Biking the Karakoram Highway

Sigma

Claudio — Fri, 30 Sep 2005 08:59:16 +0000

in full shape in helsinki!

In Helsinki!!

Claudio — Sun, 18 Sep 2005 21:16:06 +0000

We are finally back home. Our luggage and our bikes too. This is the end of an incredible trip. Now it’s time to relax a bit

Vienna airport!

Claudio — Sun, 18 Sep 2005 16:12:02 +0000

Our lat flight. We are a bit impatient to get back home…

Vienna!!

Claudio — Sun, 18 Sep 2005 15:09:31 +0000

7 hours of stop over in Vienna. We have time for some sightseeing, a beer and a Wiener Schnitzel

On the way back…

Simone — Sun, 18 Sep 2005 11:08:02 +0000

Originally we were supposed to fly with Swe fly from Lahore to Stockholm but since they decided to fraud all the customer going into administration we re-book the whole trip with Emirates from Karachi. At the end we replace the Swe Fly with Lahore - Karachi (Air Blue), Karachi - Dubai (Emirates), Dubai - Wien (Emirates), Wien - Helsinki (Finnair). Thanks SWE Fly

Bye bye Pakistan!!

Claudio — Sat, 17 Sep 2005 15:00:26 +0000

Time to leave!! Of course at the airport we get a special treatment from the anti narcotic agents and their dogs. Did we really look so dishonest ?

Packing!!

Claudio — Sat, 17 Sep 2005 12:55:17 +0000

We quickly pack the bicycles in the packages. With some complaints we also get back the money of the hotel room. We call a taxi and straight to the airport.

Package found

Claudio — Sat, 17 Sep 2005 09:50:05 +0000

Tuctuc to go back to the hotel

Tuctuc again

Claudio — Sat, 17 Sep 2005 09:49:19 +0000

With some help we ask the tuctuc driver to bring us to the bicycle shops. We don’t fit very well inside the tuctuc, but we are getting used to it

No flights back!!

Claudio — Sat, 17 Sep 2005 08:45:30 +0000

This morning we tried to reach our airline company and confirm out flights. The Lahore number was not answering. While changing the hotel, we found their office. Closed and empty. The guardian of the building was mumbling something like “fraud, fraud”. What fraud ? To who ? To us ? We changed the hotel and we went to one of those kiosks where it’s possible to make international calls. At the Swedish customer number, a recorded message was saying that all their planes have been grounded because of financial problems. What ? The company went bankrupt during our trip and they were not helping us at all. Great. We were a bit shocked for few minutes, then we decided to act quickly. We looked for the first travel agency we found and we tried to purchase new tickets. We both had to be in Helsinki on Monday morning, there was no time to waste. After a long search, the girl in the photo found the perfect itinerary that would bring us back on Sunday evening: Lahore->Karachi->Dubai->Vienna->Helsinki. Beautiful. There were no alternatives. We paid and we rush back to the hotel. Our first flight was leaving in the evening and we had to find a way to pack the bicycles.

In the old city

Claudio — Fri, 16 Sep 2005 17:47:08 +0000

The old city of Lahore is quite an experience. One of the best in the world, I think

The mosque of Lahore!

Claudio — Fri, 16 Sep 2005 15:45:17 +0000

One of the biggest in the world.

On the tuctuc!!

Claudio — Fri, 16 Sep 2005 13:09:59 +0000

On the tuctuc!

Claudio — Fri, 16 Sep 2005 12:51:30 +0000

We slept some 7 hours and now we are ready for a decent lunch! We jump on the first tuctuc and we head towards the restaurant street

Found the hotel!

Claudio — Fri, 16 Sep 2005 06:46:26 +0000

After wondering around for a while, we found this one. I’m actually surprised that they accept us given the conditions we are. Of course, we need to pay in advance. Who cares. We pay, we take the shower and we go straight to bed.

In Lahore!!

Claudio — Fri, 16 Sep 2005 05:41:47 +0000

We are finally arrived in Lahore. The trip as been a torture. 300km in 7 hours. We did a total of some 24 hours of bus. Every single bone hurts and our brains are basically off. We only need to find one hotel as soon as possible.

From Islamabad to Lahore

Claudio — Thu, 15 Sep 2005 21:39:44 +0000

16 hours on the bus was not enough. We decide to take the local bus to Lahore. It’s only some 300km and we thought it’s going to take some 3-4 hours. The bus was packed with people, very slow and broke one tyre (again). I was sitting in the corner in the very back with my legs in my stomach because the seats were too small and with one pakistai sleeping on my shoulder. A torture!!

Finally in Islamabad

Claudio — Thu, 15 Sep 2005 21:00:38 +0000

It’s 11pm, we have been sitting on the bus for some 16 hours. We are totally exhausted. The bus driver has been continuously driving the bus on this mountain road for 16 hours with only one break for lunch. Amazing, where does he get all the energy ? We thank him a lot and we think what to do now in Islamabad.

bus break

Claudio — Thu, 15 Sep 2005 13:01:04 +0000

Just a short stop for changing one tyre. The driver is amazing. He has been driving for already 7 hours and it seems that Islamabad is still 10 hours away!!! We don’t really get it because Gilgit-Islamabad is only 500km and he’s driving like crazy (not even cars have been passing us but we have been passing anyone else!!) on a mountain road.

lunch break

Claudio — Thu, 15 Sep 2005 10:30:28 +0000

Just half an hour break for lunch, praying and taking the photo. The driver was not tolerant with people who were late. Some of them had to run and catch the bus while it was leaving.

On the bus

Claudio — Thu, 15 Sep 2005 08:45:58 +0000

We have found the Minister of Safety of Pakistan. He’s just sitting in the
front center.

6:30, loading the bus with our bikes

Claudio — Thu, 15 Sep 2005 05:43:44 +0000

6am, leaving Gilgit

Claudio — Thu, 15 Sep 2005 04:42:56 +0000

Again the damn jepp!!

Claudio — Wed, 14 Sep 2005 12:41:33 +0000

Bye Bye Fairy Meadows

Claudio — Wed, 14 Sep 2005 10:39:58 +0000

Operation “dinner out” starts

Claudio — Wed, 14 Sep 2005 06:38:19 +0000

The Nanga Parbat is the last highlight for our visit in Pakistan. The return starts now. At this point we just wished that an helicopter could make a rescue operation and get us out of here as soon as possible. But that was just a dream. The reality is that it will take some 5 days to get back to Helsinki. We called this long operation of rescue “dinner out” like in the movie with Brad Pitt. So, let’s start

Good night!!

Claudio — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 21:16:31 +0000

The base camp

Claudio — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 16:24:56 +0000

The little red house is the base camp for the north side

Walking over the glacier

Claudio — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 16:18:45 +0000

Walking on a glacier is always a new experience. A glacier is something alive. The ice is melting is melting, little torrents flow everywhere and disappear in blue crevaces, a river flows below, there are little sounds all the time and stones that fall when the ice below them vanishes. And the whole thing is moving down the valley everyday little by little, carrying down stones and whatever it contains. Just we weeks ago, the Italian climber Reinhold Messner found parts of the body of his brother that died during their successful attempt 30 years ago. The brother died because an avalanche and he disappeared inside the glacier. In 30 years the glacier has been changing its shape and now it decided to give back what it contains. The Nanga Parbat is not a technically difficult mountain but it’s the most dangerous 8000 peak because of its avalanches. Some 50 people died while attempting the north side that we are watching now and only very few climbers dared and succeeded in climbing it. Not a surprise that its alias is “The killer mountain”. While we were walking to the base camp, a couple of huge avalanches fell down creating big clouds of snow.

The glacier of the Nanga Parbat

Claudio — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 09:54:41 +0000

Just amazing!!!

Going up to the base camp

Claudio — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 08:52:02 +0000

The trail to go up to the base camp was very steep. We couldn’t figure out how the porters can carry 50kg on their shoulders up to this way. Someone said that it’s their job, they grow up by doing that. We are engineers and they are porters. Yet it’s hard to believe how they can manage. It took about 3 hours to reach the part of glacier that we need to cross. The view was terrific, fantastic, breathtaking and whatever else. It was like being on a mountain magazine or in one photo of my old school book of geography .

again Nanga Parbat

Claudio — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 05:00:47 +0000

Nanga Parbat in the early morning - 8126m

Simone — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 04:00:23 +0000

Nanga parbat behind the clouds

Claudio — Mon, 12 Sep 2005 20:31:03 +0000

The huge mountain is there behind the clouds. But for today no chances to see it. We hope for good weather tomorrow.

Finally some tea and relax

Claudio — Mon, 12 Sep 2005 16:28:42 +0000

Tonight we’ll sleep in one nice little cottage.

Fairy Meadows (3.155m.)!!!

Claudio — Mon, 12 Sep 2005 15:23:35 +0000

The jeep arrived safely in Thatto (wow!!) and we immediately started to walk up to Fairy Meadows. Rather steep trail that we completed in about 3 hours. It’s a very familiar alpine landscapes that on the Italian alps is usual located at 1600-1800 meters.

And the road ??

Claudio — Mon, 12 Sep 2005 13:13:10 +0000

Ops, what has happened here ? An apparently “new” torrent just washed away part of the road… The stones are unstable and it’s full of slippery and very watery mud. Great. Our driver quickly fixes the road (it must be a routine for him). This is a small example of what happens when it’s rainy (today is sunny): the mountain becomes a river. We wait on the safe side for the jeep. The jeep quickly passes over the stones without too much trouble. Good. Let’s continue.

The scary jeep trip!!

Claudio — Mon, 12 Sep 2005 12:00:19 +0000

This is one of the scariest and hair raising jeep trip I’ve done in my life. From Raikot bridge to Thatto it’s about 14km of very steep mountain road. The road climbs up one side of the mountain of a very deep gorge. On the left side there is a very steep fall of some hundreds meters. On the right side there is very an unstable mountain with high risk of rockfalls, especially when raining (when we arrived in Thatto we discovered that half of the village has been washed by a huge mud avalanche during the spring). The road is very narrow, enough only for one jeep. When another jeep is coming from the other direction, the drivers need to find a wide enough area where the two jeeps can fit at the same time. And one jeep is going to be really close to the edge of the road. The road is built only with stones, they haven’t used any concrete and it’s open only during the summer time. It is only trafficked by local jeep drivers who ask for a rather expensive fare for the trip. Anyway, the locals says that the only accident that ever happened in this valley was caused by one external inexperienced driver who wanted to drive this road with his own jeep. Two passengers and the driver died. Their bodies were lifted up from the very bottom of the gorge by the rescue team. Of course, the jeep is still down in the canyon. The road was built in ‘95 and originally it was reaching Fairy Meadows (3 hours walking time further up from Thatto). The legend says that only two jeeps reached Fairy Meadows. This happened in October ‘95 when the road was inaugurated. During the winter period, snow and water damaged the road to the point that no other jeeps ever drove any further than Thatoo. And, believe me, when you finally put your feet back on the ground after the jeep trip from Raikot bridge, you thank God that the jeep cannot go any further than Thatto.

To Raikot bridge

Claudio — Mon, 12 Sep 2005 06:33:20 +0000

Today we start the trip to the base camp of the Nanga Parbat. First, we take a jeep to the bus station where we’ll catch a local bus to the Raikot bridge. There we’ll catch another jeep to Fairy Meadows. We’ll spend two nights there and then we’ll come back to Gilgit

Gilgit

Claudio — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 08:28:54 +0000

We are finally arrived in Gilgit. The situation is not very safe because two persons have been killed just few days ago. There are checkpoints and blocks for cars on the streets. There is a plenty of army and police around with guns and MGs. Not so great but we have to stay here a few days to organize the trip on the Nanga Parbat. We are staying in a wonderful guest house called Madina. The staff is very hospitable and friendly. We had a nice time in what it looked like a safe island inside in Gilgit.

Looking for something ?

Claudio — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 14:00:34 +0000

We had a short break

… and some girls too.

Claudio — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 13:00:31 +0000

Nice kids but…

Claudio — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 12:50:06 +0000

…after we passed they launched some stones to us. It looks like it is the favourite sports of the kids in this area. We have heard that this could happen but we couldn’t believe it. Luckily, we have almost finished the biking part of this trip

Hello kids!!

Claudio — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 12:42:19 +0000

We didn’t have pens for everyone but we promised them to put their photos on the web! Here they are!! cheers

Biking with me ?

Claudio — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 11:30:35 +0000

Some views during the long biking

Claudio — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 11:27:01 +0000

Passing a small village

Claudio — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 08:44:27 +0000

Along the way we passed through this little village. In Pakistan all the life usually happens along the main street of the village as in this case. It was not easy to cross as we had to pay attention to people, other bicycles, cars, buses and trucks. And Pakistani know very well how to use their lound and weird horns.

We found the kitchen!!

Claudio — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 06:33:32 +0000

Yesterday we rested in Karimabad but today it’s a biking day again!! We woke up rather early and this is what we saw when I went to pick up the bikes. We fount the chef who was… cutting a mutton in the “kitchen” where the bikes were parked.

Ultar peak and Ultar glacier

Claudio — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 10:56:49 +0000

With a 3 hours steep hike from Karimabad we got to the Ultar glacier below the Ultar peak (7389m.), a very difficult peak to climb.

The fort of Karimabad

Claudio — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 08:00:19 +0000

Here the king of Hunza ruled till the 70s when the region of Hunza became part of Pakistan.

Finally in Karimabad

Claudio — Thu, 08 Sep 2005 19:34:43 +0000

It was not difficult to find the bakery.

The summary for the day:
Distance: 40km
Altitude difference: 2500m. -> 2440m.
Biking time: 4h

An almost “Tragedione” day

Claudio — Thu, 08 Sep 2005 15:22:24 +0000

Things got worst during the day. Cloudy since the morning, it got really
windy and lightly rainy. We were afraid of the rockfall from the side of the mountain. At some point, one small rock fell in front of Simone’s bike and finally, for the first time, he decided to wear the helmet. The road was uphill all the time and, of course, we had very strong headwind. Almost at the the top, we decided to catch a lift and we jumped on a tractor. After a few turns we realized that the downhill was starting. A pity we missed it. But the weather was too bad. The tractor took us to Karimabad. Nice because we skipped a very steep uphill

Break for an energy bar

Claudio — Thu, 08 Sep 2005 12:01:17 +0000

Today, we fell pretty tired. Probably because of this morning hike…

Pakistani truck!!!!!

Simone — Thu, 08 Sep 2005 10:59:18 +0000

Really a desolated area…

Claudio — Thu, 08 Sep 2005 10:30:59 +0000

Biking in the canyon!!

Claudio — Thu, 08 Sep 2005 10:15:43 +0000

damn!!

Claudio — Thu, 08 Sep 2005 10:10:20 +0000

Uphill… again. Even when cycling down

Passu glacier

Claudio — Thu, 08 Sep 2005 08:00:44 +0000

We hiked up to the Passu glacier. These glaciers in Pakistan are really huge and impressive. The hike took longer that we thought, probably because of the altitude or because it’s not easy to estimate the distances with such huge mountains.

Hiking + biking day

Claudio — Thu, 08 Sep 2005 06:39:44 +0000

Our plan for today is to wake very early, hike up to the Passu glacier, be back for lunch and then cycle to Karimabad (some 40km). We are not sure if the road will be only downhill, we hope.

Good night!!

Claudio — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 21:38:53 +0000

We sleep in a small guest house managed by a mountain guide. In the evening we have a nice discussion with him about the Pakistani culture. He tells us that women in this region are very strong and they usually take care of all the work for running the house, while the men are usually earning the money for the family. We also have a discussion about the terrorist attacks in London and we agree on the conclusion that the acts of few deviated people shouldn’t compromize the reputation of the whole country. In the Hunza valley (the region where we are) we found very hospitable and nice poeple always ready to say ‘hello’ while we are biking or to help us. The region is also very safe, probably safer than my hometown in Italy.

Locals use the suspended bridge on a daily base

Simone — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 14:10:24 +0000

Crossing time of locals : 5min, Our crossing time was between 10 and 25 minutes.

Suspended bridge

Simone — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 14:00:57 +0000

Beleive me: it’s a scary stuff

Passu

Claudio — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 11:27:07 +0000

We are finally arrived in Passu, a small and relaxed village. Just few hundreds meter above there is the Passu glacier and the peak Batura Muztagh (7785m.). We have an excellent lunch with a big group of Belgium “cyclists” who are biking with the assistance of van that is carrying all their luggage, too easy!! ;-).

The summary for today (Sust -> Passu):
Distance: 42 km
Altitude difference: 2900m. -> 2500m.
Biking time: 3h:10m

Claudio — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 11:00:54 +0000

My bike and the kkh!

Cooked: Medium - Well!!

Simone — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 10:49:32 +0000

Some more views

Claudio — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 10:05:28 +0000

Biking in Pakistan!!

Claudio — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 09:49:53 +0000

What a nice view!!

Claudio — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 09:02:29 +0000

On one trail of the Silk Route

Claudio — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 09:00:29 +0000

Most of the old trials of the Silk Route have been wahsed away with the time. But on the Pakistan side, if you watch carefully, you can still see some trails, sometimes running very high cutting the slopes of the mountains and sometimes very close to the current KKH. We saw one trail very close to the road and we couldn’t resist the tempation of walking on it. We did a little climb and then we were up on it. The trail is very narrow but large enough for the camels and their load to pass. Just with some immagination, we could visualize the trains of camels loaded with silk and spices to slowly crawl on these trails.

Gilgit is the arrival!!!!!!!!

Simone — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 08:00:05 +0000

Still 30km for today. We are biking from Sust to Passu.

Leaving Sust

Claudio — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 06:25:58 +0000

Now we are in Sust, Pakistan. We start biking early morning. We pass near the first suspended bridge. As we were wondering if the bridge is safe and stable, one jeep starts to cross it from the other side… Amazing.

Today it’s an easy stage, only some 40km from Sust to Passu. We can take it easy.

Time to change one broken tyre…

Claudio — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 17:47:31 +0000

5000m Chinese - Pakistan border

Simone — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 11:49:54 +0000

You don’t imagine how the human beeing feel at this altitude. I got a huge terrible headache.

Boring, boring on the bus!!!

Claudio — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 10:54:35 +0000

We want our bikes back!!! It’s a torture to be on a bus. China has forbidden cyclists to cross the border to Pakistan, so we are forced to sit for some 200km on the bus. At this point we realize how much nicer is to travel by bike. On a bicycle you are part of the environment, on a bus you just are watching it from your window.You can stop anytime, talk to locals, be invited for a tea in their houses. With a bicycle you move very slow and you can feel the world around you in a much more relaxed way: sounds, noise, smells, wind, temperature, condition of the road. It’s a totally different experience.

Now is the time to enter in Pakistan…

Simone — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 10:45:35 +0000

Unfortunately the chinese army obliged us to get on a bus in order to reach Pakistan. As you can see our bikes are crying on the roof and we are not happy at all. We argued with the driver but according to the chinese flexibility was not possible to unload the bikes …

Leaving China

Simone — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 10:40:28 +0000

Those are the last few km in the chinese land

Loading the bus

Claudio — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 08:54:27 +0000

All the morning went in passport/bags/whatever checks and loading the bus. We had to rise the level of our voice a bit to make those guys to load our bikes on the top of the bus, but at the end they did without saying a word and for free (some travellers had to pay even 50€ to get it done… ridiculous because the price of the bus ticket is about 25€).

Tashkurgan

Claudio — Mon, 05 Sep 2005 10:39:58 +0000

We spent the day recovering from the yesterday “tragedione”. Not much to do in this small village. We ate some noodles, check the timetable of the bus and bought some food for the next days. Of course, we also spent some time fixing the bicycles (someone said that guitarists spend half of their life playing and the other half tuning their guitars, it seems to be the same with mountain bikes…).

Sun protection???

Simone — Mon, 05 Sep 2005 08:24:13 +0000

it’s really hot over here. Do I look tired?

Il tragedione (the tragedy)

Claudio — Sun, 04 Sep 2005 20:00:26 +0000

Here we go with what we called “il tragedione”. Today it was supposed to be a resting day, after the 60km of yesterday. However, when we reached the Karakuli lake we decided to continue to the pass. First mistake: we didn’t buy more water at the hotel in karakuli. We lacked water for all the rest of the day. We reached the pass at 5pm and we started a very nice downhill (finally, after 3 days of only uphill biking). Sometimes the road was paved, sometimes it was in very bad condition. We calculated that we were some 40 or 50 or may be even 60 km from Tashkurgan. I don’t know how, but we got the crazy idea of biking till there. That was the second mistake of the day. No water and still some 60km of biking. On paved downhill we were pretty fast, but on the unpaved we were really slow. Our only concern on the unpaved downhill was with the backsit and at some point Simone’s backsit broke down. We tried to fix it but at the end the only solution was to put the backpacks on our shoulders. In this way we could bike much faster on the unpaved road and it was also a lot of fun (luckily we didn’t have panniers). But the tragedy just got bigger. At 7pm we were still biking and we didn’t have a clue where we were. It got pretty dark, the only lights were our lamps. At least it was a beautiful starry night. At some point, the road became again unpaved (damn!!). We calculated that we were probably some 10km from Tashkurgan, but in reality it was still some 30km… We entered in a very dark canyon. We couldn’t see much but we were pretty sure that there was a river on the left, some road work on the right and a narrow road for us, cars, jeeps and huge trucks. Not to mention the dust and that the water was finished. At some point a jeep stopped and asked if we need help. Help ? The only thing came to our mind was “Do you have any water ?” They gave us one 500ml bottle of water that we drunk in a couple of seconds. The two Chinese in the jeep were driving all the perimeter of China, quite a long trip… So, we continued. The road was downhill but we had to be very concentrated because of its bad conditions. At some point, the road got flat. We cycled till 10pm and still we had no idea how far we were from the city. Sad to say but at some 8km from Tashkurgan we gave up and we got a lift from a pickup.
We really had finished all our energies. My bike computer showed 108km for today. The driver left us at one hotel. We quickly check in, bought a lot of water and went straight to bed. Simply dead. We promised that tomorrow it would have been a really resting day…

The summary is:
Distance: 1008km
Altitude difference: 3600m. -> 4300m. -> 3200m.
Biking time: 9h:50m

4300m.

Simone — Sun, 04 Sep 2005 15:43:40 +0000

This is the highest point where we have been with our bikes. It was hard but we did it

Silence!!

Claudio — Sun, 04 Sep 2005 15:30:16 +0000

This photo is dedicated to our friends who didn’t believe we could make this trip, we couldn’t buy a decent mountain bike in China, we couldn’t bike at this altitude and we could reach this pass.

Silence, please

Climbing the Ulugrabat pass

Claudio — Sun, 04 Sep 2005 14:00:42 +0000

It’s about 4pm. We have a little rest and eat a couple of energy bars, even if we didn’t believe in them so much. In front of us there is a rather steep stretch of unpaved (argh…) road till the pass at 4300m. We start biking that we are very concentrated. Not too fast (4-5km/h) but continuous with no breaks. The uphill is tough. Just after the first turn, we both got blood from our noses. Probably because of the altitude and sun. At the base we promised to reach the top even we have to spit our blood, so we continue, always very concentrated on the road.

….endless road!!!!

Simone — Sun, 04 Sep 2005 10:31:53 +0000

Simone’s helment

Claudio — Sun, 04 Sep 2005 09:20:32 +0000

A proof that Simone prefered to protect the head of his bike and not his head

Hello!!

Claudio — Sun, 04 Sep 2005 09:16:01 +0000

Cycling day by day!!!

Simone — Sun, 04 Sep 2005 08:38:04 +0000

Cycling km by km!!!!

Simone — Sun, 04 Sep 2005 08:37:36 +0000

Karakuli Lake

Claudio — Sun, 04 Sep 2005 08:08:28 +0000

We finally reached the Karakuli lake at some 3700m. It was not far away from the place where we slept yesterday, but after 60km we were too tired to continue. We met some kids on the way that were running from their homes to say hallo to us.

Wonderful kids burnt by the sun as well.

Simone — Sun, 04 Sep 2005 07:00:17 +0000

A wonderful kid

Simone — Sun, 04 Sep 2005 06:06:28 +0000

The view from my sleeping bag

Simone — Sat, 03 Sep 2005 19:39:04 +0000

Besides the beautiful view, we spent the night more or less with this discussion:
“Are you sleeping?”
“No”
“Me either”
“Yes, you have. You have been snoring all the time”
“Me ? I haven’t closed my eyes yet… It’s you has been snoring all the time”
“Me ? I have been awake all night”
and on and on…

I think our brains were bubbling because of the altitude. We had the impression of not sleeping but we actually did.

Ghez -> Almost to Karakul Lake

Simone — Sat, 03 Sep 2005 17:38:25 +0000

To tell you the truth this was an amazing night, looking at this great mountains!!!

Distance for today: 61km
Altitude difference: 2300m. -> 3500m.
Biking time: 7:20

Biking on unpaved road really slowed us down. Not to talk about the frequent trucks, busses, cars and all the dust in the air.

Mt. Muztagata - 7509m

Simone — Sat, 03 Sep 2005 15:33:37 +0000

Unfortunately some members of an expedition lost their lives over there few weeks ago. Local people said the reason was the bad weather condition and they got frozen. But it looks so easy to climb and reachable.

Unpaved road!!!

Simone — Sat, 03 Sep 2005 15:30:08 +0000

A nightmare is going to start. The road will be unpaved until the border with Pakistan (200km)!!!! But just around the corner we got the first view of the impressive Muztagh Ata.

Local population living in the mountains in China!!!

Simone — Sat, 03 Sep 2005 13:28:50 +0000

Sand dunes or sand mountains ?

Claudio — Sat, 03 Sep 2005 09:30:50 +0000

We have reached the lake Chakragil, surrounded by beautiful sand dunes. Really an unique place.On the top of the dunes there is the border with Tajikistan.

We are invited for a tea in a small house. There we meet a crazy Austrian biker who cycled all the way from Vienna through Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and now China. His destination is Lhasa. He has some 60 or 70 kilos of load, really a lot!! We ask him some information about the road to Pakistan. Soon the road will be unpaved and it’s in such bad condition that he’s reconsidering of biking till Lhasa. He also confirms kids like to throw stones to cyclists in some parts of the KKH (he got some 20 stones…) During the tea, his bike falls down and the left rear mirror breaks. The biker, probably a bit stressed because of the unpaved road, gets more irritated and, while mumbling “Schisse.. kamput.. damage damage… Schisse”, he jumps on his bike and leaves… Funny guy.

Road, road, only road!!!

Claudio — Sat, 03 Sep 2005 09:12:40 +0000

Our babies

Simone — Sat, 03 Sep 2005 07:01:16 +0000

Breathing after a steep slope!!!!

Simone — Sat, 03 Sep 2005 07:00:27 +0000

This was the first time we saw the Karokoram range - Simply amazing!!!!!

Simone — Sat, 03 Sep 2005 06:55:17 +0000

Somewhere -> Ghez

Claudio — Fri, 02 Sep 2005 20:58:33 +0000

Distance: 43km
Altitude difference: 1700m. -> 2300m.
Biking time: 3h:40m

We got in Ghez in the early afternoon, on time for an excellent lunch (some fried rolls and noodles with mutton). Ghez is a very small place, just few restaurants and kiosks. For 2€ we slept in a room attached to the restaurant. We spent the afternoon fixing the bicycles and I managed to get rid of a noious noise in the front derailleur.

A standard bus!!!!

Simone — Fri, 02 Sep 2005 12:52:22 +0000

While biking…

Claudio — Fri, 02 Sep 2005 11:43:06 +0000

some different views.

Road, river and mountains

Claudio — Fri, 02 Sep 2005 11:00:44 +0000

For hours and hours, the same landscape. We are in the wide canyon formed by the Ghez river. The road is always uphill, now some 10-15m/km.The canyon is getting narrower as we approach Ghez …

Road work ahead

Claudio — Fri, 02 Sep 2005 07:00:03 +0000

As we start biking in the morning, we are stopped because of some road work ahead. Enough time for eating some noodles in a bar nearby and loading enough water for the day. Of course, all the people are interested in the bikes, not us -)

Kashgar -> Somewhere before Ghez

Simone — Thu, 01 Sep 2005 12:50:41 +0000

Distance: 83Km.
Altitude difference: 1300m. -> 1700m.
Biking time: 5h:30m

Finally we can have some rest. Ghez is too far away to reach and we stop somewhere along the road. We put the tent, check the bikes and we cook our delicious dinner: one package of chinese instant noodles, a fistfull of rice and some slices of wurstel. Claudio also got his first puncture. The dust (that doesn’t show in the picture) was everywhere!!

Too hot

Claudio — Thu, 01 Sep 2005 12:06:53 +0000

Another break.It’s about 2pm, the hottest time of the day. Our heads are cooking. We have been biking on the border of the Taklamakan desert on a slightly uphill road (some 10m/km). Really a strange feeling to be in the desert with a bike. We rested a bit in the shadow of that little house.

The Taklamakan desert

Claudio — Thu, 01 Sep 2005 11:00:36 +0000

Very clos to it and very hot

Having some food and a bit of rest…after the first 50km!

Simone — Thu, 01 Sep 2005 10:49:38 +0000

A small restaurant in Upal.

First maintenance too…

Claudio — Thu, 01 Sep 2005 08:30:54 +0000

First break and first maintenance for the bikes. We thought that the little metal bridge prepared by Sigma won’t last for very long. So, we added a very carefully engineered fix (a stone) that in theory should help the bridge not to twist…”

Our first break on the first day!!!

Simone — Thu, 01 Sep 2005 08:15:15 +0000

We Start!!

Claudio — Thu, 01 Sep 2005 06:43:26 +0000

Here we start biking the KKH!! It’s Thursday morning around 8:30. Kashgar is waking up just now. We have packed our stuff and carefully attached the bags on the backsit. We are not sure it will resist till the end but we hope. The load is probably around 12kg per bag.

Funny to note that Simone is wearing an helmet. He won’t wear it for the rest of the trip except in two “critical” situations. I’m not wearing it at the beginning, but later I’ll wear it most of the time.

Kashgar old city by night

Claudio — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 18:37:02 +0000

We had a walk in the old city of Kashgar in the evening. Really a nice atmosphere.

Kashgar

Claudio — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 12:40:06 +0000

We finnaly made it to Kashgar. Actually, much faster that expected. It’s a pity that in Novosibirsk we lost gprs coverage and here in Kashgar we are not even able to roam in the local gsm network. So, for sometime no more photos. Just a quick update.
Yesterday we flew from Novosibirsk to Urumqi. We arrived in the afternoon at 4 o’clock. During the flight we played with the idea of quickly buying the bikes and flying immediatelly to Kashgar. Just after landed we went straight to the Giant shop in Urumqi. We tried a couple of models and at the end we asked the seller to prepare a couple of customized bikes for us. He told us: in two hours they are ready. Wonderful. This can happen only in China. When we came back at 8pm the bikes were almost ready. Two brand new mountain bikes with Giant frame, Shimano gears, disc brakes, backsit and spare parts. Everything costed a quarter of what we would have paid back in Finland. Our flight was at 23:10. After finishing assembling the bikes, we asked the seller to disassable them againg and to pack them in the orginial boxes. It was almost a race against time but the seller was really experienced!! At 10pm we were on two different taxis running to the airport. We got there some 40 minutes before the flight. We bought a ticket, we made an ultra late check-in with excess luggage and at the end we boarded on time. When we were on the plane we couldn’t believe that we made it.

Today we spent the day in Kashgar trying the bikes and relaxing a bit. Funny, Simone got a puncture after 8 kilometers of biking. This is really promising Tomorrow early in the morning we’ll start the long trip. No posts for sometime. Probably till when we are in Gilgit.

Lunch time :-)

Claudio — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 10:30:54 +0000

First puncture

Claudio — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 09:00:00 +0000

First test of the bikes, few kilometers and the first puncture for Simone… really good start

Sleeping with our new friends!!!!

Simone — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 20:45:18 +0000

Excellent and cheap flight with a brand new plane. We landed at 1am and we went straight to the hotel. We spent a couple of hours re-assembling the bikes. I think we were excited like kids opening the Christmas’ presents. It has been a long day. From Novosibirsk to Kashgar while bike shopping in Urumqi… We still can’t believe it.

Two taxis

Claudio — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 19:45:33 +0000

Two taxis to rush to the airport. We also need to purchase the flight tickets…

Bikes ready and re-packed again

Claudio — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 19:34:24 +0000

It’s about 9:30 pm. In about 4 hours, Sigma assembled two mountain bikes, customized them for us with the disc breaks and the back sit (that required a metal part prepared on the fly from a nearby workshop), and finally he re-packed the bikes in the original packages. Impressive. We are on time to catch the 11pm flight to Kashgar, if we run back to the airport

My bike

Claudio — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 19:00:14 +0000

It still needs some fixes in Sigma’s “workshop”. His experience in assembling bikes was really impressive.

Almost completed

Claudio — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 18:30:45 +0000

Simone’s bike is almost completed

Almost ready!!!!!

Simone — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 17:40:29 +0000

Simone — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 17:35:16 +0000

Our chinese friend “sigma” is preparing our bikes. He was really fast and available. Thanks!

kebab

Claudio — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 17:15:16 +0000

Simone doesn’t really trust the food on the street

Soup on the street ?

Simone — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 17:00:36 +0000

Claudio forced me to eat something special along the street…

a walk in Urumqi

Claudio — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 15:15:09 +0000

While waiting for the bikes, we had a quick walk in the center of Urumqi. After the lazy Novosibirsk, Urumqi gave a totally different impression. It was full of busy people everywhere: students, builders busy with new constructions, painters hanging down from the walls, people moving stuff with trolleys and other people selling food on the street. Really a busy and fast-growing city. Impressive was that totally new commercial center, 5 or 6 floors, built with western standards and selling all possible products. Just with a short walk, I think we got a glimpse of the big change that is happening in the whole country.

At the GIANT shop

Claudio — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 15:06:25 +0000

The Giant shop really exists and it’s full of cool mountain bikes. We tried some of them and at the end we picked up two mountain bikes with half suspension, shimano gears and disc breaks for a reasonable price.. The seller (renamed “Sigma” because he was repeating that word all the time) promised us to prepare the bikes in a couple of hours. Simply amazing, we couldn’t believe it. We landed at 2pm and at 5pm we had already purchased the bikes.

Finally, Urumqi downtown

Claudio — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 13:20:30 +0000

A bank!!!

Claudio — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 12:30:34 +0000

First task: change money at the bank. We couldn’t find an exchange office or ATM in the airport, so we had to catch a taxi and drive to the closest bank. Not an easy task since our taxi driver spoke only Chinese, he didn’t understand the word “bank” and he didn’t have a clue when we were waving some dollars in front of him. At the end we found a bank and also some luck.

The clerk was very nice. She spoke English and instructed the taxi driver to bring us to the Giant shop downtown Urumqi. She understood that we were some kind of “alpinist”….

China immigration

Claudio — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 12:15:51 +0000

Excellent start for our plan. One hour for the immigration in China with some nurses over there ready to spread disinfectant on us…

Arrived in Urumqi

Claudio — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 12:00:36 +0000

We made it to Urumqi. Very soft landing. Siberian airlines must have the best pilots in the world if they can drive those old planes. During the flight, we played with the idea of buying the bicycles today and catching immediatelly the flight to Kashgar. We hope in some good Karma

Flight to Urumqi

Claudio — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 09:00:17 +0000

We are finally on the plane from Novosibirsk to Urumqi. Not exactly the latest model of Airbus, probably it has some 30 years of service. At least the price was adequate

Leaving russia

Claudio — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 08:27:45 +0000

Finally out of Russia, heading to Urumqi in China

Time to sleep

Claudio — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 21:18:01 +0000

On the way back to the hotel we only found dark and desert streets. Really time to sleep. Once in our beds, the phone rang a couple of times and, while the person on the other side only spoke Russian, we understood that she was offering us some kind “extra room services”. Funny, in Russia, and especially in these remote places, certain habits will never disappear.

Pizza for dinner

Claudio — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 20:10:09 +0000

Besides all the cloppete cloppete on the dark streets and the very lound music coming from an empty bar in the park, the city was quite dead. At least, we couldn’t find a better place than an almost empty pizzeria near the park where they actually served us an excelled pizza with no mozzarella(it was finished).

Mr Lenin!!

Claudio — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 14:13:21 +0000

There he is. Stil alive. In the wind, watching the rising sun from the East while holding the left fist. Perfect statue. I thought you could only find them in museums or in Belarus. Just wondering why it was left here…

Cloppete cloppete

Claudio — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 14:02:42 +0000

If in the early morning we were struck by the silence of the forest, in the afternoon the silence was broken by something that cannot pass unnoticed from St Petersburg to Vladivostok even to a distracted traveller: the ubiquitous sound of “cloppete cloppete” produced by the high hills of the Russian women who are constantly trotting up and down the big avenues while wearing their extremely short and provocative mini-skirts… This definitely scored as cultural shock number one.

Sleepy ?

Claudio — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 13:50:23 +0000

Jetlagged + no sleep last night…

Mr Lenin (2)

Claudio — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 13:17:23 +0000

Int. airport in Novosibirsk

Claudio — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 08:00:10 +0000

Baggage claim in Novosibirsk

Claudio — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 04:30:39 +0000

Just landed in Novosibirsk

Claudio — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 04:00:20 +0000

We spent the night on the plane. It was actually a very short night due to the time difference. But we are finally arrived in Novosibirsk, Siberia. Really a different place than Sp. It’s cold, humid and foggy. It’s also very silent here. It’s very early morning, about 6 am, yet it’s like if all the sounds have suddenly softened from the noisy Sp. There is the huge Siberian forest, taiga, around us. That must be reason for such a silence. We don’t say a word like the other passengers and silently we walk to an old soviet construction that looks like the terminal of the airport.

Pulkovo 1

Claudio — Sun, 28 Aug 2005 16:14:02 +0000

boarding to novosibirsk

Russian old taxi

Simone — Sun, 28 Aug 2005 14:44:39 +0000

for 500 ruble we are going straight to the airport to catch our tupolev to siberia.

A view over St Petersburg

Claudio — Sun, 28 Aug 2005 13:22:30 +0000

No doubts: one of the most beautiful city in the world

Excellent hot chocolate in sp :-)

Claudio — Sun, 28 Aug 2005 08:20:43 +0000

We’ve decided to change our flights and fly one day earlier to novosibirsk. So, we’ll spend the night there and we’ll have some time to visit the city. It’s always nice to have changeable tickets.

Siberia airline hello!

Simone — Sun, 28 Aug 2005 08:15:45 +0000

tonight we go to siberia. We’ve already changed our plan but i guess it is gonna worth.

New learnings from russia

Simone — Sat, 27 Aug 2005 18:44:39 +0000

there are not ugly girls in the world but just few vodka.

Do you caviar traininig?

Simone — Sat, 27 Aug 2005 18:17:04 +0000

Claudio — Sat, 27 Aug 2005 10:56:16 +0000

Hermitage museum st petesburg.

Simone — Sat, 27 Aug 2005 10:46:06 +0000

Simply amazing

Simone — Sat, 27 Aug 2005 10:17:40 +0000

Home for tonight

Claudio — Sat, 27 Aug 2005 08:11:22 +0000

Home for tonight

Claudio — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 21:13:44 +0000

Do you russia?

Simone — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 17:42:50 +0000

Claudio — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 11:46:46 +0000

Is there something wrong? Photo by bale

Leaving!

Claudio — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 10:52:48 +0000

we are leaving to saint petersburg! Thanks for coming to say goodbye!

Simone — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 10:46:47 +0000

What about this?

Partiti

Simone — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 10:31:43 +0000

we left

My baby as well

Simone — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 06:20:41 +0000

Ready to go!

The little baby is ready

Claudio — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 04:35:27 +0000

Chinese VISA: GRANTED!!!

Simone — Thu, 25 Aug 2005 04:22:53 +0000

Finally today we completed the latest burocratic operations. Now, the preparation phase has been completed (Just in time). Ciao

Fuel bars

Simone — Wed, 24 Aug 2005 14:31:15 +0000

Dear Readers, as you can see we are almost at the end of our shopping that has been started 2 weeks ago. Tomorrow morning I’m going to get the Chinese VISA and on Friday we will open the real show. Few seconds ago, I went to the haircut, that is russian of course, and she told me that since we decided to fligh Siberia Airline we should drink as much Vodka as we can just not to be aware about any possible inconvenient.
I was shocked!

By the way, hopefully the power bar you can see in the picture above will help me a bit during the trip. I’ve never try them so the effect should be stronger. Let’s hope I didn’t waste money.

Bye, for now.

Got the map!

Claudio — Wed, 24 Aug 2005 06:24:38 +0000

Great, we’ve received john’s kkh map. Just on time!

A rough plan

Claudio — Tue, 23 Aug 2005 21:14:25 +0000

We spent the last few days buying the last pieces of our equipment. Some of them are probably unnecessary and we’ll scatter them along the KKH as soon as the road will get steep. Anyway, it feels great and professional to have them. We have a tent, sleeping bags, stove, cooking equipment, enough iodine to purify all the Karakul lake, warm clothes, tools for reparing the bikes, medical kits, biking gloves, hiking shoes, helments and basically all you need for a decent trek on the mountains. We just hope to find good bikes in Urumqi and all the spare parts that we need. Our cycling plan is not very detailed yet but we have a rough idea:

Day 1 - Urumqi

Day 2 - Urumqi (15:51)-> (overnight train)

Day 3 - -> Kashgar (14:49)

Day 4 - Kashgar -> Ghez (120 km)

Day 5 - Ghez -> Karakul lake (70 km)

Day 6 - Karakul lake

Day 7 - Karakul lake -> Tashkurgan (100km)

Day 8 - Tashkurgan -> Khunjerab pass (140km) (by bus)

Day 9 - Khunjerab pass -> Sost (85 km)

Day 10 - Sost -> Passu (40 km)

Day 11 - Passu -> Karimabad (50 km)

Day 12 - Karimabad -> Gilgit (100 km)

Day 13 - Gilgit (saving day)

Day 14 - Fairy Meadows trek (on foot)

Day 15 - Gilgit -> Islamabad (by bus)

Day 16 - Islamabd -> Lahore (by bus)

Day 17 - Lahore (9:00) -> Stockholm (13:45) (by plane)

Good! The distances to cover are impressive, not to count the altitudes. But let’s not think about them now.

Russian VISA: GRANTED!!!!!!!

Simone — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 09:11:59 +0000

I’ve just received now the 2 passports with the fantastic Russian visa ready to be used to take off from St. Petesburg. Next Step, on Monday we will apply for the Chinese one and the loop is gonna be closed! Ops, I forgot, we should buy the ticket for the train from Helsinki to St. Petesburg and the ticket for the party boat from Stockholm to Helsinki. And the loop now is really closed.

Far too much stuff!

Claudio — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 04:19:08 +0000

this morning i started to pack.Not even half of what i’d like to bring, already half too much of what i should carry! Reduce! On a bike at 3000m. 100 grams equals one kilo, so every single object must have a pretty good reason to join the trip!

A coffe while planning the trip

Claudio — Thu, 18 Aug 2005 18:55:28 +0000

We have just bought a few things that we’ll probably need: american tape (for reparing the bike? :-|) , belts for tieing the backpack, locks for the bikes and an helmet. We’ve also realized that we need to minimize our load as much as possible. Probably we should follow Dan’s advice of carrying only what fits in a school bag. Not bad idea. My rule is that after preparing all I need, I’ll halve it. Anyway, we shot this photo during the usual after work coffe while planning the senseless parts of the trip. Since it’s the first
photo we have together, let’s use to present it ourselves. Simone on the left and Claudio on the right.

KHH Weblog 2005

Claudio — Wed, 17 Aug 2005 07:54:04 +0000

I’ve found a nice weblog of three Brits who are biking from Pakistan to Kashgar just right now. Nice posts, they are making me unpatient to start the trip. Few quotes:

The only complication at this point was the weather, with the monsoon in full flow it was chucking it down

So, it’s good we dealyed our trip to avoid the monson

From here it’s 25 km up the side of the Indus but the temperature was rising fast up to an unbelievable 42 degrees in the shade, it just takes all your energy out of you. We suffered another bout of punctures which is beginning to test the patience,…

42 degrees in the shade ? Great. From the Finnish 21 degrees in the sun it’s going to be a shock. Simone, let’s bring more glue for reparing the tyres…

Unfortunately there is a strong rumour doing the rounds at the moment that the Chinese are not letting people cycle over the Khunjerab Pass itself. this is as you can imagine, a bit of a blow!! We may be able to cycle up to the Pass and then come back down to Sost before taking a bus over to China, otherwise we may just be forced to take a bus. But real information is hard to come by and I guess that we won’t actually know untilwe get to Sost…

I’ve heard the same rumour. At least coming from China, we can ask the bus driver to drop us just after the border on the Khunjerab pass and start biking from there. Unless, we will find a better workaround

The road clings to the cliff and is rather scarily made of loose stones. From Tato it was then a 2 hour trek up to Fairy Meadow campsite which is at about 3300m on the way up to Nanga Parbat base camp. This fantatic campsite is so relaxed and must be one of the most spectacular places I have ever camped. As sun went down we were sitting on a bench watching the shadows lengthening on the Raikot Glacier and over the Nanga Parbat massif itself.

Great, then we can’t miss it either.

And the people are still so nice - come to Pakistan, ignore anyForeign Office website. I’ve never felt safer,…

Of course, it’s safe !!
Nice weblog, I’m following it. Keep posting.

Flights tickets are ready

Claudio — Sat, 13 Aug 2005 06:23:47 +0000

i’ve picked up the tickets yesterday. Thanks riikka for helping us with this weird combination of flights

Claudio — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 13:02:10 +0000

Filling the form for the russian visa

A simple but beautiful map

Simone — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 11:05:24 +0000

Terrain profile

Simone — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 11:01:08 +0000

Pakistan VISA: GRANTED!!!!!

Simone — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 10:21:10 +0000

I like this VISA….

Karakoram in turmoil

Claudio — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 21:50:25 +0000

Not very nice news coming from Northern Pakistan. We’ll probably stop biking in Gilgit and avoid going through the Chilas region.

Flights bought!!

Claudio — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 19:18:44 +0000

After a long search, we have found the best flight combination. Our plan is to fly to the Xinjiang’s region in western China, bike to Pakistan and, if we make it, to fly out from Pakistan. We’ll start in Helsinki by catching the train to St. Petersburg, Russia. It’s one of my favourite city, so we’ll spend the weekend there. On Monday evening, we’ll take the overnight flight to Novosibirsk with Siberian Airlines and then we’ll fly straight to Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang’s region. There, we’ll probably spend one night and buy the mountain bikes. Urumqi is a pretty big city that should offer a decent choice of bicycles. From Urumqi, we’ll take the overnight train (22h) to Kashgar. We’ll spend a couple of days in Kashgar to visit the city, buy the food and get ready for biking. We plan to bike from Kashgar till Gilgit (about 700km) and then,if we still have some stength and time, we’ll try to bike till Islamabad. Otherwise, we’ll catch a bus to Islamabad and then to Lahore. From Lahore, we’ll fly to back Stockholm with SweFly where we’ll catch the overnight partying cruise Viking Line to Helisnki. All the flights are changeable and refundable, so we can always modify the trip if we get stuck somewhere.

Simone — Mon, 08 Aug 2005 07:25:32 +0000

Hi, even during my daily work I’m thinking about this biking trip. I’m really looking forward. The countdown is already started. Simone

Hello!!

Claudio — Sun, 07 Aug 2005 21:39:43 +0000

Hello, my dear readers. Welcome to the weblog of our biking trip on the Karakoram Highway. My name is Claudio and I’ll try to be the storyteller of this adventure. So, what is it all about ? During the next few weeks, Simone and I will bike along the famous Karakoram Highway, a marvelous road that stretches from the city of Kashgar in China to Islamabad in Pakistan. The whole road is about 1.600 km but we’ll bike only the first 700 km from Kashgar till Gilgit. The road traverses some of the world’s highest mountain passes and it is sorrounded my the highest peaks of the Karakoram range.

In the next posts we’ll explain the details of the trip. Honestly, the trip needs still some organization but we still have couple of weeks time. Our passports are in Sweden at the Pakistan Emabssy for the visas (Simone got his new passport two days ago). We don’t have yet the flights tickets but, at leat, we have a rough idea of the route we’ll follow (only low cost airlines). We also need to think of the equipment. Anyway, our weblog is up and running. We’ll try to keep it updated during the trip and hopefully your attention will be rewared with some beautiful pictures from the Karakoram range. We hope you’ll enjoy reading the posts of this adventure. That’s all for now. Cheers