The Guys, Howard from Singapore, Carlos from Columbia, Felix from Germany
Me and Mr Beck
We joined the guys at about 0830hrs at the dining area and took pictures with Mr Beck before we left as he was also leaving Gilgit to Hunza his home the next 2 days. Left the guesthouse and headed to the bus station to get a bus to Raikot Bridge which is the starting point to Fairy Meadows.
After about 3 hours ride on the bumpy road we arrived at Raikot bridge and waited for the jeep to get up to 2666m to the starting point of the hike and ending point of the jeep ride. After 1.5hrs we arrived at the starting point, checked in our names on the log book and started our ascend to Fairy Meadows at 3306m. A man volunteered to guide us along the way and wanted us to stay at his guesthouse, but Howard told him we will go up and see our options before confirming. Not knowing if he understood, we just carried on with him walking with us.
The climb is very steep and tiring so we took our time slowly. The guy seems to be getting impatient cause we are walking so slowly and kept making stops to rests.. keekkek He started conversation with Felix who could speak a little urdu and later Felix told us that this guy want us to pay him Pkr500 as a guide to bring us up. We got furious as we have already told him at the start we didn’t need a guide and would go survey the hotels before we confirm with him. Ramli was really frustrated and told him NO WAY.. He asked why no and Felix spoke with him again and we just ignored him. After speaking to him, Felix turned and said he could agree not to charge us any guide fee if we promise to stay at his guesthouse.. Ermmm again we told him we will see what our options and later decide as there is a few hotels up in Fairy Meadows.
Fairy Meadows and first view of Nanga Parbat...
Panaroma View
I guess he got our message and left us, when we are almost reaching the top we saw him seating at a hut waiting for us.. My goodness he just doesn’t give up. I guess he is really desperate to get a customer. He showed us the way to Fairy Meadows Cottage, we followed without any commitments. The view from the cottage was fantastic. We could see Mt Nanga Parbat at 8125m so close surrounded by the pine trees.. It is really beautiful. He showed us the cottage room which was clean and nice and after bargaining from Pkr600 to Pkr500 we agreed to stay for the night.
The Cottage
We told the manager we were fasting after he asked us if we wanted welcome tea. He looked really surprised and invited us to join them for their Iftar party later. We put our bags in the cottage and rested. Ramli and Felix wanted to go for a dip into the cold spring water at the stream just nearby while Howard went for a nap. I followed Ramli and Felix and took pictures of them dipping into the ice cold water..
The 2 scrawny man...
Wooo Coooold!
Feeling good Felix?
Fairy Meadows future sucessors..
After taking a cold shower we took a short nap as it was only 1700hrs. About 1830hrs we awoke and I went out to the balcony to enjoy the scenery of Nanga Parbat. But the first thing I saw was Felix all wrapped up in his sweater, wind breaker and the blanket from the hotel sitting at the balcony reading his book. It was so hilarious I burst out laughing and asked if he was really from Germany.. It was cold but still bearable for us the Singaporeans.. Wahahaha
Mr Felix all wrapped up.. Wahhha
Waited for Iftar and was invited to seat with the staffs and managers in their cabin with a fireplace to keep us warm. They served French fries, noodle soup and desert for Iftar for free and we ordered veg and egg fried rice for our dinner. We chatted with the manager and the staffs and went and rest for the night.
The moonlit nice was beautiful, so many stars hanging in the clear sky and we could see the shadow of Nanga Parbat.. Fantastic.
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