The Karakoram Highway (KKH) is the highest international road in the world. It connects China to Pakistan across the Karakoram mountain ranges, through the Khunjerab pass at an estimated altitude of 4850 meters. The highway runs about 1,200 km from Kashgar, China to Havelian in the Abbottabad District of Pakistan. An extension of the highway meets the Grand Trunk Road at Hasan Abdal, west of Islamabad, Pakistan. Karakoram- In the mountainious region of Gilgit-Baltistan or the Northern Areas of Pakistan, the Karakoram is one of the great Himalayan mountain ranges, with many of the highest and most daunting peaks of the world. ... Khunjerab Pass (sometimes Khunerjab Pass) is a high pass on the northern border of Pakistan with China. ... Kashgar, (Uyghur: قەشقەر/K̢ǝxk̢ǝr; Chinese: 喀什; pinyin: ), is an oasis city in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of the Peoples Republic of China. ... Havelian is located at the westmost end of the Karakoram Highway that runs along the Silk Route to China. ... Abbottabad District is a district in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), Pakistan, that contains the cities of Abbottabad and Havelian. ... The Grand Trunk Road (abbreviated to GT Road in common usage) is the Indian Subcontinents first, largest and oldest major road, linking Calcutta on the Bay of Bengal coast with Kabul in Afghanistan via the Khyber Pass. ... Faisal Mosque, located in Islamabad, the capital city of Pakistan, was built in 1986. ...

Tourism

Adventure travel and mountaineering

In recent years, the KKH has become something of a destination for adventure travel. The road has also given mountaineers easier access to the many high mountains in the area.

Sightseeing

High mountain ranges and glaciers are visible from the road, which also passes through green valleys of great natural beauty. Rock art and petroglyphs are found all along the road. Karimabad is a popular destination. Petroglyphs on a Bishop Tuff tableland Petroglyph on Petroglyph Point Petroglyphs on Petroglyph Point Petroglyphs on Petroglyph Point Petroglyphs on Newspaper Rock State Historic Monument Petroglyphs from Scandinavia (Häljesta, Västmanland in Sweden). ...

Weather

Heavy snow during harsh winters can shut the highway down for extended periods. Heavy monsoon rains, around July and August, cause occasional mudslides that can block the road for hours or more. The KKH is best travelled in the spring or early Autumn. Monsoon in Vindhya in centre India A monsoon is a periodic wind, especially in the Indian Ocean and southern Asia. ...

History

The KKH was built by the governments of Pakistan and China, and was completed in 1978, after about twenty years of work. Several hundred Pakistanis and Chinese workers lost their lives, mostly in landslides and falls, while working on the highway. The route of the KKH traces one of the many paths of the ancient Silk Road. The Silk Road (Traditional Chinese: 絲綢之路; Simplified Chinese: 丝绸之路; pinyin: sī chóu zhī lù) was an interconnected series of routes through Southern Asia traversed by caravan and ocean vessel, and connecting Changan, China with Antioch, Syria, as well as other points. ...

See also

• Karakoram

Karakoram- In the mountainious region of Gilgit-Baltistan or the Northern Areas of Pakistan, the Karakoram is one of the great Himalayan mountain ranges, with many of the highest and most daunting peaks of the world. ...

External Links

• Travel Web: Karakoram Highway (http://travel.web.pk/destinations/mountains_valleys/karakorum_highway.asp)
• Northern Areas Development Gateway (http://www.northernareas.org.pk)
• Pakistan's Northern Areas (http://paknews.com/articles.php?id=1&date1=2003-04-17)