Trails, Rails and RiversIt was 1994 and the third of nine journeys in the “And There I Was” series—Pakistan, China. An audacious undertaking, the author’s route took him north through the heart of Pakistan to the North West Frontier and the Northern Areas, lands inhabited by fierce tribal clans who through the centuries had repelled the world’s greatest armies. Once there, a crossing of the world’s highest road across the Karakoram Mountains down into Western China, then traveling the breadth of the country—over a thousand miles by rail, fifteen hundred by boat down the mighty Yangtze. Break bread and target practice with the Pashtuns, cross Shandur Pass by jeep on a goat trail with gun-toting, drug-crazed Iqbal. Visit the endangered Kalash tribe, descendants of Alexander the Great. Experience the remote Silk Route market of Kashi, black chicken soup and a ghost city on the Yangtze. Commune with perfectly preserved thousand year old mummies then sit on a mountain hillside discussing humanity, life and the world with a little village girl who speaks three languages and aspires to change the world.
