Above: Waiting for our minivan to depart.
The only direct transport from Karimabad to Gilgit runs around 0400 to 0600; there was no need for us to torture ourselves like that. So we left our guesthouse around 1000 and waited on the road for a Suzuki to Aliabad where we could change for Karimabad.
A Suzuki is a very small Suzuki pickup truck with platform seats on the back facing each other and an upside down U-shaped canopy. After a bit of a wait, we got one and that dropped us off at the Aliabad minivan depot.
We paid for an extra seat for the 3h journey but of course it’s never full when one does that (and always squeezed 4 to a row when one doesn’t). Minivans here seem to depart with a minimum pax count and hope to fill the spare seats en route, as opposed to some countries where they only depart when absolutely full.
Including a lunch break and our two rides took just over 3h, as opposed to 6h on a big bus. We returned to the Madina Guesthouse and relaxed for the day.