Our trusty, albeit battle scarred steed. This is probably from rock fall, and not thrown stones.
Our bus stand where we got our tickets from. 1250 rupees = 25 SGD approx
The fact that the bus and the driver had been through some stuff made us feel safer.
How the Karakorum Highway actually looks like. It's about 1 and a half lanes wide. In some parts, it also doesn't really exist.
The landscape of outer Pakistan is barren and foreboding and harsh. Unlike the well vegetated mountains and hills of Sikkim, there is no respite from the blazing heat or the biting cold here. The winds here knife through clothing and skin like a hungry leech searching for warm flesh.
What a typical police checkpoint looks like along the highway. Only foreigners alight and sign in. There are many checkpoints, we must have gotten on and off around 10 times in total at all times from 2 am in the morning to throughout the rest of the day.
More police checkpoints.
The landscape looking like something out of The Land Before Time
The mountains in Pakistan are also much higher and steeper than those in Sikkim. The elevation and the incline are simply beyond imagination. It is literally like something you can imagine coming from The Lord of the Rings. Fortresses of rock towering and sprouting out from the ground 2 kilometres into the sky just beside you. It is as if a giant smashed his fist into a lake of molten rock and the resulting expulsion of lava colaesced into these formations.
How our immensely comfortable bus (not) looks like from the inside
The rivers here run with mud and silt washed down from glaciers from high
Large trucks and buses frequently ply the highway. the drivers are experts are conjuring up space from nothing and squeezing past
People sitting down and having a traditional cup of coffee besides the road. No, actually there was a rock slide which blocked our path for about an hour while a bunch of guys went to clear it. at least it had the courtesy not to fall on us.
guy in hard hat looking displeased at the rock slide
how the rock slide looks like.
what rock presumably looks like before it chooses to fall on your vehicle.
We eventually reached Hunza Valley and stayed at the Old Hunza Inn, a marvelous place with charming owners. This is the view from just outside our hotel room. Includes 3 different mountain peaks, one glacier and a great view of sunrise,sunset and moon rise. We paid 4 SGD per night per person (600 rupees).
More views from outside our room
Our welcome dinner. As usual, you cannot finish food when you are in the mountains. Stuff here is great tasting, nutritious and fresh. They kill their chickens just before they cook em for you.
Another view from outside our room.
And another
And one more, just to make you more jealous.
June 8, 2009 at 11:34:00 PM GMT+8
Massive and barren land, nice view but 27 hours of ride. What a way to travel ? Must be quite an experience.
June 10, 2009 at 2:30:00 AM GMT+8
Its inhuman. the return leg is worse...23 hours from Hunza to Rawalpindi, and then we immediately got on another bus to Lahore which was 9 hours long cos we took the local bus which stops every 1 to 7 km for 300 km! total trip time is 32 hours
June 10, 2009 at 2:45:00 AM GMT+8
stretch your legs while you can when you're here then. great views. stunning. what occupies your days there at Hunza?
June 11, 2009 at 8:06:00 PM GMT+8
well we went on a 2 day trek to a glacier
there are ancient forts around town as well, the city has a past with alexandar the great who apparently left injured men behind when he turned back from the mountains. they became the present day hunza ppl.
the area also has strong links to tibet and china. we ate a lot of good and cheap food and also spoke wtih locals, chilled out and had a great time
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