This place cannot be for real. It is not just another world, rather another galaxy. My initial fifteen minutes in Balanguru are of paralysis and disbelief. Balanguru is what it must be like to be knocked unconscious by an alien tractor beam and then relocated to their home solar system. Distance, introversion, and geographical inaccessibility have shielded the Kalash people from mainstream Pakistan for centuries. An agrarian and independent civilization, they have rejected Islam and maintain their long-standing practice of ancient paganism. Their customs are on display without the slightest hint of showmanship. Ameen and Simon unload the jeep at the guesthouse while I aimlessly roam downhill in the direction of the small bazaar. Simon is unaffected by the transition into this alternative world. I do not know if it is indifference or an inner trait ... read more

A wildness about Pakistan is evident in the name of the regions over which the government has teetering control. Provinces such as Sindh and Balochistan may be one thing. But when added to the likes of the more lawless sounding Northwest Frontier Province, you’d expect scenes out of the Wild West. In many cases, that’s exactly what takes place! My favorite region of Pakistan by title alone is the Northern Areas, leaving the foreigner with the impression that its inhabitants are a part of the nation when it suits them, but do not wholly buy into Pakistani integration. I met the connections needed to make it into the Northern Areas without a night’s layover in Islamabad. Daewoo runs a splendid coach service out of their own station in Lahore to the capital on the half hour. ... read more

The halfway point of my time on the Subcontinent is the first reminder of my journey’s mortality. No longer is it acceptable to extend stays a night or two in a given village or hill town without earnestly pondering how my limited remaining time will be spent. The days now dwindle downward to a finishing point. As I sit on the apex of my travels, I am at once rejuvenated under the realization that time is not limitless and that there is much left to do and to accomplish. From this day forward when each day passes, I will look back and think that my arrival in Delhi and first nights in rough and rowdy Karol Bagh were such a long time ago. Only weeks have passed. Given what I have collected in my mind about ... read more

For a woman who has never set foot in the Estes Park of India, Kiran made a huge pitch for me to spend time in Manali. We had sat down to discuss what would be my next move. The great thing about running my ideas past her is that she does not ever try to change my plans. Rather, she picks areas of interest along the way that might work for me. Even as I bade her good night after a late dinner in Naggar’s Lincoln Log castle, she was still pushing for Manali. It is more scenic than here, she insisted, a better part of the Beas River. She might have been right, but my mind was already made up. It was time to get out of the mountains and make a move to Punjab ... read more

There are certain moments a traveler never forgets. Many of them have to do with first laying eyes on something so wondrous that the image of that one magic moment is forever etched in a special place in the mind. The Grand Canyon is such a spot. So are geographic superlatives such as cycling along the Loire and seeing the waves of the Pacific Ocean crash into the Central American coast. Others are more elementary: I saw my first palm tree when I went to Spain and could not believe they existed except on postcards. It was about as far from New England sugar maples as I could conceive. Until my late teens, I thought oranges came in three-packs at the supermarket. When visiting a monastery in Toledo, Spain, I saw a tree bearing the bright ... read more