finally, new battery

KKH - Gilgit

N 35deg 55.372'
E074deg 18.851'

we have struggle thro the wait for solving Hope Too's problem.

since we enter pakistan, i have series of bomb, in the toilet for about 10 days. charcoal pills don't work. i guess it must be india, where one month of pure vegetables and suddenly, our stomach is input with meat. only water was being released and i cannot afford to let any gas out with my pants on. u know wat i meant! my tummy is back to working condition now.

we kept hanging at islambad's supermarket because there is internet access, KFC, bookshops... we were there to do our iran visa. we met a chinese at the iran embassy. he was travelling on bicycle for 11 years and had visited 90 countries! yes! he do the chinese proud and glory! he is 40years old now.

we left islambad for KKH by taking the murree and musaffarabad road. it was a mountainous road where the kismir azad mountain is just on our right side. Hope Too finally go on strike. it stopped working no matter what and how much i raise it's pay or try to negotiate with. it was then towed to the village of pagwadi where the mechnic of desiel engine was. they got no idea of how my motorbike works. just playing a guessing game that this and that was faulty. all our belongings were in their workshop and it was getting late. my life is in their hand. they could do anything to me since Hope Too is not working and our luaggage are all over.

Sam went to the nearby toilet of Mr Muna's home. she was captured by the ladies there to be their guest as i was struggling below at the workshop to figure out why Hope Too is not working.
after changing my rectifyer, starter relay switch and fuel pump, they found out that the battary is faulty. late at night, one of them took a bus to the nearest town, rawalpini, about 2hours away to source a new battary for me.
i intend to change a new battery b4 the trip but i was advised by the x-owner that he just installed a new one! well, thats the game i have to play. i hope that it is only the battary fault, and not about coil and other engine parts!

Mr Muna requested us to stay at their house. at this point of time, we were force to trust them as we have no where to go.

the guest room was beautiful. after some introduction about the family back ground, we stayed on till my bike is settled. we were served with food and drinks and bedding. they are so nice and sincer people that we have ever met. we wanted to get a cup of tea and pay for it but the payment was refused! they are paying for my food,tea, and everything u can think of! they are treating me as a guest instead of a customer or a visitor!

people here treat us like a human. it's a very conservative society here. i was introduced to everyone in the village. it was not like what we see on TV!!!!

Mr Muna said: 'i will be responsible for the safety and will help u solve your problems till the end. you can stay here as long as you want. '
they are truely helping me out, discussing about my problems everynight. keeping us company, afraid that we will be lonely. when comes to money matter, some also step in to help. some said: 'if you do not have enough $, i can help u!

mr muna, shazard, adnan and sohoil (2 little boys), umer, paki, khan, anser, adnan, liaqat, zafar, babas, navee and many many nice people! Narzi, yasmine, sune, mdm tanzeem, masala and all the ladies in the house, thank you!

on the day of leaving, Sam hugged every ladies in the house to say goodbye. everyone, including me drop our tears. they were really nice and it's hard to part after 2 weeks of stay.

it's fate. i really met the nicest people in this world. not long after my stay, we recived news about the bomb at Islamabad, supermarket, where we frequent hang around.

thanks god.

now we are at the 8th wonder of the world: karakurum highway (KKH), gilgit. the roads are tough. we can only travel 200km maximum per day, about 7-8hours, then i will recive a super back ache!
the KKH is about 1000km up to the China/pakistan border. then we have to come down the same way because the alternative route is not safe as advice by the locals due to political reasons. we do not know what will happen next or when the next rock will fall on us. the mountain are changing every seconds. studies and research of this range is that the mountain is moving up north 5cm annually. the meeting point of 2 big asian earth plate is meeting here and it is constantly moving. snowing at part of the highway.

we r fine now. our pakistani visa expires on 15 april. we have to do a 'time extension' on our visa to get to iran safely and on time.

WE LOVE PAKISTAN!