Eagles Nest Hotel Hunza

... efforts by the present Aga Khan IV. It is now used as a historical and tourist museum. <br><br>Karimabad was a lovely town to be in with lots of interesting shops and bazaars. Once home to a thriving tourist industry, it is now virtually devoid of any tourism. In fact we only saw two other tourists the whole time we were there. Shop keepers looked despondent and obviously trade was in desperate straights. <br><br>I visited a local Internet Café then walked the half km ...

... handsome young man, he was always immaculately dressed in a cream shalwaar kameez and was always eager to assist us in every way possible. Although he was quiet and kept in the backgound, he had a great sense of humour and obviously understood a deal of English. Because of the unbelievably dangerous roads we were continually traversing, we always joked with Rehmat about our concern for his health. Our greetings to him were always "How is your health today ...

... oven and floor sitting area, surrounded on the perimeter by flat sleeping areas. Everyone sleeps in the same room, even newly wedded couples. And weddings may mean up to forty or so people must be accommodated in one house. There is no room for privacy here.<br><br>Jabbar invited us to his family home in Ghulkin where we met his wife, son and mother. These experiences were very special to us and we realised how privileged we had been to be guests in private houses. It ...

... bombings and general mayhem occurring almost on a daily basis throughout the whole country. <br><br>From our travel experiences in the Northern Areas of Pakistan, nothing could be further from the truth. And nothing could be more devastating for the people of this region. Their once thriving tourism, a key to their emancipation from subsistence agriculture has been decimated. Hundreds of highly experienced tour guides, trekking/climbing guides, porters and drivers are ...

... casually lifted up her long flowing black dress and with an enormous gush irrigated most of the highway. I laughed at this absurd scene. Here was this heavily veiled and garbed woman showing absolutely no shyness in baring an enormous bare bottom and unashamedly ******* in front of a massive line up of trucks (blocked by our stationary bus) onto the highway. Well, what else could I do but join her?<br><br>We continued on our bus trip through the bleakest and most and ...

... seemed a little more liberal than the others. RF and MS were also the first men we'd seen in Pakistan with long hair! We might have started a new trend in Hunza though because RF was so impressed with R's long dreadlocks that he wanted to be the first with that style (much to the dismay of his mother!). Once we'd had some chai in the house we set off for a trek to Passu glacier. MS had some work to do but dropped RF and the four of us at the ...

... feet of the mountains that towered over everything. On the slopes leading down from our viewpoint, the intricate workings of village life playing out from dawn until dusk. Groups of men, women and children herding their animals in a seemingly shambolic fashion - perhaps to add some fun to the chore - while naughty sheep and goats played their part, testing the fitness and patience of their owners. <br><br>Despite the ease of our trek to the Fairy Meadows in Gilgit, there had been a ...

... The route was complex: Karimabad-Aliabad-Rawalpindi-Lahore-Wag ah-Atari-Amritsar-Delhi-Pagdogra-Siligu ri-Kalimphong-Darjeeling. As you can imagine, everything did not go according to plan. There were mysteriously canceled reservations, there were roads blocked by Gorkaland protestors battling police, and so appropriate detours were taken. After 52 hours, and a sickening amount of money (by Indian standards), I happily arrived back in the mountains in eastern India.

... the repair and ended up doing it myself as these guys seemed to have no perception of time and it was now 5 pm, at this rate I would be lucky to make it to Gilgit before nightfall, let alone back again. From here on the problems continued, had a problem with air filter, managed to fix with a hammer and then only about 10km away it started to rain and I mean really rain. Next discovered that my bike did not work in the rain! I ...