Gilgit Serena Hotel

From Karimabad the KKH passes through abundant terraced fields and fields of apricot, walnut and apple trees. About two hours on, we stopped for lunch at a viewing spot for the famous Mount Rakaposhi. At a height of 7788m, the views of this magnificent mountain were breathtaking.

The road trip from here to Gilgit is geologically and scenically fascinating. Once again we were travelling along a dusty rough KKH surrounded by huge grey-brown scree covered ...

Back at 'home' we just enjoyed our time there, spending more time with M, K and alsoMS. I had more shopping days with V, the boys played football in the park (women aren't allowed to play sports in public), we met lots of people for chai, I started wearing a salwar-kameez more often because the weather was getting warmer and it felt good to dress up a bit in something different. In fact it was funny because both m and k always wore western ...

We came back 'home' to Gilgit and really felt like we were getting to know the place - we had our favorite places to eat - the Tajistikan Inn that made great food that wasn't too greasy, and omlettes to order, and a little pakora place that always made fresh ones for us and gave us a little extra. We started to get to know the people too, and they seemed to get used to us being there. We had a bit of fun with some of the things in ...

We had many more days with the boys including a visit to Gakuch in the Gizhar valley ( I don't think googl can find it on the map). K had arranged for us to stay at his sister's house there while she visited his mum so the 6 of us went and spent a couple of nights in this little village. At night R and V cooked and we all huddled around the heat in the house. There was no glass in the windows so the ...

Woah - we had been warned about this trip! Gilgit was around 18 hours away by bus but it often takes longer - our journey was around 23 hours along the famous Karakorum Highway (KKH). This amazing road is always construction because of the environment it's in, navigating through the highest concentration of soaring peaks and glaciers in world. V and R took some Valium to sleep through the journey but S and I stayed up for the eventful drive. At one point we had to stop and ...

I was initially a bit apprehensive about going to the Northern Areas of Pakistan. In my hotel in Lahore, I had met several people returning from the north, and they all had nothing but good things to say. There were two guys from the hotel heading up to Gilgit, so I decided to join them for a few days. I wish I had more time, but must meet my friend Rajib in Darjeeling for some trekking on October 16th ...

Gilgit is located up in the Northern areas of Pakistan. The town is small and peaceful with the most phenomenal pears known to fruitarians. It has an abundance of shops selling fleeces, jackets, woolly socks and hats in order to combat the cool evenings. They also supply unprepared explorers with warm attire, walking boots and sleeping bags for trekking. Our hostel was well set up for travellers needs and run by a lovely bunch of guys who were very helpful and welcoming ...

If you're vertiginously challenged, suffer breathlesness, have a dicky ticker or wobbly knees, stay the hell away from northern Pakistan - or stick to turboprops and runways. This is hard mountain country, a never-ending horizon of agonisingly craggy peaks of rock, stone, ice and snow, and treacherous slopes of shale and scree. The western corner of the Himalayas melds into the Karakoram range in turn unfolding into the fabled Hindukush. Five of the world's 14 peaks over 8,000m ...

I headed back along the KKH (this time on a small bus roof) and arrived back in Gilgit. I headed to Madina, reimbursed and thanked the guy for his previous help and hospitality and also bought him 3 extra customers. The next day I was not feeling so good for the first time on the trip and had a horrible fever and generally feeling weak. I knew the right thing to do was rest especially as I had the Polo festival and then this big ...