Greetings from Pakistan

Hello all! This is a quick note to say that I am alive and safe and have just arrived in Karimabad, Pakistan, which is basically in the Western Himalayas in the Hunza region (now there's some stuff to Google in one's spare time!.

My travel partner Jamie and I left Delhi, India on Saturday evening and boarded a 7pm overnight train to Amritsar, India. From there we took a taxi to the India-Pakistan border, waited for the border to open, walked across (my favorite part!!), took another taxi to Lahore, took a train from Lahore to Rawalpindi (next to Islamabad), missed the last bus out to Gilgit, stayed there overnight, took a 4pm bus on Monday August 7 to Gilgit (in the Northern Areas aka the mountains) and arrived in Gilgit approximately 22 hours later. Yes, all in a row, with a few bathroom breaks. Oh, and let's not forget to mention the nice old man across the aisle from us who fed us bizarre food products incessantly and wouldn't take no for an answer. Hence why I ate Spicy Curry Rice Puffs at 2am and felt slightly ill. ;)

From there, we took the local minibus to Karimabad where we just sat down to have a quick meal and take a look around the town. It is absolutely unbelievable here, and more gorgeous than words can say. I have seen my first Himalayan big peaks and I am HOOKED!

The plan is to stay in town for a day or two and do some research on the nearby valleys that we will trek to... and talk to locals about the best routes, etc.

Anyway, hope to continue posting as I can. Thinking about you all and wanted to let you (aka MY PARENTS) know there are plenty of other tourists/backpackers and not to worry.