GREAT PAKISTAN !
Karakoram Highway - Gilgit - Chitral - The Kalash - The Hunza - Peshawar - Rawalpindi - Karimabad - cycling the Karakoram highway - Afghanistan - and so on....

It was August 1993 and after a long plane ride, we finally made it to the airport in Islamabad. Having only a months notice for this trip, I had no idea what Pakistan was. I'm not even sure if I knew it was an Islamic country! As we made our way through the corridors of the airport, I noticed one very overwhelming thing. It was the smell. It wasn't a bad smell, it was just a very foreign and confusing smell. I knew one thing for sure, I was very far away from home. Suddenly a smile came to Phils face as he pointed to something. In front of us were two traveling westerners sleeping on the ground. Both of them were covered in dirt from head to toe. To me, they looked like they had been through hell and back. I wondered what I was in for.   We then hopped into a cab and headed to a hotel in Rawalpindi. It was night time as we drove through Rajah Bazaar. All I can remember seeing were small fires burning in the streets everywhere - and men. Men in long robes everywhere. It was such a strange sight and it boggled my brain. It was at this point that I totally lost a grip. I had been in Pakistan for one hour and my brain was about to explode with confusion. We then arrived at our hotel and lugged our bikes up to the room. I had to use the toilet and the shock hit me even harder. I sat on the bed as I could feel my head swimming. I remember thinking that I felt like I was in a "Star Trek" episode. The scary thing was it was real! There was no changing the channel to make it all better. I wanted to go home. If I could have snapped my fingers and gone home, I would have. I wanted to change the channel and cancel the my trip to Pakistan. That would have been the biggest mistake of my life.   As it turned out, I had the greatest adventure in my life. Zipping along the Karakoram highway on my bike, meeting the good people of Pakistan, discovering the wild city of Peshawar, not knowing what was around every corner. It was all very great. It was so great that I swore I would never go again to try to repeat the trip. But after four years of obsessing about Pakistan, I decided to go again. And guess what?! My second trip was as good (if not better) as the first. The mighty Karakorams and the good people of Pakistan weren't just a dream. Everything was still there. It wasn't just my imagination. Hope you enjoy, DAN HIGGINS. - Dundas Ontario

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Afghanistan.  I will use that keyword for search engines once more - Afghanistan