Road to Heaven (Swarg ka Rasta): National Highway 754K, Rann of Kutch, Gujarat, India

Let's really unpack this smaller Indian epic: an India overland road trip of almost 11,000 km across 14 state crossings, via NH-27, NH-19, NE-4, NH-48, NE-1, NH-44, NH-16, NH-316A and a long tail of local roads that don't appear on any respectable map. Our Texas-born Toyota Tundra pickup, Shehzadi, and we — two slightly directionally challenged souls — consumed the entire peninsula in a rolling sequence of chai stops, mountain passes, and decisions we will describe as "deliberate" for the purposes of this blog. This pan-India overland journey followed our larger quad-continental North America – Africa – Europe – Asia Silk Road expedition, which is to say we were already well past the point of making sensible decisions.

The actual crossing from China through Nepal into India — Tatopani landslides, Shehzadi locked in a border shed, a foot crossing above the Bhote Koshi, a flight to Kolkata while the truck waited, the return to Raxaul, and the Maitri Bridge moment — is a separate post entirely: Nepal to India Overland: Tatopani Landslides, Raxaul Border, and the Road Home to Kolkata. This one picks up once Shehzadi was on Indian tarmac and the cow on Station Road, Raxaul had delivered her verdict: we were no longer in charge of the schedule.

An illustration of Shehzadi crossing the Hooghly into Kolkata carrying the mud, rain, paperwork, and general nonsense of a four-continent overland journey

China Overland Part 5 ended at Tatopani, after the long run from Saga through Lake Manasarovar, Mount Kailash, Nyalam, Zhangmu Port, and the wet descent through the Zhangmu gorge. China had been permits, altitude, guided roads, oxygen hotels, pilgrim kitchens, and controlled exits. Nepal began with the Sino-Nepal Friendship Bridge, a landslide report, three broken road sections, and a truck that suddenly needed a shed instead of a highway.

This post begins where that bill came due: Tatopani, Kodari, the Araniko Highway, a foot crossing through the Bhote Koshi gorge, a flight to Kolkata without Shehzadi, the return to rescue her, and the long road home through Raxaul, Bihar, Barhi, Shaktigarh, Bally Bridge, Salt Lake, and Saini Toyota.

An illustration of Shehzadi at Chiu Monastery and Lake Mansarovar with Mt. Kailash. Four religions looked at this basin and agreed it was sacred. Shehzadi is the newest thing in this frame by many centuries.

China Overland Part 4 ended in Saga, after the run west from Shigatse along G318, the Gyatso La high pass, the Qomolangma Scenic Area, Rongbuk, and an overnight with Everest sitting in the window like it owned the place. Then G219 west past Peiku Tso, a pilgrim kitchen lunch at the lake, and the Saga Champions Boutique Hotel with five buses in the parking lot and Indian food already on the table. The road had stopped being a Himalayan crossing and had become a pilgrimage system, with its own kitchens, bus schedules, oxygen hotels, and casual disregard for anyone who had not packed devotion as carry-on.

This fifth part picks up the next morning from Saga and heads west on G219 toward the Kailash-Manasarovar sacred basin. Then four nights in the Kailash staging town at around 4,650 meters, while the pilgrimage machine moved around us. Then back east to Saga, southeast toward Nyalam, a nomadic family yurt at 4,700 meters, and finally the long descent through the Zhangmu gorge to the Sino-Nepal Friendship Bridge. In Part 4, the mountain made us leave our trucks at the door. In Part 5, the road handed us to Nepal with a landslide report and no apology.

An illustration of Shehzadi under Mt. Everest. Rongbuk has watched this valley since 1902. Chomolungma since considerably before that. Neither required an introduction.

China Overland Part 3 ended in Shigatse, after the long road from Golmud over the Kunlun, through Hoh Xil, past the Yangtze headwaters, over Tanggula, and down the G6 expressway. Tashi Lhunpo Monastery had given the day a slow, painted ending. G318 was outside, pointing west.

This part follows that road west through Lhatse and Resa to Gyatso La Pass and the Himalayan skyline. Then by eco-bus to Rongbuk and Everest's North Face. Then back out past Peiku Tso and into Saga. In Part 3, the road started charging rent in oxygen. In Part 4, the mountain made us leave our trucks at the door.

An illustration of Shehzadi at Tanggula Pass. 唐古拉山口. 海拔 5235 米. The dashboard agreed. The yak did not care.

China Overland Part 2 ended in Golmud, after the long run from Kashgar around the Tarim Basin through Kuqa, Korla, Turpan, Hami, Dunhuang, Mogao, the G215 high-desert corridor, and the Dangjinshan approach into Qinghai. By the time we reached the Golmud Leica Hotel, the desert-road part of China was done. The parking lot had become a working overland yard: Shehzadi, Chetak, roof tents, tools, drawers, dust, and repacking before the road stopped behaving like a Silk Road corridor and started behaving like an altitude test.

This third part begins the next morning, with Golmud behind us and G109 ahead. From here, the China journey climbs onto the Qinghai-Tibet Highway through the Kunlun Mountains, Xidatan, oxygen hotel country, Tuotuohe, the Yangtze headwaters, Tanggula Pass, Amdo, and Nagqu, then drops toward Shigatse by expressway and valley road. In Part 2, the road chased oasis water around the Tarim Basin. In Part 3, the road started charging rent in oxygen.

An illustration of Shehzadi at Huoyan Shan. The name was not an exaggeration. The camels behind Shehzadi had better opinions about the heat than we did.

China Overland Part 1 took us from the Irkeshtam border to Kashgar Old Town, through Wuqia, vehicle custody, temporary plates, Chinese driver papers, one deeply annoying VIN plate problem, and the first real taste of Kashgar. This second part picks up from Kashgar and turns east around the Tarim Basin toward Kuqa, Korla, Turpan, Hami, Dunhuang, and Golmud, because apparently China had more roads and we had not yet learned our lesson.

An illustration of Shehzadi at Kashgar. Three border loops, two van rides, and one aluminum VIN plate delivered at 11 p.m. Kashgar was earned.

The Kyrgyzstan road had ended at Irkeshtam with the Alay behind us and China in front of us. Behind that last Kyrgyz barrier were the familiar things: mountain dust, horses, yurts, eagles, Manas, Sary-Tash wind, and one road that had spent days pretending it was simple. Ahead waited Xinjiang, Kashgar, the Tarim Basin, the Taklamakan edge, and a border process that treated overland vehicles less like transport and more like suspicious metal livestock.

We entered China from Kyrgyzstan at Irkeshtam with two overland vehicles, several permits, and the naive hope that the trucks might stay near us. China had other ideas. The mural did what Kashgar does best. It folded trade memory, desert imagination, camels, walls, and mountains into one bright surface. Then China returned us to the modern Silk Road: permits, vehicle custody, temporary plates, and one VIN plate with a surprising need for attention.

First-hand falconry experience with a trained Kyrgyz golden eagle near Issyk-Kul, where the road into Kyrgyzstan quickly reminded us that mountains, horses, and birds of prey still have seniority.

Tajikistan had not ended with one clean line. It ended in stages: the exit gate, one last control point, gravel, a flag, solar panels, antennas, painted curbs, and the old M41 climbing toward Kyzyl-Art through high ground where Tajikistan had not quite disappeared and Kyrgyzstan had not quite begun.

Shehzadi rolled into that no-man's-land with Karakul behind her, Pamir dust still on the windshield, and the Kyzyl-Art crossing ahead. Tajikistan had taken its fee in altitude, water, rock, cold, patience, and mechanical sympathy. Kyrgyzstan did not arrive all at once either. Borders in the Pamirs prefer to spread out, take their time, and make geography do overtime.

Shehzadi pauses beside the closed Afghanistan bridge near Shohon-i Poin, where the Pamir Highway runs along the Panj River and the border feels close enough to touch, but very much not open for suggestions.

Last stop: Uzbekistan ended at Jartepa, after tiled cities, desert fortresses, Khorezm dust, Aydarkul sand, and one last run back toward Samarkand. That leg had carried us to the Tajik border with two trucks and the usual mix of hope, dust, and paperwork.

Tajikistan corrected the theory at once. At Jartepa-Panjakent Border Control, the paperwork got serious, the convoy narrowed, and the next chapter stopped being about caravan cities. It became rivers, cliffs, tunnels, soldiers, shepherds, hot springs, high passes, and the Pamir Highway.