📷 The Land of High Mountains: Pakistan. Day 1. Arrival and Transfe...

I finally decided to post my photo-travel stories about my trips to Pakistan. There were 2 of them: the one I'm starting to write about today took place in the summer of 2018, and the second one exactly a year later, in 2019. I put off writing posts here for a long time — I got a lot of photos and impressions, plus I kept a diary to better remember the events and accordingly, I got a lot of posts, especially on this trip, and they are all quite long.

In Russian, my native language, I have already written them before, but translating long texts into English (a foreign language for me which I do not know very well) is difficult, and I think it's not easy for you to read them either! :) So I apologize in advance for possible mistakes and stylistics of the texts. I have already shown some of the photos as single-photo posts, but I don't think you will notice that much :)

Well, let's go! Have you been here — in Pakistan?

I was definitely going to visit Pakistan someday — because of the large mountains that beckoned me. I was not going to climb the peaks, I just wanted to see the Karakorum with my own eyes. And I was not going to do this in the near foreseeable future, because I thought that a Pakistani visa could negatively affect my next trips, and even when on Dima Kozlov's (my friend and wonderful tour guide) website I saw "A JOURNEY MOM SHOULD NOT KNOW ABOUT" I held and even did not read the route. But @kibela could not restrain herself, she read it and started talking and dreaming out loud about it. For several days I did not go to the computer, but... Finally I read it, thought for a long time, and, of course, did not tell my mother about my decision. :)

The flight was long, with a stopover in Abu Dhabi, where, instead of sleeping, I watched a movie. Then it seemed to me that I would sleep later, but on the next flight there were some films too, so I didn't sleep again. Together with the stopover, we got to Islamabad about 12 hours.

We went outside at 3 am and breathed in the hot air of Pakistan. We had to wait 4 hours more for the next flight to Gilgit (the capital city of Gilgit–Baltistan, a territory comprising the northern region of Pakistani–administered Kashmir). Departure is at 7 am, and the entrance to the domestic flights hall opens only at 6 am. It is 25 km to Islamabad, so we have no time to see the city and almost nothing to do in the airport. But we had some fun in the queue for currency exchange. The man there counted USD banknotes for a very long time and several times. The exchange rate, by the way, depends on the year of issue of the note. New "multicolored" dollars are bought more expensive than old green ones. I only had old ones, so I exchanged 112 Pakistani rupees for one dollar.

Dima said that everyone should, if possible, take seats on the plane on the right, since Nanga Parbat is clearly visible from there, but we got seats on the other side. For the first time in my life, I heard the captain of an airplane conduct an excursion during the flight — I had to run around the airplane and look into other people's windows to see the views he was talking about. For the first time I flew between mountains that were higher than our small twin-engine airplane. The stunning Nanga Parbat rose above the clouds and sparkled in the sun, how huge it was!

Upon arrival, we waited a very long time for paperwork and baggage claim. There, in general, everything was very leisurely. At the airport, we were given registration cards, which they said to take care of it like the apple of our eye — we won’t return home without them, and in general we won’t go far. Okay.

The first Pakistani pretty car — further on the roads we will meet many decorated cars and especially trucks.

First breakfast in Gilgit (1500m above sea level) after three flights, the first of which started at noon the previous day. We had chapatis with apricot jam, scrambled eggs, fried potatoes and tea with milk And water! Usually I can stand the heat well, but since Islamabad I have had a headache and it is still too hot. Therefore, the air conditioner in the car is a salvation.
We got into minibuses, took a nap, it seems it has become better.

Stop at the confluence of the Indus and Gilgit rivers. We have been driving along the high-mountainous Karakorum highway for a long time. Previously, the Great Silk Road passed here, and now the highway, which was built by the Chinese, they spent about three billion dollars on this business.

This place is also interesting because the three largest mountain systems meet here: the Himalayas, Karakorum and Hindu Kush. Imagine, you just look around, and here they are all side by side, in one place!

The Karakorum highway is in very good condition here — an excellent flat surface, only sometimes there are stones on the way that fall from above. The Chinese call this highway "the ninth wonder of the world."

And here is the first mini-truck. Look at the boards: they are handcrafted and painted and are quite expensive. All the trucks are usually loaded to the maximum.

@kibela and I stand at a fairly well-known sign. Look to the left: there she is, the killer mountain Nanga Parbat. But the word "killer" for some reason painted over, although it rather clearly characterizes it — about every second climber who tried to climb it, stayed there.

We were going higher and higher. It's already 2600m above sea level. We arrived at the point where we have to change to jeeps, since minibuses will not go further into the mountains. From time to time on the way we have met and will still meet such piles of huge, roughly processed logs, like those on the left in the photo. Do such trees grow here? It's an interesting question.

Then we have to go along a very dangerous mountain road, and the local drivers monopolized everything there. Only they can take passengers along this road on their own transport, and if you suddenly decide to go by yourself in your own / any rented car, there will be big problems.

And the transport here is notable — jeeps, each of which has a "front sight" in the middle of the hood. As I understand it, for ease of driving.

The sun is burning mercilessly, the black camera bag heats up instantly, and the places in the shade quickly run out.

This place, by the way, seemed to me to be the dirtiest of those that we have seen in Pakistan. Perhaps due to the large concentration of tourists and local drivers in a small space.

The cars set off, loaded with backpacks and passengers. There were a lot of backpacks in ours, so taking pictures was completely inconvenient. A seemingly ordinary dirt road began, just up and up.

But further... I now understand why no one can drive here except locals. Especially when two jeeps need to drive past each other — one of them is driving along the very edge, lined with stone, and below there is an abyss of 300+ meters. Without proper skills and knowledge of the route, you can try to fly here... I see a little, I shoot even less, I am irresistibly sleepy after a sleepless day.

The road is man-made — the bottom is lined with stones without any mortar. You go and think, what if all of this "road" will slip?

We reached the end point of the mountain road, accessible by car. Porters are waiting for tourists here. And, of course, they are interested in looking at girls-tourists, because local women do not dress like that.

This is how local houses look like on the other side of the Tutu Gah river.

The locals are very colorful. I liked how Volodya, one of the members of our group, wrote after he returned home in his article about Pakistan:

"Yes, there is often an unsanitary environment around, the infrastructure is in poor condition, but all this pales in comparison with the main thing — PEOPLE. Mostly poor, they are happy to share with you what they have, and even more so will treat you with tea. Do not look at stern faces, in fact, they all smile, you just have to throw your hand up in greeting. For them you are a welcome guest, a book worth reading. It is difficult to describe how much joy and sincere interest the Pakistanis showed just seeing us. It was not a greedy fire of profit who has already come to many tourist destinations in the world and has poisoned the soul of many travels. It was amazement, almost childish naivety and hospitality. Even when surrounded by a crowd of Pakistanis, I never felt danger. "

Now we need to walk 5.5 km to our destination Fairy Meadows — “fairy tale meadows”, a grassland near one of the base camp sites of the Nanga Parbat.

Porters took large backpacks, some were put onto donkeys, and some things are carried on their backs. In the Himalayas, I'm almost used to the fact that some of your things are always carried by others, although still a drop of shame remains.

Well, just a few kilometers — we'll make a dash and then have a rest. We embarked on the path leading up.

To be continued...

Parts of the journey:

Camera: OLYMPUS E-M1 Mark II

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📷 The Land of High Mountains: Pakistan. Day 1. Arrival and Transfer to the Mountains