A Salam Aleikum from Gilgit June 15th

Whew so it's been a while since I could post, having some technological difficulties. From amritsar I took a motor rickshaw up to the border where I met a german guy waiting for the border to open. The pak side opens at 930 but the indian side doesn't open till 10 or make that 1030 or whenever people show up. Probably the smoothest border crossing ever and then a wait for a mini-bus to Lahore. The German, Paul, was to head to straight up to Islamabad. Seeing as there wasn't anything holding me back in Lahore and it was working its way to another blazing day I went with him. We arrived in Rawalpindi in the early evening and then took a cab to Islamabad. The twin cities are polar opposites. Islamabad is set up in grad pattern and fairly modern. 'Pindi, umm, well yeah. I was only in islamabad for one night. There isn't a whole lot to see there so I made plans to head up to the Karakorum Highway asap. On the way to the bus terminal I passed by the neighborhood where all the afghan refugees live. I've never seen refugees before and they're in a bad way. Bad water makes cholera and other waterborne diseases a major issue etc. Once at the Terminal I had a glorious 6 hour wait for my bus. Once again apocalypse now was the first thing to pop into my head, "The tide doesn't come in for six hours...you want to wait around here for six hours?" Col. Kilgore.
When the power was on the fans were on and the wait wasn't bad. When the power was off the fans were off, wait not good. So after a quick scramble to find additional passangers to sit on the floor in the aisle we took off at around 1030pm.

There are three classes of bus that the Northern Areas Transportation Company (NATCO) offers. VIP, Deluxe, and A/C having missed the VIP and Deluxe i settled for A/C. At least it has A/C you know? Very true the bus we were on was equipped with A/C but that doesn't mean the driver has to turn it on. Ha suckers, oh wait 18 hours on a bus with no A/C? goo. It was interesting. I had a window seat, thank god, and the man accross the aisle looked like the third runner up in the look a like contest for the only leader of the Third Reich, sans moustache. Same hairstyle and everything. The fact that he was wearing a tan shirt/dress, slcks combo didn't help. Anyway right off the bat my seatmate started encroaching on my territory and like the sudetenland a gave a little bit, the last shred of personal space crying out. As soon as I shifted he occupied the newly oppened territory. Fine then, a little push back and he was on his side of the seat. The first stop was at 2am where we pulled in to some bump in the road town with one cafe open, and by cafe I mean one building with a guy making flatbread over a stove. When I went inside to ask where the toilet was the response came back. "Around back" okay now here is where theere is a little interaction from you alls part. Grab a piece of paper. Draw a square on said paper. Now box out one corner. The corner is the store. The rest of the square is "Around back." you get the idea. I won't bore you with the rest of the bus ride but it was hot and quite uncomfortable.

After reaching gilgit I went to the hostel standing on the bumber of a suzuki pick-up-converted bus. I feel I was quite the sight riding along ever so regal with my red bag shining bright in the sun. Oh did I mention I hadn't bathed in 3 days? eh that's less important, I have, however, bathed since then. The hostel is pretty nice and for 100Rupees a night, about $1.5, a get a bed in a dorm. Perfect for me. There are many french tourists here so I get a chance to practice a bit. It's great cause they speak english so we'll be going along in one language then switch at a words notice and continue in the other one. Pretty nifty. Sorry for the lack of photos but this comp lacks a usb port. And I've been fighting for 1 hour to get onto blogger. At least I got a good pinball session in. Anyway from here I have to slow down a bit so I don't arrive in shanghai too soon. I might wear out my welcome if that's the case. I don't mind cause the weather is much cooler up here. not to say cool, but bearable. I would describe gilgit as high desert. I'm really trying to put off going to Kashgar in the Xinjian region of china cause there it is actual desert with actual desert temperatures. There should be plenty to do around here but it all honesty I'm fine just chilling and drinking tea. Travel in South asia is much different than I previously anticipated, and for all my jokes about travelling by tour it really is the best way to see india. Pakistan has less big landmarks so backpacking is still the best way here. It is very stressful though. Anyway I've got to post this before the internet or the power cuts off again.

Allah Hafiz

Walker