Day 71 Sost to Tashkurgan 7th Sep 09

We got ready and left for the bus stand at about 0900hrs, we went and bought water and cookies before we went to the bus stand. When we entered the Natco office we saw that the Chinese lady we met at Sost already sitting there. The pic at the bus station asked for our tickets and wrote down the bus no.1588 and told us about the bus going to the customs or something. So we waited since its still early.

The Chinese lady asked us where we stayed the night and we told her Asia Star and she was also staying there. She complained that the room is very dirty and there is bed bug. The bed bug bite her the whole night that she couldn’t sleep properly. We told her ours is also dirty but luckily there isn’t any bed bug. About 10mins later the pic asked us to get to the custom office to get our bags checked first. Ohh so that is what he was saying before.. Wahahhahah we didn’t get it.

So we headed to the customs and saw the 2 guys we saw before at Karimabad.. We put down our bags and waited for any signal to proceed to the customs. Ramli chatted with the 2 guys while I chatted with the Chinese lady. The customs office was filled with trucks from china and most of them are 50ft long. We are wondering how the driver manage to drive all the way here as the roads are mostly still under construction and very narrow.

Ramli later came over and told me that the 2 guys aren’t both Japanese. 1 is Korean whom have been travelling for 5 months now starting from Bangkok and will continue till he reach South Africa. The other is a Jap who has been travelling for 2 months and will continue till he reach Etopia. They will should have an interesting journey ahead of them and we wish them well. The Jap guy whom who spoke to later has been saving for this trip for 8 years… Whoa…!!

Anyway we waited at the customs office since 0930hrs till about 1100hrs before it was our turn. First it was the baggage check by the anti narcotics officers whom was lenient to foreigners and didn’t give any chance to the locals. The bags of the locals were cleared inside out and any suspicions on any items they would take it out and open it to check. Even packs of cigarettes are opened up and a cigarette will be picked out randomly to break into half to check if there is any drugs inside.. That is really thorough so now we know why it took so long just to clear 2 buses of passengers before us.

We thought the customs check and than it will be over, but we were wrong. We haven’t got our passport stamped! After checking the bags we got to go over to the immigration department and queue again for our turn. There is only 2 counters so you can imagine how long it took. And seems that the officers are just using the computerize system so it took even longer just to clear about 10 foreigners before us. What to do we have to wait… The Chinese lady was getting impatient and kept yawning loudly as if to catch the attention of the officer… While still queuing Ramli said to me : “The more he travel it make him appreciate Singapore more!” This is true!!…

Finally after all the waiting we were on the bus and on the way to Tashkurgan at 1215hrs. Our seats are between a few Chinese workers and you can imagine how we felt…. Our ears will be hurting when we get down the bus. But actually along the way we didn’t hear them talk so much but the thing that annoyed us so much is their smoking in the bus which did not have windows!! There are only small sliding windows with a width of about 20cm and length of 60cm the most at the middle of the bus. Both of us was really furious covering our mouths and nose… And it doesn’t help that a few of the Pakistani on board also join in after… The ventilation is really bad and you could see the bus all filled up with smoke. It is so funny that no one made any fuss about it as if it is normal!! At one time the bus had to stop at a check point and Ramli got so frustrated that he got down the bus just to get a breath of fresh air for that few mins while I continued to cover my nose and mouth and sat there…

But other than this annoying part, the view along the journey was fantastic! We pass the Khunjerab National Park which we had to pay USD4/pax which we don’t understand cause we aren’t really walking in the park and just driving thru. But I think it is somehow worth it.. All along the way we could see snow capped mountains surrounding us and rivers running thru the valleys. We finally got to see big yaks grazing on the mountains and even the golden marmots… We haven’t seen a marmot before but when we saw this animal we knew it was it. It look like hamsters but a bigger version, really fat with golden fur

running around the fields in groups or alone… They are soooo cute!!

Khunjerab Check point

The Chinese Check point surrounded by snow capped mountains

We pass the Khunjerab pass and arrived at Pirali at 4100m which is the Chinese security checkpoint at about 1700hrs. There were a few vehicles in front of us waiting for their turn to have their trucks, bus and passengers with luggage to be checked. So again waiting and waiting… At first a Chinese officer came up the bus and counted how many passengers is on the bus and than he took our temperature and went off.. We waited for another 20mins and got the signal to get down and wait to have our bags checked. All around the checkpoint are snow capped mountains and the wind was blowing all the time while we were waiting with our back packs… It is soooo cold!! And doesn’t help that these stupid Chinese workers just jumped our queue to get to the front… Idiots!!

While queuing I saw the Chinese lady was trying to get to the Eco Friendly and very modern and clean looking toilet.. But when an officer saw her walking towards there he shouted at her to stop at proceed behind to a small hut… Hmmmm and when another man wanted to go he shouted to stop and said one by one!! Ermmmm wonder what is the matter.. When the Chinese lady went in he went over beside the hut to make sure no one goes in after.. When the Chinese lady came over to the queue then we knew why… The toilet had no door!! Wahahaha that is why the officer said one by one…

Finally our turn came to have our bags checked by the officers, they knew we are from Singapore and seem very interested and asked me a few questions like how many percent of the people in Singapore are Chinese and if they go to Singapore will it be easy for them cause they can only speak mandarin… Told them no problem since most of the people in Singapore are Chinese.. They took their time to check our bags, cameras and laptop. And for story books they had to keep flipping thru and thru not sure what they are looking for.. It took them about 15mins to finish checking and we have to head out to the cold to wait for the rest to finish so that the bus could cross the check point.. And all the time the wind is blowing and Ramli could even see some snow falling which I didn’t notice and told him it is dust.. whahaha Our finger tips are all numbed standing out in the cold.

I had to go to the toilet as we still had about another 4 hours ride to Taskurgan, and when I got to the toilet it was not how I expected it to be.. I knew there isn’t a door but I didn’t know they don’t even have toilet bowls or tap or even water!! … There are only planks laid out with 4 individual openings for you to deposit what you need to deposit.. Below the openings you could see all types of poo below it… Luckily it wasn’t so smelly otherwise I would have just left without depositing some “water”.. I wasn’t as disgusted but was rather amused at why we had to use this back ward toilet when there is such a modern and clean looking one in front?? Is it just for show to make the Chinese look more professional than the Pakistanis? Hmmm only they know… But I guess Chinese would get 1 point for his cause at least they had a toilet at the check point aren’t like the Pakistani they didn’t have a toilet at their customs office and I had to borrow the toilet from a nearby hotel earlier. I deposited what I had to and quickly put on my pants before anyone comes along.

I got out and walked towards the customs shed and picked up what seems to be snow on the ground just to have a feel of how snow felt… ERmmm it wasn’t what I imagined.. It is like crashed ice for Ice Kachang and it is so cold that it doesn’t melt in your hands..I held it and pass it to Ramli while he walked pass me go get to the “open” toilet…

About 15mins later our bus was ready to go after all that checking and was told that there is another immigration office nearer to Tashkurgan which we have to go thru the same waiting procedure again.. Sighh….

Passing the Chinese Gate

After a total of 8 hours we were finally at Tashkurgan waiting for our passports to be stamped to clear immigration. We had to fill up the immigration form and the health declaration form before we could get to the counter. After our passports are stamped we had to go for a body check. And when they say body check they really mean body check.. The lady officer had to search every part of your body while asking you to take off your clothes and pants to expose yourself… It was embarrassing and doesn’t help that it is the “time” of the month for me !! But she didn’t make it so awkward cause while she was checking we were chatting about the weather and how much extra clothes I had to put on etc…Hmmm but when I asked Ramli how his body search was he said he didn’t have to expose himself which was weird and unfair !!

After all the “search” and checking we finally got on a bus to go to the Traffic Hotel to rest for the night.. We parted ways with the Chinese lady as she didn’t want to stay at Tashkurgan and wanted to get to Kashgar the same night in a private car with the some Pakistani guys that she met on the bus.

Finally we arrived at the 4^th country of our trip! We checked in the double room which costs Y120/night = SGD22/night and went out looking for dinner as we didn’t had much to eat along the way except apples and choc cookies. We went to the restaurant at the hotel as there isn’t much choice cause according to Chinese time it is already almost 2300hrs. We ordered hot plate beef and fried mushroom with cabbage and rice for dinner. It didn’t take them took long like how the Pakistanis or Indians would prepare their food. There is complimentary Chinese tea so we didn’t order any drinks cause we need to stinge a little since the hotel room is expensive but it is really nice room with a tv, flask to make hot water for complimentary tea and clean sheets. We enjoyed our dinner very much as the food is really tasty and finally some Chinese style cooking which is Halal!!

Went back to the cold cold room to rest for the night..

Day 70 Passu to Sost 6th Sep 09

Morning came and today we have to leave and head up to Sost to get our bus to the border to cross into China finally.

Ramli tried to take a shower but there wasn’t any hot water available so he just washed his hair and clean up. I bath the night before so I was still “clean”.. We packed up and headed outside to check out. The door to the reception was locked and we had no idea where the owner went. We waited and saw that the Chinese lady was also checking out and also heading to Sost today.

We put our backpacks at the road side to indicate to any bus to stop so we could get a ride to Sost. About 15mins later we saw the owner walking down the road towards us.. He might have gone for a morning walk. Ramli went with him to the reception area to check out and pay for the room. Before Ramli paid him he asked if we could get a discount as there isn’t any hot shower the day before and today morning and further more the power cut about 2100hrs till today morning. The owner “grumpy old man” just simply replied there is hot water yesterday night .. I checked and just kept quiet.. Hmmm

We sat outside from 0930hrs till about 1200hrs and there isn’t any sight of any minibus passing by.. What happen? Waited and waited patiently, and finally about 1300hrs a bus came by and stopped but was only able to take one passenger so the Chinese lady got in while we continued waiting..


waiting and waiting

1400hrs still no sign of any mini buses… It was getting colder and I wished I could have some hot tea but the owner wasn’t in..


Still waiting

1430hrs the owner appeared and asked us why we hadn’t got a bus.. he told us not to worry as he said there would be many mini buses coming soon… And miraculously he invited us to tea… Hmmm weird “grumpy old man” he made black tea as requested by Ramli and offered us apricots too…

We enjoyed our tea and apricots, chatted with him for a while before he clear the table and went and clean the rooms..

Finally about 1520hrs a minibus came and it was the same bus we took from Aliabad.. The driver squeezed us in and we were on our way thru the picturesque journey … Phew !! we thought we will have to sleep over at Passu another night..

We arrived at Sost about 1700hrs and paid Pkr100/pax = SGD1.75/pax for the 1.5hrs ride..Hmmm we were curious as we paid Pkk130/pax = SGD2.30/pax for the 4hrs ride from Aliabadto Passu.. But anyways it isn’t that expensive so we just paid and went along to buy our bus tickets to Tashkurgan the next morning. The bus ticket for 5-6hrs ride is really expensive … Pkr2000/pax = SGD35/pax.. Sigh

After headed to check into Asia Star hotel recommended by the driver.. Pkr300/night = SGD5.30/night.. The toilet is dirty and room is also quite filthy but tolerable so we took the room thinking that it will be only for 1 night… So no fuss and seems they have warm shower also..

After resting about 2 hours we headed out to the streets to see what they have… Many provision shops align the roads… We bought some local French fries and chips, samosas and pakora and headed back to the hotel for hot tea to warm ourselves.. We than ordered a plate of veg chowmien which came in such a huge portion for at least 4 pax we thought the guy had double our order since there was 2 of us but only 1 order. We tried our best to finish it while watching fantastic 4 – rise of the silver surfer on tv with one power cut… When we finished we paid for our food and room for the night and only found out that the chowmien is only 1 portion which costs only Pkr150 = SGD2.65… It was really worth it…


Asia Hoel?




The candy sellers


The well decorated truck


The shops nearby with the splendid mountain view


Sunsetting



With our very full stomach we went back to the room to rest for the night…

Day 69 Passu 5th Sep 09

We woke up about 0345hrs to have our Sahur, hunza bread with peanut butter or cheese and Tea… Seems the cooker is working fine as the water boiled quite nicely quickly. Might be the power at Karimabad wasn’t strong enough.. We plan to for hiking later in the morning if the weather is good as the past 3 days it has been raining and gloomy.

A clear blue day

We awoke again about 0800hrs and were very happy to see the clear blue sky again. And so we got up and got ready to go for our walk to find the 2 suspension bridge around Passu. We started walking about 0930hrs from Passu Inn and headed north towards Sheesper Inn to look for the bridge as per the instructions on the Trail Blazer book on the Silk road. Along the way we met some locals and they led us to the suspension bridge as they were going the same way.

The Glacier nearby

Half way to the bridge

If we didn’t meet anyone along the way we would have miss the trail to the bridge as it is hidden down the hills off the main road. We had to walk thru small paths thru the small hills about 45mins to be able to see the bridge. And for the locals they went ahead of us and they can really walk fast… We took our time to take in the majestic view of the snow capped mountains around the Hunza River. By the time we got to the suspension bridge I got worried and cold feet.. The bridge is strung up with metal cables and the pathway is just made up of small wooden branches or planks spread far apart where you really have to stretch your legs to get to the other branch.. This is really scary and it doesn’t help that the bridge looks like 1000km long but actually only about 200m long.

rickety bridge

First view of the bridge

Holding on to dear life

Safely across and below

I asked Ramli to get to the bridge first so I could take some photos for him as I don’t think I will be able to take any for him later when I’m on the bridge. So after finishing snapping pictures for him I took in a real deep breath said Bismillah Hirahman Nir Rahim and took my first step on the bridge. It’s really scary but slowly slowly I took my time to cross over.. Phew finally after 15 mins I got across safely all in tact..

We continued south west crossing the valleys and getting closer to the mountains. And after we somehow got lost a little but found our way again following some markers that someone had left behind.. The hot day drained me out, I was breathing so hard and had to stop so many times and seems like is Nepal trekking all over again and I hate this feeling.. Ramli knew that I am having a hard time, he held my hand and we walked together hand in hand.. At that very moment he held my hand, I wanted to cry cause somehow I just felt so touched and warm… Wahahahah don’t know why I was so emotional all of a sudden. We walked about 15mins and had to split our hands as we were sweating on each others palms…

The 2nd crossing

Wheat fields

Further on we saw wheat fields and some plantations with women working in their fields, we asked for directions to the next suspension bridge and was pointed the way. It took us about 3.5 hours to get to the 2^nd bridge and again this bridge looks all flimsy and unsafe but still we got across safely and arrived at Hussaini Village after 4 hours. And by now we are all exhausted and decided we would break our fast for today .. We saw some kids at the village and asked if there is any shop we could go to buy drinks. A young lady washing clothes invited us to her house but rejected as we didn’t want to trouble her since she is not even half way thru her washing. She asked her little brother to lead us to the shop nearby. We followed him and soon there was 3 kids leading us to the shop. When we arrived at the main road we pass a family who was ploughing their land and asked where we were heading to and we told them the same to get some drinks. The boy kept telling us the shop is close but the young boys kept asking us to go.. Hmmm we are confused but later decided to just follow the boys since they are going the way back to Passu.

After about 30mins we arrived at a closed shop, one of the boys asked us to rest first under the shed while he ran down shouting for someone. After about 2 mins he came back with a young boy with the key to the shop. He opened the small shop and asked what we wanted to buy, we got our selves our drinks and bought juice for the 3 boys we led us here. They were standing around us for awhile and left after a man came and asked them to go.. Hmmm we read in the books that in this area the villagers doesn’t like to have any foreign influence on their village thus we guess the reason why the man asked the boys to go…

We rested for a while and decided to continue our walk to Borit Lake 2km upwards between the mountains. Slowly we climb up and was glad we came up. The view of the lake with the mountains surrounding it is so beautiful. We walked on to the Borit Lake hotel to check if it is open so we could order some food.

The view from the Borit Lake Hotel

Borit Lake

And yes the owner to the beautiful hotel was there, we ordered our food and sat down to enjoy the view. The wind was blowing and it was really really cold, our finger tips are all numb… About 30mins later the nice owner served our chicken Karahi with chapatti. It was really tasty, we finished and continued on our long journey back to Passu.

the apricot tree

We headed north and walked pass a small village and saw 1 young girl and a teenage girl drying apricots. I asked the teenage girl if they had dried apricots that we could buy but she only had fresh ones from the trees. So she led us to the tree and she pluck some for me to try…It was really nice to have fruits fresh from the tree. I gave her plastic bag to put in the apricots she filled it up almost half and I asked her to stopped but she continued till there was maybe about 60-70 apricots in the bag. At first she didn’t want to take the money but I insisted as it wasn’t nice to take so much for free.

Passu Glacier

Continued our walk passing thru the apricot tree filled village and headed upwards to the hills to cross over to the other side so we could go back to Passu Inn. On the way we strayed and went to view the Passu glacier even though it is already about 1715hrs and we still have about another 2 hours before we will arrive at Passu village. After we rush our way thru the hills and finally came upon the steep down slope which we had to get down before we could reach the main road. The way down was really scary, a wrong move will cause us to slip down the soft sand and maybe fall and injure ourselves real bad. Luckily I brought my trekking stick along to help me balance otherwise I think I would have fallen down the slope from the very beginning. Both of us slipped so many times and finally after about 40mins we arrived safe and sound at the bottom. We walked thru the field ahead which was covered with bushes of thorns.. Walked straight and climbed over short stone walls, walked back climbed over the stone walls again and walked left before we were back on the main road. The hike was quite difficult as there weren’t any signs on the way and the tracks wasn’t clear enough.. But thank God we got thru the days track safely and was on our way back to the guesthouse.

We could feel the ache on our legs and our feet but felt that it is all worth it. It is a beautiful day… till we got back to the inn. We cleaned up and headed to the dining hall to have some snacks even though we are still full of the chicken Karahi and chapatti. Cause we felt that we should help the owner make some money since he has only 3 guests this week. But when we asked if he has anymore food at about 2000hrs he told us no more food as we are too late.. ERmmm too late ? we weren’t informed there was a cut off time but we felt relief as we don’t have to eat anymore. So we thought we will just buy some water from him. And he just directed us to the General Store.. Alright fine than we tried to help you make some profit…

After getting the water we headed back to the room and took our rest…

Day 68 Karimabad to Passu 4th Sep 09

Leaving Karimabad



Another day of having the Sufi singing as our alarm clock. Today for sahur we are having tomato soup with Hunza bread and tea.. I made the instant tomato soup the night before so it will be easy just to hit up today. Luckily the cooker was working a little faster today so we got to eat it with the hunza bread which tasted like whole meal bread but heavier and real difficult to swallow. Finished our food and waited to solat while Felix went back to sleep.

Today we plan to leave Karimabad for Passu while Felix will head back to Islamabad and slowly back to the south of Karachi before the 21st Sep when he will start his internship for 3 months. As he has a long way to go he woke up at about 0700hrs and prepared to leave by 0800am. We bid our farewell and wish him luck for his journey and he left.

We waited till about 0830hrs before we got up to get ready and pack up to leave. We waited outside of the guesthouse for a Suzuki (like mini taxi) to get to Aliabad to get our bus to Passu. It was raining and so cold that we could see steam coming out when we speak. Finally after about 20mins a Suzuki appear with many young ladies already on board. I squeezed in with them while Ramli had to hang outside as there is no more seat available as our huge bags occupied too much space. 15mins downhill finally we arrived at Aliabad town but miss the bus station as we weren’t sure where it was. One of the ladies asked me where we are going and she told me that we have left it. But its alright they will tell the driver to send us back there as the Suzuki’s last stop is at the college that they are studying at.

After all the ladies got down the driver got us back to the station and we bought our tickets to Passu for Pkr100/pax + Pkr30/backpack = SGD2.30/pax. The driver told us we will move off about 30mins later as the van is not filled up yet. We saw the lists and there was only 5 confirmed passengers including us and there is another 10 more passengers we need to wait for. We waited and waited and waited and waited about 1.5hrs later finally the van filled up and we were on our way.

The ride thru the mountains and snow capped mountains was fantastic, one could never forget the view of this beautiful place. Only thing that was annoying was the roads as the Chinese are still building it since last Aug. It is all bumpy and dusty…

Anyways we arrived at Passu at about 1600hrs and we asked the driver to stop at Sheesper Inn which was good reveals on the Lonely Planet. We got down and the driver honk for the hotel manager to come out. But seems that no one is inside, Ramli went in to check and seems the place is close so the driver asked us to go to Passu Inn instead. Alright than since it is closed.

We checked into Passu Inn and saw the Chinese lady we met at Madina Guest House in Gilgit and than saw her at Haider Inn at Karimabad and now is the 3rd time we bump into her on the road. We went into the room which costs Pkr400/night = SGD7.00/night with attached bathroom and hot shower and rested. This place is much colder than Karimabad…Our finger tips are all numbed and our bodies chilled to the bone. But we manage to doze off below the 2 thick comforters.




The Passu Peak








The long way down










The mountain view just outside the Passu Inn

Awoke by 1800hrs to solat and headed out to wait for buka. We ordered egg fried rice and veg soup since there isn’t meat available. It took him about 30mins to prepare the food which was just in time for us for buka. Finished our dinner and went back to our rooms to rest for the night again… Tonight is going to be a cold cold night..

Day 67 Karimabad 3rd Sep 09

Again we were all awoken by the Sufi singing at 0330hrs, so I got up to try to boil some water on the cooker again so that we could have some hot tea. While the water was trying to boil we prepared our really dry and hard bread either with peanut butter or cheese according to individual preference. Cut up the fruit cake which tasted good… While all of us is trying our bests to swallow the bread the water finally started to boil.. Yahooo!! After 30mins or more… Finished our food and same thing Felix went to sleep while we waited for Subr…

We awoke about 0700hrs to check the weather as we planned to go climb 1000m to see Ultar Meadow with the beautiful icefall and the black pinnacle called Lady Finger at 6000m. But when we opened the door we were disappointed, it was raining and the sky is all cloudy and gloomy. We decided to wait a while more and went back to sleep. About 0800hrs we check again and it is still the same gloomy sky… Hmmmm so we decided to give up this idea and just chill in the room. Felix went out about 0930hrs to the internet café and we just continued to snooze…. And we continued snoozing till about 1400hrs before we finally got up to solat and than head out to collect our Hunza bread which we ordered the day before from a bakery at the bazaar.

It was still drizzling and so cold outside, we went to the bakery and collected our Hunza bread. First sight of the bread was impressive as how Carlos has described it to us.. We are looking forward to taste it tonight… After we slowly headed back and went to the internet café to check our mails etc..

Stayed there till about 1800hrs and went back to the room and snooze again.. Wahahahahha but all of us are looking forward for the Iftar Dinner buffet that we will be having at the Hunza Inn hotel. When the time came we went there and sat down at the beautiful restaurant. After the chef gave us the al la carte menu we felt there is something amiss.. We just casually turn the pages and decided to ask the chef if they had the buffet. As we suspected there isn’t enough guest for them to have the buffet.. Boohooo!! We just console ourselves that we are able to save the Pkr750/pax = SGD14/pax. So we walked out and decided to try the Hidden Paradise restaurant for Iftar.

the chicken soup with the huge wooden soup

hmm i think is not tasty

the fried potatoes.. .Tasty!!

Curry Chicken

Arrived there and ordered curry chicken with rice and fried potatoes. Felix ordered a local dish of spinach, potatoes and roti all mixed together. After about 30mins our food came and even though the curry chicken tasted different from the ones we are used to we still enjoy it. The fried potatoes was my favorite, the fry the potato whole and the outside is very crispy and inside all soft… Tasty!! Felix dinner didn’t taste so good for me and we could see that he isn’t enjoying but still he tried his best to eat as much as he could.

Night view from the terrace

Finished our dinner headed out to the cold street and slowly walked back to the guesthouse to rest for the night and await the next day to move on..

the 3 bed dorm