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A Passage (Back) To India: Chitral-Peshawar-Lahore

Monday, May 16th, 2005

Chitral was similar to Gilgit in that they were both the regional centres for large, remote areas of northern Pakistan. That was more or less where the similarities ended, however. Gilgit, occupying a spot on the well maintained Karakoram Highway, felt like a small but burgeoning city. Chitral, meanwhile was cut off from the rest of the country for several months a year by the closing of the Lowari and Shandur passes to vehicular traffic. During this time, the only access to the town was by air from Peshawar or on foot over one of the passes. This isolation probably had a lot to do with Chitral’s appearance as a big frontier outpost rather than a modern, developing Pakistani town.

Nick and I were dropped off at the front door of our chosen guesthouse. After a checking in and resting a bit, the manager suggested that we head down to the police station and register there, as all foreigners were required to do.

Our five minute walk took us past the Chitral fort and the town’s oldest mosque. Once at the police station we were invited into a dark, dusty room where three Pakistani men sat talking. As soon as they saw us at the doorway they stopped and welcomed us in. The process was painless, if slowed a bit by the number of officials that needed to look at or sign copies of our registration. As we sat waiting for the process to be completed, we learned that the Lowari Pass (at 3100m considerably lower than Shandur) was STILL not open, though likely would be in a few days time. As a result of this, there were still very few foreigners in Chitral (there had been four registered in April and Nick and I were numbers four and five in May) but they were starting to filter in.

With our presence in the town legitimized, we went out for a look at the rest of Chitral.
[read on]

Gilgit to Chitral: High Adventure on the Shandur Pass

Monday, May 16th, 2005

I was happy to be back in Gilgit, and especially happy to be back at the Madina Guesthouse, whose staff and owner made the otherwise pleasant-but-boring town a great place to be.

My first order of business was to sort out where I’d be going next and how I’d be getting there. I initially expected that I’d almost certainly be heading straight to Lahore and the border so that I’d catch Donnie, a friend from Atlanta, before he departed India. A check of my e-mail revealed that he was already gone, and gave me the flexibility to consider some more time in Pakistan.

I’d really been hoping to cross the Shandur Pass between Gilgit and Chitral, a difficult but legendary journey. In addition, this trip was the only sensible way for me to get back to Peshawar and re-visit my wonderful friends there. Earlier in the trip I’d been foiled by snow on the Shandur, as well as on the Peshawar-Chitral road. Things still sounded pretty grim for this trip; jeeps were not running across the pass, and although the Chitral-Peshawar road was supposed to open any day, it wasn’t quite passable yet.

Nonetheless, I started making investigations to see if there was ANY way to make the journey. In addition to my own interest, I was also considering Nick, my friend from Karimabad and Passu who’d be arriving in Gilgit the next day. Nick had mentioned that he very much wanted to get over to Chitral as well.

I spent the afternoon wandering around town, asking advice from a number of different sources. Though the details varied a lot, there was a general consensus amongst all my advisors: Shandur WAS closed to jeep travel. Jeeps WERE running to the last towns before the pass. Walking over the pass WOULD be possible (though how long it would take and how difficult it would be was uncertain.)

I decided to wait for Nick’s arrival and see what he said. If he was interested in giving the walk a try, off we’d go. If not, it would be a quick flight down to Islamabad then away into India.
[read on]

Last Stop North: Passu and Surroundings

Saturday, May 14th, 2005
Passu is the farthest north I got in Pakistan, sitting barely 100km from the Khunjerab Pass and the border with China. It's a quiet little town, but has started to see some tourism activity in recent years due to ... [Continue reading this entry]

Hunza: The Heart of the Karakoram

Thursday, May 12th, 2005
The title of this entry is perhaps a bit misleading. It would probably be fairer to say that Baltistan, in Pakistan's northeast corner is the TRUE heart of the Karakoram, since it contains four of the five 8000m peaks ... [Continue reading this entry]

Rawalpindi to Gilgit on the Karakoram Highway

Monday, May 9th, 2005
The Karakoram Highway was constructed in a ten year period from 1969 to 1979. It links Pakistan with western China and is one of the true engineering marvels of the world. The KKH (as it is commonly known) ... [Continue reading this entry]

Rawlapindi, Islamabad and My Run In With The Law

Monday, April 25th, 2005
The bus trip from Peshawar to Rawalpindi was generally unexciting. One brief point of interest was the appearance of Akbar's fort, a 16th century construction that dominates the valley it sits overtop. Indeed, save for the fort, it ... [Continue reading this entry]

The Best Possible Start in Pakistan: New Friends in Peshawar

Friday, April 15th, 2005
Pakistan has something of a bad reputation at the moment. It is an Islamic Republic, though at the time of my visit it was under military rule. In addition to these factors (which many westerners would find disturbing ... [Continue reading this entry]