“somehow everything keeps getting better & better”

Greetings From Shangrila!

I mean, it doesn’t get better than Shangri-La, does it?! Actually, that’s the name of the hotel where I spent last night. It’s at a place called Raikot Bridge, at the base of Nanga Parbat, a massive mountain well-known to climbers. This hotel is by far the best and most luxurious I’ve enjoyed since arriving in Pakistan, but a real bargain at the $20 rate the manager gave me after a little bargaining. The amenities which make it special for me are a strong stream of hot hot hot shower water, consistent electricity and internet, a bright warm clean room, and a very comfortable bed. I could get spoiled here!

To get any real idea of the extent of my appreciation for this hotel, you’d have to experience the more than three weeks straight of much less luxurious lodgings, oftentimes sleeping in all my clothes just to stay warm, ignoring the unclean, unkempt or just plain missing things we can often take for granted.

Today, I’ll take a jeep ride up the side of the lower mountain as far as it can go, then hike the rest of the way to a place called Fairy Meadows, where I’ll spend two or three days without internet, before returning to Shangrila for one more night before traveling onward.

During the past couple of weeks, I’ve transitioned from the Hindu Kush mountains in the northwest of Pakistan to the Karakoram Range in the northeast, mountains which are even bigger and more plentiful. My wanderings have taken me to the face of Rakaposhi, across amazingly long suspension foot-bridges, to the very interesting end of the Chapursan Valley near Afghanistan, up the Karakoram Highway to the border with China and now to sit where people like Reinhold Messner sat before climbing Nanga Parbat, solo. More on all this later.

Here are links to two newly posted photo galleries:

HINDO KUSH https://balloonbill.smugmug.com/Other/Deep-In-The-Hindu-Kush/

KARAKORAM https://balloonbill.smugmug.com/Other/East-To-The-Karakoram/

…………

ALL I CAN SAY IS …WOWOW !!!