So here is yet again another travel story….
Departure Itinerary Route (Non Stop):
Karachi-Faisalabad by Karakoram (Departed at 4:00 pm on Saturday Mar 25 – Reached at 8:00 am on Sunday Mar 26)
Faisalabad-Rawalpindi by Bus Kohistan Travel (Left at 9:00 am Mar 26 – Reached at 2:00 pm Mar 26)
Rawalpindi-Skardu by bus NATCO (Left at 5:30 pm Mar 26 – Reached at 12:30 am approx. on March 28)
Return Itinerary Route (One night at Gilgit and One Night at Pindi):
Skardu – Gilgit by Masherbrum Hiace Capsule Hi-roof (Left at 10:00 am Mar 31 – Reached at 4:30 pm Mar 31)
Gilgit – Rawalpindi by Masherbrum Daewoo Bus (new red in colour) (Left at 10:00 am April 1 – Reached at 1:00 am approx. April 2)
Rawalpindi – Karachi by Skyways Daewoo Bus (Left at 9:00 am April 2 – Reached at 10:30 am approx. on April 3)
I am from Karachi and I have visited Skardu all alone in March 2017 and this is the first time I have visited Gilgit Baltistan region. Yes! It was off season…and that was the charm of it….those who love to travel always find off season as ideal as it represents the place in its true forms with local people engaged in their daily lives and the environment gives the true colour.
How I did it, I will share my experience with you….I am not an experienced traveler, but I love to do it…and I did. I believe in frugality and some common sense…travel like a donkey, enjoy like a King ….I will share what I took with me and what problem I faced…
Items I carried with me:
-70 Litre Outlander Rucksack
-Tent and its poles- just in case.
-Traveling Pillow…travelers must buy it! I can’t stress anymore how much important this will become for you. Buy it from Molty Foam outlets or dealer, it will cost you around 1500 to 1800, this is one time purchase, but trust me it will make your life way easier if you are traveling by road or by train if you have booked seat.
-Warm clothing…don’t take tones of jackets with you, you want to go as light as possible, buy any insulated jacket from local store, it will keep you warm, very light weight and foldable. And yes take full sleeve shirts with you, avoid cotton….nylon or polyester work great, dries quickly and keep your body warm….wear in layers.
-Towels….don’t take large sizes, take two or three hanki size. Pochna he tau hay na yaar
-Do take Polythene bags with you…you won’t know when do you need it, I used it as for my camera cover during rain or moisture.
-Emergency torch or head lamp (I have headlamp)…as these places do have electricity problem…you don’t want to end up sitting in the toilet in darkness.
-Hand Sanitizer…..extremely important…you are traveling by bus….rastay k bathrooms! Tauba Tauba! Tau buy hand sanitizer…
-Micro Fibre cloth (scotch brite brand)…for cleaning your camera gear, mobile phone screen etc. They cleans moist and water perfectly without leaving stains…
-Gloves. You don’t know when you will need those as was going in off seasons.
-Chap stick….buy it.
-Lighter…just in case.
-Toilet Soap carrier (it seems funny but believe me it will save you the tension when you will not find any in the bathroom of your hotel room (if you are traveling frugal) and also while you do camping…so very important.
-Toothpaste, tooth brush (with cover)
-Medicines like panadol (for headache), Pyodine (for wound etc.), some bandages and a cotton roll, detol, lomotil (to keep everything related to your stomach bowel movement under control)
-Slippers and sports type socks….I recommend you to wear slippers and socks while traveling to north of Pakistan by road…what can happen while you are on road and not yet reached your destination that sometimes you will be urged going to washroom because of your stomach upset, most of us wear jeans…it becomes very difficult to lower jeans till knee cap and then sit on WC (as most of the public toilets have WCs) and to wash after you are done….so if you are wearing slippers you can put off your jeans completely and put it around your neck if there is nowhere to hang and then do your stuff….you will feel great, trust me ….so never stop when it has to come, if it comes, do it, otherwise your whole journey will be spoiled.
-Shoes for tracking/hiking...
My Electronics and Gears:
-Canon 60D with Sigma 17-50 F 2.8…
-1 TB Seagate Slim Portable HD (to backup photos)
-Tripod with ball head
-Camera inserts to keep the camera and lens in my rucksack
-3 CDs…now why would you need that? Well if you are photographing in desert or at sea side and your camera is on tripod and you want to take the shot, what happens that after few seconds you will realize that your tripod is sinking in the sand that will ruin your shot…it is a big nuisance when you see great photography moment in front of you….by putting CDs under the legs of your tripod, you will not have this problem
-Camera guide…just in case
-Samsung Galaxy Core Prime to take some shots while traveling
-Nokia 1100 to stay connected with my family (battery efficient you know)
-Two Battery banks one of 2500 mah (this is small in size, very handy to keep while in bus) and the other one 20000 mah it is big and heavy, cant insert in pockets.
Please note that the backpack is the only thing I carried and all the stuff were in it including my camera gear…You might be wondering that did I keep my camera gear in the rucksack when it was loading in the bus? NOPE, what I used to do that I always kept my camera insert (that carried my camera body and lense) in the upper portion of my rucksack, so that I could easily take it out from the rucksack before handing it to the guy who was loading it on the roof of the bus or in the compartment. And then when I reach my destination, I was able to put the insert back into the rucksack. I found out later that carrying rucksack only was not efficient at!
Kharcha Pani:
Train One Way KHI to FSB: 1700
Khohistan Daewoo FSB to RWP: 750
NATCO RWP to SKD: 2000
Masherbrum Hiace Hiroof SKD to GLG: 600
Masherbrum Daewoo GLG to RWP: 1600
Skyways Daewoo RWP to KHI: 2500
Hotel Room in Skardu: 400 per night
Hotel Room in Gilgit: 500 per night
Hotel Room in Pindi: 400 per night
Dear readers, please note that I don’t have much travel photos that I took during my journey because at that time it wasn’t in my mind to create a travel log, ye keera 2 din pehlay kata hai tau decided to share my story, so bear with me….However I will try to keep it entertaining and informative….during reading if you want to through any question regarding this, don’t hesitate…
Here is a teaser photo…more will be uploaded tomorrow INSHA ALLAH…
You will be able to see this landscape at Skardu's entrance....in front is River Indus, I am not writing "Mighty Indus River" right now because it looks very small and calm, but trust me, during summer season this river becomes MIGHTY...you see the mountains on left and on right? it reaches those ends ...so figure it out :)...the dry land in middle submerges completely in water...