This trip was right after my 1st year medical prof exam and was one that I had been looking forward to do for a LONG time. Left Karachi on the 17th of July 08 and came back on the 29th Day 1 17th July 2008 Woke up at around 4 30 am, had a very eventful night. Got a call from the police station at 1 00 am the night before informing us that our stolen car had been found near Gaboul. So well at around 6 30 am the bus(Awan Coach) and left khi at around 7 30 am. 2 [View Full Entry]

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After almost 15 days in Pakistan I realiza that the country is really beautiful but the sun hit so much that for me is almost impossible to walk around during the afternoon. The landskape on the KKH is reali breathless and is also nice for me to see a different culture after 6 months in hynduism country. [View Full Entry]

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Back in India for the last time (for a while anyway). You know it's an Indian train your on when someone pathetically bangs a drum, waves a model cobra at you and wants money; someone else goes up and down the train selling only combs all day, polyester slacks are the height of fashion, there aren't nearly enough seats for all the men are intimatley embracing each other. On to Calcutta (or Kolkotta if your polictically correct), with its terrible reputation, I'm sure there are the huge areas of slums and poverty, like every Indian city but the centre is really [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. no [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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On 15th July we woke up very early and at 7am Taimoor came to pick us, it was cold in the morning. We loaded our bags in his jeep purchased some drinks and snacks from a bakery and started our journey. It was cold and Taimoor asked me to wear Jacket and I told him that I forgot to bring it!! Taimoor said without it we cannot proceed as it will be very cold in Fairy Meadows so we stopped at Jaglot and started finding some warm clothes, thankfully at 8:30 am shops were open and I got one Jacket after [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 found myself thinking I'd be writing this email in various forms to a number of people, so it's best to just type it once and have people read it as they're bored): Hello! Did you know there's martial law in Pakistan? i'm in this town called "abbottabad" to the north of islamabad. a guy yesterday said it was a "political" emergency situation... no tanks in the streets, no soldiers performing ID checks (my passport is at the embassy in Islamabad anyhow), nothing out of the ordinary. the guy at the tourist office convinced me to stick around for a couple [View Full Entry]

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Stop what your doing, ignore everything youve heard about pakistan, buy trekking in the hindukush and karakorum and book your ticket to pakistan!!!!!!! Lahore may have been polluted but after 29 hours of travelling covering 980km we,ve arrived in karimabad on the karakorum highway and its absolutely mind blowing.from our 2pound anight room we can sit on our doorstep looking at a valley full of autumnal colour with a backdrop of 6000 and 7000m snowy mountains whilst lazing in the sun (i could stay here for months !!!!!!). Unfortunately when we got here we realised we,d underestimated how much [View Full Entry]

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