The Road That Never Was Silk Road. Richly redolent with romance and mystery, this title, or its German version Seidenstrasse was first heard in 1877 when Ferdinand Freiherr von Richthofen (1833-1905), the renowned traveller and geographer from Germany coined it. This was the road network radiating out from China to reach Europe via the...
Day 1 – Lahore to Naran
Day 1 – Lahore to Naran On Friday, July 22, 2016, the wait was finally over. The team comprising André Hörmann, a documentary filmmaker from Berlin, Germany, Salman Rashid, a renowned travel writer from Lahore, Zeeo Zia and Fayeem Avzl, two young film graduates who originally hail from Hunza but have studied in Lahore,...
Day 2 – Naran to Gilgit
Day 2 – Naran to Gilgit The second day of the expedition was an early one. Everyone was at the breakfast lounge of the hotel at 8:00 pm. Waking up early was something Haris and I had forgotten during our summer holidays, so we were still a little groggy. But the group was excited...
Day 3 – Gilgit to Hunza
Day 3 – Gilgit to Hunza Day 3 was one of the less eventful days as we headed from Gilgit to Hunza which took approximately two hours. First though, we visited a Chinese memorial graveyard in Gilgit proper made for the 80 Chinese workers who had lost their lives building the perilous yet invaluable...
Day 4 – Hunza – Khunjerab Pass
Day 4 – Hunza – Khunjerab Pass I have to say, that out of the four days that we have been on so far on this spectacular trip, I felt that this was the most satisfying and amazing one so far. It was certainly eventful. We left the Eagle’s Nest at about 6 in...
Day 5: The Trek Begins
Day 5: The Trek Begins On the first day of the long awaited trek, everyone was up and ready by 7 pm sharp. I myself wasn’t in the best shape, I had a raging flu and allergies, but I knew I had to push through. I would not get another chance like this again....
Day – 6: Premature Return
Day 6: Premature Return Rarely has my body felt so sore in the morning when I woke up on the second day of the trip. My fever had gotten worse overnight, and sleeping on such a hard surface had done my back in. I woke to hear the clamoring of pots and pans and...
Day 7: The last day in Hunza
Day 7: The last day in Hunza Haris and I were going back to Lahore the next day and three days earlier than the rest of the team, so this would be our last full day in Hunza. I was already missing th place. Today would be a busy day, we were to visit...
Day 8: The Final Journey
I was still awake at 6 am when when we were officially woken up. After hastily packing and saying farewell to the room, we rushed downstairs to find the car waiting for us, along with Fayeem and Mr Salman (the early risers of the group). We said our final farewells, and got in the...