Alhmdulillah Completed Northern Areas Tour second in row from 9/9~19/9/2017--- Before that visited up to Babusar from 26/6~2/7
09/09/17 Day 1 Reached Isb from Khi by air at 15:30 hrs, started for Naran around 17:00 hrs had dinner near Abbottabad ( Mian Jee) and reached Naran 12:00 hrs . (Hastle free journey all the way) Weather nearly 15C. This time we en-routed to Abbottabad from Hassanabdal-anticipating of rush from Muree side due to weekend, personally I like Muree route, it’s always very refreshing. Checked hotels and finally settled in Siam Heights for a night. (Rs.3000-b)
10/09/17 Day 2 Started for Gilgit at 10:30hrs reached Gilgit at 16:00 hrs .Alhamdulillah again no issues, smooth journey.. lots of land sliding marks were there after Babusar-- I was expecting road from Chilas to Raikot to be worst after reading the review but may be due to some patch work it was bearable and one can gain speed on and off. Again no pre-booking checked hotels and while going towards Serena located Rakaposhi Lodges-- checked stayed there (Rs.4,000- b/b)- Met some people around-Temp 26C.
11/09/17 Day 3 Started for Naltar Valley at 10:00hrs via Nomal- Reached Nomal and negotiated the Jeep rent (Rs.5,000/- , however, after travelling through I gave Rs.6,000/-). Wonderful trip all around it was beauty and with rain the weather turned to be catchier. From Nomal entire journey was nearly Off road but bearable and scenic. Stayed a while at Naltar Palace Hotel for getting fresh and saying prayers-- Started and reached Pari Lake -- quite numbers of people were around, spotted few old people (ladies) managing off road in jeep to see the beautiful lakes. The weather was simply fantastic with grey clouds around and on and off drizzling. Had a cup of tea and plate of fresh potato chips- me and my wife had a pleasant surprise with the taste of fresh potato chips it was different what we get here, spend some time at the peaceful lake had few snaps and started back to Satrangi Lake.
Beautiful lakes with green base giving different feeling than the other lakes, judgment can only be once you are at spot; it is different feeling than what you read in reviews and see pics. Had a good time there too, took snaps and started back – again the rain started and the tracks was becoming wonderful – we stopped at some beautiful spots to take snaps and then entered Naltar Village – house were having loaded tress of Apples – My wife wanted to observe the villager’s livings so she was allowed to enter a house --- as per her it was a wonderful experience all young ones are educated and can easily communicate- they are a great host within their means—she stayed in their house for an hour exchanged numbers , plucked some apples with their permission and left. The Naltar Village has their own electricity generation helped by Chines, they respect them a lot. We reached Nomal at around 18:00hrs – the driver Adil was a very decent guy , he insisted to have tea at his home but as we were getting late we thanked him and apologizes- we started for Hunza and reached their – again looked for hotel and tracked a good hotel at Eagle nest Fairy Land( Rs.4500-b/b)
12/09/2017 Day 4 Started for Khunjrab Pass at about 09:45hrs , passed through beautiful ranges of mountains including Passu and reached Khunjrab Pass at 12:30hrs. KKH is being disturbed few places due to sliding etc., but work was going on for repair.
Khunjrab pass was in real sense cold and air was thin, which can be felt while breathing, however, after 10 min it was adjusted. The weather was fantastic. We walked towards the border and initial it looks we will not be able to reach due to severe wind, however, with some exercise during walking we reached there had snaps and observed the surrounding.
On returning back towards the car the strong wind started to change in to light blizzard and we started to get snowflakes on us, lucky to have such weather.
Reached near the car and then got tea and coffee from the vendor to normalize the body temperature (owner of the mobile shop was very interesting person have good marketing tech and responded well to foreigners, the group of Australians was there who entered from China). Altogether a very interesting and great visit to KP. After spending over an hour we started return journey and reached back to Gilgit as we have a plan to go to Skardu next day.
13/09/2017 Day 5 Started for Skardu , well much has been said about the road and entire route . it is indeed a risky route and drivers having concentration issues should not dare to drive on this road. We started around 10:30 hrs from Gilgit and reached Shangri-La at around 16:00 hrs. We roam around the resorts; personally I observed the maintenance issues, may be the season was ending so no concerns around. Many dead fished can be viewed in the lake and it was difficult to walk near the lake due to bad smell of fishes. One thing which also shocked us was the condition of Mosque , well zero maintenance and it was located in the backyard with no cleaning at all. After spending some time we went to Upper Kachura lake , from Car parking few minutes walk and after passing through small restaurant than you go all the way downhill to reach the lake . Simply a wonderful and refreshing site to see this lake after bit uneasy visit to Shangrila , had motorbioad ride and enjoyed by taking snaps anf feeling fresh air. Then came the most difficult part of this lake to go back i.e. has to hike up hill ------- any way reached parking area and then set off for Skardu city.. located Hotel on the cross section of Airport Road and Almadar Road – it was good and newly built – (Rs.3000)
