Books And Bikes

Rants about reading and cycling

Pakistan

Karakoram Highway part three: Kyrgyzstan

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After an interesting but strange few days in China, I felt much more relaxed as soon as we were through the final passport check and into Kyrgyzstan, via the Torugart Pass, 3,752 metres above sea level.

The scenery didn’t change much but everything else did. Gone was the vaguely threatening atmosphere. I say that, and it’s true, but we were not bothered by security forces at all in China, except for the long wait at borders. What must it be like for the locals? [Read more…] about Karakoram Highway part three: Kyrgyzstan

Karakoram Highway part two: China

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At 4,880 metres, the border between Pakistan and China, the Khunjerab Pass, is the highest paved road international border in the world.

Along with the Pakistanis who had driven up there, we posed for photographs under the arch that marks the border and laughed at the sign boasting about the world’s highest ATM.  [Read more…] about Karakoram Highway part two: China

Karakoram Highway part one: Pakistan

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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