Summer Retreat Hotel Nathia Gali

Took a flight back to Islamabad.

This journey was no means a holiday but an expedition. Needing high levels of endurance. This was a dream come true for me. Foot loose & fancy free in the wild & untamed Karakoram. Some thing that I'll cherish for ever.

Conclusion

We were very impressed with the meals we were served and ...

... Je pense même que ce que je lui demandais de faire était trop compliqué. Bref, je me retrouve avec une coiffure que je n’aime pas et ça me prendra 6 mois pour que mes cheveux soient comme avant. Conclusion : Ne plus jamais couper les cheveux sans miroir.

Nous apprenons ce soir que les bijoux commandés ne seront prêts que pour demain 13h. Nous ne pouvons donc pas partir comme prévu demain matin, mais le lendemain. Je me réjouis de partir pour Darhamsala.

... Les gamins dans les rues ne jouent pas au foot comme à Oman, mais au Cricket. Les « bats » indiens sont réputés pour leur qualité.

Nous arrivons à Pahalgam dans la famille que Rasul connaît, recevons du thé et des crackers, mais pas de dîner…Snif ! Nous partons en ballade ayant faim…une petite ballade nous mène en hauteur et nous comprenons pourquoi Kashmeer est appelé la Suisse de l’Inde. Tout ressemble à la Suisse, les sapins, les p ...

It was a two weeks trip. Set off driving from Islamabad in a mini van to Besham on Grand Trunk Road and Karakoram Highway (KKH).

The first day we did about 10 hours drive & stayed at PTDC Hotel Besham on the way to Gilgit. The hotel was average.

I've compiled a trip report & have tried to recall the fine moments I've had on our journey to Gilgit Baltistan and an impressive view point from where we had a spectacular view of great peaks including K2, Broadpeak, Gashebrum and Mashabrum. This had been my dream for a long time to see K2.

Our Spanish friends book a water trekking trip, while we stay put and take it easy. We need the break. Sonia falls sick. Little fever and music in the stomach. Nothing new. We explore the city, and the surrounding Mughal gardens. Sonja is the focus of a lot of attention. All the men want their picture taken with her. The first 2-3 ...

... rupees . Pay me, eat breakfast, and leave!" he says.

“Excuse me?” I can’t believe my ears.

“You are not honest”, he continues. “It is better you go back to Delhi.”

I am too shocked to answer. So we swallow down our breakfast and are about to jump on the shaker to shore, when the man wants payment for the water bottles we drank. “They are extra”. Take the 40 ...

... of the officer, it was all ok in the end. We met up with one of his friends there and together with his driver(!) they took me to an amazing hilltop area with views across the whole of Abbotabad. The area was very green with beautiful flowers and trees. Abbotabad had a very English feel to it with lots of gardens and British-era buildings but it was also the main military training areas in Pakistan and from the views you could see lines of young men exercising ...

... of miles away from Britain and without a single Brit there. From there the taxi man took me to the Smugglers Bazaar on the outskirts past an Afghan refugee camp. Here I saw AK47s in every shop window and pistols being filed and assembled. After holding some gun parts my driver decided it was time to leave (the locals always know best). The next day we travelled along the Khyber Pass - the gateway into Afghanistan. The area West of Peshawar is tribal and the police have no say ...

... torrent. With all this to look forward too, it was naturally with some trepidation (and three 1.5 liter bottles of water) that I set off from Manserah. As it transpired, and not in stark contrast with previous nuggets of received wisdom, Indus Kohistan was not populated exclusively by would-be murderers. There were a couple of stone lobbing kids, and since they use the same skill to drive their cattle, and play cricket every spare second, they were capable ...