Mirs Lodge Gilgit

... entered a new country, we notice due the quality of the road. No more asphalt unfortunately so we start a bumpy way down but with a magnificent view of snowy peaks and rocky mountains. The rocks are colorful and shine beautiful in the sun. The next few hours we pass some checkpoints where policemen write down our passport number and where they speak English J. That's a long time ago but I am more than happy to be able to understand the questions they ask. Sost ...

... slopes licking the sides of their snow capped peaks. If we thought this road was precarious it was nothing compared with the old precursor of the KKH. Visible on the opposite side of the Hunza River, it is now an abandoned jeep road and a stark reminder that this unimaginably dangerous goat track was once part of the famous Silk Road. <br><br>Ishaq Ali was trained as a geologist &#8211; a perfect partner to have on this fabulous and geologically famous part of ...

... and I took the micky because I was dressing more locally than they were - I said I wanted to see them in local clothes, so a few days later. For Valentines Day, they changed their habits and wore a salwar-kameez for me! Some nice moments from this time was another walk in Jhutial with M and K, where they brought tea, milk and biscuits and built a fire to make it in a beautiful spot. Actually chai was pretty central to my time in Pakistan ...

... small village and sent R into a shop to buy some 'Rough Rider' condoms just to see their faces - it was a hilarious few minutes with R trying to explain what we wanted and about 5 people in the shop trying to assist. Our little group worked really well and V and I enjoyed some girl time looking around the shops, having chai with the owners and selecting fabric for our Salwar-Kameezs (local dresses). We tried to imagine what it ...

... was cold but the stove in the front room warmed us up and we experienced a local tradition - the hot embers from the fire are put in a bowl under a small table which is covered by a blanket, you sit around the table with your feet and legs under the blanket to stay warm. By day we walked in the hills and mountains, visited a flour mill, waterfall and old fort. The boys seemed to e able to do magic ...

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 ...