Across Northern India

Monsoon

Rain! It just keeps coming down. After leaving the Pakistani border and the Sikh city of Amritsar, the full force of the Indian monsoon hit. Roads blocked by entire trees slipping onto the road, villages swamped by orange coloured muck and bucket loads of fat drops of water. Makes things interesting!

 

Amritsar is the Sikh holy city and is home for the Golden Temple, a guilded temple built in the middle of a rectangular lake. Our Sikh guide, Lucky proudly showed us the complex and the communal cateen, which serves over 100,000 chapatis and dhals a day! From Amritsar, the six of us headed north-est for a seven hour drive to Dharamsala.

 

Dharamsala, or the Macloud Ganj where we stayed is home to the Tibeten government in exile and nestled high in the himilayan foothills. There were lots of 'enlightened' westerners hanging around too but we settled for a wander around the Dalai Lamas complex and lunch at the Chocolate Log - which served delightful chocolate cake! (home comforts taken at any opportunity in India!)

 

Next stop, Shimla, the official summer capital of the British Raj until 1939. We stumbled around here in the rain taking some poor, ill-kept horses up to a hindu monument on a nearby hill. We were less than impressed when a chap offered us his telescope to peer into the fog - arhh! Our moods greatly improved when walking around the Mall, a street at the top of the ridge which is lined with colonial style  houses. We spotted pipe-toting cardigan wearing locals and school childen with smart uniforms on. Very English!

 

So a fun few days. Lots of history, culture and rain!

 

 

Pakistan - Part 2

On the roof of the truck through the Hunza

Feet hanging out the front!













Dinner beneath Rakiposhi













Our driver, Karim













Cooling down near Gilgit













More rooftop fun...













Tea in the stream!














Local chap very proud of his Toyota...or is it a Mazda?













Pizza Hut sign in Islamabad...classy!













Markets in Rawalpindi














This is the crowd that turns up for the India-Pakistan border ceremony. One of the most amazing things Ive seen!













The guards on both sides try to outdo each other by crazy marching and shouting. They even manage to kick their own heads with the height of their goosestep!

Pakistan - Part 1

The exciting part of the trip! From Kashgar in China, we drove on the Karakoram Highway which connects Pakistan via the Khunjereb Pass. The road took 20 years build and was completed in the 1980's and resulted in the death of hundreds of Chinese workers. We stayed in Yurts on the way up to the pass, basically a skin tent which the Kyrgyz village people use in the summer to tend their animals.

 

We were met on the Paki side of the pass by our guide and stayed in a place called Passu for our first night in Pakistan.The next morning was for hiking up the nearby Ghulkin glacier, nestled in between the ferocious looking peaks around. The people here are incredibly friendly, dressing in brightly coloured clothing and working in green terraced valleys. If you live in the Hunza valley, its likely you will live over a hundred!

 

Out local guides had a fleet of Willys jeeps. We jumped into these and whistled through the valleys, the locals waving and cheering as the crazy westerners careered through their villages!

 

We spent a couple of nights in Karimabad, Hunza's ancient capital perched high above the Karakoram Highway. We camped above the town in place called the Eagles nest, so named because of its incredible views of Rakaposhi (7788m) and Ultar 2. There was meant to be a solar eclipse and although it was visible, it wasnt quite the dark event we were expecting! The locals took us up the nearby Ultar valley the next morning, and went up a glacier that was very dodgy and would give Health and Safety officials a heart attack if they saw the path!

Kashgar and Yurts!