Passu is a small isolated village, with just one shop, one cafe and a few hotels. It is dominated by the very photogenic 6100m high jagged peaks of the Cathedral Range. The locals speak Wakhi, the same as in the Tajikistan and Afghanistan Wakhan Valley, which we figured must literally be not far over the mountains behind us. The young guys running our hotel are a perfect combination of relaxed and helpful. The wifi also works well, when the power is on, which often it’s not. Our room was at the back, which was perfect. Not only is there something nice about being at the end of the corridor, particularly when there is a window seat at the end, but we looked out onto a couple of fruit trees and behind that Passu glacier spilling down ... read more

We were woken at 5am by water gushing out of the tap. All the hotels had water issues and amid many apologies our bathroom bucket had been being filled for us with big bottles of water. The water in Karimabad comes from the glaciers so what comes out of the taps is black/grey and we were definitely not going to complain about having clear water to wash with. The cold water had come back on the night before but this was the hot tap bursting into life that rudely woke us. We got up and watched sunrise on the mountains and valley from our terrace. We also discovered that with no one else up we had a great mobile data signal so uploaded our videos at the same time. Then we dived back in to use ... read more

The journey from Rama Lake back to Gilgit can best be described as stinking hot. We suffered badly for the lack of A/C. The scenery was stunning, again following a rough road that used to be an ancient trading route, next to the Indus River. It travels through a big gorge until eventually opening up as we rejoined the Karakoram Highway. Kabluie’s slow driving for the 4th day in what we discovered was 40C heat was akin to torture. The mountains were radiating heat so it bounced in through the windows adding to the temperature. It was like being in a furnace blast. We got back to the homestay in the mid-afternoon very hot and dusty. With no fan in our room nor the hang out room we contemplated moving accommodation the next day as there ... read more

The Deosai Plains are a National Park established to protect the Himalayan Brown Bear. The second highest plateau in the world, it is only open in the summer, linking Skardu and Astore for a few months a year via a rough 4WD track. Covering 3000 sq kmit is vast and is carefully managed by Park Rangers with the help of a park fee of US$8. Aside from the Himalayan Brown Bear there are also snow leopards, with programmes in place to protect both. The Park sits at 3500m to 4500m high. It is surrounded by the Karakoram, Ladakh, Zansker and Himalayan mountain ranges. Given its geography it was a surprise to see how lush and green the landscape is and, dotted by 340 different plant species, in places it is quite colourful with flowers. Everyone knows ... read more

Marie’s stomach has been increasingly complaining for a few days now. It finally gave in and she was up and down all night like a cat on a hot tin roof, with it getting steadily worse until it reached an explosive crescendo about an hour before we were due to depart Islamabad on a 7-8hr journey. The food has been amazing, we think it’s just a combination of food she’s not used to and heat. Regardless, it was less than ideal. She decided food was going to be a no go until the overnight stop and positively sulked when her delicious breakfast omelette arrived and she couldn’t risk eating it. Tabish was going to be guiding the Dutch guys on their trek so was travelling up with us. He met us at 8am and took us ... read more