Northern Pakistan Part II

Jake, Israr, Rauf (see Part I if these names are unfamiliar) and I continued on our journey north. We followed the winding road of the Karakoram Highway, the road that connects Pakistan to China. It took over 20 years to construct and an estimated 800 Pakistani and 200 Chinese workers died during construction due to landslides and other harsh conditions. It is a remarkable feat of engineering and the views from the road were extraordinary.

We got to our accommodation and learned that we had graduated from stone huts to tarp yurts presumably designed for hobbits.

In an attempt to assure no more huts or Jeep rides were in our future we decided to give Israr some "incentives" (the remaining $500 we owed for the tour).

The next goal of the tour was to reach the base camp of Rakaposhi, a 7,788 meter (25,551 feet) behemoth with one of the greatest vertical rises on Earth, growing about 5,800 meters (19,000 feet) almost straight up from the Hunza River valley below. Our bribe must have had some sort of effect because the next day instead of staying in a tent camp halfway up this mountain, we hiked straight to the base camp and back down, a grueling seven hour 12 mile endeavor with over 5,000 feet of elevation gain. It was however, unsurprisingly, stunning.

The next day we set out farther north to Karimabad where we saw both the Altit and Baltit fort. These 900 and 700 years old mud, stone, and wood constructions used to house the Hunza Valley rulers back in the day. Our tour guide for Baltit Fort (pictured below) talked faster than any native speaker of English I've ever encountered. Jake and I had no idea what he was saying. We saw some old pots and cooking utensils though.

And I saw this cool Jeep (shudder) upon exiting.

Altit Fort had the greatest tour guide of all time. He started off by showing us this nondescript mud column which apparently contains an old Hunza ruler's political enemy who was buried alive. His skeleton is in theory still in there.

We also saw this indoor (?) sundial which he was very excited about.

Eventually we made it to the roof of the fort. In true Pakistan fashion it showcased otherworldly beauty with minimal safety precautions. While the photo doesn't entirely capture it, all that prevented me from plummeting 1000 feet to my death was about 9 inches of prickly brambles.

And this jolly security guard.

The glacier run off and sediment stir up gives the Hunza River its dazzling milky blue appearance.

To give a brief glimpse into how amusing our second guide was you can watch this video and listen to him in the background.

He got us right with this surprise video.

After our tour we wandered the streets of Karimabad. The town had the slow pace that felt appropriate for such a remote mountain village.

We had potentially the best chicken rendition of the entire tour - hot and bubbling in a stone cauldron.

Israr took us to this scenic lookout for sunset.

Then we got to our hotel - a Best Western. Oh my God. Jake and I felt like Hunza royalty. The crisp clean sheets, hot water, and fast WiFi soothed our souls. Best Western earned two lifetime customers that day.

We settled in for dinner, undeterred by the abandoned hotel restaurant during prime dinner hour.

Inspired by our surroundings we decided to order some "Western" food. It's in the name how bad could it be? Pretty bad. Yes that is ketchup on the dumplings (our one "local" food item). We may actually be one time Best Western customers.

After saying goodbye to the Best Western, we continued, you guessed it, farther north. Our first stop was Attabad Lake. After snapping a few photos Israr explained to us that this seemingly innocuous turquoise body of water was formed after a sudden landslide in 2010. It is actually over 300 feet deep at parts and submerged two entire towns. 20 people died. It also required five years, several bridges, and five tunnels to reconstruct the destroyed sections of the Karakoram Highway.

 

China's investment in Pakistani infrastructure was a constant theme throughout our time in Pakistan, spanning from Islamabad's new metro to the countless tunnels making the Karakoram Highway possible. 

I asked Israr about this building that looked like it was riddled with bullet holes. He explained the damage was actually from rocks in subsequent (post-2010) smaller landslides.

At this point Jake and I had developed a quick test we like to call "Are you at a Northern Pakistan tourist site?" It goes like this: 1) Is this one of the most beautiful views you have ever seen? And 2) Do you feel moderately uneasy / unsafe? If you answered yes to both, then you very well might be at a Northern Pakistan tourist site.

Take, for example, our next stop: this enormous suspension bridge.

Almost unfathomable raw natural scenery.

And of course a combination of shoddy wooden planks and rusty cables sure to castrate any unlucky traveler who steps in one of the many foot sized gaps.

Jake nominated himself for a Darwin Award and opted for the $2 zipline across the valley. He survived.

We celebrated with some fresh handmade dumplings.

Post-dumplings Jake went to go wash his hands. Sigh.

We then parked in the prettiest parking lot in my life.

And hiked to this glacier. Scenic? Yes. But wait! Where's the danger?

Not to fear, the trail used to go another 40 feet closer to the glacier but then a middle chunk just fully collapsed, hence the jagged edge. It was actively crumbling while we were there. The photos do not capture it, but if I stood on that lip two feet to the left it would have immediately given way sending me and many rocks tumbling down to my demise. Nice.

Our final destination was Passu, Israr's home village tucked way up in the North of Pakistan. At this point while not immune to the beauty of Northern Pakistan, it became almost comical. Just a constant one up from town to town. Passu put up serious contention for top spot.

Also to be clear, when I say "Northern Pakistan" we've just fully been in disputed Jammu / Kashmir territory since day 2 of the tour. Passu is in an area disputed with India, run by Pakistan, and 50km from Afghanistan to the north and China to the east.

We swung by Israr's house and met his mom, sister, and one of his nephews. They graciously hosted us with tea and delicious fruit bread.

Israr explained how he knows the face and name of all 800 of Passu's residents. The communal feel of this farming village was palpable. We smiled and waved to neighbors as Israr showed us around the town.

Passu is a tapestry of rich plots of land criss crossed with stone walls and littered with grazing livestock and trees in full fall foliage. A flowing river curves around one end of the village and small hills form the other boundary. Snow capped mountains tower in the distance. Jake and I both decided that this one view pictured below took the cake for the single prettiest glimpse of the entire tour, and therefore the entire trip and my entire life. Unfortunately the sun beating down on my iPhone camera could not do it justice. Alas.

We got to our hotel. The views just kept coming.

Jake went on a solo run while I napped (we really yin yang complement each other like that) and he found a new suspension bridge with dubious safety ratings.

Passu was to be the northern-most point of the tour. We woke up at 6am the next day to begin our journey back. Seven hours into the drive we took a two and a half hour break when the highway came to a standstill due to a ... landslide! We made it to the hotel at 10:30pm completing our 16 hour car travel day. Shoutout Rauf for just tanking that. Those cigarettes may be helping.

On our final day we took a detour to Abbottabad. This may sound familiar because it is the city where Osama bin Laden was hiding for around five years. We ate lunch and then with the combination of ChatGPT, Reddit, Google Maps, and a declassified CIA aerial photograph we managed to find Osama bin Laden's compound where he was killed in May 2011. It has since been demolished by the Pakistani government. There was something eerie about how mundane the site was. As we drove through the street, life buzzed around us like any other neighborhood. This one just happened to house the most wanted man in the world for half a decade.

We arrived in Islamabad that night. And just like that our time with Israr and Rauf came to a close. What a ride. They were excellent companions on what was truly the tour of a lifetime. Also shoutout Mishka (avid blog reader) for not only recommending we visit Northern Pakistan but connecting us with these lovely people. If it weren't for her we probably never would have even visited the country. Thank God we did.

From the vault:

We found Caramilk's rival - Snookers. Jury is still out on the power rankings between Snickers, Snookers, and Caramilk.

Israr sporting the budget hat that he purchased in China and wore religiously. For context, Canada was founded in 1867 not 1967.

After Islamabad and Lahore, Jake and I kissed goodbye to Pakistan and shipped off to Thailand. What a culture shock. A sneak peek:

But that will have to wait for our next blog post ...