Pakistan > A beer with dinner

Last night, the wind blew strongly again at times. Not only did the tent sway a lot, but the wind also set stones rolling down the mountain slopes. The sound of small rock avalanches echoed from the glacier valley—one after another. Even when we woke up, the wind was still quite strong. What a difference from yesterday. Raindrops pattered on the tent fabric. I packed my gear that would go with the donkey. The breakfast tent was a bit smaller today. Due to the strong wind, the crew had removed a section. At half past eight, I started the descent. The wind had calmed down somewhat, and thankfully it was dry again. Descending was much easier than the climb two days ago.

Pakistan - On the descent we pass donkeys bringing new supplies up

After about half an hour, the sun came out. I stopped briefly to take off my rain jacket and sweater. The valley and the village of Minapin grew closer. After about an hour and a half of descending, I arrived back at the parking lot. The baggage with the donkeys had not arrived yet. We found a spot to sit at a simple hotel. I ordered a local tea with milk. When everyone was down and the baggage had arrived, we got into the cars. We drove from Minapin to Karimabad. Just around noon, we arrived at the hotel. The rooms were already ready. My room was on the third floor with a view of the Rakaposhi giant mountain. I quickly took a shower—wonderful after two nights of camping. In the afternoon, we walked into the village of Karimabad for lunch. We split up among the restaurants to avoid long waiting times. Karimabad is clearly more geared toward tourists. The main street consists of cafés, hotels, and restaurants. Agencies also offer treks in the mountains. In one of the restaurants with a view of the mountains, I ordered lunch. I chose a chicken sandwich—a bit of a change from the rice at midday. In the afternoon, we walked through the souq. The souq aren’t really stalls but more narrow streets with many souvenir shops. This ended at the ticket office of Karimabad Fort, which we will visit tomorrow. We walked back and took a seat on a terrace. I ordered a café latte. In the evening, a small group of us went back into town. We had to watch carefully for traffic along the dark road. When we moved more among the shops and restaurants, it felt safer.

Pakistan - Photo on the rooftop terrace of the Yak bar in Karimabad

We walked to the intersection in the center, where the Yak bar is located. The menu had a Yak burger. Did we want beer with it? We looked at the man hesitantly, wondering if we heard correctly. He said we could get beer but only served in a glass. Officially, beer is not allowed to be sold, but foreigners could get it. A little later, we sat on the rooftop terrace with burgers and a beer. Strangely, we later got a can of beer on the table to share. Meanwhile, other guests wanted to take photos with us. All perfectly fine, of course.