Chilas - Gilgit
My morning wake up intentions were to get up at 6:00am and be out around 7:00am. But I only dragged my feet out of a bed by 6:30am, packed my stuff some 20 minutes later and then had to wait for my breakfast forever… One omelette with a few chapatis and a tea took more than 45 minutes to prepare. Finally, at about 8:00am I settled my bill and hit the road. My plan was to get to Talechi and camp overnight in a NAPWD garden, about 70 kms away from Chilas.
Still in Chilas I stopped and explored famous petroglyphs sites. The sites II and III were about 3 kms past the village to the east. There was a jeep road leading to a bridge over the Indus river and continuing onto Thalpan. I spotted some stone engravings on rocks to my right even before the bridge. Typical Buddhist images with stupas or meditating Buddhas. Past the bridge, I parked my bike and walked about 300-400 meters straight to nearby cliffs where was the Site II (Thalpan site) with amazing array of petroglyphs ranging from prehistoric engravings of animals (ibex, markhor, etc.) and hunting scenes; Iranian (Persian) displays of warriors; Sogdian and Hun imaginary; multitude of Buddhists representrations (stupas, images of Buddhas, etc.); various motifs related to Shiva, Vishnu or Zoroastrian influences and inscriptions in various languages.
Seeing all this history scribbbled into a stone, I realized that the route alongside the Indus river was a ‘highway’ for thousands of years for passing through merchant caravans or military expeditions. Over the years it facilitated spread of religions (first Buddhist, later Islam) between Central Asia and the Subcontinent or Persia… The last night, at my hotel, the manager gave me a book to read called “THE INDUS: Craddle and Crossroads of Civilizations” describing and identifying almost all of the petroglyphs.
When returning to the KKH, I had quickly found the Site III with some more Budddhist imaginary. Both sites were marked with marmor plaques written both in English and Urdu, describing their historical and cultural significance not only to Pakistan but the whole worldd. Unfortunately, both of these plaques were smashed by some very agitated locals. I’m assuming the English writing was really unbearable to some poor illiterate souls. It is amazing what human ignorance is capable of…. Interestingly and luckily though none of the petroglyphs were damaged!!!
So after almost 90 minutes, I started cycling on the KKH toward my day’s goal. It was exhausting right from the start. The sun made this dry and barren valley extremely hot very quickly. Remember, Chilas was only at approx. 1,200 meter altiitude. I wasn’t mentally prepared for such inferno. Plus, the villages enroute were poorly stacked even with basic food, not even mentioning luxuries such as cold sodas or bisquits. Tea was available inn a couple of places but that was maybe good for truckers sitting in shaded cabins, not for a biker as myself in a full sun’s rage…
Finally, after more than 40 kms, I arrived in Jalipur with some roadside shops selling cold drinks. I stopped here in one of them quickly guzzling down 4 bottles of Sprite and Coke. An older man sitting inside clearly didn’t like my Buddhist necklace (a gift; for good luck) as he pointed to it and signaled ‘No good’ with his hand and head movements. I didn’t feel like getting into a protracted discussion with my non-existent Urdu and his equally so English.
Before leaving I bought 2 big bottles of Sprite (I was suspecting limited water sources on my way to Talechi and no place in Jalipur sold mineral water). Past Jalipur, the KKH road kept climbing some 40-50 meters then losing it again for some time. I passed by a broken down bus, a flat tire. Near Drang I stopped and had a quick bite in a shade of a bus stop. Two boys with nothing to do joined me and observed silently my eating. I offered them some bisquits which they accepted with big smiles. But again, no ‘real’ communication was possible for obvious reasons;) I wished I could speak more Urdu…
Continuing toward Raikot bridge and turn-off to the famous stopover in Fairy Meadow, I passed through Tatapani with rudimentary thermal springs and a deserted tourist stop. From here I was cycling on increasingly dusty road interrupted by recently cleared landslides and sometimes water streams running over the road, here and there. 2 kms past Tatapani, one such stream was coming down from a side wall and I decided to wet my handkerchief and cool off my head. To my surprise the water was hot, not boiling but hot enough to feel uncomfortable. It was completely unexpected as the water was clear and odorless!!! Then I realized, the streams running across the road were hot too. It was probably part from the same source as the hot springs in Tatapani. Just another example of active volcanic and seismic activity deep underground in this area…
At Raikot bridge, I passed by a restaurant, closed as expected by this time of the year, and slowed down near a barrier at the bridge attended by about 6-7 bored men. They didn’t look like army or police personel, more like bunch of bored jeep drivers waiting for a bus to drop a few souls wanting to go up to the Fairy meadow to see the Nanga Parbat’s Diamir face and hopefully willing to stay overnight. Since I had already decided not to go up there, I only asked them to raise the bars and let me through.
It must have been near high noon because the sun was now unbearably hot and the canyon barren walls intensified it even further. Luckily, as the road turned north and was now on the left side of the river, I was able to stay and relax in cool shade, here and there. It was not far to Talechi but when looking back I still couldn’t see Nanga Parbat (or “The Naked Mountain”). But at least there was a stream running near the road with fresh water;) Before Talechi I stopped by a huge monument at the crossing of the KKH with a road into the Astore valley leading to the other side of Nanga Parbat (Rupal face). I took plenty of photos here. Polarizer filter helped tremendously to remove the sun’s glare;)
So, at about 3pm I arrived in Talechi, welcomed by swarms of happy children running alongside my bike. They even pushed the bike, which helped initially but later when moree of them joined in, it was too much trouble to stay upright. I easily found the NAPWD resthouse on the left side of the main road with high walls and a nice small garden, an ideal place to camp. I went in and asked about it but only encountered bewildered looks. After someone fetched a person with some knowledge of English I was told that the resthouse was taken over by the army (four months ago) and I couldn’t stay there. They were nice about it, offered me some tea too. But by now it was 3:20pm and I had to think of other places to stay. This area being so dry and waterless it wasn’t as easy to camp anywhere. They recommended to me Jaglot where I cloud find simple places to sleep. So I declined the offer of the tea started cycling again.
Supposedly, from Talechi I could see the most peaks covered with snow out of anywhere on the KKH, I just didn’t have much time to enjoy it. I only quickly glanced toward Rakaposhi which I knew I will see up close, in a few days. When passing through some villages Talechi, I stopped for even grander views of Nanga Parbat and was met by a young Swiss couple traveling around Pakistan in a van.
By the time I was ’speeding’ through Jaglot I alreaady made up my mind to cycle all the way to Gilgit. Definitely a long ride but doable, even if in dark. Now, with the sun weakening and air cooling off it was lot easier to ride faster and the road was fairly easy ups and downs. Gilgit was only 300 meters higher than Chilas.
I only stopped twice: first, at a marked crosspoint of the three major mountain ranges: Hindukush, Karakoram and the Himalayas, near the confluence of Gilgit and Indus rivers; second, a few kms after, to finish my last pack of bisquits… From there on I was riding like “I stole something” (A reference to Lance Armstrong telling his teammate to go for a stage win during the Tour de France 2004.)
As the valley slowly darkened it was harder and harder to see clearly. I only put my backlight on but didn’t want to waste time digging for my small front light. As long as cars could see from behind I felt safe. With an exception of a car full of youngsters heading directly for me trying to force me off the road… Idiots, no comments!!! At about 7:00pm though, it was completely dark and I could only sense dark outlines of the road. From time to time, a passing car showed me a way;) Near the turn-off to Gilgit the traffic increased and it was a bit easier with cars approaching from behind and harder with oncoming traffic blinding me. Finally, I reached the turn-off and also my first police/military checkpoint in Pakistan where I had to submit my passport and my personal data was recorded in a ledger which looked more like a tattered school notebook. The checkpoint guy offered me yet another tea but I just wanted to get to my guesthouse. So, I thank him and kept going on. Gilgit’s center was still about 10 or 11 kms away. Now within the city limits, I had to be careful with tractors rarely using headlights (but at least I could easily hear them) and people walking on the road (almost stealthily). I almost ran into a herd of sheep;) Plus, I had to keep out my eyes focused on hard to spot potholes and more unlit army checkpoints with possible road barriers. Near a bus station, parked taxi drivers even put lights for me so I could check out my map;)
But eventually I made it to the city center without any trouble. My first choice, the Mountain Refuge GH was closed for the season. Actually, it was open to travelers only in July and August. Now, in September it served as dorms for girl students. But the friendly owner directed me to another popular hangout: Madina GH. I finally arrived there at 8:15pm. A bit tired after my longest day so far. But they had a single room with hot shower available and I was offered a free welcome tea.
Sipping the tea I met my first cyclist since I left Leh in India more than 6 weeks ago, Rod from New Zealand traveling from Turkey through Central Asia and its stans to Pakistan (http://roddo.net). Later, I found out that there were many more cyclists here… Nico from Argentina (http://nico3dphotos.blogspot.com) was cycling together with Rod He joined hin from Iran and was heading through India, Nepal to China trying to settle in Beijing or Shanghai for a year, or so, before heading to Tibet. An amazing guy, we spent hours talking about life, careers, traveling, Buddhism and much more… Sage, a teacher from Alaska and fluent in Russian, and Chris from Maine arrived here through Kyrgyzstan and were heading back to Kashgar to start their journey through Western Tibet (http://kgz2ktm.blogspot.com). If I could catch them, they promised me a dinner;) Plus, they also told me of a good new GIANT biking shop in Kashgar where I could replace my cracked rim and my bottom bracket bearings…)
And over the next few days I met some old friends I bumped first in Lahore, or Islamabad: Lars from Germany on his motorbiking ’round the world trip heading for Iran and Zdenek (www.webminster.com) from Czech Republic busing, trekking and climbing his way slowly toward Kashgar and later hitch-hiking through Western Tibet to Lhasa and continuing to Yunnan, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia all the way to New Zealand where he wants to stop for a year and make some money for the second part of his around the world trip… All amazing people with great stories!!!
But for now, I just looked to get into a hot shower and come back for a big meal. I have decided to stay and relax here for two days… BTW, I’m closing on my 3,000 kms;)))
Start: Chilas, Northern Areas, Pakistan
End: Gilgit, Northern Areas, Pakistan
Distance: 135.94 km
Elevation: +1,745/-1,325 m
Time: 8′40″
Avg: 15.7 km/h
Total: 2,992.4 km
Riding/Total days: 38/68
