Chilas

The journey from Besham to Chilas is literally a journey in itself.

I finally had the chance to put on my trek shoes which has been taking up quite a bit of space in my pack.

The road immediately after Besham was non-existant. We were only into the start of the journey but we had to walk through mud paths and water already.

Then there were the vans at the other side of the road waiting to pick passengers up but they often charged a few times more than usual for us travellers. Taking advantage of the situation to earn more money is totally uncool, but given the situation, we could only pay.

After only a few kilometres, we had to alight from the vehicle as the road was blocked again.

The damned drivers waiting after the landslide were charging us 300 rupees, but only 30 rupees for the locals. We decided to walk instead, as with some other locals who refused to pay the 30rupees too. It's a 2km walk.
I can walk.

Marijuana grass a common sight

Rows of trucks sighted stucked between broken roads. Stenches of rotten food from the trucks were already filling the air.

Though what came next at the end of this road was really exciting.

We had to take a cable crossing constructed by the locals to cross the Indus River!

There was actually two cable crossings, but the higher one was almost empty as it looked more intimidating with the box sagging to one side, not to mention it was a lot higher. Most people were queueing to take the one just slightly above the river instead. You can see from the picture above the queue forming at the backdrop. Took the higher one cos it was too much effort to trek all the way down the cliff. It was equally dangerous to climb down the cliff as well.

Sven, the German

Long queue to take the 'ride'

The cable pulley was set up by the local villagers to allow people to cross the river. It looked really dangerous with the box assembled using just wooden planks nailed together.

Allah bless us.