Kachura Lakes and more

Indus River

Today we had a relaxing start, leaving the hotel at 0930.  We stopped at some pharmacies on the way, then at a viewpoint to look at the broad expanse of the Indus River.

The Indus starts in Tibet/China and runs through Kashmir and Ladakh in India, then various parts of Pakistan before discharging into the Arabian sea near Karachi.

Kachura Lakes

Next, we arrived at the Lower Kachura Lake on which the Shangri-La resort is located.  We took Ashfaq’s recommendation not to pay PKR1000 to enter the site as the view at lake-level wasn’t that great.

Instead, he stopped on the way to Upper Kachura Lake at a tea shop and we had a great view of Lower Kachura Lake.  With our tummies still full from breakfast, we couldn’t order the momos and had to make do with only tea.  The man working there had the most amazing milky turquoise-coloured eyes!

From there, we continued to Upper Kachura Lake around midday.  It was a 10 min walk from the car park to some steps which led down to the lake.  The water was extremely clear.

I requested another stop at the Indus viewpoint on the way back as the lighting conditions had changed.

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Desert and fort

Next, we drove to a small sandy area called the Katpana Desert.  It is probably the smaller of the two deserts in the area (we will visit the other one tomorrow).

We took a peek up at the 16^th Century Kharphocho Fort from the town area.  It wasn’t accessible without too much of a climb so we moved on to the Chumik Bridge where we had another view of the Indus and also the fort.

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Having mentioned that we wanted momos (mantu, mamtu) for lunch, Ashfaq tried to please us by driving around till we found a place.  We weren’t that fixed on the idea but he obliged.

As it turned out, it wasn’t the best momos we had eaten with touch minced beef inside and a very heavy skin.  It did the job sustaining us till our hotel dinner in the evening.

In the evening

Back at the hotel around 1530, we rested till around sunset when I went out in search of a barber.  I found one but he didn’t want to do a wet cut-throat shave even though he had all the gear.  So, he did an electric razor job (PKR100, half of the Lahore wet shave price) and I asked for a haircut (PKR150) as well.

On the way back, the traffic was at a standstill.  In the dark, I tried taking photos of a truck that had stopped.  The driver noticed me and beckoned me to step into the middle of the road for a proper shot.  This is Pakistani hospitality.