Blogs from Northern Areas, Pakistan, Asia


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zahidsummayari
December 23rd 2010

join the ultimate beauty of nagar valley gilgit pakistan: zahid summayari... read more




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nickkembel
November 28th 2009

For more of my photos, or to buy my book, please visit www.nickkembel.com “My father is an ibex hunter. Tonight we will eat ibex”. “But I am vegetarian. I don’t eat meat”. “It is all we have. We are preparing it for you”. “OK”. Am I really going to break ten years of vegetarianism to eat an endangered animal? But I am not going to say no to this family who has so kindly invited me into their simple mud and brick house for the night. We sit around the central wood fire in their home as mother and daughter press chapattis and spend several hours preparing the meal. The warmth is a pleasant change from the freezing 4$ hotel rooms I have been sleeping in. The women remove cups of chai for me from ... read more




Polo at the Shandur Pass

Published: August 28th 2009Asia » Pakistan » Northern Areas
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LukeNUFC
August 27th 2009

Being back at Qayum's was great, it had become a kind of home away from home. The day before the Shandur Festival we headed into Gilgit town to do a little bit of shopping and complete our 'local look'. A brilliant felt waistcoat and traditional Chitrali hat to go with my shalwar kameez and I was all set. In fact on the little Suzuki back to Qayum's some local guys tried to start a conversation in Urdu with me before reacting with great surprise when I told them that I was actually English. Job done. Due to the popularity of the festival we'd left it too late to get a space on the local bus, however we bumped into the English guys from the Fairy Meadows trek who said there was a few people at one ... read more




Karakorum Insha'Allah!

Published: August 15th 2009Asia » Pakistan » Northern Areas
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stevekatrijn
August 7th 2009

(voor Nederlands, scroll naar beneden) For a lot of people, the muslim republic of Pakistan equals suicide attacks on big hotels, Taliban, military coups, nuclear arms race with nature enemy India, corruption and poverty. The few who dare to take off their western glasses, discover a hidden gem (we counted 12 foreign tourists in 4 weeks time!). Pakistanis are among the friendliest and most hospitable people in the world, on which we can only agree. Northern Pakistan is home to 12 of the 30 highest peaks in the world, including five 8000m peaks (including K2 - 8611m) and over fifty 7000'ers. Most of these peaks are located in the Karakorum mountain range, according to specialists the most beautiful and wildest mountain range in the world. Here stand some of the most glaciated mountains outside the polar ... read more




Nanga Parbat

Published: August 8th 2009Asia » Pakistan » Northern Areas
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LukeNUFC
August 3rd 2009

We stayed and chilled at Qayum's for 3 or 4 days. Just relaxing, chatting and sorting out rough travel plans. We jumped on the back of Suzukis (little pick ups with seats in the back) down to Gilgit most days, I bought a shalwar kameez (which apparently lead to me becoming indistinguishable from some of the locals) and we both bought some hiking boots, decent ones, for less than 15 pounds for a couple of treks we had planned out. Gilgit town itself had a really nice feel to it, surrounded on all sides by large rocky mountains, poplar trees dot the hillside and greenery lines certain areas due to the water running down from the irrigation channels. It has one long dusty main bazaar, the smell of kebabs wafting and fruit vendors shouting for business. ... read more






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twiners
July 31st 2009

We were in the departure lounge waiting for the P.I.A. flight to Gilgit. After a spectacular uneventful flight, we landed in a somewhat dusty, noisy, Gilgit and our senses were immediately bombarded from all angles by sights, sounds and smells, a subtle blend of cooking, herbs, spices, smoke and sewers.Gilgit bazar is a hive of activity everywhere, people milling, armed police, and other minibuses filling and leaving. The town is small and peaceful with the most phenomenal fruits on display. It has an abundance of shops selling fleeces, jackets, woolly socks and hats in order to combat the cool evenings. Now we’re heading along the road to Fairy Meadows, which is in the Diamer valley, and provides access to Nanga Parbat's North face. Our bags go on the top of the sightseeing jeep. Stopped at the ... read more




A Long Journey North...

Published: July 28th 2009Asia » Pakistan » Northern Areas
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LukeNUFC
July 28th 2009

This has been a long time coming, I know I'm a long way behind but bear with me.... Arriving into Mumbai on the night of the 22nd of June I was struck by the immense humidity for that time at night and also extremely amused by the "swine flu screening area" at CST Airport. Sign a bit of paper saying you don't have any fluey symptoms, pass it to a very serious looking Indian man in a surgical mask and off you go. Met a nice English bloke from Bolton called Pete coming off the flight and as he had nowhere booked for the night too we decided to share a taxi down to Colaba and split the cost of a room. The taxi ride was pretty crazy, firstly as it was surreal to be back ... read more




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Smith
May 2nd 2009

On a cool morning in July, we boarded a coaster bus for Chilas meandering on Grand Trunk Road and Karakoram High way. The GT road is full of decorated trucks, with varied articulate drawings showing their creativity on the move, like an advertising chain. On roads, there are no rules, except that the bigger has right of way. Some of the smaller pick-up trucks held up to 10 passengers in the rear with as many again on a rickety roof rack; I lost count of the passengers in the similarly overloaded trucks and buses. Another thing they all seemed to have in common is that the horns seemed to be wired directly to the ignition on a regular, intermittent setting as there was the continual sound of horns tooting for no apparent reason other than to ... read more




The hills are alive!

Published: November 3rd 2008Asia » Pakistan » Northern Areas » Gilgit
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travellers2
November 2nd 2008

Gilgit was so lively compared to Passu, and was our first town since Kashgar, with the streets around the guest house packed with lock-up shops selling pretty much everything a body might need - veg, clothes (some second hand), trekking gear, meat, spices, many mosques; a real bustling atmosphere that is a good rehearsal for India! On our first day, we were taken on a mini tour of Gilgit. First to a 7th cent. Buddha carved into a rock face some 50 ft high in a very implausible location! (Why up there?) The carving is aproximately 15ft high, and fairly uremarkable save for the setting. Down the valley below the Buddha was a fast-flowing mountain stream, which where it's scored enough depth, the water sparkles a brilliant turquoise, and nipping betwen the stones we saw a ... read more




Chelo Pakistan!

Published: October 21st 2008Asia » Pakistan » Northern Areas
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travellers2
October 19th 2008

The bus to Pakistan was due to leave at 11am; which 11am was a moot point! There is a constant dilemma about times. 'Official' activities, such as bus and train times run on Beijing time, whereas most of the Kashgar population run on local time - 2 hours earlier -so it was difficult to know quite when the bus would take off, and when we should start to queue. In the event, we waited around for a couple of hours. The bus left half empty, which meant we had the unusual experience of having plenty of space. Most of the native passengers seemed to be taking a fair amount of Kashgar market with them! Cardboard boxes, tarpaulins gathered and sewn up, all containing god knows what, to sell at home for a nice profit. The landscape ... read more









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