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KKH and the old Silk Road

For me the Silk Road is dim history but for our Jeep drivers, it is very much alive in living memory. I assume shipping ended the Silk Road's significance for the West but to locals, the Silk Road remained a life-line until the KKH was finished in 1978.

We heard several fascinating vignettes about the KKH and Silk Road:

One driver told us that spirits (he used another name I've forgotten--perhaps jinns) dwelt on certain stretches of the road and would snatch away travelers if they were caught there at night.  Not being superstitious, myself, I interpreted this as an attempt to make sense of the near constant loss of life on the Silk Road, often without a trace because of the river.   This man's own grandfather perished on the road.  He said it was a three-day journey to Gilgit from Karimabad and people would walk it to buy even a small bottle of lamp oil. His Grandfather disappeared doing some small errand on a spirit-filled stretch of road.

Another story which bordered on local mythology was about when the Silk Road was turned into a jeep track.  The Aga Khan is the spiritual leader of the Ismailis and plays a role in their spirituality unlike any living figure (that I know of) in the other sects of Islam. One person said to me, "We Ismailis don't go to Mecca, our Mecca comes to us."

In the early 60s (if I remember correctly) the Aga Khan decided to visit Hunza coming by Jeep. The Hunzans rallied together and transformed the road from a footpath to a Jeep road. This would be a huge task for professional road crews and a phenomenal, near impossible, effort for simple village people possessing only basic tools, if any at all.  It reminded me of the old Amish/Mennonite barn raisings but on epic proportions. The story-teller didn't mention loss of life but there must have been.  I wondered if the Aga Khan realized what his trip meant to  his Hunzan followers.

In Hunza the old Silk Road parallels the Karakoram Highway and seems to  hang  precariously
from the side of the sheer rock, many hundreds
of feet above the river. I was at first surprised
that any remnants survived but, in fact, much
of It is still there.

In a few places the KKH replaced the Silk Road. Our driver said that this was the most dangerous stretch  because the rock is crumbly rather than granite, like much of the rest.

The wind blows on this loose rock and garnets come tumbling to the road where children pick them up and gladly sell them by the handful for a dollar or two.

So many people have died on the Silk Road/KKH--both traveling it and building it. 

There is a KKH memorial (top, left) to the workers who died building the KKH. Someone told me that the names listed are far less than the real amount since the massive loss of life is an embarrassment.

Our driver pointed out another memorial to a tourist who died on the Silk Road.  I found it interesting that he used the word "tourist" when I suspect that the person thought of himself as an "explorer."  So many things are a matter of perspective.