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Post by onlyMark on Aug 22, 2021 20:10:33 GMT
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Post by mossie on Aug 23, 2021 7:00:34 GMT
A good pace for a bit of drunk driving
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Post by bjd on Aug 23, 2021 8:22:49 GMT
Interesting photos. When were they taken?
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Post by onlyMark on Aug 23, 2021 10:03:52 GMT
There's a road in northern Pakistan that goes from Islamabad all the way through into China and called the Karakoram Highway. It's very scenic and a 'must do' for adventure type travellers. I didn't used to go into China but travel from Islamabad to a town called Gilgit and on from there to near the border - return to Gilgit and take another road through the Swat Valley to Peshawar - or vice versa depending on if I was going from London to Kathmandu or Kathmandu to London.
I only wish a) I'd taken more photos and b) there were digital cameras then.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 23, 2021 19:37:39 GMT
Super interesting photos, Mark, although I have to echo Bjd's question about the @time they were taken.
I also have to say that, despite posting some of the most fascinating pictures ever, you gave this thread probably the worst title ever -- I almost didn't click on it.
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Post by onlyMark on Aug 23, 2021 19:45:38 GMT
The title reads - "For Questa. Karakoram, Pakistan. A few photos." Someone must have changed it. Oops, for some reason I read 'where' not 'when' were they taken. That answer is 1995 and 1996. Though I was up and down that way thirteen times between 1994 and 1998 and after having plenty of opportunity to take more, I didn't. What an idiot.
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Post by questa on Aug 24, 2021 5:38:30 GMT
Let me guess. your mighty bus at the foot of the black glacier, also the lip of glacier. White glacier (now alas a morsel of its former size) Waiting for the bus to go into town to sell at market. Some where ahead of the wet twisty road is Garnet Hill where you can gather small garnets off the ground. I was lucky and found a few (Past experience digging for opal helped).
So you were a driver/guide on the "Hippie trail" were you? Triple K route... Kuta Kathmandu Kandahar. I have an elderly friend who did the Melbourne to London overland in that era. The stories he could tell!
I think I did a write-up that should be here, I'll do a search. Thank you so much for showing these.
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Post by bjd on Aug 24, 2021 6:19:14 GMT
I thought the "hippie trail" ended long before the 1990s? Rather the late 1960s-early 70s in my mind. Afghanistan was already closed off after the Soviet invasion of 1979.
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Post by onlyMark on Aug 24, 2021 7:21:29 GMT
Not a bus, a truck. It would wind us up no end for it to be called a bus. Official title was Expedition Leader. Never had any hippies on the trips though saw a few in Kathmandu and it all was a little after that time.
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Post by questa on Aug 24, 2021 8:09:09 GMT
Correct. The trail was no longer used after the Soviets moved in, and anyway we had jumbo jets and cattle class flying so didn't need it. People still refer to the trail by that name even though it is no longer in use.
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Post by questa on Aug 24, 2021 8:23:34 GMT
The ones I saw in Kathmandu were stoned out of their minds and sitting on the ground begging for money. It's to "Get me back to the States" said one, where, in his hopes, he can get his mother to look after him. Secretly I hoped his mother was off in the Bahamas, having a good time.
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Post by questa on Aug 24, 2021 9:23:46 GMT
In Oz if a tour bus is called a "bus," driver and leader get very stroppy. "A bus is what takes you to work each day, You are on holiday now and this is a "COACH"
I posted some photos in Postcards thread called Mountain Giants. Had so many hassles and technical disasters I don't think I ever got around to posting the other wonders. Stand by...but pack a book.
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Post by casimira on Aug 24, 2021 12:59:03 GMT
Beautiful pics Mark. Thanks for sharing them with us.
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Post by onlyMark on Aug 24, 2021 17:33:47 GMT
You're welcome.
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Post by lugg on Aug 24, 2021 20:16:31 GMT
Fascinating glimpse into a part of the world I know little about. The mountain scenery is stunning.
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 24, 2021 20:21:42 GMT
I have found just two slides of my Pakistan pictures so far but I need to keep rooting around. I clearly remember that they are not very good, but the Pakistani family that I was staying with took me to Baluchistan to the coast where all of the big old ships are taken apart. "Don't let anybody see your camera" definitely did not make my attempts any easier, especially a bulky film camera. With my Lumix, I could have gotten away with murder.
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Post by questa on Sept 10, 2021 12:02:59 GMT
I need to keep rooting around. Kerouac, dear, please promise me you won't use this phrase in Oz or NZ
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