Lake Attabad

This is the most stunningly beautiful area. We are so fortunate to experience this.

We had a great sleep - I wore my thermals as the room was freezing.

Lovely breakfast - porridge, omelette and paratha with apricot jam then out for a walk round Gulmit. It was warming up by 9.30 am. Locals are Wadji or Ishmaeli, so women didn’t wear head scarves. As it is a holiday, the girls were helping their mothers in the field/ garden, picking potatoes outside our room. One girls pulled off the shaws, The mother got the potatoes up using a spade that pulled forward like a hoe, and the other girl gathered to put in small sacks. Further on we spoke to an old man who was doing the pulling up with his daughter in law gathering. He was 70 but looked older.

The village was great - some old ruined houses and newer ones in trad style but with satellite dishes on the roof. Lots of pear, apple, apricot, walnut trees, and a jaggy one with orange berries they make tea with but it can be made into a sport enhancing drink that’s banned in Olympics.

We called at a carper maker co op for Women. At start funded by a Swiss Organisation like in Kyrgyzstan, now run by themselves. The house was very dark. Crouched down to enter the outer door then though a dark entrance area then another crouch down and step over a high step to enter the room. 700 years old. Wooden pillars. Whole family once lived there.

At hotel we sat in the rose garden, shaded by apple trees, and had tea and cake, looking up the valley at the mountains.

We left at 12 and drove 40km to Karimabad. On the way we stopped at Abbatabad lake which was made by a huge rock fall when a large part of a mountain just fell off, killing 16. The Hunza river was blocked to create the lake in 2010 and it took 3 hears to flood the villages so people had time to get away. The military tried blasting it but couldn’t. Eventually, 3 years ago, the managed to release some water and the river is back. The original KKH was at that side of the mountain and disappeared under rockfalls and landslides. The new road has been built on the other side, considered to be more stable. And several tunnels were built.

We had a lovely cooling boat trip on the lake before driving on to see how they irrigate the villages. They make channels from the glaciers to their provide water for crops and people. The villages are perched precariously on ledges under high unstable mountain with sheer drops. The river rumbled and tumbled far below.

Because it is a holiday we couldn’t find anywhere to eat so had to come to our hotel where they made sandwiches and chips (!) at 3pm.

Our room is stunning - we have a sitting room with very ornate carved furniture, a huge bedroom with carved wooden bed, and a simple shower room. Not sure if we get hot water. The electricity comes and goes. We have a ceiling fan. It is 30 plus degrees in the day and minus something at night. Outside we have a splendid view from our balcony to the 7000ft mountain. We are at about 9000ft.

We are resting before going out at 6pm to look at the market - which may not be there because of the holiday.

I’m back blipping when we find WiFi