So sitting in Karimabad it's easy to start dreaming about the world of adventures that awaits in Pakistan. Getting off your arse to actually do them is, however, a different story. K'bad is just such a nice place and the people are so great that you just never want to leave. Nonetheless, over an evening of Hunza Water (the local alcohol of choice, made from Mulberries) and locally picked medicinal herbs (cunningly made into a lovely green custard - see photo) a plan was hatched that would see a group of us attempt to walk the 220km or so from Gilgit [View Full Entry]

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apologies for the muted silence the last few wks. for the uninformed, ive long left china; hmm abt a mth ago or smth. since then ive traversed pakistani sovereign territory and now am in india. in pakistan theres a nationwide power shortage and internet there is dial-up so thats abt as potent a concoction you'd need to really get wired. pakistan....is truly beautiful. nothing like how the media, whether print or press, would have you ingest wholly what they promulgate ardently. no semblence of ethnic and religious unrest, terror networks spawning and cocooning unabatedly, no shit like that. now that im [View Full Entry]

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pakistan was not a country that we planned to visit on this trip. it was merely a path we decided to take en-route to india. all in all, this trip was to take in the spectacular karakoram highway. however, the very postive introduction we had from Naz, our pakistani saviour, we decided to stay abit longer and check out the sights of pakistan. soon enough, we realised that most pakistanis had a heart of gold. no, they are not qaeda-related millitants, or extremist suicide bombers, they are just like you and me - humans. Naz, is a law-trained businessman who resides [View Full Entry]

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Gilgit. Northern Areas. Pakistan. Liberation Day Celebrations. As proof of the army's training, professionalism, and combat-readiness, we the crowd are treated to a mock operation, with soldiers repelling down ropes from an airborne helicopter to secure the area. I saw the same yesterday: total and complete *amateurs*. One was too scared and had to be pulled back in. It took maybe 20 minutes for 8 people to disembark. I'm sure that's enough time for all Taliban in a 10 mile radius to show up with RPGs and blow the thing out of the sky. I'm redeeming the time writing a postcard: [View Full Entry]

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11 October 2007 Today I reached the Chinese border at the Khunjerab pass. The last couple of km I was accompanied by a member of the park security force. From about 4000m we climbed rather fast to 4750m over a distance of 18 km. Getting out of the car was OK, but once on my feet I felt rather dizzy. It was not as cold as I expected, but that was partly because of the sun. The reflection on the ice was dazzling. We were about to turn back when, from the Chinese side, a car rocketed up with a load [View Full Entry]

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I booked tickets on 4th or 5th July for 14th July, so we reached Islamabad from Lahore at 5:30 on 14th via Daewoo, we were at airport at 6am and heard a bad news that weather is not good, our flight delayed but finally we reached gilgit at 12:15 pm and it rained for an hour after we reached there!! We stayed at Taj Hotel and I went to meet Rehmat Nabi for some guidence.I spent 3 hours in his office and found him a very good person, he introduced his cousin Taimur to me and it was decided that Taimur [View Full Entry]

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Sunday September 17th The bus to Gilgit was at 6:30 so Jason, Samuel and I got up way too early again, had some Corn Flakes, checked-out and got in. The minibus was starting from the hotel so we got the best spots, but then again that doesn't mean much. It filled up pretty fast and soon enough we were squished, 4 per row. Samuel dropped seemingly in the middle of nowhere, I'm not too sure where exactly. He said he was gonna do some trek so he hopped off in some village. As we neared Gilgit military presence increased. Soon enough [View Full Entry]

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August 26 After finding a suzuki ride to Aliabad its onwards on top of a local bus to Gilgit. The several hour ride allows for great mountain views, a great tan and witnessing some great rockslides. In Gilgit its time to check in at the Madina Hotel a great place though the food was not as great as in karimabad. Gilgit is an interesting city with a heavy military presence and more of an islamic feel compared to Hunza. After some discussion I finally make the decision to head to Kabul and see Afghanistan first hand. The hotel manager tells us [View Full Entry]

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