The Best Views Come After the Hardest Climbs

I want to write frequently but it's difficult to get in the groove after a long gap. I try to read regularly, though. Today, while attempting to widen my normally small reading circle, I stumbled upon a contest post related to traveling which turned on a switch inside my prefrontal cortex.

Instantly, I wanted to share my travel story which is the highlight of this year. I genuinely hope that it doesn't make anyone sleepy because I have a lot to share.

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I belong to a poor, developing country, so it only makes sense that I'm tempted to visit a developed one. I'm guilty of only dreaming about visiting Europe and at times any place outside South Asia (no offense fellow South Asians).

This June, when my husband and one of his close friends who is also his colleague informed us (wives) about their one-week trip to Northern Pakistan, I couldn't be more reluctant but of course, we wouldn't let them go by themselves. 😈

^{Fun Fact: Northern Pakistan is worth visiting. It has some of the world's highest and beautiful mountain ranges.}

Next day, our husbands wrote down the whole itinerary at work. Their enthusiasm was commendable. I was mainly reluctant because:

• one look at the itinerary told me that it was going to be an insanely hectic trip

• the trip was going to cost us all our savings

I took the bullet because, despite all my concerns, I was also excited to travel with the other couple as they are our very good friends.

From trip idea to planning and hitting the road, it all seemed to happen in a blink of an eye.

As they say, it's not about the destination, it's the journey that matters. Moreover, we were 4 adults and 2 kids. Therefore, it was only sensible that we travel together in one vehicle.

Forget the car fun, we spent most of the journey getting sick. We took turns with episodes of nausea.

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Day 1

Our first destination was Bunji, a place on the outskirts of Gilgit. We left our homes at around 7 in the morning and reached there at 11, near midnight.

It's a heck of a task to drive the car around the mountains (the roads constantly turn and either go up or down).

As driving was tricky, the husbands took turns with driving and we played the roles of passenger princesses. 🤪

The first few hours were good. We made a couple of pit stops. First for breakfast at the bank of River Kunhar.

^{Lulusar Lake in all it's glory}

Then at the famous Lulusar Lake which is a glacier lake located between a group of mountains in Kaghan Valley at an elevation of 3410 meters.

We took some photos and then just stood there for a while to let the beauty of nature sink in.

The real challenge was ahead - Crossing Babusar Top before the sunset.

^{Babusar Peaks}

The glaciers were melting at the top and then there was a very narrow passage between glaciers for the cars to cross. It was too dangerous at night, so the Tourism Police of the area used to close the road before sunset.

^{I had an exact same picture which I can't find at the moment. I took this one from Rozefs Tourism. It will serve the purpose.}

It was a race. At turtle's pace.

Reason?

• Traffic
• Uphill drive
• Glaciers

Let me tell you, Babusar Top/mountain is also called Babusar Pass because it connects two provinces, KPK and Gilgit Baltistan. We were coming from KPK and going towards GB. Also, let's not ignore the height of the top - freaking 4173 meters (almost half of K2 and Everest).

We weren't ready for the bone-chilling cold at the top. I wonder what it's like at K2.

The moment we stepped out of the car, we all started shivering and my kids started crying out loud. I started cursing myself for agreeing to this trip. We were all cold and famished.

The top was almost deserted. The locals move to warmer regions and only come back when the mountaintop is open for tourists. It was only a couple of days ago that the Top opened, so there were hardly one or two shops open. We quickly ate whatever crappy food we could get, jumped back in the car, and drove down the mountain toward GB.

We managed to descend just before the sun went down the horizon. There's as such no cellular network in GB (only their local SIMs work which we weren't able to find because it was dark and shops were closing).

Unknown dangerous roads. No GPS. No idea of the ETA. Severe nausea. One feverish kid.

I started cursing myself again for this foolish adventure.

4 hours later, we had a SIM and GPS. It was around midnight when we pulled the car at a dead end (at least what it seemed like). There was a suspension bridge ahead and we couldn't make out what was underneath. It was pitch dark if it weren't for the car's headlights.

I got out of the car and turned the flashlight on to find any instruction boards around. I found one - One car at a time can go on the bridge.

And guess what?
There was a furious river flowing underneath the bridge.

It only made things worse. I was kind of hoping that we took a wrong turn and this ain't the right way. But it turned out that it was the only way to go to the guestrooms.

I cursed myself harder this time.

I was exhausted, my head was pounding, my stomach was growling with hunger, it was dark, there was nobody around, phones were barely working, and then this suspension bridge !!! How a car is supposed to go on a suspension bridge????

I lost my senses.

It wasn't just me, my friend was scared too. Kids were oblivious and husbands kept their cool - having the time of their lives.

My husband went ahead, walked on the bridge, and signaled us to come too - it seemed safe.

It was three long minutes in which we crossed the bridge, praying hard and loud for the bridge to stay intact with car's weight.

We crossed it successfully and in one piece.

Guestrooms were just ahead.

What a relief!

We quickly had some food and retired to our rooms without another word.

The next morning, we were amazed to see the beauty around which we couldn't see last night. There were giant mountains around us and the place where we stayed was so beautiful.

^{This picture doesn't capture how majestic that giant mountain looked in real.}

^{me posing hard}

^{It turned out that the bridge wasn't that scary in the daylight.}

At that moment, I smiled because I was already forgetting the horrible journey of the previous day. Indeed, the best views come after the hardest climbs.

To be continued...

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^{I think I have carpal tunnel now after typing this with my thumbs at a weird angle. I had to get this down and couldn't let the inspiration slide away just because my computer's broken. 🥲}