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Chitral, Pakistan
Tuesday, Oct 25, 2005

Cold

David Murray
2007-02-23 22:12:33

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us. He told us that Lucy could go no further as we were at the goat sacrificing spot, and only men could go there. I then spotted something that looked like a wicket, and I asked the kid what it was. To my surprise, I had found a Kalash homie !!! And he wasn't the only one. We walked back, and was served dinner by Jan's son. We were talking about how the Kalash people came into being. Some people say that they go back to Alexander the Great, but this boy was having none of it. He did look very European with his blue eyes and Euro shaped face. I then mentioned that Micheal Palin had made a series called Himalaya and the Kalash valley was shown. He said that he had stayed at their guest house and that it was in this valley that the filming was done. I also asked whether tourism had picked up since, but he said no. He suggested that we leave the next morning and go to Bumboret Valley, as it was prettier, but more muslims lived there, so that was to be our plan.

After breakfast, which was home made walnut bread and honey, we started our 3 hour walk to the next valley. The previous night it had been freezing, but the sun was out, so we had an enjoyable walk. Once there, we secured our room, at a guest house and then set about taking a look. It was so different. After seeing only a little electricity and no TV's, this valley had it all, including about 50% muslim people. The valley was extremely pretty, and there was snow on the mountains. We walked for ages, and then there was nothing so we turned and came back. Once back, we got a homie to go and buy us some local white wine !!! Drinking is allowed here, so when in Rome !!! After dinner, we cracked it open. Luckily, I had a cold as the smell was pretty bad. I drank it, whilst talking to a posh homie. We discussed everything from unmarried sex to Pakistani politics and of course cricket !!! It was great to finally speak to an intelligent homie !!! ...