Day 152 Friday 16 February, 2007 Saidu Sharif to Mingora, Swat, NWFP Pakistan

After being waylaid and nearly bankrupted by the souvenir shopkeeper at the hotel, we leave with several more shawls and wallhangings crammed into the back of the car. We head north aiming for the Shang-la (pass) which connects the Swat Valley to Besham on the Karakoram Highway. Climbing the pass we reach the snow line at around 2000m with beautiful views back down the Swat valley and adjacent ranges. However the road rapidly deteriorates as we descend thru pine forests and steep ravines to follow the trout-laden Shang river. It's slow progress thru mud, potholes, washouts and some scary bridges. There is a fair amount of traffic, mostly pickups crammed with pashtuns, sheep and goats. It’s only 45km to Besham but we are averaging less than 10kms/hr and by 4.30 its starting to get dark when we are still about 8kms away. We stop to ask directions as english roadsigns are lacking in this part of Pakistan, only to learn that the road is blocked by a landslide and won't be open until the following day, inshallah. One pickup driver with a crowd of about 20people clinging to the back and roof suggests by sign language that there’s another way but none of his party speak any English and the thought of trying to find our way thru the Hindu Kush on tracks which aren’t on our map in the dark when it’s threatening to snow and the area’s inhabited by Pashtun tribesmen armed to the teeth doesn’t greatly appeal, so as there’s no accommodation in the valley we have little choice but to turn round and head back over the pass.

Its a hairy drive with lightning flickering in the storm clouds and to add to the sense of adventure the power is out in the villages as we pick our way thru their muddy main streets, gazed at by throngs of mostly bearded men. Finally we make it to the top of the pass where the soldiers at the checkpoint cheerfully wave us on and the lights of the Swat Valley come into view. Descending we check into the first decent hotel we find, the Rock City resort, a modern establishment which would be at home in Perisher or an Alpine village, where we are the only guests. We’ve taken 8 hrs to drive 125kms and have ended up only 5km from where we started, but at least we’ve had an ADVENTURE.

Distance today 160km; Total distance 22408km