What an awe inspiring day! Karim is taking us to the Higher Hunza area. This area is awesome in so many ways. The huge majestic mountains, the awesome power of nature and equally the determination of people to overcome the nearly inconceivable challenges they face.
We journeyed to a lake which has only been in existence since 2010. It is a bitter sweet place. The water is a beautiful turquoise, surrounded on all sides by stunning mountains. Yet below this lake lay the communities it swallowed in its formation. All that is left to see now are a few tree tops and a very sobering rooftop, just showing above the waterline.
Before the 2005 earthquake repairs were even finished another came, higher up, causing a massive landslide which created this lake 34k long and 300m deep. All in its path was lost. Those surviving were cut off for three months. Only helicopters could reach them. It is the Chinese who provided boats and are now tunnelling through the landslide to create road access. The size of the task if fornominal.
Hundreds of the now familiar brightly coloured trucks make their way down unmade tracks towards the boats. There they are unloaded by hand and their goods taken across the water to be reloaded onto other trucks the other side. It is mayhem. In order for us to board a boat, we literally have to walk the plank, that is after scrambling down the steep rock and gravel slope.
We are in awe of the whole scene. Once we reach the other side, the plan is that we should go trekking to the Passau glacier. As our jeeps didn't come with today, we board a very old, two wheel drive people carrier. This will take us to the starting point of our trek. For anyone who has done the Stella Alpina Rally, please recall the track up the Somellier, now imagine that at half it's width, now imagine going to the top in a two wheel drive people carrier! And we think what we do on bikes is a challenge!
The trekking is harder and steeper than we expected, in the end only three of us reached the top. I was determined to get there but I have to say without Richards hand to hold on the really bad bits, I would not have been one of the three. We had hoped to touch the glacier, we got as far as we could but Karim said "no further." Looking at the space between us and the edge of the glacier, I was not disappointed. It had taken a lot of breathe (we were at a high altitude) a lot of stamina and not to mention a lot of courage to reach as far as we had. Then there was the going back down! Shaley rock, slippery, steep paths, exceedingly narrow tracks and an awful long way down!
We won't take much rocking tonight!
Thurs 4th Sept
Due to last nights rain, our plans for today have to be changed. The wet weather has caused too many landslides which have blocked the road. Such landslides are commonplace here and not even news worthy. Instead we visit some sacred rocks. It is quite something to trace with your finger the image of an Ibex, which was carved in 5 AD.
Karim suggests he take us to a view point, unlike yesterday's trek, this is more a gentle hill climb. Then on to Altit Fort, again an interesting place. The guide is so proud that Prince Charles has visited his Fort. One of the particularly memorable tales he tells us, is about the sanitary arrangements of the Fort. Not unexpectedly for its age, the toilet was a hole in the floor, what we hadn't expected was that it emptied directly into the dungeon. No prison reformers in those days!
There is a lot of building work and roadworks going on with very little mechanisation. Houses are constructed by making the bricks as they go and rocks are crushed by hand to make cement.
The afternoon is spent shopping. All the shop keepers are so pleased to see us and constantly thank us for visiting both them and Pakistan as a whole. One in particular had already thanked me for coming and for supporting the local economy, then asked where I had come from. I told him England. "England!" He said "and you still came. Blessings upon you, thank you so much."
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