Pakistan

maree

Slightly off topic, as this is an Indian website….but I just thought that some of you maybe considering crossing the border so I thought I’d share some Pakistan tips. I spent 3 months there last year and had a wonderful time. No one goes there… but you should.

Gilgit - great base for northern Pakistan. The Madina Guest House is as good as the guidebooks say and Mr Yaqoob is a real sweetie. We stayed there on 6 separate occasions and he always gave us “welcome tea” when we arrived. The rooms are great, there’s a huge buffet meal served every night and the staff is great. You can also organise treks from there and jeep drivers to anywhere.

Treks – loads of places for this. Four of us chose to trek up the Bagrote valley to Diran base camp (above 3 glaciers and below Diran and Rakaposhi). We were the first to trek this route for the season and possibly the only ones to do it…. trekking in Pak is not like Nepal. You don’t meet anyone else… except the odd goat herder. We were right in amongst the mountains the whole time and camped at deserted shepherd huts. We took a guide (mandatory for this trek as your walking over glaciers a lot of the time) and, as 3 of us were basically lazy people, a couple of porters. For the 5 day trek, including transport, food, guide, porters and tent hire it cost under US$60 each – good value, I say. Another good side trip from Gilgit where you can do some long or some short walks is the Naltar Valley – alpine meadows and even a few ski lifts – apparently the Pak army do their ski training here but in summer there isn’t a sign of them.

Karakoram Highway – blew me away. How did they ever get this road through? They’ve carved a road through a tectonic collision zone and they can, generally, keep it open. The mountains come right down to the road so the views out the bus window are awesome.

Shandur Polo Festival – if you’re there at the right time then this is an absolute must. It’s hard to imagine that there could be a more beautiful spot for a sporting event – mountains, lake, polo ground, blue sky and 10,000 Pakistani men ( us women were very much out numbered!). General Musharraf (he only declared himself president 2 weeks later) showed up for the final and the match was fantastic. I’d never even seen polo before but I’m a Gilgit supporter forever now (and they won). It’s a 2 day trip up to the pass from Gilgit and the roads are crap… but the views are stunning and the drivers are fantastic.

Hunza Valley – another beautiful place… stay in Altit rather than Karimabad and also go up to Eagle’s Nest (Melishkar) for a night or two – great sunsets/sunrises and a cherry tree right outside (stone fruit season while I was there – apricots, cherries… yummo).

Passu – my favourite small place on the side of the highway where nothing much happens but the views are once again awesome. You can do a day walk which takes you across the river and back over some crazy swingbridges (as seen on cover of LP Karakoram Highway) – not for the fainthearted if it’s windy (and some people even freak out on a calm day). The Yunz Valley day trek is also good – a long day but you get good views of the white Passu Glacier and the dark Batura Glacier. The best thing about Passu for me though was Akber Shah – who owns the Passu Peak Inn where we stayed… a lovelier man you wouldn’t find anywhere. After 25 years in the army he was pensioned out and now runs this small guesthouse in the middle of nowhere. He makes the best potato curry in Pakistan, will talk all night if you want and will flag down a truck or jeep and get them to buy you cigarettes in the next large town. He really is a true gentleman.

Baltistan – worth the long trip from Gilgit (one of my best memories of Pakistan is in the bus with my feet out the window, eating cherries that people kept giving me, spitting out the pits with good music on my Discman… bliss). At the Karakoram Inn in Skardu, Skandur can get hold of a jeep and take you out to Satpara Lake and the seventh century Buddha carvings. The village of Khapalu is a good side trip from Skardu.

North West Frontier Province – we finally left the Northern Areas and went back over the Shandur Pass to Chitral (very sad to leave the Madina for the last time. From Chitral we travelled to Balanguru in the Rumbur Valley. This is a Kalash settlement. The Kalasha are not Muslim and have their own distinctive costumes and customs. They are also extremely friendly and welcoming. Had a great time just hanging out with the women and children – laughing and singing (they were great and we were crap). Saifullah Jan’s guesthouse is fantastic – he has become a spokesman for the Kalasha in their fight against logging interests.

Peshawar – possibly the highlight of a year’s travel for me (not just in Pak and India). We’d met an Indonesian woman who lived there and she invited us to stay and so we did… for 3 weeks. She’d lived there for years (husband headed up an NGO) and so we met so many lovely locals (as opposed to lovely people who worked in the guesthouses). A room of my own (with airconditioning – Peshawar is HOT), Western alcohol (remember, Pakistan is dry), the Peshawar markets, the Gandharan Buddhas at the Peshawar museum, trips to the tribal areas (I held a Kalashnikov), smoking hash with a local policeman, champagne breakfasts and swimming at the American Club…aah, it all made for a fantastic time… a kind of holiday from the holiday.

And from there to Lahore and India – Lahore was just a huge city after what we’d experienced but the Fort and the Badshahi mosque were pretty spectacular and the Wazir Khan Mosque had the most beautiful tile work.

To sum up… the people we met were amazing… none of this “What is your name….come to my gift shop/guest house/tour etc”. They just genuinely wanted to talk to you as they aren’t as used to tourists as they are in India. I found it very refreshing. And one more tale to tell re honesty…

I took just a small pack (but crammed full) up to the polo festival and on the way back it bounced off the back of my jeep. Thought I would never see it or my very expensive tramping boots again. The next day I went to the Gilgit police station to report it for insurance purposes and then went back to have lunch at the Madina. A jeep driver then came in with my bag! Someone had picked it up off the road and handed it in – with everything in it, as well! Couldn’t believe it! There are not many places I have traveled to (or lived in) where this would have happened… thank you, Pakistan.

I didn’t mean to be quite so verbose - that’s what a few wines after work does to me! Great to relive the experiences though. If anyone has any queries then feel free to ask.

Cheers,
Maree

P.S. Tip for women – you will get stared at, no matter what. But you can minimise the hassle – wear salwar kameez and perfect the looking down the road stare or wear dark glasses, ie. try not to make eye contact. The guys we met in guesthouses or through friends were very respectful but on the street it can be a different story.

freemanx

excellent report maree,
thanks!
if i just had more money

salima

what is the situation for going to pakistan from india? would i get a visa from here? sorry for my stupidity...but is there a consulate for pakistan in india?

DianeN.

What a wonderful picture you paint of your trip, Maree! Hmm. Maybe I'll add it to my "must do in the future" list!
Diane

Rob_The_Pom

An excellent post Maree!

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maree

Salima... we got our visas for India when in Pakistan so I imagine you can get a Pakistan visa easily enough in Delhi. I doubt whether you would be able to pick one up at the border though.

volga_volga

I'm glad this thread has been resurrected! I am off to Pakistan this autumn, and I read your reply to Dakota abt single white woman travelling there alone.... I did not have any reservations until my friends, a Pakistani national from Karachi, wrote to me that he would feel very uncomfortable knowing that I travel alone...

what would you say maree? I'll be somewhere in the North, still have to do my research.

maree

I'm certainly no expert and visited the country 3 years ago now... left 6 weeks before 9/11. Things have certainly changed since then. From what I have read and heard on the news, I'd stay away from the Afghan border areas as it's lawless at the best of times and this is probably the worst of times. The men in the tribal areas have been given the task of rounding up Al Qaeda militants etc and who knows what might happen. So possibly stay out of the North West Frontier Province. But there are no guarantees in the Northern Areas either (Gilgit, Hunza etc.). While we were in Gilgit there was a strike/protest type thing with roads blocked and fires set in the middle of streets because of some Shi-ite/Sunni conflict in one of the schools and some of the mullahs had been thrown in jail. I think a lot depends on what is going on in the Middle East as well and just how riled up people get as a result... same in Indonesia and the south of Thailand.

So, i guess you just have to weigh up the possibilities and make the best decision for you... although as Rob said on another post... perhaps we shouldn't be putting our families through all this worry!

P.S. There are a whole lot of photos of Pakistan in my gallery if anyone else is interested

slowbus

Awsome photos, and a great summary of your trip.

I'm a little surprised that you decided to go to Kashmir instead of back to Pakistan this summer, though, because you thought Pakistan may be too dangerous. I saw the photo in your gallery of that bridge you crossed , and I have a hard time believing that anything frightens you! Trekking in Iraq is probably safer!

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indiawise

Thanks for your post. Having just read Beach's excellent post on the 'India confusion', the interesting replies and excel125's opinion and picture of India, makes your post very welcome.

Further I dunno but in a way a travel site covering India would need to evolve and cover The Indian sub-continent to some extent in the future. Its incredible the extent to which most Indians are unaware about Pakistan as a country and what it has to offer in areas such as travel and so on.
Culturally India and Pakistan are pretty much entwined.

off-topic....
Just got my hands on a book...'Holy cow'...Sarah Mcdonald...interesting and has s'thing about a week in pakistan...

volga_volga

oh well maree you may be right, things have changed since Sept 11. but may be, just may be... I will find Osama!!!!!!!!

seriously, my Pakistani friend can arrange for me to stay in some villages in the North with his friends... tempting! the trouble is that you need to book your ticket, your holiday in advance only to learn a few days before about some developments in the world politics against your going.

well one thing i keep telling myself - London is not a much safer place.

also, i am a terrible child 'cause rarely tell my parents until I return from the trip where I'd been to. what's the point of having them worried before anything bad happens? thankfully, my (thoroughly Russian) mother could hardly locate Kashmir on the map (having spent most of her life in the closed society that Soviet Union was)

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Bryan

Maree ...A big thanks for the thread ...We were planning on heading for Pakistan on the last trip early 2002 - 2003 but after Afghanistan was invaded we decided against it. The first time in my life I let world events shape my travel plans ...Must be the being a parent thing who knows
However it was already high on the list and when the time is right I'll go...I reckon it would give a whole new dimension to the sub continent.
I grew up listening to my grandfather talking about the North West Frontier, Peshwar, Rawalpindi and Lahore (he was posted there in the 1920s - 1930s only returning unwillingly to Britain in 1939. So the region has always had a special magical quality for me

Would be interesting to hear from anyone been there in the last couple of months or so

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bijapuri

I doubt it is very safe for Americans at the moment

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lookit me!!!: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bijapuri/

Utube fuzzy logic:
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albaruni

Some areas (like gilgit ) are fairly well protected for americans and european tourists. I wouldn't recommend people go gagra or bangle shopping (without experienced local company)in the streets of rawalpindi or Hyderabad, though.

Bumpy Jonas

Maree: Thanks a lot for your post It was awesome

Bijapuri: I'm an American who spent a decent bit of time in Pakistan summer 2003. Absolutely loved it. I felt very safe, and I wouldn't worry at all about being an American. Just about everyone got excited when i said I was American, because they always here about America but never get to talk to someone from there, so they had tons of questions. The most common was "Why did America invade Afghanistan after 9/11 when everyone knows that the Israelis did it?" Such is life. The other things everyone talked about was how much they wanted to come to the US, about relatives of relatives of friends who live there, etc.