Blogs from Pakistan, Asia - page 24

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 money we would need for going to china so yesterday we had to go 2hours back down the valley to an ATM doh! everyone here is amazingly friendly and helpfull,and they all want to talk to you! ... read more

Following the Caravanserais distributed all across Iran we arrived in the Pakistani border. The scenery didn't change much from one country to the other in the border. The desert remained the same, only the nice Iranian roads and buses where gone. The advertised luxury, express, air con bus was a 50 years old Chinese bus with 2 engines, one to run the bus and the other for the air-con. The road was single lane, used both to come and go. So during the trip our sport was to bet who would have to jump out of the road that time, us or the vehicle coming in the other direction. As we arrived in Quetta at midnight we went straight to find a hotel, but for our surprise, despite the fact that the city has an amazing ... read more

A Gilgit si sta bene: non fa troppo freddo, i numerosi negozi mi consentono l'acquisto di buone scarpe e caldi indumenti per il freddo che verra', si trova tutto il cibo necessario ed una buona guest-house offre un sicuro riparo per la notte. La citta' si raggiunge da Mastuj superando lo Shandur pass, che a 3810 metri d'altezza ospita il campo da polo piu' alto al mondo, e che vede una volta all'anno lo scontro tra le squadre di Chitral e quella di Gilgit: migliaia di appassionati e non raggiungono il passo, a bordo di jeep stracariche oppure a cavallo, si accampano e si godono la festa; come da tradizione i supporters di Gilgit portano fin quassu' la famosa "acqua di Hunza", una grappa ricavata dalle albicocche, mentre i chitraliani portano con se la buona charas ... read more

Il piccolo minivan supera agilmente il Lowari Pass a piu' di 3000 metri d'altezza e si entra cosi' nel distretto di Chitral, all'angolo a Nord-Ovest del Pakistan, un territorio decisamente remoto circondato dalle possenti cime dell'Hindukush. L'aria e' frizzante e cristallina, una vera e propria boccata d'ossigeno dopo quella ammorbata delle grandi citta' di pianura; il cielo ritorna ad essere azzurro e con un po di fortuna le grosse nubi bianche si terranno lontane dalle alte cime che spiccano gia' innevate all'orizzonte. Chitral e' il centro principale della regione ma si rivela comunque una tranquillo paesotto di montagna con un vecchio forte, antica sede della famiglia reale, ed una caratteristica moschea che ravviva il piatto paesaggio urbano. La valle e' dominata all'orizzonte dalla maestosa vetta del Tirich Mir, che con i... read more

Hello, Everyone! It feels like a lifetime since our last update. The quick version of our last month is that we've been in Pakistan since September 4th... we traveled in over the Kunjerab Pass and we’ve been making our way south and east. We spent time in 1) the Hunza Valley with Ismali Muslims, 2) the Gilgit area with military personnel and a bunch of bearded men, 3) in Baltistan, home of big mountains, the place to be for big-time climbing expeditions, and some of the most interesting experiences we’ve had since we got to Pakistan, and finally 4) in Islamabad as the 'landslide' elections took place. We'll split our time into a few entries to make the blog easier to read, so be sure to look for additional journal entries (I will only send one ... read more