The last travel entry was the flight to Skardu. Now the fun ride from Skardu to Askole follows!
Luckily we were able to fly to Skardu as otherwise we would have been forced to take the bus for two days via the Karakoram Highway. We had to do this two years ago on the way back and it is a really really annoying journey over dusty and rumply roads, all the time having the Diesel smell in the nose, and sitting for 12 hours each day in the bus.
Skardu itself is surprisingly large with a population of about 70000 people. Otherwise, it is mostly dirty and noisy ?. And, what’s weird: You do not see any women in the streets, but that is local custom I guess…
After a one day stay in Skardu waiting for some final paperwork to be done we started on Saturday 22 June with the jeep journey to Askole. Some might call it exciting ?. It starts out on paved roads but very soon switches to unpaved gravel roads through rugged terrain, prone to landslides and rock falls, over wobbly wood bridges, across deep ravines with a wild river flowing deep down. Often the road is blocked, such as two years ago when we had to stop at a landslide, carry all our baggage across the landslide and then get into jeeps again waiting for us on the other side. Luckily, this year the road was not blocked, and we could get to Askole without any issues. We had a good driver who did not have the tendency to show what a hardcore guy he is by driving like crazy on those unpaved roads…
The stay for the night in Askole itself was nice and quiet. Our local guide Iqbal stems from Askole, so he invited us to his home for some tea and food. Families are rather big here by the way: Iqbal has four brothers, seven sisters and about 100 cousins ?.
Here a video clip to give you a taste of this nice journey ?: