It was decided that instead of getting a mechanic up at PTDC Rama, I would drive down to main Astore bazar and get the clutch fixed before we would go up to the Lake.
Manager PTDC Gilgit, Mr. Liaqat was filling for an on leave Manager PTDC Rama. He offered to take me to the best man in town. He didn't know that the FJ was totally without a clutch So after Janj reversed the FJ without the clutch, I put it in first.. kicked the sulf and started down the 11kms to Astore bazar on the same dreaded road from last night.
In the mountains, darkness magnify the aura of everything. Roads, valley drops, depths, perception. The road was actually not bad at all. The drops were not down bottom less pits and neither into the river at most places. Instead, I found myself swirling down the beautiful shallow valley of Rama. The crawl ratio on inJun is great. Not bothered to change gears or hit the brakes hard I continued smoothly down to the bazar, admiring the little but fresh parts of Astore district.
The guy was in fact the best mechanic of Astore. People were waiting in line to have little of his affection. The manager saab was known well it seemed. The Ustad looked at it, found the clutch pipe burst and told me that it needed replacement. While I gave him a go ahead, many local drivers and FJ40 owners gathered to look at the inJun. Their most common suggestion was to get inJun slaughtered into a long body. :o and we chit chatted thus.
I was offered tea by a nice Mr. Ijaz and we had a good talk in the nearby hotel over nice warm tea. The people of Astore are nice. They are welcoming and the atmosphere is safe. I had a nice time in the bazar. Yea, the same 'sunsaan' bazar from the night. It was so busy at that time that there was proper policeman handling the traffic.
Mr. Liaqat had to go to some place and he offered to show me part of Astore on the way. He enlightened that Astore is not a town but a district. He said that if we can take one more day at Astore he will take us to places more beautiful than any and within Astore at about 4 hrs each side. Well, the gang must be waiting.
Still I had to take him around 8 kms to this next town in Astore. I thought it a good time to check the new job done on the clutch and test inJun. While driving and admiring I tried to take some shots of the valleys and the path from the window or through the screen.
The gang was waiting and I hurried on my way back. Astore is full of great natural produce. I saw this apple tree full of load and Liaqat offered me some which I couldn't resist. and we took some for the gang as well.
When I reached back, everyone was happy to know that inJun was good to go and we got ready to go up Rama Lake.