Border town of Sost

Baltit Fort

Anyway, I woke at 0555 in Karimabad and did an early morning walk to Baltit Fort around 0615.  I remember the place fondly and didn’t want to miss it this trip, even though my visit would be only from the outside.  But it is the view that is spectacular, so I was happy.

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Plan for the day

We left the hotel around 0845 after breakfast.

The plan for the day was to move ourselves from Karimabad to our nightstop in Passu, drop our bags at the accommodation and use the comfort facilities, then quickly proceed to Sost to secure our bus tickets to China tomorrow, then return to Passu to rest.  We would then return to Sost tomorrow morning for the ride to China.

Getting our tickets to China

We travelled the same route as yesterday, past Attabad Lake and Passu Cones, before arriving at the Passu Travel Lodge (PTL) around 0950.  After dropping off our luggage and a comfort stop, we continued on our merry way with some photo stops and arrived at Sost around 1040.  Faisal had visited Sost before but never helped anyone onto China-bound transport.

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My research suggested that there was a Pakistani-based bus and a China-based one but there appeared to be more operators or agents than just the two.

The one that Faisal brought us to had a bus departing at 0830 tomorrow morning for PKR7000 per person.  It was kinda halfway between the price range that I had seen online from various points in time.  The border crossing was the weakest link the whole trip and the border is closed for the weekend for two days after tomorrow.  So, we agreed to it without hesitation.

Plans start to change

It’s gonna be a long day tomorrow with a 0730 departure from Passu, possibly without breakfast and not eating until maybe 1900 (1600 Pakistan time) when we’re at the hotel.

For that reason, we stocked up on snacks at the shops in Sost, since there were none near the Passu hotel.

We wanted to look at the trucks parked at the two truck stops nearby.  Wandering around, I said that to M that it would have been great if we overnighted here instead, as I could take night shots with flash of the trucks.

She then asked if it was too late to change. We then decided to ring Nasir to ask.  At the same time, we started looking at a few hotels.

It took three attempts before we could find a nice enough hotel at a reasonable price.  We found that our choice here, the Gem Palace Hotel was about half the price of the Passu one, and Nasir said we could cancel (even though we had left our bags there already).

Kim was upset at the change in plan thinking it was M’s idea.  Also, he had it in his head that he wanted to stay at the fancy Serena Hotel just out of town.  I tried to make it clear that I initiated it and eventually he agreed that it was a good plan and would save us a bit of hassle in the morning.

It was around midday when Faisal drove M and I to Passu to retrieve our bags from Passu while Kim and Jo rested at the hotel.  The journey took about 30 mins each way.

Back in Sost, we had lunch at the hotel restaurant.  Because Faisal speaks good English, we ate with him a bit more and we had learnt that some highlanders salt their milky tea (perhaps similar Tibetans tea).  The change in plan had been a bit stressful, especially with Kim being upset, so we took a rest after lunch.

Rest of the day in Sost

Later in the afternoon, we explored Sost briefly and found a place that we could return to for dinner.

After darkness fell, it got quite cold at an elevation of 9200 ft.  We went to the two truck stops for some flash photography.  The drivers sleep in their vehicle and I as wary of disturbing them.  Some came out.  They shook hands with me and I showed the some of their photos.  The were happy and welcoming.

We had a delicious dinner in the local restaurant before returning to the hotel.

The hotel only provides hot water for the shower in the morning.  But we heard indirectly that M had asked Faisal to ask around a few hotels if she could go shower there instead. Somehow, our hotel agreed to turn on the hot water specially for us.  But, it didn’t seem to work or did not happen.