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 Karakoram Highway.  It was a somber place, but had an eerie beauty to it, with the inscribed and ornated headstones and pine trees everywhere. We interviewed an old cleaner of the graveyard about his work and also his personal life in Gilgit, and took some shots of him while doing his work. Soon after we left for Hunza.

The way to Hunza was very different to what we were had gotten used to on the previous day and not quite as pleasant. It was very hot, about 44 degrees and the terrain was very different from the green hills and icy caps we had seen at Babusar top. On the way, we met with some important people who were old friends of Salman Rashid and apparently avid readers of his books. The first person was a high official in the Gilgit-Baltistan government. He seemed like a very humble and genuinely nice guy. We had tea at his house where he gave us an entertaining and insightful recap of what was happening in the area. The second was a senior bureaucrat in Nagar, who turned out to be a Punjabi like us. He was equally hospitable, inviting us for tea and goodies at a beautiful little restaurant with the Nanga Parbat mountain majestically hovering in all its 8000 metre plus glory over us in the background and a stream running from the top of the hill right to where we were sitting. We were all impressed by his knowledge of Hunza despite not being a local. And the best thing was – after meeting with these two men, we were waved past at every check post we happened to cross, which felt so good!

We finally reached our destination, the Eagle’s Nest hotel at about 5 pm, and it proved to be the most impressive hotel on the trip. It boasted a breathtakingly spectacular view of the Rakaposhi mountain (another huge 7000 metre giant) and the valley underneath it from the rooms. The hotel was very high up – driving up the winding road was quite a challenge, but our seasoned driver Iqbal mastered it skillfully! Before we retired to our rooms, we talked about the coming days’ programme in the lobby for quite some time, finally agreeing on the itinerary and resources, after which the team decided to call it a day and retire to their rooms to relax and enjoy the beautiful view.  At two in the morning, before sleeping, I was looking at the breathtaking scenery in front of me and I thought to myself that would actually want to come back every year to the North. It was the sort of place where one could live out the last of one’s days – here nothing else mattered. I must admit, this was one of the only places I have been to that stirred up such feelings in me.