As I entered Skardu, I stopped by a convenience store to get some chilled water. When the convenience store owner saw me with dusty hair, rust all over my clothes, tanned face and jeep covered with intense dust, He came outside his store with giggles of enthusiasm all over his face, something He never saw before. What had happened??
As we left for Rama from Naran via Babusar, Chilas (the midway) was very hot and humid; I turned on the A.C and forgot to turn it off when I started to climb Astore. As my habit I scrutinize the warning lights, temperature gauge etc every 5-10 minutes on long drives. Midway through the ascend to Rama/Astore, I noticed that the temperature gauge was slightly above the normal, so I parked the jeep and got the tap water bottles that I usually carry for emergency at the back of my car, and cooled off the Jeep. I thought that was it.
The next day as we departed Rama for Skardu, the scenic journey was smooth like a silk until we entered Deosai plains and started to ascend 13,500ft, I noticed the Jeep?s temperature was abnormal. I poured the tap-water in the radiator but the radiator was never topped-off so I went to the very rear door, got few mineral water bottles, poured in and it luckily worked. Few kilometers down the plains I noticed the Jeep was getting hot ?tempered? as I opened the radiator cap, the rusty gushing steam tossed through the thin air and stained my clothes; luckily a stream was nearby so I cooled the engine and stocked 10 or so refilled bottles. I noticed that water was trickling down the engine and I suspected a broken hose-pipe. The machine would iterate it?s habit of hot temper every few km and fetching water from springs on a dusty road at 13,500ft altitude (thin air) and with energy-free stomach (fasting) was a challenge of a high caliber for me.
The next mechanic was 5-6 hours so had to put all my energy in cooling off the machine. Allhamdollilah made it safe and sound to Skardu with 5 hours efforts.
Before Maghrib Adhans were over, I had few ml left in the third liter, the rest were just consumed.
The route was Naran-Rama-Deosai-Skardu-Gupis-Bamburete in my Pajero. The images can explain almost everything except the fragrant breeze.
