“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace
will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees…” - John Muir
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| (The Karakoram Highway) |
Day 05: Sunday, 13 September 2015
Route: Besham – Chilas – Gilgit
Distance: 331 km
Hotel: Riveria Hotel
PTDC Motel is overlooking the Indus River with stunning view of the mountain range. It is located at a strategic junction on the road linking the Swat Valley over the Shangla Pass with the Karakoram Highway leading to Gilgit. The motel rooms are spacious and comfortable and the service is excellent. This morning, the sun was not even up yet when we had breakfast of omelettes and toasts.
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| (The Indus River in the background) |
It was a beautiful clear sunny day for driving. The hotel had prepared packed lunch for us. We were informed that it would be difficult to find good restaurants on the way and we may need to have our meal picnic style. It was a long day but the scenery en route more than makes up for it. Following the Silk Route alongside the Indus River, the landscape is spectacular and is getting more rugged as we drove higher up the mountain range.
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| (A nice view of mountains and rivers) |
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| (Picking wild cannabis by the roadside) |
We stopped for lunch in Dassu, a small quiet town that has an altitude of 2,440 m above sea level. The weather was sunny but cool when we eat our packed fried chicken and roti. We had a cup of hot milk tea before we started our onward journey to Chilas.
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| (A pit stop at a small town of Dassu) |
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| (A busy highway for buses and trucks) |
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| (The unpaved road on the Karakoram Highway) |
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| (The gaudy colored Pakistan lorry) |
Today we experienced going through the many police check-points along the Karakoram Highway. According to our local guides, check-points were first set up at troubled areas to ensure safe journey of those using the Karakoram Highway. There were incidences of travelers being fatally shot by miscreants.
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| (A Police escort in our coaster) |
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| (Rugged terrain along the highway) |
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| (A young Pakistani Policeman as our escort) |
Before entering the town of Chilas, at the check point, we had our passports and travel documents checked and scanned. We even had our individual photo taken for their records. From then on we were escorted by an armed police personnel riding in our coaster to the next check-point where he will be replaced by another.
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| (Meeting Malaysian students in Chilas) |
In Chilas we had our prayer break at one of the madrasah where we met with three Malaysian boys who were staying and studying there for a few months.
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| (A rest after a rough climb to the Petroglyphs Rock) |
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| (An Afghan at the Shatial hanging bridge) |
About 60 km from Chilas we stopped in Shatial, the Ancient Silk Road historical cross-road connecting Swat Valley, Gilgit, Chilas and Chitral. At this cross-road we could find more than 1,000 inscriptions and 700 petroglyphs on rocks around the Shatial hanging bridge on the Indus River. Most inscriptions are short, consisting the name of the traveler and date or year of journey and in many old languages from the 1st century AD onwards.
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| (A picture with children of the mountain) |
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| (View Point of the Killer Mountain) |
We continued our journey on the Karakoram Highway and stopped at Thalichi also known as Nanga Parbat View Point. We could see the beautiful snow covered Nanga Parbat also known as Killer Mountain because of its notorious difficult climb. Nanga Parbat is the 9th highest mountain with a summit elevation of 8,126 m.
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| (The three mountain ranges) |
A short distance away, we stopped at another view point for the three mountain ranges, Himalaya, Karakoram and Hindu Kush. The three mountain ranges meet here at the confluence of the Indus and Gilgit rivers. The Himalaya is about 2,400 km long, runs through India, Pakistan, China, Bhutan and Nepal. The Karakoram is 500 km long, lies mostly in Pakistan. The 960 km long Hindukush range is situated in both Pakistan and Afghanistan.
We reached the Riveria Hotel in the famous town of Gilgit situated at the spectacular entry point to the Karakoram Mountain after more than 12 hours on the road. We had our dinner first before we checked-in to rest for the night.
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