18 Midday, a suicide bomber walked into the crowded Melody Market andkilled 15 people and injured many. The scary part was I was there
barely thirty minutes earlier. Still, life went along as usual in the rest
of the city - vendors sold their wares, the muezzin called people to
prayer, and kids played cricket in the alleyways.
In fact, one seldom came across a child without a cricket bat in hand.
You never would’ve guessed watching TV that hockey and squash
were also national sports.
Islamabad – Besham
I woke keen and eager, and was up at the crack of dawn, raring to
go. Still, the time was past midday before finally departing
Islamabad. As tradition had it, all trekkers and climbers first paid a
visit to the Minister of Tourism to obtain a trekking permit, the Alpine
Club for a briefing, and Rawalpindi to pick up more supplies; a ritual
unchanged for decades. I felt honoured and excited to be part of it,
even just for the short trek to base camp.
The route north was extremely busy, jam-packed with colourful trucks
and busses, and the landscape was lush with green hills—what a
difference from the province of Baluchistan. We passed numerous
small communities and villagers in traditional dress. Shops displayed
wares along the pavement, including tyres, plastic chairs, apricots
and clothing. The Jeep soon reached the Karakoram Highway (KKH),
which hugged the banks of the Indus River. The road was narrow,
winding and washed away in places. As expected, the going was slow
and thus long beyond sunset before arriving at our overnight spot at
Besham.