📷 The Land of High Mountains: Pakistan. Day 9. Attabad Lake, Hussaini Bridge and Passu Cathedral

Our 9th day continues: we drive on and suddenly see something beautiful — a turquoise mirror, hidden between high rocks. This is the Attabad lake (If you remember, it was on the list of places that a Pakistani couple advised us to visit).

On January 4, 2010, a mountain collapsed in the Hunza River valley. It happened suddenly on its own, and the landslide that came down killed about twenty people, covered up the Karakorum highway and blocked the Hunza River. The water completely flooded one village and partially several more, and also cut Pakistan's only road to China. In the end, instead of fields, houses, highways and other human creations, a lake more than 16 kilometers long and about 100 meters deep was formed.

Sergei Boyko made a selection of photographs of that terrible incident, you can see it here (texts in Russian).

Eight years have passed (in 2018)). Now nothing reminds of the tragedy, bypass roads and even long tunnels have been built to bypass the lake, and along it the Pakistanis carry tourists on colorful boats.

This is the same Hunza river, only the water is turquoise, not dirty gray. But why? Perhaps that dam, formed from the collapse, is just filtering the water? Or is it just that the water is highly mineralized, and some of the impurities settle in a calm lake?

How good it is when you have a local accompanying you! Rahim, our hospitable host from a past hotel, finds relatives and friends everywhere, he negotiates and as a result we swim on a huge diesel-punk boat. Well, what else can you call this miracle of technology?

In addition, we were allowed to sit as much as we wanted right on the bow of the boat ...

... take pictures there (look, for some reason I was given the smallest life jacket, probably a child's one) ...

... and even steer the boat. Rahim, by the way, is in the photo on the left, and the man on the right is the real captain of this ship. But he didn't spend even half of the time behind the wheel :)

Having admired the rocks passing by, the boat reached the shore at the farthest point of our walking route.

And then someone came up with a slightly crazy idea — to swim in this magical lake. Actually, it is forbidden to do all of this: to leave the boat and especially to swim. But they made an exception for us. Several of the most daring members of the team decided to try on their own skin if the water was good. The result was unexpected: when the heat outside is 30-35 С, the water temperature was only 10-12 — it refreshed instantly.

But then the first 10-15 minutes in the sun it was sooo pleasant to warm and dry. The girls, so as not to embarrass the Pakistani men, swam in the clothes they were in, but men were not puzzled by this.

And a couple of foreign (perhaps Indian?) tourists who accidentally got to our boat looked at the noisy Russian company with amazement and a little wary, especially during our bathing.
And here is another group of tourists — these people waiting on the shore seemed to have so much fun, and they did not seem to suffer much from the heat.

And here are the locals, they also enjoy spending their free time by the lake with their families.

The next stop is near the village of Hussaini, where the bridge of the same name is located, which requires some respect from visitors.

The Hussaini hanging bridge is not just some banal bridge, but a long suspension bridge on the Hunza River. A great opportunity to get a portion of extreme sensations for just 50 rupees.

The bridge sways from the wind, the distance between the planks is 30-40 centimeters, and below the muddy Hunza quickly carries its cold waters. Have you noticed how strikingly its color differs from the turquoise of Lake Attabad?

Why are such distances between the planks made? It is believed that in order for the bridge to have less "windage", because the winds in these places are very strong. The previous bridge was torn off during a monsoon storm in 2011. And I must say, even despite the fact that the current (third) bridge is slightly lost in extreme, because made more reliable, wide and comfortable, but the feeling of flying in the wind still remains almost off scale.

At this point, the Hunza River is very wide and the surrounding mountains are beautiful as always!

The writing on the planks slightly reduces the fear of walking. It is difficult not to notice them, because you have to constantly look at your feet so as not to miss and step into the void. Some of the inscriptions are encouraging, give advice, and some promise a cup of coffee when you return.

Almost everyone in our group went to the other side and returned. It's good that there was no strong wind — I certainly would not have come with my fear of altitude.

Local residents live in such stone houses.

On the way back, a pretty girl offered us to buy apricots. Very tasty and budget friendly!

And here is the goal of our today's trip — the small village of Passu, nestled in the Gojal Valley, where the Hunza river flows.

We stayed at Passu Tourist Loudge, which is a very comfortable hotel by local standards. There is even a good wifi here, however, our social media hungry group quickly brought down the work of this achievement of civilization. Either it broke, or it was turned off after seeing a wild increase in traffic. Well, at least we managed to inform our relatives that everything is ok.

From a nearby hill, the hotel does not look so exciting, as from the ground — but we were comfortable and cozy there in the houses on the right.

When we arrived at the hotel, Rahim was immediately greeted by the local policeman — they turned out to be cousins.

The village lies south of the tongue of the Batura Glacier, which is one of the largest and longest glaciers outside of the polar regions and is quite close to the Karakorum Highway.

The mountains here are just crazy! Sharp peaks surround the valley on all sides.

After checking into the rooms, everyone immediately realized how hungry they were. We move to the dining room, order meat, try to determine the differences between the dishes, but they cannot explain — the difficulties of translation, in the end we choose at random.

It turns out that the meat will be ready only after 2 hours, we ask to add to the order something which is faster, because we want to eat right now. We place another order, ask for water and tea, and also ask them to cut the melon we have brought. Cafe workers bring the melon, as well as the entire table setting, rather quickly and force the entire table with plates.

After a while, they came and took the plates — we greeted it with a burst of laughter. Then they began to bring new plates and cutlery, more than the number of people at the table, but they brought us neither water and tea nor food — apparently, lunch should be long-awaited!

In general, I did not wait for meal and ran to launch the drone, as the time was approaching sunset and the valley in which we stopped began to cover the shadow of the mountain. And it's good that I ran — the views of the valley in the greenery or the river were worth a little patience. Moreover, after my flights, I was fed a finally cooked lunch.

In the center of the shot is Tupopdan peaks, 6106 meters above sea level. It is also called Passu Cones or Passu Cathedral.

Streams and rivers flow down from all sides.

During floods, the river spreads very widely, and now its bottom looks more like braids.

The next point was sunset, which began almost now. I had to urgently look for a good view point. At first, Olya and I climbed the hill near the hotel, but the view did not suit us, and we moved further along the road.

That hill (at the bottom in the center of the shot) is exactly suitable for our tasks, but one bad luck — there are no paths upward, a rather large ascent angle and a very unpleasant pile.

But we did climb upstairs in slippers on our bare feet. Well done, of course. We go, and a bunch of pebbles are stuffed into the sandals, and we have to constantly shake them out.

Having reached the goal, I realized that it was not in vain — this is the view I like! On the right, Oleg, whom we met on the way, is also preparing to take some pictures.

And what do we have here? Wow, these are shooters / snipers cells! We found two of them in a very good place, may be photographers and shooters have the same thoughts — both of them like to climb higher. And the whole road is visible at a glance. Although, of course, I could be wrong: do you have any ideas what these waist-deep holes could be used for?

And this is a view of the Gojal Valley. The green strip is used lands, the gray strip is the place of the river flood, and the multi-colored brown walls of the mountains.

Finally, the sun made us a nice gift, painting the sky in bright colors. Tomorrow our path lies in that gorge on the left. We plan to go first along the Batura glacier, and then we will cross it.

Back at the hotel, we got ready for a trekking until late at night and tried to lighten our backpacks as much as possible. It's good that we have Dina in the group, whose backpack weighs almost nothing, and we can place something heavier in her backpack. :)

To be continued...

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Parts of the journey:

1. The Land of High Mountains: Pakistan. Day 1. Arrival and Transfer to the Mountains
2. The Land of High Mountains: Pakistan. Day 1. Trekking to Fairy Meadows
3. The Land of High Mountains: Pakistan. Day 2. Acclimatization
4. The Land of High Mountains: Pakistan. Day 3. Trekking to Nanga Parbat Base Camp - Start
5. The Land of High Mountains: Pakistan. Day 3. Trekking to Nanga Parbat Base Camp - Finish
6. The Land of High Mountains: Pakistan. Day 4. From the Himalayas to the Karakoram
7. The Land of High Mountains: Pakistan. Day 5. The road to Mount Rakaposhi - Hakapun or further?
8. The Land of High Mountains: Pakistan. Day 5. The road to Mount Rakaposhi - Base Camp
9. The Land of High Mountains: Pakistan. Day 6. Minapin Glacier and Ice Bridge
10. The Land of High Mountains: Pakistan. Day 7. How to Get to the Eagle's Nest?
11. The Land of High Mountains: Pakistan. Day 8. Hike to Ladyfinger Peak
12. The Land of High Mountains: Pakistan. Day 8. Walk in Karimabad to Altit and Baltit Forts
13. The Land of High Mountains: Pakistan. Day 9. Karimabad and the Sacred Rocks of Hunza
14. The Land of High Mountains: Pakistan. Day 9. Attabad Lake, Hussaini Bridge and Passu Cathedral
15. The Land of High Mountains: Pakistan. Day 10. Crossing the Batura Glacier: the Beginning
16. The Land of High Mountains: Pakistan. Day 10. Crossing the Batura Glacier: Finish

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Camera: OLYMPUS E-M1 Mark II

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You can also see my photos in my blog LJ and in my profile on NatGeo

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