Before I went to Pakistan to cycle the Karakoram Highway, two people who know the country well gave me warnings. One said that to use a cashpoint in Islamabad was taking your life in your hands, such was the probability of robbery at gunpoint. The other told me that while 90 per cent of the Pakistanis liked the British, the rest were not so keen.
A couple of weeks in, I was sitting at Baltit Fort in the Hunza Valley of northern Pakistan telling all this to a local man who had asked me about my impressions of his country. He looked out over the valley – reportedly the inspiration for Shangri-La – and said: ‘It’s bullshit.’ [Read more…] about Karakoram Highway part one: Pakistan
