✔RoadTrip.pk✔

khunjerab Pass

20th July.
That morning when we started our journey towards khunjerab pass. The sky was clear blue and the atmosphere was totally different from the day before. We crossed the beautiful Attabad Lake which looked amazingly different but did not stop as we had planned to take a stop for about an hour at Sust, the mid point from Hunza to khunjerab Pass for our breakfast. It's also the immigration and custom base for those crossing the border either for trade or tourism.

Sust itself was a flat land, dry, rocky and brown but the surroundings faraway were green mountains with snow covered tops. The temperature was also moderate.
We settled in a small tea and breakfast stall. Surprisingly it had a small dining hall for families, which was filled by us in no time.

'We've ordered spaghetti along with Parathas and omelets.' Bhaiya said.

'Ah that's great I'll have spaghetti.!' exclaimed Muhammad and with his loud announcement every single kid bounced up and down.

Our order came soon after I with many others had a great long trip to the government guest house nearby just to take the kids to the toilets.

And the eternal fight among all the kids began.

I need more! I want more!.

It seemed like spaghetti were the most exclusive breakfast they were having that day although the Parathas with that amazing tea they served were very delicious too.

Satisfied with our tummies. We started our journey again.

The road was winding fascinatingly around the snow covered mountains.
The scenic view changed from rocky dry to lush green grassy lands within thirty minutes of drive. We then saw many small and big glaciers along the way. At one moment we were below the clouds and the other above them viewing the crystal blue sky.

As we reached to the plateau of that remote pass, the temperature lowered and all of us started putting on the layers of jackets.

We stopped at the army posts along the highway to enter our ID and confirm them that we are only visiting the pass more times then you could imagine. I liked their way of securing the border. It felt like we were heading towards something really important.

'Guys this pass is more than 4500 meters above sea level so we should only stay for half an hour as the oxygen over here is lower. Do not walk fast. If any of you started feeling dizzy or getting headaches, short of breath, please do inform me or any other elder. it's surely a sign of altitude sickness.' Bhaiya warned all of us.

'The Khunjerab Pass is the highest paved international border crossing in the world and the highest point on the Karakoram Highway.' Baji elaborated.

'The amazing fact is that, this is one of the international borders where left-hand traffic changes to right-hand traffic' Riaz bhai added.

'And it's also very near to the Khunzerav National Park. You know guys there are snow leopards and very remarkably rare sheep.' Baji said excitedly.

'Yes it's not khunjerab it's basically khunzerav, Khun means "blood" and Zerav means "to stream" in Wakhi, the native language of this region. It's a common misunderstanding. I read that at wiki when I was searching for our tour.' Bhaiya grinned while giving the piece of information and our driver slowed the bus to enter the parking area.