PAKISTAN TRAVELS
‘Why Pakistan?’ Is what many people asked before we left. Indeed, due to the situation in the Middle East we were not certain that we would be going at all. Despite various people raising eyebrows, and some saying it really was not a good idea, we had the good fortune to encounter a former defence adviser to the Pakistan Government, who gave us the best possible advice for our trip. With one phone call our entire trip was organised with drivers and guides.
Our children thought we were going on some mad gap year travel expedition and there was a lot of role reversal as they said, ‘we must see your itinerary and know where you are’, ‘is this really a good idea?’ as well as ‘I presume you won’t be going now’!
It is rare these days to be able to travel to a country and feel that you are completely absorbed by it, not just a tourist looking in. However, as soon as we set foot in Pakistan, we were swept up in the culture, beauty, sights and smells of it all.
We were certainly thrown into it as our plans on the first day changed when the flight to Skardu in the north was cancelled due to bad weather, so we had to rearrange our plans and divert to Lahore finding a local taxi driver to drive us.
Lahore is the cultural capital of Pakistan, filled with formidable Mughal monuments and faded legacies of the British Raj. We spent a packed two days seeing most of the bustling city and some gardens. We visited the most enormous fort, which we had the good fortune to see on our own due to a visit of Hindu monks. An atmospheric bazaar in the old city, selling spices, gold and copper market. An impressive mosque with similarities in detail to the Taj Mahal. A faded British GPO where I posted my postcards and wondered how long, if at all, they would reach England. A good museum showing Gandharan sculpture. We also spent the last couple of hours buying carpets, happily without getting too carried away - as I have been known to do in the past!
We went on to Islamabad, where we had an extra day due to our travel plans changing. We were lucky enough to have made friends with a wonderful local gentleman on our flight who generously invited us to stay with him and his family at their home in a smart area of the city. Our host had made an enormous effort for us and organised a dinner party with interesting people including his charming mother and a judge who practised in Pakistan and London.
We then set of for Skardu once again. We had got to know Islamabad airport quite well by now. It was built recently, and of interesting architectural design with a Y shaped terminal, high ceilings and glass.
This time our flight took off perfectly, and we were soon looking out over dramatic snowcapped mountains of the Karakorum range; it is one of the world’s most scenic flights and so exciting to arrive in the dramatic mountains and landscape.
We walked through the small airport and saw the beaming face of Hatam who was going to be our guide for the next six days. Next to him was standing Zorad a taller man with a kind face who was to be our wonderful driver. Our vehicle was a Toyota Landcruiser which carried us effortlessly across the roughest of terrain, as there are many landslides, and any smooth tarmac felt like a motorway. The spectacular landscape continued on our drive to Khaplu around every turn was another wonderful scene of arid desert, jagged mountains and water below of steely turquoise blue.
The scenery changed as we climbed, the mountains became more dramatic and the river a deeper blue. We were continually ascending in altitude until we reached Khaplu at 8500 feet. We stayed in the Serena palace hotel which had been restored beautifully by the Aga Khan and sat nestled in the hills.
We noticed the difference between Lahore where all the locals would come up to us and ask to have their photo taken with us, but in these Northern areas the locals are shy of foreigners, the women do not want their picture taken. Little English is spoken and even Urdu is a foreign language.
We felt so privileged to be allowed into our guide Hatam’ s home to meet his family and adorable children, to be shown around the local school and health centre. The family unit was so strong, they all lived next door to each other and were there for support. We met Hatam’s 83 year old father who had a wonderful, wizened old face and was content with his life making his way to prayer five times a day at the local mosque. The ground is very fertile, harvested on terraces, with bright green wheat contrasting against the backdrop of the dramatic mountain range.
Each day provided more wonderful insight into this magical area. We trekked towards K2 basecamp. Although our outings were not a huge distance by Hatam’s usual standards, he was a professional climber who had done K2 basecamp regularly, and scaled all the peaks at 6500 metres around, usually in winter! (No wonder the first thing that I had noticed about him was that he was a missing half a finger, presumably lost to frostbite.)
We enjoyed our walks for the people and scenery that we took in along the way. The apricot trees were still in bloom, the pink blossom contrasting against the grey rock. We met local tribesmen, saw the workers in the fields, but for me the greatest excitement was meeting a local tribe who were panning for gold in the river. They showed us their method of extracting the gold using mercury.
Panning for gold by the side of the river, and inspecting the result
I had always wanted to visit a gemstone mine and had requested a visit on this trip, although assumed that it would be considered too dangerous to be possible. When Hatam said he was hoping for us to go I could not believe it. He did have to bribe his way through the military checkpoint, telling them we were just going for a cup of tea in the local village!
Once at the mine it was very relaxed, we could explore any part of the mine in spite of dynamite blasting on one side! The stones mined in this area are mostly aquamarine, tourmaline, peridot and some emerald. On our journey to the mine over mixed terrain an oncoming vehicle would wind down the window and pass a packet of stones for me to look at. More ‘formal’ viewing of stones on this trip consisted of sitting on the floor of someone’s house in the village with a lot of packets, mainly wrapped in newspaper, being produced for me to peruse.
In Shirgar, our second destination in the Karakoram mountain range, the scenery is equally dramatic, just when you think it cannot get better you are marvelling at the rugged desert-like valleys against the soaring peaks. The people here are less shy; we trekked to an organic village where all the people are self-sufficient and very friendly.
So, we left the mountains, said sad goodbyes to our wonderful Hatam and Zorad.
Our last day in Pakistan proved as packed as all the others with the added excitement of visiting Peshwar. It conjures up images of romance, intrigue and danger. We did not feel at all unsafe in our small car driven by our steady driver and guide. It was only the nervous vibes from our son who thought we were completely mad going anywhere near the frontier town that slightly set alarm bells ringing via WhatsApp - our guide picked up on this discussion about our family’s concern, and we suddenly found ourselves surrounded by a cloud of blue lights. A police escort had been summoned to accompany us. When we insisted that we were fine we politely shook them off so we could once again go our own free way without drawing unwanted attention. I did feel sorry for the people who had visited Pakistan and had to have a police escort with them all the time. At no time did we ever feel unsafe, and if we had to have a police escort I would not have had the most unique experience that I enjoyed whilst visiting this country.
Peshwar itself was such an example. I was swept up in the atmosphere of the old city. It is a warren of bazaars, with bustle, rickshaws, traditional green tea being made in enamel pots, and everything under the sun being sold. You weave your way through the cacophony talking to people on the way, having a joke with the rickshaw drivers, all such fun. It was such a wonderful last moment of our momentous trip to savour…until the next one.