Our satellite phone is still missing – one week later and still two bags in cyber space! We have tried every avenue – sitting at the British Airways office for hours on end has proved the best method for getting somewhere. We finally were put on the phone to baggage handing center in Dubai in the Country of The United Arab Emirates, and then a day later were hooked up from there to a manager in the London office, who has proclaimed today to have found the bags. Cell phones here rule, as a local phone only costs 50 cents for a ten minute call to the UK.

After leaving the bags to Allah for a while, we have driven 16 hours to Chilas on the Karokoram Highway, then 10 hours more of excitement from Chilas onto Skardu. CNG, or compressed natural gas is available everywhere, as almost the standard fuel, brought over from neighboring Iran. From calculations I have seen, the lower carbon footprint would be ruined once you factor in shipping to the US, but it reminds us that we should use local alternative fuels, and that it is possible to implement good distribution if encouraged. My favorite part of driving, besides the impressive precipices, chiseled roads into cliffs, raging rapids, varied vegetation and beautiful people is the trucks decorated inside and out, like elephants carrying royalty. I would put each one in a museum or be the envy of all at Burning Man.

Pakistan has very diverse terrain and ecosystems – lush tropical valleys in the Punjab Province, giving way to huge pine forests as you gain altitude, drying as you head north to the North West Frontier Provinces, and finally very arid as you reach the Northern Areas Provinces and Skardu. The mountains here are brown and devoid of vegetation, but each valley with a town is a lush green oasis filled with apricots, almonds, wheat, corn, rice, and barley surrounded by huge poplars and willows. Waterfalls gush out of the hillsides, and hot springs abound.

We have seen so many different ethnic groups in the last several days that it would take a book to describe the languages, Muslim custom differences, and attire. We are now in the land of the Balti people, who are very outgoing and friendly, yet their adherence to the Koran is stricter than that of the city areas. Most all greet us with a huge smile, a big HELLO, and want to know where we are from. If they speak English, they tell me they love America and George Bush. If not, I practice my Urdu or Balti. We are careful to respect customs and wear long baggy shirts, pants, skirts, and headscarves. One man asked us if we were Muslim and when Zoe replied that we were not he was most impressed that we were wearing the scarves out of respect. Nods of approval everywhere, and stares if it slips off. After a while you feel like you are just wearing a fashionable desirable piece of clothing, which has great functions for dust, fumes, sun, cold, wind and rain.

Yet I would never want to be a woman here in the north. We are free to roam and shop, but local women are not to be out unaccompanied, and mostly shop at the women’s market. Most never leave their neighborhood except one or two times a year. Men do all the shopping, including the food shopping. Yet it is so the way of life – like we find the sky blue. I asked our guide, Sharif, if he thought that western women were crazy, and got an astounding yes! I’m sure our life seems weirder to them than theirs does to us, because at least everyone is following the same rulebook to the most extent here, while our behavior appears to have no rhyme or reason. We are learning how to eat with our fingers correctly and neatly, while pulling bread apart with three fingers continues to baffle us.

Did I mention last time that Pakistan recorded the highest temperatures in 78 years, with Lahore reaching 52 degrees? I think that translates into almost 130 degrees, with Islamabad reaching 120. Global warming is alive and well. We met a gemologist yesterday who informed us that a topaz mine was closing because the water source had dried up. The local Indus River, the third largest in the world, that we have been following for days makes the Grand Canyon look like a creek. The manager of our hotel says that as the river is drying up due to over use, more melting and less snow. The people in southern Pakistan are no longer able to drink from the river, as it barely exists as a creek. They are forced to now dig deep wells and drink salty water. This year was also an exceptionally low snow year, which is going to make skiing 21,000-foot Koser Gung very difficult, as there is now only snow on the upper 1000 feet! Low snow will help us get porters to the base camps of Snow Lake, as we will trek on glaciers for days to get there.