The last town before the Pakistani border, TASHKURGAN , lies 280km southeast of Kashgar, and about 220km north of the Pakistani town of Sust. Its primary importance for travellers is as a staging post between Kashgar and Sust, and all travellers passing through, in either direction, must stay the night here. It's a tiny place, comprising a couple of tree-lined streets, with the bus station and a couple of budget hotels at the western end. Chinese customs and immigration are located a few minutes round the corner from the bus station.

 

The town boasts a long history as well as fantastic mountain scenery. The Chinese Buddhist pilgrim and Silk Road traveller Xuan Zang stopped over here in the seventh century, a time when, as now, it was the last outpost of Chinese rule. Today, Tashkurgan has a peculiar atmosphere. The native population is mainly Tadjik, but there are also groups of melancholy Han Chinese, thousands of miles from home, as well as intrepid Pakistanis setting up shop outside their country - plus, incredibly, a minor entertainment industry involving sex and alcohol for Pakistani tourists. Few travellers bother to stop for a day, but you could pleasantly rest up here for 24 hours. If you decide to linger here, there's a brown, crumbling, mud-brick fort , at least six hundred years old, still standing on the only hill for miles around at the edge of town, which is worth a look, especially at sunset. To reach it, walk east from the bus station right to the end of town, then strike off a few hundred metres to the left.