PAKISTAN – KYBER PAKTUNKHWA SOUTH (Peshawar, Bannu, Swat, Swabi)
Visa. Very easy on the government website https://visa.nadra.gov.pk. They initially required a LOI from my hotel but my initial reservation receipt was not well done – I redid it and the visa was okayed in about 5 minutes. Receive a printed-out letter to present at immigration.
Money. Pakistani rupee 1US$ = 275 PKR at the airport money exchange outside.
Credit cards in cities. Cash better. MoneyGram app – send money to yourself and pick it up. Best exchange rate and no ATM fees / limits.
Allied Bank, Bank Al Falah, UBL and HBL are all present in Gilgit, Hunza or Chitral and work with foreign cards, though maybe not Mastercard
Tourism outside of Hunza – hotels don’t take cards, ATMs don’t work so take plenty of USD cash. Change money in Islamabad upon arrival as exchange rates in remote mountain regions are awful and ATMs or card payments will not work.
Get Around.
Buses (Faisal Movers is the best company) between cities
Shared vans and cars in the mountains
The best taxi app is InDriver
Flights to all mountain destinations (Gilgit, Skardu and Chitral) are frequently cancelled as only one plane flies back and forth. Flights from Gilgit to Islamabad are cancelled 90% of the time due to weather (Pakistan International Always). Flights to/from Skardu are more reliable and don’t use ATR planes.
Karakoram Highway. Scenic, gruesome once night, time sleeps part way to see in the daytime. Taxis: Gilgit – Islamabad 25,000 rupees 14-hour. Book at the hotel,
Driving/car rental: 14-hour drive from Islamabad to Gilgit and dangerous due to road conditions. It is not recommended to drive in the Chitral Valley – roads are undeveloped, risk of flat tyres, chance of a rescue service is zero. Hunza Valley is no problem at all as the KKH is perfectly paved. Drivers 20,000 rupees for a whole day, they know the main sites, English broken, do your own research. See the Hunza Valley at your own pace and not bother with a driver. Book cars daily as needed 4,000 rupees a day
Hitchhike – talk to fellow passengers in cars/planes, they will sort you out.
Police checks are frequent (22 checkpoints in 9 days) – take three printed copies of your passport and visa, and the driver fills out the forms. Dedicated tourist police are helpful. Police convoys are common.
Accommodation. Generally needs no booking, just show up. Karimabad in the Hunza Valley gets fully booked during June and July. Schools are off and many Pakistani families escape the heat.
Gilgit
Madina Hotel 2 Goal Road, Near Airport Terminal, Gilgit City, 15100 Gilgit. Free BF. Good info on a trek to Fairy Meadows/Nanga Parbat Basecamp, transport to Hunza for onward travel. US$36
Astro Hotel. 6 km from the airport. Great food and rooms. US$51
Avari Express Hotel (great place to stay too). Duroyou Inn (booking.com). Highly recommend
Luxus Hunza is an exploitative hotel that is destroying the environment and is owned by billionaire outsiders from Lahore who are screwing over locals.
Stay at locally owned hotels, all with electricity and Wi-Fi
Chitral Al Farooq Hotel, $15 a night
Karimabad, Hunza Baithak. +923360925969. The owners can take you to Passu peak
Minapin (a place to start Rakaposhi base camp trek), Osho’s +923469560283 food great Backpackers Hostel Minapin
Coming from Gilgit, the driver drops you off at Minapin, then hike 5km to the village but cars/bikes will stop to give you a ride. You do not need a guide to go to Rakaposhi base camp.
Food
Shinwari lamb chops in Peshawar is the best meat ever.
Parathas with malai and channay is an essential breakfast
Food in Hunza is amazing and totally unique. Try hoilo garma, molida, chapshoro and gyaling.
Wifi. WhatsApp is the best mode of communication with guesthouses, hotels, guides etc., rather than email. Wifi and SIM cards (outside of Hunza) are unreliable as networks collapse and electricity is wobbly.
Food. Luxus Hunza Hotel, Attabad. Walnut Cake at Café de Hunza in Karimabad,
Fairy Meadows, a jeep from Raikot bridge to the last stop is 16,100 rupees return, non-negotiable. Raees lodge. +923555098733. Hot water, white sheets, wonderful food and views. 7,000 per night. Highly recommend. Walk up to Fairy meadow, don’t need a guide unless you want some company. It is very safe and clear. View of Nanga Parbat. The owner can take them to Base Camp 2 for 2,500.
Day 1 Wed May 29
Flight. Pakistan International Airlines 8UDYMG 2146082815607
PIA AUH-Peshawar (PEW) @02:45-06:50 3’5
The flight arrived at 07:15 and I was hustled by a taxi driver 1500 to the hotel. I exchanged money but did not get a SIM for only one day. The taxi said it would be 8000 to drive to the Afghanistan Embassy and back, then 7000 then 6500. All sounded high and I did not hire him. The hotel said that the taxi should be 100o each way.
ON Shelton Accommodator May 29–30 Booking.com US$23. I arrived at about 8 and they gave me a room and breakfast. The young guy at the front desk was excellent.
+92 333 5393979. Confirmation number 4428568421
75 Rehman Baba Road Univesity town, Peshawar, 25000, Pakistan
PESHAWAR
Explore the old city. iconic city, unique and truly unlike anywhere else. For those interested in guns, a visit to the biggest gun market and factories in Darra Adam Khel is recommended.
Sethi House Museum
PIA Planetarium
ON Sheldon Accommodator Inn 75 Rehman Baba Road Univesity town, Peshawar, 25000, US$23 +92 3335393979
Day 3 Sat June 15
For many reasons, I decided to fly from Kabul to Islamabad. Going overland via Torkham is long and a pain to organize at least three share taxis in Kabul, Jalalabad and Torkham. In Peshawar, I would have to get a hotel and don’t know how to get a bus from Peshawar to Chitral, my next destination. I did a lot of research and Islamabad would be so much easier. There was a direct Kam Air flight at 2 pm.
It was Friday and Breeze Travel was closed. Seyer from Khyber Hotel was great. He called the Kam Air agent, found the flight, and dealt with forwarding my Pakistani visa. The agent required an exit flight from Pakistan and wouldn’t accept that I was going overland on the Karakoram Highway to China. I made a fake flight on Onwardflights.com for $16. The flight was US$190 cash.
I had the morning to work on the book instead of spending it in a car. I took a taxi to the Kabul Airport and navigated the four security checks. One of the frisks found my lighter in my secret pocket, the first time that ever happened. But he let me keep it by putting it in my pack that he thought was to be checked in (it is illegal to carry lighters in checked baggage),
Flight. Kam Air Kabul to Islamabad @14:00-13:30.
I sat next to an 18-year-old on his way with his 3 sisters, brother and parents to Frankfurt Germany to start university. He said he liked the Taliban. His father owns a private school and they are well off. He has led a privileged life. Despite his father being a teacher, his English is poor and he knows no German. This is his first time on a plane.
At Islamabad, I am first through immigration and there are no issues.
At arrivals, there is the usual bevy of taxi drivers. The official guys want 5.000PR. Another aggressive guy offered 4000PK and I went with him. It was 40 and he had no AC. On the 32 km drive to Christal Travels in Rawalpindi, he phoned his friend who speaks superb English. He keeps telling me his friend is poor, has two children and to treat him well. Rawalpindi is as messy as a Pakistani city can be – tons of disorganized traffic, people, and unattractive everything.
I wanted to hold him to his cheap fare of 4,000PR but he whines a lot and doesn’t have change for a 5, 000PK bill. He sees the US$ in my wallet and suggests all sorts of crazy combinations – $20, $10 and 3000PK, all large overpayments. I give up and let him have the 5,00PR. Another typical taxi experience.
Christal Travels is at the big Pindi bus station, a riot of buses, lanes and people. He let me off in the middle of the buses and vaguely pointed to the travel agency. I had to ask for directions to Christal Travels four times. It is a typical ticket window. I got the last ticket on the Hindukush Express bus leaving at 18:30 for Chitral. My watch is wrong but a half hour early. I went into the packed waiting room and looked for a plug for my computer that was on 2% battery. People make way for me to sit down. The plug has power but is so loose it’s impossible to keep it active. I changed to another plug but it was the same. I went down to the restaurant that had great plugs. I had a tasty aloo and a fresh roti. At 6:30 nothing happened but the driver and his conductor kept hassling me to board. I wanted to keep my computer plugged in. There are two HinduKush Express buses leaving at 7:30 and 8:00. A rude guy says he is the police and checks my visa and passport. He ends up being the driver of the other bus and I was confused. They keep bugging me to board but I refuse until the driver is in his seat and ready to go. The bus doesn’t depart until 7:50. Bus drivers drive me crazy. They are rarely pleasant.
I have an aisle seat with no one sitting next to me. But a guy comes along. He is a clinical psychologist, and I couldn’t have found a better guy. I turned a little sideways and he let me put my computer on his lap. We had a great conversation.
The road is through a long line of poor villages. The driver is aggressive in passing and we made good time but he is otherwise a jerk. We had a stop and sat in the hot bus for 10 minutes waiting for nothing. I finally got up and the front row people showed me the door release. I got off and the rest of the bus got off for another 10 minutes. The AC is cold and I’m glad I brought my puff jacket. I was able to sleep in the comfortable seat. We stopped to eat and Z had the most atrocious cow’s foot and rice.
He even paid for my coke. He works in Islamabad but his wife of 7 months is back in Chitral. It would be boring for her in Islamabad. I slept again and woke up to a different landscape of mountains, a steep valley and a big river far down below. We descended a steep series of switchbacks and followed the valley floor. Oddly we seemed to be going downhill but the river is flowing in the other direction. Crossing a few streams with no culvert is an adventure as the front and end of the long bus bottom out. They cleared a lot of rocks and put rocks in front of the wheels to clear the back of the bus.
We finally arrived at the HinduKush depot in Chitral. There is a luxury hotel at the depot but someone recommended the Chitral Inn, a hot 5-minute walk away.
I checked in and looked for some milk but there were only tiny stores with small containers. I stayed in the room and worked on the book until 4 pm.
I wanted to get a SIM, milk and cigarettes and asked the hotel owner where the market was. He ended up driving me all over. We stopped at a Telecom office but they said there is no point in getting a SIM as foreign passport holders are always refused!! I gave up and we drove through the market, a long line of stores on either side of the street. Chitral is a depressing place. I wanted to get takeaway food as I was hungry. There is virtually no food anywhere. We stopped at Foodland, a misnomer if there ever was one. Everything has meat and there are no nice veg curries. I bought some awful-looking green vegetable and a roti. Back at the hotel, the veg tasted as bad as it looked but I had enough to curb my appetite. The owner says that the hotel has food after we searched all over!!!
ON Chitray Inn 8,000PR/night (US$29). It is a nice bed but lacks anything normally found in any Kabul hotel – no kettle, no refrigerator, no AC but a noisy fan. I get some hot water in a carafe. I was so tired, I went to sleep at 6 pm and woke up at 1 am. The wifi has disappeared but I got a lot of work done on the book. It is work I was repeating as all the Word documents were open and disappeared when my battery approached 2% and shut down. The piece on EC”s fraud took me 3 hours to repeat.
PAKISTAN – KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA NORTH (Chitral, Kohistan)
CHITRAL
Day 4 Sun June 16
I have been WAing my friend V who offered to take me through three Kailash villages leaving at 10. However, he was short on details. I had to rent a car to drive 2 hours to Birir to meet him. How was I going to do that? The last time I was in Pakistan, it took 2 days to find a rental car in Karachi and had to have a driver. The whole thing didn’t appeal to me at all. He then offered to have me stay at his guest house for a few days. I didn’t have time for that. Then he wanted to go for lunch – he would drive 50 minutes into Chitral. I was a little confused at this point. I decided to stay and write.
The only things to see in Chitral are the Chitral Museum and the Chitral Shahi Mosque but I didn’t bother. I got a lot done despite a blackout for 4 hours. The wifi wasn’t available most of the time so I changed rooms for a better router.
ON Chitral Inn
Day 5 Mon June 17
From Chitral to Gilgit is 360 km divided into three legs – Chitral to Buni is 82 km, 3 hours, and Buni to Mastuj is 30 km on a better road. Mastuj to Gilgit is 248 km. I want to get as far as I can. It is Eid, the last three days of Ramadan and almost everything is closed. It is a good time to drive in one way – there is little traffic and thus much less dust but there is no one travelling and transportation meagre.
I left the hotel at 8:10 on the kid’s motorcycle to the bus stop for Buni. It was the first day of Eid, everything was shut down and there was only one taxi. I was offered a taxi for 10,000PR ($36) and took it as I had to get to Gilgit. Another old guy joined me. The car was an old rattletrap but he made the rough trip in it 2-3 times a week. I drove myself crazy trying to type. My inverter is plugged so that I won’t power down again.
The road followed the Chitral River (that eventually goes through Jalalabad before turning south through Peshawar) through rough mountainous country. It is a big river full of turbulent brown muddy water. The road is mostly rough gravel with bits of ‘metal” road. It is rough slow going.
There were frequent small villages. Across the river were several attractive farming communities in trees and small plots of yellow wheat ready for harvest. Each has a footbridge over the raging river.
All along the road are tons of kids all dressed up in their best. The little girls are dolled up to the nines – makeup, jewelry, nail polish, henna designs on their arms, great dresses (frilly, nice saris) and little shoulder purses. After 2 hours, two little kids joined us. They were very cute. I seem to scare them. They only ride for a few km. Free-range kids.
In Buni, the bus area is empty and we stopped for a few minutes. He told me he could drive me to Mustaj for 6000PK (21.50), very expensive, but I had no other options so we left.
Buni to Mastuj used to be a 4WD road but now is a better road than from Chitral to Buni. It is all gravel, is on the other side of the river but is much smoother.
Mastuj is a gritty depressing place with rocky narrow roads. No vehicles or passengers are going to Gilgit. I don’t want to stay here. The taxi guy is a good driver and knows everyone. He phoned Chitral Tours and they came down to the car.
The price to Gilgit was as if the Jeep were full with 10 passengers at 3500PK each or 35,000PK (US$125) and that was a firm price (two in the front and 8 in the back but they must have been packed in like sardines on the seat for two and two benches with three each). Again, I had no options and accepted the ride.
Mastuj to Gilgit 248 km, 12 hours. The price, because of the time and roads involved, wa fair. Two of the driver’s brothers joined us for the gruelling journey. A 4WD is required as some of the early stream crossing needed it. The road is also rocky and rough and this Jeep is built for it.
I have always thought these Jeeps were crazy vehicles. Just getting into the front seat is cumbersome. There are no doors to access the back. There is nothing to close the windows and the back has only cloth side curtains with a plastic wall. The seat belts didn’t work.
The road is rocky single track and follows the Chitral River before turning north to cross Shandar Pass, the boundary between district Chitral, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan and Gilgit-Baltistan, a disputed territory within the larger region of Kashmir. At 12,500’, it is often called ‘The Roof of the World and is 212 km from Gilgit. All there is a large army camp in tents. It must be an uncomfortable place to live for most of the year. Views are panoramic with a few very high, completely snow-covered mountains looming behind the closer mountains. a
It is difficult to describe how bad the road was. I couldn’t type, read or sleep. He is a great driver and lets me drive for a while. I thought I was doing great despite the seat being too far forward. He told me I was a bad driver but let me continue until finally, he took over. There were no restaurants and we resorted to biscuits, pastry, chips and milk tea. The two brothers entered the front seat and I had the entire back to lay in. Despite trying to sleep several times, I may have only gotten an hour or two.
We finally arrived in Gilgit at 02:30 and he stopped at hotels but none were open. The hotel suggestions in the EPS post described above wouldn’t answer the phone and all were expensive. I asked to drive closer to downtown and found a hotel.
ON Midway Gilgit Hotel. 4000PK/night. I was asleep in seconds.
Day 6 Tue June 18
I walked 10 minutes to the NATCO bus station to get a bus over the Karakoram Highway. There were none, a guy helped me and I needed to take a share van to Sost, 178 km and 3+ hours at 8 the next morning. NATCO buses left from there. It was the second day of Eid. The one van to Sost had left at 8.
The NATCO website was useless. Online booking didn’t work and the phone number was out of date. I was again travelling by the seat of my pants with no firm idea of how things would work out. I had to be in Wenzhou to meet Anna by the 24th and the possibility of missing the Karakorum Highway seemed possible. I thought I would fly to Shanghai and take the train the 5 hours to Wenzhou.
I spent all day in the hotel room working on the book.
ON Midway Gilgit Hotel for the second night.
Day 7 Wed June 18
The day could not have gone better.
I walked down to the bus station at 7:30 to ensure a spot on the share van to Sost. I got the last seat as most had reserved their seats. After loading the roof with all our luggage, 4 crates of apples, 4 bags of cucumbers, 2 large sacks of onions and potatoes and two large propane tanks, we left at 08:30 with a full van of 14. I was comfortable in the back with an old guy and 2 skinny kids. We stopped for half an hour and arrived in Sost at 13:30. The road travelled above a raging river with the mountains slowly rising in height. The nearby ones were just like I saw from Chitral to Gilgit – steep and rocky with no plants and looming high peaks behind.
Within 15 minutes of arrival in Sost, I had booked my ride by share van over the Karakoram Highway to Kashgar (5000PR), checked into my hotel and was sitting eating a delicious mixed vegetable curry with chapatti. How good could it get?
Since Eid started 3 days ago, this was the first day the ride to Kashgar was available.
ON Bluemoon Hotel 2,000PR for a bare room. The owner is a lovely guy with good English.
Day 8 Thur June 20.
Eid has gotten in the way of travel with most businesses closed and restricted transportation options. I could not have gotten here faster in the circumstances. I hope to fly from Kashgar to somewhere in China and need to be in Wenzhou by the 24th. I may have a flight to Xining to get another NM region or to Shanghai and get the train 5 hours to Wenzhou.
We were off at 9 am
AN ITINERARY
Day 1: Spend the day in Peshawar.
Day 2: Travel from Peshawar to Chitral
Day 3, 4, and 5: Explore Chitral (GH Al Farooq Hotel) and the Kalasha Valley – unique culture (Chitral to Mastuj GH Tourist Garden Inn to Shandur?), yoga break at Hindukush Heights hotel in Chitral.
Day 6: Head from Booni (GH White Rock GH) to Phandar (GH Lake Inn)
Day 7: Journey from Phandar to Gahkuch
Day 8: Travel from Gahkuch to Hunza
Day 9 and 10: Discover Hunza – incredible mountain scenery. Ismaili majority
Day 11, 12 &13: Experience Fairy Meadows via Raikot Bridge
Day 14 & 15 Visit Skardu
Day 16, Karimabad, Passu and Pakistan-China
Guides. Luqman Khattak. Locate via FB. Should never have a non-local guide as the Gilgit Baltistan region
K2 base camp – arrange an expedition tour and not a private guide. Commercialized with many people. Require company guide for the permit — Hatamk2guide Hatamk2786@gmail.com Cell 03129776212
DARE
Kurram District (Parachinar)
North and South Waziristan
Tentative WHS
Archaeological Site of Rehman Dheri (30/01/2004)
Mansehra Rock Edicts (30/01/2004)
DERA ISMAIL KHAN
KOHAT
MARDAN
MINGORA
History, Culture, National and City Museums: Mingora: Swat Museum
Villages and Small Towns: Manyar
Airports: Peshawar (PEW)
Railway, Metro, Funiculars, Cable Cars
Khyber Train Safari
Roads, Road Bridges and Tunnels
Shandur Pass
The Khyber Pass
Castles, Palaces, Forts: Attock Khurd: Attock Fort
Vestiges of the Past: Sheri Khan Tarakai
World of Nature: Sheikh Badin NP
Waterfalls: Sajikot Waterfall
Caves, Sinkholes and Saltmines: Sanghao Cave
Rivers: Kabul River, Kunar River
Ski Resorts: Malam Jabba
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PAKISTAN – KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA NORTH (Chitral, Kohistan)
In remote regions (Chitral, Phander Valley, Shandhur Pass) women are invisible from public life.
DARE Upper Chitral District (Lasht – Khyber Pakhtunkhwa extreme northeast)
Villages and Small Towns
BIRIR
Kalash are an Indo-Aryan indigenous people residing in the Chitral District. They are considered unique – Pakistan’s smallest ethnoreligious group, and traditionally practice a form of animism. During the mid-20th century, an attempt was made to force a few Kalasha villages in Pakistan to convert to Islam, but the people fought the conversion and, once official pressure was removed, the vast majority resumed the practice of their own religion.
The term is used to refer to many distinct people including the Väi, the Čima-nišei, the Vântä, plus the Ashkun- and Tregami-speakers. They claim to descend from the armies of Alexander. The neighbouring Nuristani people of the adjacent Nuristan province of Afghanistan once had the same culture and practised a faith very similar. Nuristan converted to Islam in 1895–96,
Nature plays a highly significant and spiritual role, sacrifices are offered and festivals held to give thanks for the abundant resources of their three valleys. Kalasha Desh (the three Kalash valleys) is made up of two distinct cultural areas, the valleys of Rumbur and Bumburet forming one, and Birir Valley the other; Birir Valley being the more traditional of the two. Kalasha language,
About three thousand have converted to Islam or are descendants of converts, yet still live nearby in the Kalash villages and maintain their language and ancient culture. Sheikhs, or converts to Islam, make up more than half of the total Kalasha-speaking population.
Kalasha women usually wear long black robes, often embroidered with cowrie shells. For this reason, they are known in Chitral as “the Black Kafirs”. Men have adopted the Pakistani shalwar kameez.
The Kalasha do not in general separate males and females or frown on contact between the sexes. Girls are initiated into womanhood at an early age of four or five and married at fourteen or fifteen. If a woman wants to change husbands, she will write a letter to her prospective husband informing him of how much her current husband paid for her. This is because the new husband must pay double if he wants her. Marriage by elopement is rather frequent, also involving women who are already married to another man.
Kalash lineages (kam) separate as marriageable descendants that have been separated by over seven generations. ate meat, drank alcohol, and had shamans”
KALAM & SWAT VALLEY VILLAGES
CHITRAL
Chitral Museum
Chitral Shahi Mosque
N-45 National Highway (Mardan-Chitral)
Lowari Tunnel
World of Nature
Chitral Gol NP
Lulusar-Dudipatsar NP
Saiful Muluk NP
Yarkhun Valley
Jarogo Waterfall. Two trek options – one leading straight to the meadows and the other to both the waterfall and meadow. Recommend the waterfall route; enjoy the cascade first, then head to the meadows. 1.5 to 2 hours. No hotels, locals have created cozy huts.
Lakes
Lake Saiful Muluk
Lulusar Lake
Indigenous Peoples: Kalashs
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PAKISTAN – GILGIT-BALTISTAN (Skardu, Diamer)
DARE Ganche District (easternmost)
Tentative WHS
Baltit Fort (30/01/2004)
Central Karakorum National Park (12/04/2016)
Deosai National Park (12/04/2016)
Villages and Small Towns
ALTIT
Castles, Palaces, Forts: Hunza Valley: Altit Fort
CHAPROT
GANISH
GHIZER
GULMIT
KAR IMABAD (HUNZA VALLEY)
PASSU
PHANDER
Roads, Road Bridges and Tunnels: Scenic Road – Karakoram Highway
Castles, Palaces, Forts
Hunza Valley: Baltit Fort
Shigar: Shigar Fort
World of Nature
Broghil Valley NP
Central Karakoram NP
Chapursan Valley
Deosai NP
Hunza Valley
K2 NP
Khunjerab NP
Manglot NP
Shandur NP
Waterfalls: Manthokha Waterfall
Lakes
Attabad Lake
Borit Lake
Khalti Lake
Lower Kachura Lake
Naltar Lake
Phander Lake
Rama Lake
Satpara Lake
Rivers: Indus River, Shyok River
Trails 1 – Treks
Baltoro Glacier Trek
Concordia and K2 Trek
Nanga Parbat Trek
Festivals: Shandur Polo Festival
Pedestrian and Historical Bridges: Hussaini Suspension Bridge
Indigenous Peoples: Hunzakuts
