PAKISTAN: NOT QUITE OVERLAND BUT WHAT AN ADVENTURE!

[jim65wagon]

After visiting the fort we had a really good lunch. Beth had a fresh trout that was cooked to perfection. Then we hit the bazaar for shopping. Madeline, Mike, Elizabeth and I found some Autumn Olive Honey that was absolutely delicious.


Madeline and Umar picked up a fox fur, I bought a SpringBok fur to give to Christopher (our son) as he couldn't make the trip. We found a shop of hand carved everything. Cups, bowls, spoons, statuary. Beth picked out a nice spatula carved out of Apricot wood. The gentleman that carved it was very friendly and fun to talk to. He explained his process on carving the various items, showing us with hand motions how he made each piece. We talked to him for quite a long time, until his shop got busy and he had to attend to customers.

 

[jim65wagon]

As we walked back down the streets of the bazaar, it was well after dark. We had more photo opportunities with locals and more conversations too. More of the usual “Where are you from?” How do you like Pakistan?” “Welcome to Pakistan” , everyone was extremely friendly. I felt quite at ease speaking with anyone that wanted to have conversation. Well, almost anyone, there was one odd fellow, he started out pleasant enough with the usual questions. Then he said the most unusual thing I'd ever heard.

“I heard everyone in New York is a Zombie” then he began walking in a circle around me dragging one foot, blank eyes staring, and began moaning. It caught me off guard. All I could do was chuckle a little and say

“Well, not everyone." I said, "Certainly a few of them are maybe drug addled, but not everyone”

Umar grabbed my arm at that point and said

“Come on Dad. It's time to go”

And off we went, back to the hotel. It was quite an interesting day.

The next morning, after another fine breakfast of eggs and toast, we were off to yet another UNESCO site. This time the nearby Baltit Fort, which was just about a half an hours walk (uphill) from our hotel. We walked through the bazaar, passing by all the shops we'd stopped at the night before. There were a few more of those cool Jeep-Yota-Mercedes 4x4s parked on the side of the road as we walked.


The hillside is steep and we weaved through some narrow streets before making it to the ticket booth. We paid our fee and continued uphill. It was a loooong climb. Lucky for us there were enough people about that we got stopped several times for photographs, which gave us all ample time to catch our breath as we continued up and up and up.



We finally arrived at the fort proper. As we waited on our tour guide we had a conversation with one of the guards. This man has been on magazine covers, and has had news articles written about him. He's famous for his mustache. He's been growing it for 24 years. It's so long he twists it into ropes and wraps them around his ears to keep it out of the way. He said it's modeled after the horns on the wild Rams in the mountains. At one point he looked at Umar's ears and told him that his ears were perfect for holding a mustache. I don't think Umar was keen on the idea.



On a flattened spur just below the Ulter Glacier, Baltit Fort was built roughly 800years ago. Three stories tall, with audience rooms, dining halls and meeting rooms, and let's not forget the dungeons in which to keep your enemies. Baltit was constructed so whoever controlled the fort controlled the trade route between Central and South Asia. From the windows on the upper floor there would be a commanding view of the Hunza Valley below.

 

[jim65wagon]

Our guide led us through the narrow hallways and small doors, room by room. The general sitting rooms were decorated with weaponry – rifles, swords, bows and arrows, paintings and photographs of the royal families that lived there over the centuries.






Other rooms had cookware, pots, pans, giant ceramic pots and such. One hallway passage had rows of robes worn by various family members. One of my favorite parts of any historic tour, even the places we've visited in the US, is how buildings are constructed. I like the look of the wood, stone, wood built walls.

 

[jim65wagon]

After the tour we walked back down the hill and through the bazaar once again. We spied a narrow rug hanging on the outside wall of a shop. It looked like it would fit perfectly in our work RV. Elizabeth spent some time haggling with the shop keeper. It started at about 8000 rupees and, when she threw out the offer of 5000 rupees, he initially refused. Then she told him that she had to make a good deal so she could maintain status in the family. That Umar's Mom and Sister were professional shoppers and would look down on her for paying too much. At that, the shopkeeper laughed out loud and said she could have it for 5000. Iffat and Beenish caught up with us just as he was folding it up, and asked how much we paid. When they heard from the shopkeeper how much we paid and how good at bargaining Elizabeth was they congratulated her and literally beamed with happiness on her success. Now we have a beautiful handmade rug decorating our living room for 17 dollars US. Nice.


The rug as installed on our Murphy Bed in the camper


Madeline was very proud of her mother's bargaining skills

 

[jim65wagon]

If you're tired of reading, here is the video featuring the Altit and Baltit Forts

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[the deputy]

I assume they are in the process of building the structure in the background?

 

[jim65wagon]

I assume they are in the process of building the structure in the background?

View attachment 859835

Yes! There was construction like that going on in every little town. Everything from single story to 5 or 6 floors were all being built like that. I found the use of "lumber" very interesting.

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[406to417]

That's exactly what it was. It must be a Hunza Valley thing because nearly every taxidermy mount we saw in Karimabad had painted eyes like that.

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I have a weird phobia of taxidermy. For some reason the painted eyes make it worse.

 

[jim65wagon]

I have a weird phobia of taxidermy. For some reason the painted eyes make it worse.

You might not want to visit Karimabad....

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[jim65wagon]

THE HUSSAINI HANGING BRIDGE
AND ATTABAD LAKE​

Once again, it was back on the bus for us. The day was young yet and we had adventure to find. We eagerly boarded the bus and as Mustafa drove us along the Karakoram Highway we soon found ourselves barreling down a long, long tunnel. One of five tunnels on this section of the KKH, the longest tunnel is 11,000 feet long (just over 2 miles) and quite interesting to drive through. The history of the tunnels was also quite interesting. Back in 2010 a massive landslide destroyed huge sections of the highway and blocked the Hunza River forming the Attabad Lake. The new lake swallowed up three villages, displaced 6000 residents and killed 20 people. In cooperation with Pakistan, China aided the reconstruction of 24 kilometers of bridges and tunnels along the KKH. We swiftly passed through the tunnels and got the view of Attabad Lake, We would be making a stop there on our return to the hotel in Karimabad, for now we had other fish to fry.


We made our way to the village of Hussaini, the bus parked along the road and we all clambored out onto the pavement. Walking along a pathway we passed some shops on the side of the road and then turned down the hill, following another pathway. This path had a small stream running down the middle of it. We passed more shops as we walked, we could smell the smells of fresh fried foods and made notes to stop on our way back up. We finally made it to the rivers edge....




The view was breathtaking (I've been saying that a lot in Pakistan), and there strung almost delicately between the the rocky faces of the Karakoram Mountain Range was the Hussaini Hanging Bridge. Until about 2011 the bridge was made from rope spanning the 600 feet across the Hunza river. After a flood scenario took out the bridge it was rebuilt with steel cable, but in an effort to retain the quaint original feel of the bridge they kept the boards used in the walkway to a minimum. While it's not considered to be the longest pedestrian footbridge in the world, it does hold the title of Most Dangerous Footbridge in the World.


Most of us decided that we absolutely had to cross the river, and while we wouldn't be continuing on to Zar Abad, the town the Hussaini Bridge provides access to, just crossing the bridge was the adventure. The younger people in our group decided they would pay the extra 300 rupees to take the zipline back across. Mike decided to stay behind and keep an eye on the kiddos, the rest of us paid our 1000 rupees, donned our orange “flotation” vests and started across. I'm not real sure what good the PFD's were. The fall to the river might not be deadly but the frigid, glacial waters that feed the Hunza river surely were. Maybe the PFD's were strictly to aid in “recovery” and not “rescue” Elizabeth and I have done lots of hiking and rock scrambling all across the United States, even though she has issues with heights. I followed close behind her with words of encouragement trying to keep her mind on the task at hand and not the drop to the river below us. We were passed by a local heading to Zarabad, crossing the bridge at nearly a jog. It wasn't the most stable bridge I've ever walked across, but it's got nothing on the sky bridge of the Via Ferrata in Ouray Colorado.








Soon enough we were across, I congratulated Elizabeth on overcoming her fear, and we watched as the “kids” crossed behind us. Umar, Madeline, Ali, Eric, Beenish and Rizwan all made it across with ease. Even Umar's Mom. Iffat, overcame her fear making it across with the aid of a hired guide. We all applauded her accomplishment of the day. After a quick applause, she and her guide started making their way back across. I decided to stay behind for a bit and get photos of everyone jumping off the zipline platform, Elizabeth decided she could make it back on her own and took to crossing the bridge by herself.

 

[jim65wagon]

I took some photos of the bridge and after a good bit the zipliners started off one by one crossing the river. Madeline waved, Umar played dead. Eric pulled a “CREED”. Everyone else crossed like they were normal people, Rizwan was the last to go.






Once he was in the air I took off on the bridge, skipping every other foot board in an effort to hurry. The boards were not spaced well for my stride. Stepping on every board was too close, resulting in short stumbling steps. Skipping a board was easier but it took a slightly awkward stride length to catch the boards.


Elizabeth got some good video of everyone landing. There was one guy handling a friction stop and another guy was there to catch each person by the leg as they hit the end of the line. He missed Umar, who bounced back down the zipline and made it about a third of the way back across the river before he stopped. One of the guys clipped himself in and made his way out to pull Umar back to shore.

 

[Cabrito]

Just looking at that bridge took my breath away. Looks really fun, and not sure which way I would take across the river. Life jackets give a feeling of safety I suppose, and I'd gladly wear one myself.

 

[jim65wagon]

Once everyone was safely back from their river crossings we all took to walking back up the long hill. About halfway up (conveniently at a point where you're tired and feeling the need for a rest) there are a few shops selling french fries and pepsi's. We all sat down and had a nice cold drink and some fries. Rizwan and his family all stepped across the grass to a small calf that was tied out munching his own dinner. Their girls delighted in petting the calf, the calf remained cautious....




We finally made it to the top of the hill and back onto the bus we went, then we headed back toward Karimabad. We stopped at the Attabad Lake, where we learned it's short and devastating history. At one end of the lake we could see the Passu Cones which are a very sharp series of steep mountain tops. The clouds and sky did not make them stand out very pretty, but once we got back to the states we looked them up on the WikiMedia Commons and there are some incredible photos of them to see. At the other end of Attabad Lake you can clearly see the landslide that blocked off the river forming the lake. We declined the offers of power boat rides, the water was cold, the air was cold and the wind blowing down the lake was frigid. Most of us weren't dressed well enough to keep warm on shore, let alone riding in an open boat.







We walked through the shops lining the lake shore, most were trinket shops, but the best one dealt in furs and skins. If you wanted a full Yak rug, or even a Yak mount this was the place to be. The shopkeeper gave Sabrina a little Tribble like critter that instantly became her favorite “pet”

 

[jim65wagon]

It was decided that we had one more thing to see in the area before we left for new adventures the next morning, so it was back to the bus. We went back through the Friendship Tunnels, back past the Altit Fort and then up an incredibly narrow, twisting road. Mustafa just skimmed the big bus along rock walls, passing downhill going cars with mere inches to spare. He really is a highly skilled driver. At the top of the hill was a little shopping bazaar, a hotel and a few small diners. It was what lay beyond the parking for the Yak Cafe that interested us.






We climbed up the steep hill toward the rocks. Of course, once we were on the hilltop we had to climb onto the highest rock there. The view into the Hunza Valley was absolutely spectacular! Breathtaking! Amazing! All the usual exciting descriptors! The Eagles Nest Viewpoint was worth the climb to the top! We played around on the rocks, drinking in the view and taking photographs (oh, those Instagram moments! )







While the picture taking was going on I checked our elevation, 9300 and some odd feet. We were pretty high up, but we had mountains behind us that were absolutely towering above us. I found the tallest one I could see and after looking at maps we decided it was Mount Rakaposhi standing at an impressive 25,550 feet tall. It is the 27th tallest mountain in the world. I gotta tell ya, this Karakoram Mountain Range puts quite an impression on you when you see it, and if you ever get the chance, do not hesitate to go!



After we all had our fun with photos, we were all starving. We walked back down the hill to the diners. The Yak Cafe Hunza had quite a long wait for seating, so we pivoted to the Hill Grill Cafe. Everyone decided on the classic Yak Burgers with French Fries. They were tasty although a little on the small side. I kinda wished I had ordered two but I wasn't going to wait another 45 minutes for them to butcher another yak. Most of us ordered a regular old hot tea to drink with our dinner. Eric was the brave one and ordered the Salajeet Tea (Shilajit). Shilajit is a black tarry substance (that dissolves in water, but not alcohols) they dig up from the rocks in the mountains, it's actually a decomposed form of plant latex that is on the magnitude of a centuries long decomposition process. It is said to have, um, “restorative” properties.... The tea itself was dark and had a not so pleasant smell to it. Eric did not finish his tea. Mike, who decided to have a taste, described it as tasting like a zoo smells. Needless to say the Salajeet Tea was not a favorite...

 

[jim65wagon]

Just looking at that bridge took my breath away. Looks really fun, and not sure which way I would take across the river. Life jackets give a feeling of safety I suppose, and I'd gladly wear one myself.

They didn't give tourists the option of not wearing it. Certainly, the workers and locals didn't bother with pfds. I was happy enough knowing my body would be found downstream if anything went wrong....

It was a breathtaking adventure for sure

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