- Good morning.
I hope you're having an amazing day.
It's Mark Wiens, I'm in Hunza Valley, Pakistan.
Today we have a very long day.
We're driving from Hunza Valley to Khunjerab Pass,
but it is a very high mountain pass.
It's the border between Pakistan and China.
But along the way, we're going to stop to eat a local lunch.
We're gonna eat some food along the way,
then after Khunjerab Pass, we'll be driving
back down to Gilgit.
So it's gonna be a very long day, a lot of driving.
So before we start anything, I'm having
breakfast at the hotel.
(lively upbeat music)
One of the local breakfasts is a type of pancake.
One is made from buckwheat, seasoned with apricot oil.
Mm, oh that's like more,
more like gummy than I had imagined.
Since coming to this region entire Gilgit-Baltistan region,
I have just thoroughly loved that apricot oil.
It's so fragrant.
That one almost kind of has a French toast taste to it.
Also, breakfast in Pakistan, I just cannot resist the keema.
I think this one looks like chicken,
which is like a mincemeat fry, or mincemeat curry.
Mm, oh it's good.
Oh, thank you very much.
Thank you.
This is a local granola.
All with nuts grown here, and
I'm not sure what type of seeds those are in
also some of the local yogurt.
There's some type of seed in there.
It tastes like sesame, but it's really crispy,
really crunchy and then you've got,
it's like almonds and walnuts just crushed up in there.
(lively upbeat music)
Good morning Ali,
- Good morning, I don't work today just leave me here.
(Mark laughing)
- This morning, the peak that we tried to see yesterday,
Rakaposhi, which is one of the tallest mountains
in this region, in this area it was shining in the sun.
Hayzum, good to see you.
(lively upbeat music)
We're all packed up and loaded on our way.
Its gonna be about a four hour drive all the way
to Khunjerab Pass but of course,
we're gonna stop along the way.
Though we just looked at the forecast,
it's a high of negative 12 degrees celsius,
a low of negative 22 and snow.
So it's gonna be arctic conditions up there,
it's gonna be freezing cold, we're on our way for the day.
(horn honking)
(lively upbeat music)
We're in the middle of the mountain right now,
massive tunnel just going through the,
cut straight through the rock.
- [Passenger] We're in the middle of this, rock.
(laughing)
- Stunning, what's the name of this lake?
- [Man] Attabad Lake.
- This is Attabad lake, okay.
- What happened was this mountain had due to the earthquake,
the mountain had come down all the way.
This lake, this used to be a valley right here.
Very small Hunza River just going through the valley,
but then because of the rock slide,
the way of the Hunza river was stopped
and this entire lake was formed in 2007, 2008.
- We're actually gonna stop at this lake though,
on another place, right?
It's gonna get better than this.
We're gonna stop here just for a cup of tea.
Then after that we are gonna head down
to the water's edge for a boat maybe.
(wind blowing)
It is cold up here.
There's nothing better than a toilet,
with a breathtaking view.
Sorry about the quick toilet shot.
(customers talking)
That feels and tastes so good, just warms going down.
We are lakeside now, time to fully gear up.
It's the wind that is really whipping through
this valley and the lake that's really making it
frigidly cold.
(rocks crunching)
(lively upbeat music)
We've chosen to take this big boat, and it actually
has a lot of historical value.
This used to be a boat that was a ferry,
that used to transport and they would even carry vehicles,
trucks in here across the lake to the other side.
Before they built the tunnel.
So the tunnel was actually built quite recently.
(boat motor running)
Once again, just unimaginable beauty.
It's so freezing cold but it's so unbelievably beautiful,
words cannot even describe.
- Beautiful beyond my years,
it's so beautiful that you can't imagine.
Just can't put it into words.
(boat motor running) (lively upbeat music)
(woman speaking Urdu)
- Thank you.
A little bit of a random situation.
We're trying to arrange dinner on the way back
from Khunjerab Pass, so we're just in this village,
what is the village called?
- Gulmit.
Then we're just checking out their,
we ordered some food and then we're gonna
be in this traditional house for dinner,
but she's just offered me some traditional bread.
Really kinda like a cracker bread,
really like thick and hearty.
But we're kinda getting late on time,
things kind happening at a slow pace.
But, hopefully the plan is to come back to this house
later tonight were they will, there's actually
a restaurant where they'll cook food and then
they'll serve it to us in that home.
But they were so welcoming,
again so welcoming and hospitable.
We've gotta make a move, it's gonna get
dark and cold very soon.
- How's the house?
- The house is nice, it like last night kinda.
- 6 p.m.
- But this is gonna be a totally, the food looks
very similar to Hunza, the food we ate in Hunza.
But a little bit different because this is actually,
Pamirian cuisine, like the next ingredient sort of.
(truck driving by)
Hey guys,
nice flock.
- They got some big horns on them.
- Nice flock of sheep and goats.
We're almost to a place called Sost,
were we're gonna stop for lunch hopefully
Everyday they serve biryani except for today,
today happens to be Friday so he cooked
all sorts of different curries and dishes.
(speaking in Urdu)
We ordered pretty much everything he has.
It smells so good in here.
Here it comes, the beans and the dahl, it smells so good.
A vegetable dish, we got some dahl and also some beans.
- Let me just try.
- This is the mixed vegetable, there's potato,
there's onions in here and peppers.
Mm, oh yeah.
It's as good as it smells.
Everything is just cooked down so soft,
oh yeah that's wonderful.
It looks like a variety of lentils, maybe black lentils.
Then onions, there's carrots in here.
(people speaking in Urdu)
All I want is to stir.
- This is it.
- It tastes like healthy.
Less of the butter, more of the spice.
Hopefully this chili warms me up.
(lively upbeat music)
This is good simple food, beans maybe sweetened
with some carrots, and some chili's in there.
And just a light blend of spices, it just tastes so good.
- [Man] To Khunjerab Pass.
- [Another Man] Cheers, dudes.
(lively upbeat music)
- [Mark] That's a mouthful of chili.
- [Man] These Zibiti spices are awesome.
- I didn't think from riding in the car, winding around,
you do get pretty hungry too.
This just feels so good.
(lively upbeat music)
Mandatory beverage after lunch.
(lively upbeat music)
And that was vegetarian actually come to think of it,
I didn't even realize that as I was eating it
because it was so good.
We have about two hours still until we reach Khunjerab Pass,
so we gotta get moving.
(lively upbeat music)
Traffic blocked wall.
That's just a sea of sheep and goats.
- [Woman] Oh, my.
(greeting herdsman)
Some of them look really warm and cozy out there.
(lively upbeat music)
Getting really high in elevation.
We're probably at about 4,400 meters now.
Gonna be at the pass in a few minutes.
I can actually feel a little bit,
(horn honking)
Starting to get a little lightheaded,
I believe from the elevation.
Okay, we are almost to the top.
(lively upbeat music)
This is where it's time to put on the hat and the gloves.
Yeah, it is other-worldly here.
It looks like we are literally on top of the world.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, that is cold.
Oh, that is freezing cold.
Should be about negative 12.
I can just feel it in my throat.
Look at this landscape.
It's just other-worldly though.
- We literally are on top of the world.
(greeting in Urdu)
- There it is, that's the border.
That's the famous landmark gate over there.
Yeah, just taking a little walk down the road
I am breathing.
I can feel that.
I think I'm gonna probably stop right here,
but those mountains they must be in China.
Yeah, there's the sign, Urumqi and Kashgar.
Just down the road.
(lively upbeat music)
Okay, well.
Back in the car.
That is some serious elevation,
this is the highest elevation I've been to.
It's freezing cold out there but wow,
it was just other-worldly.
- [Mark] Turn the light all the way up.
Oh, you can smell the bread.
And now we made it back to the village
where we had reserved the food.
So dinner is ready, we're in the home.
This smells and looks delicious.
(Group indistinct chattering)
- [Mark] A vegetable dish too.
Vegetable and meat.
They just kept bringing more and more food
and it looks incredible.
So this is Pamiri cuisine,
which is kind of like central Asian,
Tajikistan, Afghani food.
Very, very low on the meat.
I think the soup, she said the soup might have
a little bit of meat in it.
But other than that it's mostly vegetables,
especially a lot of wheat.
A lot of warming food,
and a lot of pancake, bready looking dishes.
They kind of look like flaxseeds and then some,
I think there's something in the center as well.
I think like an almond, maybe nut paste.
I think that might be apricot oil.
(lively upbeat music)
I think that is apricot oil brushed on top.
Yeah, definitely.
I can taste that unique flavor.
But it tastes kind of like flaxseed on top,
and then maybe black pepper.
Oh, that's wonderful.
Two different types of soups.
One is like a noodle, creamy looking soup.
One is actually a very unique soup
it's filled with apricots and you can just see those
apricots just in there.
So it's kind of a, I'm sure it's gonna be kind of sweet
with the apricots.
Let's try the noodle soup first.
Brought us an amazing assortment of dishes.
There looks like a little bit of meat in here.
Whoa, that has like a surprising sour taste to it.
Maybe from yogurt.
But at the same time, it kind of has an animaly taste to it
or like a smokey point taste to it.
The apricot soup now.
Okay and you can see just those chunks of apricot,
there's the noodles in here.
Wow, that's just like whoa.
Just in one serving, there must be five apricots in here.
And even the sauce is just pure melted down apricot.
Wow.
(laughing)
(calming music)
I'm hoping it,
I hope you could hear Mica's fart on camera.
That apricot soup though, that is like-
It is like melted apricots, cooked down apricots
with noodles in it.
It's almost like an apricot jam soup.
Next dish, this one is like a vegetable.
Really simmered down also, with potato in it.
Mm, mm.
Oh that's superb.
It tastes kind of like mustard green,
because it has that slight bitterness to it.
You can taste the chilis in there,
you can taste the richness of it but it's so-
Onions in there too.
This one is another wheat-based dish.
You can see it glistening from the oil,
I'm sure that's apricot oil.
Let me grab a piece of this.
(calming music)
Mm.
You can definitely taste the nuttiness of this again.
Possibly walnuts, but then also possibly apricot seeds.
(calming music)
There's also a staple dish it was just like a,
it almost looks like a porridge.
And this dish is actually called molita here.
It looks like it could be wheat made
into kind of a porridge.
Mm, wow.
That is again, wow.
That tastes like,
like sour animal sort of.
Wow that's totally unexpected.
You would not even predict that.
It almost looks like oatmeal.
You'd almost think it tastes like oatmeal.
But that's just a burst of sourness.
They also do have an extra bowl of oil,
which I believe is apricot oil.
And I think that came also with the molita.
(rousing orchestral music)
Mm, yeah that's definitely apricot oil.
That goes with the sour, cheesiness.
It's like a cross between noodles and porridge.
And then finally, to finish the meal
there's a couple of different pancakes.
This one is the sweet pancake, I believe.
Looks like it's kind of drizzled in a syrup.
Mm, that kind of tastes like molasses.
Maybe it's honey, yeah probably honey.
Slightly leathery, possibly buckwheat pancake.
That's good.
And it's like juicy.
It's juicy with the honey.
One of the most interesting meals I've ever had.
- Those greens taste like collard greens,
surprisingly awesome.
- Final, to finish off the meal.
I think this is the salty version of that same pancake.
Mm, mm.
Yes.
That is a perfect final bite.
The apricot oil is just gushing,
and the more you chew the more the apricot oil
just fragrances your entire mouth and nostril area.
Finally, for dessert we're having tea,
which is actually not tea but it's made from
bozange which is a local herb grown in these mountains.
Probably grows wild in these mountains,
and also some kind of cookie fritter.
Mm, okay to me that immediately tastes like juniper,
or like juniper berries.
Or has an evergreen taste to it.
So it's actually called uruzuk.
And there's wheat, there's egg yolk, and oil in here.
It looks kind of like a cocoon.
It tastes like a 3D cracker, kind of crackery.
And with the drink.
Similar to the food in Hunza that we had the other day,
oh just yesterday.
But at the same time it was different.
But I don't think we,
we only had a tiny bit of meat.
There was a little bit of dairy in the dishes as well
but almost vegetarian.
Almost completely vegetarian.
A lot of starches, though.
And a lot of whole grains.
From here, we are driving back to Gilgit,
and then we are actually tomorrow we'll be catching
a flight from Gilgit to Islamabad, Islamabad to Karachi.
And that's gonna complete this entire Pakistan trip
food and travel series.
So stay tuned for that.
But for now back to the truck.
I'm just going to take a nap so I'm going to end
the video right now.
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Karachi food coming up.
Thanks again for watching, see you on the next video.
And by the way, if you turn off this light,
man it is just pitch black here.