Entering Pakistan

So, after 6 days in China, we were happy to leave and enter the relatively free state of Pakistan! The Karakoram highway, otherwise known as the Peace Highway, runs between Kashgar in China and Islamabad in Pakistan, and is often referred to as the biggest engineering project since the Pyramids. On the China side the road is tarmac all the way, but as soon as we crossed into Pakistan the tarmac disappeared and we were onto mud, dust and bumps. Our favorite!

It had taken us four hours to leave Chinese customs as they tried to extract a last minute bribe from us, but as none of us had paid any baksheesh up to this point we certainly weren't going to start with the miserable Chinese border guards. This delay and the fact that we were slowed down to a crawl by the state of the road on the Pakistan side meant that we did not reach Passu, our first target, until 8pm. As we had set off without any breakfast, it meant that the majority of us had actually observed Ramadam on our first day in Pakistan.We certainly weren't going to make that mistake again!

Passu

By the time we reached Passu we had already lost Jean-Yves, who had decided he and his scooter could not take the extra 50kms we were going to drive past the Pakistani border. But we were not going to stop for anyone, as we had a fantastic recommendation of a vegetarian heaven at The Glacial Breeze Restaurant. We weren't disappointed either, although because we arrived unannounced we had another hours wait, eventually the five of us feasted on Hunza specialty food - including the spectacular Hunza pie.

Although the restaurant does not have accommodation you can camp for next to nothing in the garden, and also take advantage of the on site hot showers. With only a small percentage of the menu covered that night me and Jenny we were happy to stay on, but Russ and Herbie decided their 40 year old backs would be happier in a hotel. Babak had to be off early in the morning to try and find some cash, so also camped up with us.

We ended up spending 3 great nights at the Glacier Breeze Restaurant, eating ourselves stupid and also taking our first teetering steps towards making a trek. We set out to take the relatively simple walk to a famed local suspension bridge, but about half way we found the narrow track took a rather vertiginous route, and therefore decided to take the much more sensible route of wading through the fast flowing , ice cold glacial river. With Jenny leading the way, we fought the current valiantly, but just before making a final push up the bank to the bridge we were forced to turn back rather than swim the last few metres. We weren't too disappointed however, as it meant we would get back to the infamous Hunza apricot cake a few minutes earlier. Yum Yum.

Karimabad

Eventually we realised that if we didn't leave we would be spending our next few days letting out our clothes a size or two, and so set off for Karimabad. Pakistan is another country that as soon as you enter it you know that you are in a friendly nation, as everyone smiles at you, and if you wave a whole team of road workers will wave back, as enthusiastically as a class of primary school kids. This attitude is infectious, and soon we were back, waving at everyone we passed, enjoying the feel good factor this creates.

We arrived at Karimabad with no expectations, having not acquired a guide book yet, but found it the perfect place to continue our relaxation program, and to plan our next few adventures in Pakistan. Looking for accommodation we found Russ and Herbie already tucked into one of the towns better hotels, and after finding out the price was less than £10 a night soon joined them. Since the terrible events of 9/11 and the subsequent world madness that has followed, Pakistan's tourist trade has been hit hard, especially as yet again the UK and west's media continue to show but one side of a story. From our experiences Pakistan would seem to be 100% safe. There are areas which should not be visited, but these can easily be found on the internet, or by asking locally when you arrive. Certainly our journey, which is going to be approximately KKH -> Islamabad -> Lahore -> India would appear to have little to cause anxiety in it.

Karimabad is the tourist capital of the famed Hunza Valley, which is the central piece of the Northern KKH. The people of Hunza are Ismaili, rather than Sunni or Shi'ite, which is a less strict stream of Muslim, and headed by the Aga Khan, famed in the West for his interested in horse racing. Since driving through Ismaili Tajikistan, as well as Pakistan, we have noticed how much good work the Aga Khan does for Ismaili people, usually through community based charity projects. Certainly, as a head of religion he would appear to be doing much more for his people that we ever noticed the Pope or Queen Elizabeth II doing. Perhaps he just has a better PR person?

Because of the Ismaili tolerance Jenny could walk around unveiled, and we didn't have to miss any meals during Ramadam. But we knew this wouldn't last and that we would soon be going to more conservative areas, and so we got ourselves measured up for some local clothes, the Pakistani Shalwa Kameez. This is a loose fitting long top, with pantaloon trousers below. Oh yes!

     

Rakaposhi Base Camp

Just like Passu we found that we were managing to fill our days with some small tourist activities, such as visiting the excellent hill fort, but mainly with eating more excellent Pakistani food. We knew something had to change, and so after much discussion and fretting, we decided to be brave and book ourselves onto a 3 day trek - to Rakaposhi base camp. Although both of us love many of the aspects of trekking, both of us also have fears and worries too, and so this was a big decision for us, especially as every tourist we had asked about their trek had essentially described them as hard and brutal. Still, we knew we had to do something other than eat. Little did we know what was in store for us!

Again it is very cheap to trek in Pakistan, but we wanted to make sure that we were going with a company that understood our needs, and hence probably paid top dollar for our expedition. But for our money we got a guide, 2 porters, a cook and 2 donkeys!

The trek itself involved a 2000m climb to the base camp of Rakaposhi, a 7700m mountain that stands tall over the Hunza valley. Although the lonely planet describes reaching the base camp in two days, our guide was keen for us to make the climb in one day, so we could explore the subsequent glacier, moraines and view points on the second day. Having been sober for over a week, we had no excuse why we accepted this, but still managed to complete the walk a little after 4pm. By this point we had realised where our money had gone - at every meal time we were provided with a 3 course meal, and we not allowed to help in any way. On top of this, when we reached base camp our tent, and the kitchen tent were already set up, and all we had to do was sit back and enjoy the view.

After spending the second day enjoying the local scenery, and eating yet more delicious food, we tackled the third , and in many ways the hardest, day. This was retracing our steps all the way back down, 2000m of toe crushing, knee grating non stop down hill, which by the end of we were almost crying with happiness to be at the bottom. But it was all worth it, and now we can really say that we have trekked in the Karakarom Mountain range, to the base camp of one of the tallest mountains in the world.Wow!

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