Salam Allaikum from Pakistan where it’s hot, damned hot! Thankfully it is much cooler, balmy even, in the evening. Islamabad , built in 1961 as the new capital, is a leafy, green and surprisingly spacious city with big broad avenues and plentiful parkland. But it’s hot, very hot. Did I mention that?
The team is all together now, and is a very eclectic mix of nationalities! The climbing team is comprised of Soren, a Dane living in Norway; Adrian from Birmingham; Kes, originally from Holland but now living in Tanzania; Dave, a Yorkshireman living in Wales; Tia, from Scotland but living in London; Catherine & Clive from Australia; and of course myself and Jamie, the expedition leader from New Zealand. We also have Humphrey, an independant climber from Ireland, with us too. Jamie seems a good guy, very easy going and down to earth. It’s a strong team too, with most having experience of climbing 8,000 metre peaks. Jamie, Soren and Humphrey have all summitted Everest (Jamie 3 times!). At one point Soren also held the record for the fastest ascent of the Seven Summits. So, all in all, a good balance I think. There is also quite a big trekking group (another 7 or 8 ) and they also seem a great bunch and everyone is getting along well.
Yesterday afternoon we went for a wander around and stopped to have a bit of lunch at the Kabul Restaurant which, as it’s name suggests, serves Afghani food. And very good it was too, with superb kebabs served from a flaming grill on the street front. It’s no surprise that this place is such a hit with the diplomatic and local community alike. As we continued our wander we came across a boisterous bunch of youths playing cricket on the pavement….a past-time that would surely never be allowed in nanny-state Britain, and especially not as the ball was frequently hit for six across the roadway, bouncing across several cars on the way! However, on the whole there were not many locals about (they clearly know better than to be out in the heat) and the phrase ‘only mad dogs and englishmen etc..’ very much came to mind!
After a welcome siesta from our earlier excursion, the evening was spent in the rather swish Wang-Fu chinese restaurant, right next next door to our hotel. It proved to be another excellent and very popular place, though it was a little surreal to see quite so many Pakistanis eating chinese food in the heart of Islamabad!
Today we did a spot of tourism and visited the Faisal Masjid, one the world’s largest mosques, gifted by the King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. It’s striking architecture, essentially built to resemble a huge tent in the desert, is very bold for such a conservative country. It’s massive minarets also have a rather bizarre similarity to space rockets!
In the afternoon we braved the heat once more and took a walk around the old quarter of Rawalpindi, the older twin city of Islamabad. Here we found the crowded, narrow, winding mass of bazaars that you would have more come to expect. It was a melting pot of people from all corners of Pakistan and included many Afghans too. Certainly all seemed quite bemused by a group of Weserners suddenly appearing in their midst, especially the children! However, they were very friendly and quite happy for us to take photos. Of course, back in Islamabad we couldn’t help but have another marvellous dinner, this time a curry which cost us the princely sum of 1 pound each!!
Well, had better close for now. Tomorrow we start our two-day journey along the Karakoram Highway (KKH) to Skardu, the last big town before the mountains. This should be a very interesting drive to say the least as it’s reputation goes before it. Not for the faint-hearted I believe! I’ll let you know!!!
