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.

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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.