Tashkurgan lies on the Chinese side of the Pamir, a small town in a wide, high valley at about 3,100 metres, with bare mountains around it and a river flat and braided along the bottom. It is the capital of the Tashkurgan Tajik Autonomous County, and its people are Tajik in language and culture, related to the Persian-speaking peoples of the Pamirs rather than to the Han majority of China. Faces, clothes, and music reflect that, and so does the food.
Above the town stands the Stone City, a ruined fortress on a hill whose walls date back many centuries, and which gave Tashkurgan its name, as the Turkic word means stone fortress. Traders on the Silk Road stopped here between Kashgar and the passes to India and Persia, and some scholars have thought the town to be the Stone Tower mentioned in ancient geography. The view from the ruins over the grassland, with the white wall of Muztagh Ata faintly visible on a clear day further north, makes the climb worthwhile.
For a rider, this is a different world of rules. In China, foreign visitors on motorcycles generally need special permits, a local guide and a temporary licence, and arrangements must usually be made well in advance through an agency. Do not expect to roll across the border on a whim. For those who arrange it, the road from Khunjerab descends smoothly into the Pamir plateau, with wide tarmac and long sight lines, and the climate is dry, cold and windy.
Tashkurgan has fuel, restaurants serving lamb, flatbread, noodles and yak yoghurt, and a number of hotels. The town is also the site of the immigration post for the pass, and opening hours follow Beijing time, which sits several hours ahead of local daylight, so the sun rises and sets late in the day. Expect long, bright evenings in summer.
The region is open to travellers mostly in the warmer months, because winter snows close the pass. The grassland comes alive in summer, with herders, sheep and yaks, and, further north, the great turquoise lake of Karakul draws visitors. This is the end of the Pakistan highway and the beginning of the long road to Kashgar.