Leaving the KKH

After completing our trek to Rakaposhi base camp we headed straight to Gilget, which was our first Pakistani city. Although we had already spent a couple of weeks in Pakistan, it had all been at the northern end of the KKH, which is essentially the Ismaili Hunza valley. Now we were faced with Gilget, what can only be described as a wild west town with Muslim attitude. No matter how hard you looked you couldn't find one female face, and 90% of the males looked like extras from a Taleban movie - we were now in the Pakistan we had imagined.

Gilget was mainly a stopping off point to find some money and other supplies before heading off onto other adventures, and from here we had planned to head to the amazing Chittral Valley, where the only animist tribes live in Pakistan. Unfortunately the only route from Chittral to Islamabad takes you through Peshawar, one of the towns we had been told to avoid. The only other way to visit the valley would be to drive the 350km to Chittral and then turn around and come back to Gilget. With Dino in desperate need of a service we decided against this option.

A second option was to head to Skardu, which would take us off the KKH and also give us the option of finishing the trip to Islamabad off the main highway. Although we had loved the area, the work the Chinese were doing on the highway was so destructive we really did not want to drive the KKH for longer than we needed. Also by this point Jenny was again suffering from a stomach bug, and we had heard of a fantastic fort nearby, The Shigar Fort Residence, that would provide the perfect recovery point.

Shigar Fort Residence

We arrived in Skardu to find the four bikers in situ, with Russ, Herbie and Babak having just completed their own trek, and Jean-Yves having arrived, and just like us heading to the Fort as he also had stomach problems. Jean-Yves' vespa, was by now traveling on top of a mini bus, as the disk brake had died and repair could only be carried out in Rawalpindi. The road from Gilget to Skardu was yet another amazing feat of engineering, hugging the cliff for about 200 kms, and even featured a built in car wash!

Skardu was another dusty Pakistan town, so we headed straight off for Shigar and the hill fort, where we knew Jenny, and now Jean-Yves, could rest up and recover. The fort was no disappointment (apart from the internet speed!) and we took 2 days off to bring Jenny's stomach back into line, which we thought we did successfully. The staff at the fort could not do enough for us (the groundsman, concerned by our lack of children, even offered Jenny some pills, in case her husband was not 'servicing' her well!), the food absolutely scrumptious and the grounds a sanctuary against the hustle, bustle and noise of normal Pakistani life.

The Road to Islamabad

With Jenny fixed up it was time to start heading south to Islamabad, with 3 stops planned on the way, including the old British hill retreat, Murree. The road took us through the 4000m Deosai plains, which included the incredible bridge crossing above. Upon arrival at the bridge the staff first told us we were too heavy to cross, but then on seeing our disappointed faces changed their minds - filling us full of confidence. With Jenny at the wheel (we lost more weight with Ollie getting out to take the piccies) Dino inched across the creaking, swinging and vibrating bridge. Wow - go Jenny!

Again on the way we caught up with Russ and Herbie, but lost Jean-Yves who had to try and fix his Vespa. Russ and Herbie had rested up in rested up at Naran, and when we caught up with them they were planning to go fishing, and invited us to join them. What they didn't inform us was that the fishing was up the worst road we had driven on the trip, with Dino having to make most of the journey in 1st gear low ratio, crawling over rocks, whilst hanging on to the narrowest of sheep track style road. We made it to the top, just, and were ready to do some fishing.

Below you can see the only thing we caught all day.

After Naran we arrived at Murree for two nights, where we witnessed the end of Ramadan (breaking news on the TV - the first sign of the new moon rising) and managed a little more chilling out. With Islamabad only 50km away we were within sight of the promised land. But by this point Jenny was back feeling bad again, and we again headed for a nice air-con hotel to try and slowly help her back to normal toilet habits.

Islamabad

We arrived in Islamabad, driving back on the left side of the road, on the quietest day of traffic we had seen - the beginning of the Eid festival. We don't know how, but during these perfect driving conditions we managed to have our first accident. We missed the turn on the roundabout that we needed, trying to get back on it, Ollie managed to bring Dino into a small car driven by a couple of teenagers. There was hardly a scratch on Dino, but the front wing of the opposition car was destroyed. We asked how much it would take to fix it (we had no insurance) and the cost - £25 seemed to make all parties happy!!!

So, Dino is now in the garage getting his servicing and we await our Indian visas. after here it is on to Lahore to see Sufi dancing and Qwalli mystic singing, and then India. Hopefully by then Jenny's stomach will be fully trained in this crazy foreign food, and we will be hitting the tourist trails hard once again. Ether that or back to air con and movies :)

<< Previous Blog   Comment   Next Blog >>