Pakistan - the unabridged story!

Knowing how many people were worrying about us whilst we were in Pakistan, we made the decision not to blog anything more than a few pics and a couple of innocuous comments until everyone knew we were safely back in Turkey.

The following is as it was, highs, lows, warts and all!

Sat 30th Aug

After an uneventful flight, we arrive in Islamabad in the early hours of the morning. Karim, Jahangir (the guides) and a driver are there to meet us. The guesthouse they take us to is way more than we were expecting. After tea (which is much nicer than the Turkish Chy, though different to ours) we go to bed, not expecting to sleep but before we know it it is 11.30am.

The first of our travel companions has arrived, Chris from China. The next arrival is delayed, not getting here till late afternoon. Whilst he rests Karim takes us to the nearby shops where we change money; despite what we had been led to believe the money changers do not want dollars, their value is too low. Not a problem as we have enough pounds with us. We stop at a cafe for samosas and coke.

There are two more travellers yet to arrive, the first is due tomorrow morning, the other not till next week. Our trek proper will begin tomorrow afternoon. Karim arranges with the chef that our meal tonight will have reduced oil and spice, "you are not used to it yet" he says.

Sun 31st Aug

We are woken early by Karim?? Have breakfast of curried scrambled egg. Karim seems keen to leave? This wasn't what he said yesterday.

Yesterday the plan was that we would wait for Katherine to be collected from the airport, let her rest and set off by lunchtime. Karim is saying nothing but the TV is on in the dining room, even without words it is apparent there are violent protests in Islamabad. A quick check on my BBC app confirms this.

Even with my famously lacking sense of direction, our route out of Islamabad is decidedly convoluted. Karim tells us there are road works! Somewhere on the way we meet up with the jeep carrying Katherine. She tells us later that she was picked up, taken immediately to a small hotel and told to change into a Shalwar Chemise. So when she met us, she was surprised that we were still in our western clothes.

Over lunch Karim tells us that rather than joining the Kharakorum Highway (KKH) today, he is going to take us through a pretty valley he wants to show us instead??? It is more than obvious that we were whisked out of the city and are taking an alternative route until we are further away. Karim goes of to get permission from the police to take us in this new direction.

All our senses are bombarded by Pakistan. I don't take photos today, I don't know where to look first let alone point a camera at. Today I will just try to absorb our new and very unfamiliar surroundings. I think of well ordered west Germany and the peace of Chy-Kara, are we even on the same planet? Romania and Bulgaria seem like lands of luxury, compared to life here. Noise, colour, smells and traffic like you can't believe, every sense is overloaded. I don't know where to begin trying to describe what we have seen today, it has to be seen to be believed. Brain storming might give an idea? The areas we travelled through today are as if every element of life has been thrown in and set on the spin cycle.

Trucks covered in bling, multi coloured and incredible artwork. Something like barge art on speed!
Motorbikes with at least three people on, no helmets and the women sit side saddle. Other vehicles spilling out people from every orrafice. Donkeys, cows, sheep, goats - some an unfamiliar breed with big wobbly bottoms, dogs, children, beggars, lots of beehives at side of the road, People everywhere. H & S and animal welfare do not figure here. Tented villages which I later discover are migrants. Is there a Highway Code? Very doubtful. Roadworks which are done by hand, men with pick axes and lump hammers, children with wheel barrows. All the traffic continues to drive through and on the roadworks, some areas are reduced to one lane but there is no priority as to who has right of way. It depends who is biggest. We see two trucks go head to head attempting to resolve the matter by sounding their horns at each other. All the vehicles are in a state not dissimilar to that in our scrap yards. The only vital part is a working horn! They are used constantly.

For the first but certainly not the last time, I silently thank the Iranians for denying us a visa!

I would like to ask about things like elderly care and welfare issues but for now, at least I won't. I'm not sure I want to hear the answers.

We travel on in our jeep, through what can only be described as landslide valley, with deep gorges and waterfalls. In 2005 there was a devastating earthquake in this region, 84,000 people lost their lives. Karim was part of the volunteer group of guides who helped rescuers find there way around. Our driver, Ischard is very good. The day ends somewhere in a mountainous region. The hotel initially doesn't look quite so good as last nights but it does have the advantage of hot showers. Now we too are given our Shalwars and told that we are to wear these for the rest of the trip. Over dinner Karim does admit that there were some demonstrations this morning, that is as far as he goes.

We thought we would be the oldest couple on this trip. In fact we are the only couple and the youngest! There is one more person yet to join but not until the 7th.