The Adventure of a Lifetime - Part III

Exploring Fairy Meadows

      Day 3

      

  A cold, cold night in the sleeping bag, tossing and turning, trying to block out the little drafts of cold air that worked its way into the sleeping bag. Even though the bags were warm enough, and there were mattresses underneath, I did not sleep proper. I heard people say about being too tired to sleep properly before, but I never experienced it myself, such is the legend of the depth of my sleep.

  It was around 6 am when the world outside our tent grew brighter.... and more importantly, warmer. I was still too tired to care so I tried to get some more sleep. An hour later, the insides of our tent were practically too warm to sleep in, and we could tell the sun was out above the mountains surrounding us. Time to get up I guess. 

   And behold, a sight for cramped legs and tired bones, the silvery white shine of the magnificent Nanga Parbat, right from the opening in our tent. I cannot find the words to describe it. Its not of this world. Immense. Proudly standing in stark contrast to its surroundings, the sky itself looked like it was in awe. The blue-est of blues, and the whitest of whites. Put all that atop a base of green treas and grass, it makes up for all the painful hiking and bumpy buses, and then some. 

The mountain on our first morning there....before i washed my face..... (HDR)

   All of us could manage a low "whoa....nice" and just sat there inside the tent to watch. Take in. Before long I took my camera out, wiped off the condensation, and started off filling my memory cards before I had time to wash my face. This was too pretty, this was practically close to dreams.

Flash set at 1/2 power pointed at the fence. handheld.

   

Like a friend pointed out after my first post, I complain a lot..... ill hold true to that here, cause I'm about to write about the water. Yes. The water. the water you use to wash up to be precise. How do i put it in decent words? I cannot. Men will understand. Its cold enough to make you think twice before you go to the bathroom. You want to wash your face? What face? Your face is frozen senseless from the first water that comes into contact with it. It feels like you're hitting your face with wooden sticks, cause your hands don't feel like they belong to you. All is well I guess, this keeps the time spent washing up and making yourself pretty to a minimum, and you just get back to enjoying watching the world again. You just do what is absolutely necessary, in terms of personal hygiene. 

     Breakfast wasn't a normal meal today. It was more a board meeting. Discussions, voting, ideas, opinions. The topics ranged from the tents being too cold for our brethren from Karachi, to paying a bit more to get a hut for the other two nights, and to choosing an alternate road back to civilization instead of the KKH (karakorum highway). Entering into the discussion it was safe to presume everyone was on the same page. No one had said it till now, but none of us were ready to bear the Natco bus and the 20 hours on the road again with nothing to see out of the window except sand and a dirty brown river. It was unanimous. We all wanted to take the alternate route back, the famed Babusar Pass. It wouldn't necessarily mean a shorter time on the road, but at least it wouldn't be in that bus, it wouldn't be on the KKH, and it would definitely be more of an adventure and a path worth seeing. Set all that aside, it would be a whole other thing to drive over the Babusar pass, one of the highest motor-able roads of the world, at 14000 feet. Not many people have seen it, I personally had tried to go there back in 2008 but failed because of landsliding. 

 Taking this route would also mean going via the town of Naran, where, especially for those who came all the way from Karachi, they could possibly get off overnight and see the famous Lake Saif ul Mulook. 

   But it wasn't all that easy of a decision. We all had to think of other things, but all that is for another post. For now I will get back to the day exploring the Meadows. 

  The breakfast over, everyone got a pleasant surprise when they found out the resort had the facility of a hot shower. a single outhouse towards the back where they had a wood burning boiler, and the water was blissfully hot, and the shower powerful. It was, for lack of a better word, epic.

Syed looking on before we set off north

The stream in the open field infront of our campsite

Me with Moon and Sunny infront of our resort

 

   All showered, and ready to explore, we set off with our guide, back north, leading away from the mountain and towards the main part of Fairy meadows, and the rest of the resorts in this place. A short walk down a beautiful stream amongst the trees, it was hard to believe we passed this path the previous night in our despair. Things were beautiful again. Pretty, quiet, and clean.  

  About 20 minutes down that path we came to a huge open field of grass, surrounded by tall daunting mountains and the open blue sky above, and a vast flat grassland that gave this place the name of fairy Meadows. We could see the local village to some distance on our left ( west side ) and another resort, the more expensive Raikot Sarai on our right. On to the meadows now, towards the famous mirror lake, or the reflection lake where most pictures of fairy meadows are taken. Naimat told us, the flat field was also used as a polo ground, and a match was planned for the next day. 

Panorama of the fields and polo ground

 Coming to that lake was more a disappointment than awe-inspiring moment. Not a lake, more of a pond.  But standing on the north side of it, looking away from the mountain, its highly unimpressive. Go towards the other side and you get where it gets its name. And what a reflection it is. 

Reflection lake

   A long round of pictures, both landscapes and portraits, we asked Naimat where to now? The answer was....the proper lake, behind the trees. No reflections there, just a deep green lake in the middle of the trees. On then. 

   This lake, the name being in question still, Haroon said it was called Tarar lake, in honour of Mustansar Hussain Tarar, a famous Pakistani author, travel writer, and actor. This was more of a lake now, deep in a depression, hidden from everything by tall trees, and green clear water. This was more out of a C.S. Lewis book than reality. I walked around it, towards a high vantage point where i could take pictures. And that I did. 

Tarar lake

    Beyond this lake, towards the north is the settlement of the people who live here. Tourist aren't allowed to go back there. But google maps shows it quite clearly, it is quite a large areas of fields and small huts. 

 Me and Mohammad spent quite a long time here, longer than most of our group wanted to give this place, so by the time we were going back, we were alone, with Naimat.

Naimat, enjoying the sun while he waited for us

A stream in the polo ground that wasn't there in the morning when we came

Walking up to the resort, Naimat showed us his house where I took one of my favourite, and the most meaningful picture of my trip. He asked us if we knew our way back from here, we did so we went off on our own.

   On our way back, we asked the people in the other resort if we could see and take photographs in their lawn. They were very nice about it, so we went to other viewpoint of this place, seen in quite a lot of the pictures online. But I wouldn't say the view here beat the view of the more reasonable resort, where we were living. 

Me and Syed, in the lawns of Raikot Sarai

  Back at the streams, I stopped to try something I wanted to for a long time. I had to gear for it, I just never found an opportunity to do this....long exposure running water shots. I set up along the way whenever i saw the place was worth a picture, and we made our way back in gaps and stutters, so that by the time we did get back to the resort, everyone was done with lunch, and they were sitting in the sun enjoying their green tea.

A quick cold lunch, and we took our cups out to sit in the warmth, but alas, the sun was away for the day and the air was cold again. It was 4 pm. Tall mountains. Sun hides behind them. Cold winds again. Only the mountainous beast had sunlight on it, illuminating the whole valley with its white shine. 

   

 Mobile phones don't work in Fairy Meadows, save for one point at the edge of a cliff overlooking a 3000 foot drop. Its aptly called, the Signal point. Inconveniently, it was right next to Tarar lake, a fact we weren't made aware of till we were back in the hotel. A promise to my mother of calling her everyday, I knew i had to go back down all that way. And ofcourse, Syed had to accompany me. What are friends for, eh?

    This time around, we weren't enjoying the stream, or the fresh air, or the beautiful thick forest. We were just walking again. But I'm glad we did, apart from the obvious peace of mind that I had called my mother and let her know i was fine, the Signal point itself is a place you should see if you come here, ever. Edge of the mountain, high up in the valley, if you stand there, where you get enough coverage to make a call, or at least send out a text, if  you hold out your right arm towards Nanga Parbat, your left arm points towards the now visible Karakorum Range, and the peaks of Laila, Haramosh, and the far away Rakaposhi. This place is enough to give anyone vertigo. It surely hit me, I had to practically be on all fours to make my call. On the way back this time we stopped at the Raikot sarai again, this time around to have a cup of mild, albeit expensive coffee.

  Back at the resort, I took my camera out, this time for lack of anything better to do in the cold, and we made our way down to the open grass field in front of our campsite. Along the stream I set up, and spent a whole hour shooting. Enough pictures to fill my first, big memory card to its fullest. I wanted to change cards, but night had fallen by now, and the air was way too cold to do anything.

A long 20 second exposure of the stream at dusk

Using flash to illuminate the foreground and letting the moon light up the stream in a long 30 second exposure. You can even see the stars

My hands were cold and senseless, and I almost dropped my camera a couple of times. Signs enough to call it a day. Till tomorrow then.....

This time around we were going South..... Towards the mountain. 

  

The Adventure of a Lifetime - Part II

The Fairy Meadows Cottages

The Fairy Meadows Cottages....... (HDR)

    The accommodation in our travel package was the camping options provided by the Fairy Meadows Cottages, proudly owned by Qari Rehmatullah. Written about by other travel bloggers and columnists, there are numerous references to Qari sahib all over the internet. 

    Qari sahab is a local resident of Fairy Meadows, one of the 2500+ who call this place their home.  He is also a very respectable and important village elder around this place. 

   He is strongly against commercialization of fairy meadows and wants the area to be left as it is, to the people who live here so that may earn an honest livelihood from tourism, and in return, keep this heaven like it for generations to enjoy and behold. People who have traveled around Pakistan know how tourist spots quickly deteriorate as soon as you build a better road and make it easy for people to access it. Murree is a prime example, and recently, so is Naran. So I hope, personally, that this stays the way it is, and human greed plays no part in destroying the few places left unspoiled.

   

Qari Sahib's resort,The Fairy meadows Cottages, is the oldest establishment of its sort in Fairy meadows. Comprised of wooden huts and a camping ground, the cottages overlook a beautiful green basin covered on all sides by trees, with a blissfully quiet stream running through the middle. And did i mention, the resort faces the immensely terrifying and beautiful, 8000+ meter Nanga Parbat's north face.

the campsite

New cottages under construction in the frontside

The door leading down to the meadows

Panorama of the meadows

Mobile HDR. View from the cottages

   Most photographs of the growingly popular fairy meadows are taken from the camping ground of the Fairy meadows cottages. The resort isn't the most luxurious of the 4-5 resorts here, the more expensive and luxury option being the Raikot Sarai., but the unique view and the location of this resort sets it apart from the competition. And really, by luxury I do not mean a marble vanity and Pay per view channels, all that is thankfully kept away from this place. By luxury, I just mean minor differences in service, which in my opinion are made up for by the view you get every morning when you wake up, be it in a tent, or a hut. 

  The Fairy Meadows Cottages, were under the process of renovations and expansion when we were there, making use of the end of season quiet, gearing up for next year's summer, which I hope and pray is a better season for tourism in these areas after the infamous massacre of mountain climbers on the Diamer face of Nanga parbat. An unrectified mistake from all leading TV channels in Pakistan, meant the news tickers ran the words Fairy meadows with the breaking news, a place which isn't even near the place where the events actually took place. But a misconception firmly set in the public's mind, the tourist inflow to this place suffered massively. 

 The expansion also boasts a VIP wooden hut, with an attached bathroom and an in-room, centrally placed wood heater. Believe me, you'd think it wasn't that important but it is, it really is. especially when the sun goes down. And in this place, that is at 4 pm, when the sun goes behind the mountains on the west, and illuminates nothing but the mountain in front of you. 

  A cheaper option is the one we got, well protected tents with mattresses, sleeping bags and blankets provided, and different sized tents available. the tents were high quality, and the sleeping bags were beautifully warm, so all in all it was very comfortable. For students, and people who are travelling without families, and can bear a bit of cold before you get into your sleeping bag, this is a very reasonable option.

Sunny and Moon enjoying the morning sun's warmth inside the tent

The view from the opening in our tent

Syed Mohammad enjoying the views

Our tents

   One thing that my friend and I, will never forget was the hot shower available at the resort. Unbelievable, yes, true. Especially when you see the minimalist outhouses where the toilets are located (two such outhouses at the back of the resort). Every morning, they heat up water in wood burning boilers and you get to enjoy a shower, warmer and with more pressure than your regular house showers. I wont get into the physics of they do it, and frankly speaking you wont care especially if you've walked the day before, its pure bliss. 

 The food, is simple, omelettes and parathas with tea in the morning, some vegetable or daal in the afternoon, and chicken or mutton for dinner. Of course you can choose to have something different, but it will cost you, and you will have to tell them a day in advance, so that they get the stuff they need. But the food is already expensive, so I'll advise sticking the plain food. Take pickles with you and chili ketchup if you're from the Punjab, or even if you're not, like me, and enjoy a hotter, more painful palette cleanser. The utensils, plates and cups are exceptionally clean so you don't need to worry about that. A very friendly staff meant we went into the kitchen as well, and I can personally report, its all reasonably clean ( Take the Natco on the KKH and experience the food stops they make, trust me, you'll be saying this too ).

Irfan Bhai and Syed enjoying green tea after dinner in the dinner hall 

Haseeb, Atiq, Haroon, Faisal and Abdur Rehman (sitting) 

  

  Note: I can't write about the prices of the rooms, camps or meals here cause honestly I don't know myself, it was all included in the travel package by Traveltoday.pk so I didn't have any say in it, not that I wanted to anyways. 

   

All in all, Qari Rehmatullah and his crew run a very good ship, and it was a pleasure staying with them. If I were to go again, ever, I know where I'll be staying.

Panorama of the grass plains in front of the cottages. Nanga Parbat is towards the left

The Adventure of a Lifetime - Part I

On the way to Fairy Meadows, and the Karakorum Highway

Our journey started on the 15th of September, 2013 from Peshawar. Me and my friend, Dr. Syed Mohammad drove to Islamabad where our group of 14,from all over Pakistan, arranged by Traveltoday Pakistan was supposed to meet to start our journey. Reached Islamabad around 4, ate, had coffee, parked the car at a guest house and took a taxi to the NATCO bus station. 

Natco Bus terminal, near Metro Islamabad (mobile panorama)

   The bus left at 6 30 pm. It was alright i guess, partly cause it was half empty so everyone had a double seat to themselves. The bus was for Gilgit, and we had to get off at Raikot bridge for fairy meadows. 

    So lets get one thing straight, when you read the journey is around 16 hours, if you're excited enough, you'll say fine! great, i can do that, ill sleep half the way. ... well, lets just say sleep is hard to come by in a rocky bus, cause yes, the Karakorum Highway isn't all that special and nicely made, its bumpy as hell. Might as well be a jeep road. 

 Anyways, we got to Mansehra at around 10 pm. stopped at the NATCO station for dinner and tea. pretty low standard, bad food, ugly bathrooms. But its just good to rest your butt on something other than the bus seat, and stretch your legs. around 10 45 pm we started off again, a little ahead of Mansehra, the grand Karakorum Highway starts. I had a map app downloaded on my phone so i could see the progress on GPS, and man was it slow. by 1 am we were at Thakot, where the highway starts going along the might river Indus. 

   At just before 3 am, we got to Besham, where the bus driver stopped and we could see tens of other buses stationed outside in the dark. The bus driver announces, " go out, walk around, rest, and get back to the bus at 5:30, that's when we move. wait what? why? it was an overnight bus, at least that's what we thought, on to Chilas by morning and then Fairy Meadows by late afternoon. Well turns out the sectarian violence and the recent killings in Chilas has broken down smooth travelling in the area, and none of the buses go ahead of Besham at night. So really, we couldn't do anything about it, i decided to settle in on my two seats and get some sleep without all the rocking. Easier said than done. I managed to sleep a bit in 15 minute stretches, but all that did was give me a bad stiff neck.

views out of the bus window in the morning (mobile HDR)

  At 5 30 am, we set off again, this time in a convoy with about a hundred buses and a police car at both ends. At a snail's pace. this is where my camera pictures start. 

Sunny (hassaan) looks on as we stop at the "tea" shop. Qari Sahib and others seen as well

Early morning Cranky Dr. Syed Mohammad

Not our bus, still a pretty reflection

The long bus convoy from my window

  We stopped for a cup of tea at 6 30 at a small tea shop, which ironically sold nothing but tea. Oh well. The tea was good at least. Off again. Stopping for breakfast/lunch (i wont call it brunch cause brunches are supposed to be a very nice meal) at some point near Bhasha. Again, miserable food, miserable bathrooms. It was only later that i found out the bus drivers intentionally stop at the bad places cause they have their own deals with the shops. They give them free chicken dinners, and the bus drivers in return bring them bus loads of hungry tired passengers who don't complain about the food, not at that time anyways. Had a fried egg and tea and some rice, enough to not stay hungry, then off again. 

   The bus passed Chilas at 1 something pm. 19 hours and counting on the same bus. A journey which shouldn't normally take this long, but what with the slow pace of the convoy and the repeated stops at check posts which took around 20 mins, this is how it is now. 

Another one with my phone out of the window. The Indus, with its dirty grey brown and a clear green glacial stream joining it.

Another checkpost near Chilas ( mobile HDR)

  To make things worse, the weather was turning bad (dark clouds in the pictures). Rain in these parts mean landslides, blocked roads and even more delays. Oh no. Rain would also mean a ruined trip, a trip which involved hiking and mountain viewing, things difficult to do in rain and cloud cover. 

The Dark Clouds gather over the sandy beaches of the river Indus on the KKH

Some patches of greenery....a village at all such patches.

Add caption

Inside the lovely bus. The ever cheerful Irfan bhai in an animated discussion with the driver, im guessing about his music choice.

  On and on, in the same seat for another couple of hours with darker clouds over head. The Karakorum highway, is treacherous. And i can imagine pretty hot too, in a vehicle without AC. Its not high enough to be cool, there are hardly any trees (hurrah deforestation) and the mountain are stone and sand. Lots of sand. Nothing to see out of the window except for stone and sand. literally, with patches of green. Nice if it was a Lord of the Rings movie, but it gets pretty drab after a while. 

 We got to Raikot bridge at 4pm...... a journey that, when written about on line everywhere, takes 14-16 hours, took us 22 HOURS!

Raikot Bridge...the clouds were even darker now, and it had started to drizzle, and did so throughout the jeep ride. Haroon and Sunny look on, (Qari sahib and Syed in the blur)

 Well, off the bus, with all our luggage, and our guide, who i forgot to mention was Qari Rehmatullah, the owner of Fairy meadows cottages, where we would be staying. Qari sahib mustered up his known jeep drivers and we loaded up in three jeeps.

  Here follows the account of the jeep ride, on a road rumoured to be one the most dangerous jeep tracks of the world.....and i can tell you first hand why. Its not just because I have a crippling fear of heights, but because it is insane. Built by the locals themselves with the help of Pakistan Army, this road is a feat of human insanity. Steep, narrow, and dry stone. With absolutely no concept of a railing on the edge, which by the way overhangs a drop consistently more than a thousand or so feet. Safe to say i had my eyes closed for half the way, cause after about 15 minutes its the same thing on repeat, and it was more than i could bear to watch. A rollercoaster ( i hate roller coasters btw) ride lasts about 5 minutes tops. So you shout scream and its over, but this went on for about 1 hour 30 minutes, before some form of trees and green plants started. That's how we knew we were getting near to the village of Tatto, where the jeeps stop and the hike starts.

An awesome double rainbow over the stone mountains of Raikot Desert (or so i call the place over which the jeeps start the climb)

The start (flatter part) of the jeep ride, a dusty sandy road in the middle of nowhere

Start of the climb....the Rainbow is still there

Syed Mohammad took these from the front passenger seat......I probably had my eyes closed around this point. 

  The village of Tatto, is an oasis of green and golden fields and few stone and wood huts in a narrow valley of stone, with a rushing stream flowing by down to the Indus from the Raikot glacier of Nanga parbat.

The village of Tatto  (panorama) and the place where the jeeps stopped

  The GPS reading of 7700 feet and daytime rain, and a giant ice sculpture at the end of this valley meant the air was very cold. Alright then, pull on jeans on top of the shorts, and a thick jacket on top of the shirt. Tie your bags on your backs, and off we go.

Moon (Manaan) and Sunny strike a pose. No idea whats coming ahead in the form of the mammoth hike. 

Syed and me....Jackets out and Pants pulled on over the shorts.

Syed....again, no idea whats coming.

Me

    Started our hike at about 6pm, so we knew we would be walking  up part of the way in the dark. Thankfully the cloud cover was breaking up, that meant we would have moon light. Shortly after we started walking, looking up we saw our first glimpse of the ice and snow Giant, Nanga Parbat, the peak poking out of clouds and shining in the last sunlight of the day at the end of this valley. It was more than just a view. It was, for lack of a better word, terrifyingly, overwhelmingly, beautiful.

The first view of the mountain breaking out of the clouds..... we were on the right path

The "Trekking Noobs"

Syed....morales high.

    Walked for about an hour and got to a small hut. I'll be honest, no regular cardio meant, by this point I was tired already. it was completely dark outside, in the narrow valley. And here, our young guide Naimat Wakeel, or as a group buddy Sunny named him, Johnny Depp kee chinese copy, ( Qari sahib stopped at Raikot bridge) informed us this is the starting point of the hike. Apparently, the jeeps used to come up to here, before some recent landslides broke part of the road, hence, we had to walk all that way. Anyways, we gave our extra and heavier luggage to porters, and those who knew they couldnt hike anymore hired ponies and horses, and off we go again, in the light of flashlights and the moon which was out by now. 

   My camera was now back in my bag cause it was getting too cold to hold it, and our breaks were to short to use the tripod for long exposures. Alright, I was too tired and cold to think of anything but getting to Fairy Meadows. Left the tea stop at 7 30pm and started an incredibly steep hike over stone and small little streams among the trees. Up.... and up...and up..... a quick phone call back home to my mom from a certain point on the edge of the trail where mobile signals can be received at a particular angle. I hate to admit, and sorry Ami for saying this, but i lied to her, saying we had reached already, cause seriously, i wasn't about to tell her I'm walking in the dark and cold up a narrow stone pathway and will continue to do so for the next 3 hours. 

     To anyone who's reading this, the hike which most people say is easy and kids do it, in my opinion, be warned. It is not easy, not even in daylight. It is steep, and painful, definitely not for people who aren't in the best of health, or don't have the best joints. Or kids. Be safe, and smart, and hire horses at the jeep stop, trust me, having been up and down that trail on foot, the horse rents are totally worth it. 

   On the way, near the very end, Naimat our guide took us up a path which wasn't really a path, but a small stream flowing down the side of a mountain. In the dark (the tree cover was thick here so no moonlight could shine through) with only flashlights guiding us, this was not just hard, but dangerous too. There was no path, only big rocks and stones and fallen trees, and water, lots of water. So everything was slippery. but up and up we climbed, groaning and cursing all the way. This route bypassed the other resorts in the area. Ours, Fairy Meadows Cottages was at the far end of fairy meadows.

   We reached Fairy meadows at 10 45pm, after an ordeal of a shortcut, which was Naimat's idea btw,  straight up to our resort, and bundled into the hut of the owners, with a lit heater and warmed up. I slept sitting on the floor, I was that tired and cold. We were served dinner and showed to our camps, and by this time no one cared enough to look up and gawk at the immense monstrosity of Nanga Parbat in the moonlight, right in front of our tents. We all just slept. We could look at it all morning the next day. 

We were finally here....camping out at 10,500 feet.