So, yes, I made it back to Kuala Lumpur safe and sound, I was at no point in danger and I have seen the most incredible landscape and experience authentic family life during my stay in Pakistan and I would already now judge it as the best experience of my whole travels!
However, as you can imagine, not everything is a piece of cake in Pakistan. The constant awareness of crime in the cities is a real nuisance when you are not used to it. But that's the advantage of having a local as a friend, who would tell you not to get out of the car in front of the gate (only inside), always to lock your doors, and never to drive alone somewhere, never use your smartphone in public... this is pretty much applicable to all big, third-world-cities.
But I also want to mention that there was a lot of planning involved on Maryam's side to make this experience as comfortable as possible for me. She had plan B options for every single step that was planned. Unpredictability is a major spoilsport in this country.
And also we were lucky in many regards.
The Karakorum Highway, the only road-connection between Gilgit and Hunza, was closed due to rock-slide shortly after we left. Just imagine we would have been stuck in Hunza or not even be able to arrive there because of a blocked highway... not so funny!
When we arrived back in Islamabad lots of mourning processions were going on and luckily, by the time we needed the bus to Lahore everything was open. But as we learnt afterwards, shortly after we left the city the major traffic arteries were closed again so we wouldn't have reached Lahore if leaving just an hour later. Being stuck in Islamabad... not so funny.
The same in Lahore, the whole city was blocked for processions and somewhere in the city some shia muslims were killed by sunni muslims (or vice versa?), so nothing was moving the whole day, especially no busses from outside. Being stuck in a bus on the dark highway? Not so funny.
And last but not least, a few days after I left Karachi a bomb attack was happening next to a mosque which killed several people...
I'm not saying I'm happy to be alive but just imagine all these disturbances and chaos and we would have been stuck in there... So in this regard, traveling Pakistan is a lucky game and I had won the first prize of an unique, undisturbed, unforgettable experience.
However, as you can imagine, not everything is a piece of cake in Pakistan. The constant awareness of crime in the cities is a real nuisance when you are not used to it. But that's the advantage of having a local as a friend, who would tell you not to get out of the car in front of the gate (only inside), always to lock your doors, and never to drive alone somewhere, never use your smartphone in public... this is pretty much applicable to all big, third-world-cities.
But I also want to mention that there was a lot of planning involved on Maryam's side to make this experience as comfortable as possible for me. She had plan B options for every single step that was planned. Unpredictability is a major spoilsport in this country.
And also we were lucky in many regards.
The Karakorum Highway, the only road-connection between Gilgit and Hunza, was closed due to rock-slide shortly after we left. Just imagine we would have been stuck in Hunza or not even be able to arrive there because of a blocked highway... not so funny!
When we arrived back in Islamabad lots of mourning processions were going on and luckily, by the time we needed the bus to Lahore everything was open. But as we learnt afterwards, shortly after we left the city the major traffic arteries were closed again so we wouldn't have reached Lahore if leaving just an hour later. Being stuck in Islamabad... not so funny.
The same in Lahore, the whole city was blocked for processions and somewhere in the city some shia muslims were killed by sunni muslims (or vice versa?), so nothing was moving the whole day, especially no busses from outside. Being stuck in a bus on the dark highway? Not so funny.
And last but not least, a few days after I left Karachi a bomb attack was happening next to a mosque which killed several people...
I'm not saying I'm happy to be alive but just imagine all these disturbances and chaos and we would have been stuck in there... So in this regard, traveling Pakistan is a lucky game and I had won the first prize of an unique, undisturbed, unforgettable experience.
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