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Chitral, Pakistan
Tuesday, Oct 25, 2005

Cold

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

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The Plan

We needed to take a bus, up to Dir, then jump into a 4-wheel drive and go over the Lowari Pass and end up in Chitral.

The Trip

Up early, we jumped into a cab, who drove straight past the bus station. When questioning this, he spoke in Urdu, so fuck knows what he said. Eventually, he kicked us out at a minibus station. We were pushed into a minibus, being told that indeed this was the bus for Dir, and then we were off. After about 4 hours, most of it I was asleep for, we were kicked out. I did not see any 4-wheel drives, but we were pushed into another minibus, once again, being assured that this bus was going to Chitral. So we sat back and went along for the ride. As we went, I tried to stay awake, but I fell asleep. I was awoken when we pulled into Dir. As we had paid for the trip to Chitral, we did not get into a 4-wheel drive, which could be a good thing/bad thing !!! Then we came to the mountains. They were huge. On the way up, a noise started to come out from the back wheel. Then the van started to run on 3, then 2 cylinders. Then it died. The tools came out. They got it going. Then we stopped again. The noise was worrying the homies. They ripped off the wheel, and they had a bearing in their hands. How could they change it when they had no new oil to put in the axle ??? They put the wheel back on, got the shitter going on 3 cylinders, and off we went over the pass which is around 4000 metres high, with snow on it. We made it over the top, and then the shitter died completely. The homie tried to clutch start it, but it was dead. He then decided to roll it down the mountain, whilst we were sitting in it !!!. It didn't work though. As darkness grew, ramazan finished, and the food was broken out. Once the homies were fed, they managed to get the bus running on 4 cylinders, and once again we were off. The noise was getting worse from the wheel, so eventually, we stopped again, and had dinner. One ...