Road to the East

Kashi with its rich culture is becoming a hub of tourism, industry. Despite being very close to Pakistan border with Kashi, the aerial trade is being very limited. We are not making a full use of our land link with China. That is not passing a positive impact for the regional economy. Our natural reserves for mines and minerals are one of the biggest resource that we can exchange with China; such as an export for the raw material using the land route, what more specifically if our gov is very vigilant, they can invite the Chinese investors from this region specifically, to extract mines and minerals, but thing that can change the economy of this entire region mainly depends if we can convince Chinese investors to invest in this particular region of Gilgit for the purification of metals.

Vice President Pakistan-China Joint Chamber

The other best way is the tourism and the hospitality. We need to engage the tourism groups who can be helpful to attract the Chinese people who want to cross over Khunjarab pass to Pakistan. I have noticed many people of this region very much interested to cross the Khunjarab pass to get an access to Pakistan side.

Further I want to make you sure that the plateau of the Pakistan side is considered to be one of the most

beautiful natural plateau in the world.

Culturally this area have been preserved very well, including the ancient buildings such as centuries old. Food is one of the best attraction and the delicacies, it is commonly believed that Ice cream originally started from this region. Similarly, there is a long route which is called the inner wall of the city have a long cue of traditional restaurants with hundreds of options. Paya the lamb foot, is named the same in Kashi language same as pulao, naan, kabab, and many other words. I have never seen a variety of naans in all over sub continent. The same i saw only in Kashi. They also produced a qeema naan (meat) which is one of the delicacy of this region.

I conceived an idea that the concept of pizza and spaghettis was stolen by Marco Polo in the 13th century from this region and was taken to Italy. That is why till today spaghettis and pizza is one a famous dish in Italy. But nowhere else in Europe.

Bar b que globally I have been to many countries but the best natural taste of bar b que is in this region. Mostly they use lamb, sheep, and beef to make this bar b que. Similarly, pulao was originated from Xinjiang in this region. So, it traveled all the way to subcontinent. The pulao I tasted in Kashi, was one of the best delicacy. It added up with dried grapes. They also love to serve it with the yogurt.

Kabab, shawarma have many kind of faces, the region have a lot of shapes for kabab mostly by the meat of sheep. These people like to eat the fats more often Ly than our region. The weather of this area is very harsh as it climbs p to 40 degrees in hot season while drop down to minus -25 in the cold season. Because of this harsh weather the living condition of the normal people have totally been changed. This harsh weather physically converted theses people as a very tough nation. But the other impact of this weather is that this area is mostly dry and even the mountains are mostly barren.

Tea is one of a natural product of this area with many kind of teas to be offered. Flower tea is one of the famous tea from this area which is commonly believed to keep a face fresh. But there are multiple kind of teas available in this region.

Walking through the streets of Kashi there are hundred of shops, as I mentioned dry fruits are one of the basic product of this region, I have never seen the variety of dry fruits that I found in Kashgar, is indescribable. They are genuine dry fruit lovers providing of hundreds of kinds of dry fruit. The way they preserve it and roast it with the honey, this technology we may need to learn from them.

The use of metal and handicrafts especially in the form of brass I have observed are the best in the whole world. Where the use of art work by hand was even more inspiring.

Alladin was one of the story that we listen from our childhood, actually this story was also originated in this region. Same as Alibaba, which is one of the oldest tale we always listening from centuries. And who can forget the famous stories of Ali baba with forty thieves.

These all stories were originated from the same region. The beauty of this area along with the traditional dresses of the girls that are still very popular in subcontinent. There were a lot of tea houses with a history of more than a hundred years traditionally serving their local tea. Most of the tea houses have the people playing their traditional music and that is so fascinating that you can spend hours to listens that music. The rhythm will really mesmerize you. In my next article I will describe about the traditional restaurants and their dances as performance.

To be continued..