Gilgit to Skardu to Shigar August 31

Shopping last night in Gilgit’s market was left out of our entry yesterday. The word market doesn’t aptly describe it. It’s more a collection of small shops selling watches, clothes, fabric, and telecommunications, just to name a few products, in a cloud of dust kicked up by passing vehicles. A cover of dust lingers everywhere. Our mission was to purchase school supplies for a needy school near Shigar, a very poor area. While walking around the market we were looked upon as a curiosity, not only because our group included women, but also because we are white and foreign. Finally, after having no luck finding a school supply shop me, as a woman, ventured into a telecommunication shop. The reason I decided to enter there was easy, telecommunications is basically embraced by younger people and sure enough, there sat four young men and they even spoke to me. I explained what we wanted and he led us through a maze of streets to the school supply shop. A group decision on writing tablets, pencils, colored pencils, and ABC books to learn English, filled two boxes and cost us the grand sum of $53 USD. Our guide Claudio told us that it was cheap. We love bargains, don’t we?

August 31, 2007

Today we found something more harrowing than the 1 ½ lane Karakoram Highway (KKH). The 100 mile road connecting Gilgit to Skardu was only ONE lane wide!!! . So we traveled a similar rutted, potholed asphalt road with soft shoulders, constantly winding with blind hairpin turns, washed out sections, water hazards and few guardrails - all with one-third less room to spare. We still had to carefully pass oncoming traffic, like those pesky jingle trucks. Sounds exciting, doesn’t it? We’ve turned into adrenaline junkies. One time I looked down from my window in the van and saw a hole with a void under and only bent rebar supporting us! The three of us sat on side of the vehicle closest to the edge meaning we had a great view!! A roller coaster ride will be dull after this trip!

Maybe the best description comes from female explorer Isabella Bird who wrote,
“ ‘Roads’ are constructed with great toil, as nature compels the road-maker to follow her lead, and carry his track along the narrow valleys, ravines, gorges, and chasms which she has marked for him. For miles at a time this ‘road’ is merely a ledge above a raging torrent.” Paraphrasing Dervla Murphy as stated in THREE CUPS OF TEA, to traverse this road a driver must embrace fatalism otherwise or otherwise he couldn’t summon up enough courage to drive along a track where for hours on end one minor misjudgment could send the vehicle hurtling hundreds of feet into the Indus River. Yet, without traveling through the Indus gorge one can not conceive of its drama and beauty.

Having said all this, we just want everyone to know our driver Fida is excellent and very experienced. He has lived in this section of Baltistan and driven this road many times.

On several occasions we had situations we didn’t have enough width in the road to pass an oncoming truck. So they needed to back up to a wider section to allow passing. One incident today, the oncoming jingle truck refused to stay on his side to pass on the correct side of the road. Oh, by the way, we haven’t mentioned the Pakistanis drive in the left hand lane like the Brits. That being said, the jingle truck was on our side of the road away from the precipice. Our driver drove our van up to the truck’s bumper and an altercation ensued. The truck driver and his assistant came up to the driver of our van shouting and waving hands. Our guide left the van and offered some money to settle the problem. He refused to accept it, but when he was told there were tourists on the bus – problem settled. The people in Baltistan want the tourists to keep coming. The real reason why the truck driver didn’t want to more over was his load of potatoes and he was afraid the weight would topple his truck over the edge into the gorge. There isn’t any road rage; they just argue it out with flailing arms.

We crossed several small suspension bridges in the past several days and we were told they were built by the Chinese. This area borders China about 150 miles south. Interestingly, no photos of or from the bridge were permitted. Our guide repeated reminded us not to take photos when approaching these bridges. I can’t for the life of me figure out what’s the big deal. Oh, well.

On the way to our lodging we passed through Skardu which is a well known jump off point for treks, rock climbing, and mountain climbing, the most famous being K-2. Its economy flourishes by outfitting many of these expeditions.

At the end of another exhausting day on the road, we stop and walked to our hotel for the night – the Shigar Fort. The Shigar Fort Residence is “a unique heritage conservation project which offers guests the opportunity to experience the restored architecture of a 17th century Raja fort-palace, while enjoying modern amenities and services…” The fort had been built by Hassan Khan, the 20th ruler of the Amacha Dynasty. It truly is a great experience with antiques in the rooms, original walnut planked floors where slippers are provided so as not to scratch the floors, and Grohe bath fixtures (very upscale). To reach some of the rooms, one must climb a spiral staircase – Lord only knows how the porters lugged the baggage up those stairs. The property opened in May and already a company has booked the entire complex for a conference. I’m sitting in the outdoor garden’s pagoda typing this blog with a waterfall cascading into the surrounding pool behind me. Not bad for a last minute change in our itinerary.

Peace be with you,

Tamara, Rich and Garry

Captions: 1) Road drop off - less severe than normal 2) Suspension bridge
3) Confrontation with jingle truck driver 4) Sunset on road to Shigar
5) Shigar Fort