February 26th, 2008 
Sheila Simkin I spent the last evening in Islamabad in bed with the thought of food very far from my mind. In the meantime, Margie calls up to the room and says…”Sheila, come down…there’s finally good food..” Forget it. A flight to Rawapindi where it all started and Irene’s luggage had finally materialized from Singapore Airlines….three weeks too late. Day rooms in another gorgeous hotel and a late evening Singapore Airlines flight back home.
You have never seen anybody happier to be on a plane in your life. The cabin steward would come to me and say…”Oh, Madame…I have a very yummy desert for you.” And I’d go ….ummmmmmmm. I didn’t stop eating all the way back to Chicago and continued eating for the next two weeks. Fruits, vegetables, pasta, steak, chicken…a bottomless pit. Doc Margie said she was bringing fruits and vegetables to her office every day and her staff wanted to know if she had become a vegetarian. There’s nothing like a “near starvation vacation” to make a person appreciate food.
About the trip to Pakistan…what can I say? A lot!
- The jeep safari was practically worthless. As recounted earlier, we spent each and every day, from early in the morning to late at night in the jeeps, arriving at nowhere Pakistan only to fall into bed exhausted, wake up early the next day and repeat the same thing. It was one of the hardest travel experiences in our lives. This was expressed to Wilderness Travel and they dropped the trip from their brochure the following year.
- We never expected great food…but that “one chicken for 12 people” really took the cake. Very, very happy we brought 18# of candy. That, the apricots and pistachio nuts, really were our survival foods.
On the other hand…
- I’m really glad we had the chance to experience Pakistan. The people we came in contact with were wonderful and my heart breaks for them when I hear about earthquakes, the Taliban, wars and everything else that makes their difficult lives even harder; and
- I deeply regret not going up the infamous Khyber Pass.
- So very lucky that there were 10 great people along with us. We were together for 25 consecutive days, from early morning until late at night. Tenting, eating, driving…and the dynamics could have disasterous. Not one argument, or disagreement. Stop a moment and think how amazing that is. Thanks, everyone.
- The trek was the highlight. People are still trekking and visiting the Hunza area. Especially K2 and Baltoro Glacier, one of the longest glaciers outside the polar regions, They are many tour organizers running trips into Pakistan and they know the areas to avoid. For goodness sake, bad things happen to good people every day. We leave our houses and – are in car accidents – have a stroke, heart attack or other unexpected health issues – ice falls off a bulding – a crazy lunatic walks into a department store and shoots five innocent women – nothing is safe. Please don’t rule out visiting a destination because you perceive it as “unsafe.” ( I’m not advocating heading into a war zone!) If you have the opportunity and want to visit…do it!
- A great support crew. No complaints about any of them. Not even our infamous cook who did his best with what he had.
- I never got tired of admiring the vivid Pakistani trucks with their lights flashing…
This difficult trip left us with enough memories, laughter and funny stories to last a lifetime along with good friends, Margie and Art. (The four of us still laugh about the trip hardships, 25 years later.) You really had to be there and participate. Or, then again, maybe not… Either way, this is a country you must carefully experience for yourself.
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Hello Sheila,
How are you?? well i read your page about Pakistan, you had a really nice joureny and you wrote very nice story about your travel to Pakistan. so where are you these days and what are you busy with??
Karim
HUNZA HOLIDAYS PLUS TREKKING & TOURS
Dear Karim: Still traveling and having a fantastic time exploring places like your homeland. Continue reading to see exactly where we’ve been.
Best, Sheila
Dear Shela,
It really sounds good! i will keep reading you blog!
wish you all the best for your traveling!
Cheerz!
Please do update me about your travel on hunzaholidaysplus@gmail.com
Reading some posts about Pakistan on your blog, I sensed the same subtle stereotyping about Pakistan that you Americans are used to doing. It’s funny, that a seemingly “smart” woman like yourself would paint a picture of Pakistan that is negative, backwards, and gives readers the impression that we’re still living in the stone age. But then again, maybe that was the intent of your travel to Pakistan, otherwise, like you said,”who travels to Pakistan..?”
Sorry you felt that way but I told it like it was. It was a very difficult trip, not because of the Pakistani people who were lovely but the horrendous jeeping, day after day without a chance to actually interact other than on trek. Unfortunately, people don’t travel to Pakistan because of warnings and other inherent dangers. Unfortunately, the majority of the world just wants to live in peace, raise their families and survive. Too bad. Again, I apologize if you received that impression. It was not the intent.
Dear Readers of this site,
I am Karim, i am running this company Hunza Holidays Plus, I don’t know why people are doing such acts, If this guy is for the Ministry Of Tourism in Pakistan then why didn’t he wrote his real name here??
For Shela i request you don’t don’t put such adds on your site, I also request you to send me the contact details of the Pakistani who wrote the above post..
Karim Tajik
We, Peruvian Mountains Treks & Expedition is run by professional Trekking & Mountain guides, tour guides of English, Spanish, since year of establishment 2008 .We are an Expedition, Climbing, Mountaineering, adventure travel and trekking Operator company for Operating expedition, in the Cordillera Blanca santa cruz trek circuit cedros ,llanganuco ,ulta chavin climbing alpamayo , huascaran chopicalqui ,pisco artesonraju Cordillera Huayhuash full huayhuash trek diablo mudo climb Cordillera raura circuit lima churin raura cajatambo Cuzco inca trail machupicchu choquequirao Cordillera real pequeño alpamayo huayna potosi khotia trek . We are always ready to assist you to organize climbing expeditions to scale the mountains Peru – Bolivia . We have fixed departure for any adventure trip , So you can join with our any our program