thousands of years, this place has been "a land of ridges, ridges, and urchins, and crops cannot be harvested."

The desolate land of "Zi" is not like today's Taxkorgan. The roads are wide and straight to the sky. The trees on both sides of the road have obvious traces of artificial planting.

This is due to the revitalization of Ta County's infrastructure in recent decades and the unremitting efforts of the people who are rooted in this land.

This is the westernmost edge of the Tarim Basin and the westernmost territory of our country. The oxygen content here is only about 60% of that in the plains. The desert and gravel extend to the foot of the snow-capped mountains. If you cross any mountain, you will find Pakistan or Afghanistan next to it.

After our car drove for about ten kilometers, the terrain in front suddenly became open. The snow-capped mountains seemed to have retreated further than before, the grass color layers also became richer, and a stream could be vaguely hidden among them.

The Tajik driver said that this is a "plateau wildlife sanctuary" and a rare and precious oasis on the Pamir Plateau.

In addition, he pointed to a small mud house next to the stream and said, "That's the house where Tang Monk lived." The house where Tang Monk lived (?ω?) We stopped here specifically to take a look at this small house.

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Based on the current (new) state of this house, it is certainly not the one where Xuanzang lived, but should have been rebuilt on the original site.

When Master Tripitaka passed through this place 1,300 years ago, Taxkorgan was already an "important town on the ancient Silk Road." Ten thousand Sogdian "express" caravans and horses traveling on the Eurasian continent frequently traveled on this road, with Kashgar as the

Within hundreds of miles of the center, mule and horse shops or inns set up every other section of the road have become a special landscape in the "Silk Road style".

The Tajik driver also said that the house is made of camel milk and mud. It is very solid and will last for thousands of years. The outline of the foundation is clearly visible and comes from the ancient wisdom of the late Paleolithic Age.

According to archaeological research, this is an ancient cultural site with a history of about 10,000 years ago.

It's a pity that a metal door and an iron lock are installed on the house. Although there is no way to enter to find out, judging from the external shape, I personally think it is somewhat similar to the shape of the yurt where the Tajik people live.

It may be an elementary version of the classic dwellings of the steppe nomads.

The "Jiri Gale Ancient Station Relics Passenger Transport Reception Station" here is a shuttle bus station owned by the Kashgar Regional Transportation Administration, for tourists and nearby residents to come and go - although there are not many residents living nearby.

In fact, such passenger greeting stations are set up every other section of the National Highway 314, but the frequency of services is sparse.

On our way back and forth, we only saw one minibus, moving slowly.

We drove for 3 hours on the 125-kilometer mountain road. I guess this bus... stop-and-go, wouldn't last half a day.

Deserts and wetlands (?ω?) As we move on, the greenery seems to disappear in an instant.