Day 4 Details Friday 20-June-2014
8.45am left Astore Kamran Hotel in jeep for PTDC Rama (jeep rent 3,000)
I think jeep rent was high because it's small trip and car can go up to ptdc rama, imo jeep rent should have been 2,000.
9.15am reached PTDC Motel Rama
Had breakfast at PTDC rama, enjoyed scenic area but then rain started and weather turned cold so we started moving towards rama lake.
It was 20-June and still glacier blocking the road towards rama lake, it was only 1-2 kilometres from the glacier but with kids we didn't go further fearing rain may start. Weather was pleasantly cold, need jackets and hat for kids.
We spent 15-20 minutes around that glacier and took pics and decided to move back to Astore because we planned to spend night at Chilas hotel.
Due to KKH blockage PTDC Rama guests didn't show up so local management tried hard to convince us to stay with them.
They told us road to chilas is blocked so we should stay at ptdc rama until road is cleared (what's their interest?)
ptdc manager told us that i'm receiving phone calls from ptdc besham about guests stuck there due to kohistan protests (timber mafia going mad)
11.30am we left Rama lake
12.00pm we reached Kamran Hotel Astore
1.00pm we left Astore Kamran hotel
2.35pm we hit KKH -we stopped at Shangrila Raikot bridge to check room rates -it was 4,000 per room. It was built on pretty small area so we thought to move forward where kids could have open space.
4.40pm we reached Chilas and checked Shangrila hotel they were quite full and gave 6,000 rate
We checked with Penorama hotel right accross Shangrila that agreed to give rooms at 1,800
There was no water in washroom which they made available after a while.
We asked for tea and they took 1.30 hours (lousy service)
At night it was hot and no electricity -generator didn't work properly
For dinner we went to Shangrila and had nice meal there and came back to sleep.
Next day was the challenge of trip -crossing Babusar top.
Locals were giving mix feedback -mostly negative-
1- it's dangerous & lawless & abandoned area
2- these cars can't cross river, locals saw many cars returned with failure
3- will get stuck in glacier muds
4- take jeep escort so that it can pull out from river & glacier
5- bad time because before ramzan people get robbed
etc.
There was another family stuck in chilas due to kkh blockade, so we all agreed to leave at 7.30am
