Luckiest Day on the Most Dangerous Road in the World EP.16 | North Pakistan Motorcycle Tour
See how these rocks have been cut to make this road. There's too much water. This is the next suspension bridge. Such a clean village... Very well maintained. What is he doing?? The valley looks really scary at night.
Assalam Alekum. Good Morning. Namaste. Sat Sri Akal to everyone. From Attabad Lake. Last night we got here and stayed at Lexus Hunza. Hopefully you must have enjoyed the previous vlog. That's one of my favorite vlogs. Today's vlog is also from a very unique location. I visited this place before in 2016.
And I really liked the road to this destination. So much so that I always wanted to come here on a motorcycle ever since I got it. And also show it to all my viewers worldwide.
So that everyone knows about such adventurous roads for motorcycling. This is Shimshal valley about which I have heard a lot of good things. We'll first go to Pasu and from there we'll go to Shimshal valley. Our ride till Pasu will be on road. But the rest of it will be off road. If we don't take too many breaks, we'll reach Shimshal in 2.5 to 3 hours.
We plan to go to Shimshal and then come back and stay at Pasu or Sost. Depending on what we plan to do the next day. But first let's have our breakfast. After that we'll pack our stuff. We'll show you around a bit and then we'll get going. Here's the breakfast.
There are multiple options of breakfast here; from continental to desi or whatever you desire. They even have lassi. Not to forget fruits. You can say that you can get whatever you feel like eating. We have got some desi breakfast as well as bread.
We'll keep on eating more stuff. Let's start our breakfast. Let me tell you that the breakfast is complementary for everyone staying here.
Thank you so much. Bismillah... In the name of Allah... *Prayer for the journey* We pray to Allah for a safe and memorable day ahead.
We have just left the hotel. This road will take us to KKH and from there we'll head straight to Pasu. There has been a lot of construction here and one can find a lot of hotels here. It pleases me to see that now there are some really good hotels in Pakistan. You can get world class facilities there, like anywhere else in the world.
However I'm not sure... To what extent this concrete jungle will affect this beautiful lake and beauty of nature. I hope there is proper planning behind all this.
And the authorities will be taking care of this. We are not going uphill. Gonna stay down here. No. No. We do have to go uphill. You see I'm sort of clueless here. That's how much construction is taking place here. I was here in 2020 and there wasn't much around here.
I mean there were things but not to this extent. If you come here in 5 years or so, you may see another dozen hotels. Actually there were villages here in the past as well.
But if I'm not mistaken, in 2010 the water level here rose so high... That all the villages had to be evacuated. After that there was an incident of landslide...
Then these tunnels were constructed. People would cross this section on boats during those few years. People would transport their motorcycles and cars on small boats run by locals. And it would take 3 to 4 hours to cross the area. Later on, they built these tunnels. And this is KKH.
Karakoram Highway. We need to turn left; nobody is coming from behind. This one is the last of the three tunnels. Right Ali? I don't know why I feel that the water level in the lake has receded.
I may be wrong. Those of you, who have been here recently, or locals can tell me if I'm wrong or not. That's what I feel. You can see that even here there are many hotels, resorts and camping sites. About this I'm certain that there was nothing here in 2020. There was just a small bazaar down there.
People would get boats from the bazaar and then come to this lake. Also, I think the greenish bluish color of water was much more prominent. But it has been 3 years and I don't remember vividly. Anyways, we are gradually moving forward.
I can see that we have almost reached Gulmit. The road to Shimshal starts from here. Let's see what this road is like.
Floods and landslides affect this road really adversely. There was some construction taking place on a bridge in 2020. Don't know what it must be like today. Hopefully we'll find the road in a good shape and we'll enjoy our ride. Here's the bridge.
A new bridge is being constructed in parallel. However, at this point in time, the old suspension bridge if still functioning. I guess we'll have to get ourselves registered here. We have placed all our stuff with the policeman here. This is a small check post. Well not all the stuff.. just the big bag.
Yasir has also placed his bigger bag here. It gets quite comfortable if we remove the rear bag. Because I have seen some videos of this off road. And they are kind of scary. Really scary because of how deep and steep the fall on one side is.
And also the way these mountains have been cut. So, let's see. Just check it out. Merely a 2 minute ride can bring you to this beautiful road.
To be honest, it is frightening... But the experience you have here is priceless. Hopefully you'll also be having that feeling from the video. What's special about Pakistan is the fact that you can have all sorts of adventures here.
Whatever you have in mind. This video is for all the motorcycle riders. Especially the ones who enjoy such roads. This landscape is very similar to the ones in Central Asia, such as Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Because this is also a part of the Pamir mountain range.
That's why you are seeing the similarities. Passing through this wretched section... That was too close.
Well not yet... For a moment, I thought I was gone. Rangeeli (motorcycle) would have been down on the rocks. And the river running along side is also in full swing. It's the beginning of the season and the snow is melting. That's why the rivers have more water than usual.
Just see how these rocks have been cut to make this road. We are gonna have more of this scenery ahead. It's just the beginning. As they say... 'the party has just begun'. Well well well The water has reached the road. So, the party has actually started now.
Ali... We'll wait until you get through. Okay. I'll start once you have reached the other side. Just be careful. Clear? Towards left? Okay.
May Allah be with us. We'll go slow. God help us.
Wow.. that's a lot of water. I'm staying on the left side, Ali. That's too much water. This is as scary as it is enjoyable. Yasir is yet to cross.
We have to try and get back before evening. Because this track can be really difficult in the dark. We might not know if there are some loose rocks on the road. We do have powerful lights but still it's best to be careful. This track has lots of small pebble like stones. So, my tires don't seem to get a good road grip.
Better to go slow. Do keep this in mind if you are planning to come here. No need to be a hero and use speed on this track. This track as well as the whole is really unique.
We haven't seen such an environment in this trip so far. Well, I'm already on the right side. This here is a beautiful section. There's just too much water. Moreover the stones are hindering the flow.
And it has caused the river to constrict. Check out the majestic flow of this water. This has been my favorite section of this track so far. I'm loving it. According to Ali, the total length of this track is 56 km.
I think we may have covered only 12 km or so. It's a rather long track but the good condition of road enables you to go at 35 km/h or so. However, if there are stones on the road, then you have to get slow. 30 - 35 km/h is a good enough speed for off road. This is the next suspension bridge of the area. If there are a couple of motorcycles on it, you feel like it's swaying.
On this side of the bridge... The road was a little too low from the bridge. The water coming from glacier at this location is darker in color. This section may be considered to be the most dangerous one of this road. Because there are too steep and deep falls alongside.
As Ali says... they are really deep. Look at that... This road is truly amazing.
The fact there's a rather big village situated up ahead on this road really amazes me. A village at such a remote location... Look at how sandy the whole landscape has turned into. This section and the next one both are more sandy. And you may have started seeing some peaks now. The landscape has become quite different now.
The peaks that we are seeing in front of us are quite similar to Pasu cones. But of course, those are much bigger and greater in number. This is the water passage for the grid station. We are gonna show you the black glacier towards our right side shortly.
The river flows beside the glacier. I'm gonna take a short break here to show you the glacier. This blackish structure in front of the peaks is the glacier.
The Red River ... coming up ... It's a really beautiful section. Finally I spotted the sign saying... 'Welcome to Shimshal Valley'.
We have entered the village. This is the starting point of the village and it will stretch further some more. It's quite a green valley. Comparing this landscape to the previous one shows you how much it has changed.
Small houses made from mud and stones. They do have electricity in this village. I can see dish antennae outside houses, probably to watch TV. We can also see electric poles.
Ali told me that there is network coverage of SCO here as well. So there must be an SCO tower somewhere. Anyways we do have a SIM card so we can check if it's working.
But it's really beautiful. As soon as you enter here, you are welcomed by a cool breeze and the lush green area. The previous landscape is a very harsh one. Even the stones there were sunburned.
How far should we go, Ali? A little further? It's such a clean village. Very well maintained. Shall we go straight, Ali? Alright Just look at this beautiful village despite the fact that it's too remote. Welcome to Shimshal Heights Hotel and Restaurant. There are quite a few hotels, rest houses and restaurants here.
I'll park just here. We have ordered tea for ourselves from a guest house here named Siffat Guest House. I have also gathered some information from them.
There are in fact four villages here. Aminabad, Khizarabad, Center and there's one more. So there are a total of about 200 houses in this valley. You won't see any village throughout the 56 km long track that we just finished.
As soon as you cross that, you get to see this plain and valley. The local population here is close to 600. The literacy rate of this area is very high and most of the people are educated.
Just like the Sherpa in Nepal, the people of Shimshal are renowned for their mountaineering skills in Pakistan. Whenever foreign mountaineers come to Pakistan, their first choice of assistant is someone from Shimshal. That's another reason Shimshal is known for.
Shimshali mountaineers are well known worldwide. Regarding the health facilities... There are not too many doctors here because of the remote location. The father of the owner of this guest house has served this area for 37 years. Unfortunately he died two years ago.
So, this is one problem here. Other than that, the people here are educated. Basic facilities are easily available. There's SCO coverage here and you can make a call on mobile phone. But... Internet rarely works.
We better focus on our meal now. Whatever we have here. After that, we'll be leaving. In Sha Allah. After finishing our tea and fries, we are back on track.
Our bill for the meal was PKR 540/- Not too expensive. Quite suitable considering how remote a valley this is. There are 3 or 4 guest houses here. The oldest one goes by the name of Shimshal Tourist Lodge. That's a little farther from here. That's where mostly tourists go. It's a relatively bigger hotel or guest house; whatever you call it.
A lot of tourists come here. But most of them go further for trekking. So if you are planning to visit, the trek here is almost a 4 day trek.
It will take a total of 5 days to finish the trek and return. It's gonna be tough getting on this bridge from here. Assalam Alekum. Thank you. What's he doing?? The camera has recorded what you did there. I'll show you later.
You shifted lane. We have almost reached the end of this track. Just a little more to go. The tough section of water crossing is still to come. That's where you saw water on the road. Only that part is left. After that we'll be through.
We still have another 20 to 25 minutes of light. Hopefully we will have finished this track in this time. To be honest, this looks like a rather scary valley at night. With such massive mountains on sides and a river with a fast flowing water. Even the color of water is dark.
The water here has a really heavy flow. Almost half the motorcycle is submerged. But the good thing is that we are moving in the direction of flow. So the water is actually helping the motorcycle.
Yes Wow I'll stop up there while you wait for Yasir. Many thanks to Allah I was actually scared of this section. My feet have gotten wet. Yasir, you are tired. The road is submerged. Don't worry. It's good that our motorcycles have been cleaned by water.
Here comes the hotel... Roomy Khawana Praise be to Allah This is our room in Sost. You can see that it's quite a spacious room. The washroom is quite clean and we have hot water facility. The name of this hotel is Roomy Khawana. We are staying in Sost because our next destination is Chapursan.
The road to Chapursan goes from here. Otherwise we could have gone back to Hunza. That's Ali. We had quite an exhausting day today. Feeling hungry? Very much.
Wasn't really exhausting. It was an adventure and we really enjoyed it. Sure today we have biryani in our dinner. Looks really delicoius And I'm really starving. All we had today was the breakfast and those fries in the afternoon. But our day went really well.
A very adventurous indeed. If you are planning a visit, do come to Shimshal. Beautiful valley... Amazing people... I'm sure you are gonna love it. And I hope that you must have enjoyed the vlog as well.
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2023-09-11 22:46
