December 22, 2009 – Excerpt: It was a beautiful place beneath a high, clear sky. For three days I traveled north on foot, and in every village I was welcomed into homes and fed to bursting on coarse bread, yoghurt and pomegranates. The idea that Pakistan was a hostile country began to seem absurd. The people of Yasin are Ismaeli Muslims, followers of the Aga Khan. Many locals like to ascribe Gilgit-Baltistan’s tranquility to the fact that it is the only part of Pakistan where Shias and Ismaelis dominate. In truth, geography probably has more to do with it: Yasin is just 150 kilometers from the former Taliban fiefdom of Swat, but with ridges of sky-scraping mountains in between it might as well be another planet.
From Yasin I returned to Gilgit and headed north on the Karakoram Highway. This fabled strip of tenuous tarmac snakes 1,300 kilometers from Islamabad all the way to China, crossing the 4,733-meter Khunjerab Pass en route. The road led me to Hunza, a fairy-tale kingdom in the high Karakorams. The Hunza Valley is flanked by truly enormous mountains. In the villages, apricots were drying on rooftops and local Ismaeli women smiled and greeted me in English.
Ismailimail 