Pakistan: Karakoram Highway & Khunjerab Pass, October 22-23, 2022

In spite of all the traveling I do, I'm still amazed that I'm always amazed by everything I experience. One of the things that surprises me often is to discover that I must have had some kind of preconceived notion of what something would be like, otherwise I wouldn't be surprised by how it is. That was my experience with the Khunjerab Pass: it wasn't anything like I expected.

For some reason, I had the idea it was a really dangerous road hanging onto the sides of cliffs, jam-packed with colorful overloaded cargo trucks and crazy drivers, always on the edge of losing control. The reality turned out to be just the opposite.

The highway itself is exactly that: a well-engineered modern highway, (re-) built by the Chinese, as part of the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor https://cpec.gov.pk/).

To go to the top of the pass, t the border with China, I hired a private car to take me. What was strangest to me about the four-hour round trip was that we we one of only seven vehicles on the road that day! Why? The Chinese closed the border in March of 2020 and haven't opened it since. Something seems fishy about their keeping this major trade route closed.

The road itself was littered with debris from landslides, something I have never before witnessed on a paved highway. The debris is only cleared if it completely blocks the road. Regardless, the scenery is beautiful and it's nice to have to drive slowly.

The funniest thing to me is the way Pakistanis pronounce the word, 'Karakoram': it sounds to me like they are saying 'Crack Room'! It cracks me up every time!