- So, we are starting in Hunza Valley.
We're in this hotel that's completely surrounded
by mountains, all around us,
which is incredible.
Like, amazing looking out the window.
We're going to be exploring a lake this morning
and then an old fort and then I don't know.
This itinerary keeps changing a little bit
as the days go on,
depending on weather, on landslides,
on vehicles and traffic, on people.
I don't know, it's an adventure!
Shit, I almost forgot the camera.
(hypnotic music)
We are now walking around Hunza Valley.
There's some cool markets here.
There's some really good cafes,
really cool authentic attire
that you can purchase.
Traditional rugs,
and I don't see any other tourists around.
It's just full of locals.
Although this is a very tourist-y area,
I don't really see any tourists around.
So we're gonna do a little bit of shopping,
I'd actually like to try on a traditional outfit
because they look damn cozy
and they look breezy
and you're sheltered from the sun,
so, you know, try some on.
- [Woman] Feather!
- [Siya] Oh, I love it.
- I look like, what do I look like?
- [Man] You look like an Army cadet or something like that.
- Hot out. - Yeah.
- I think I need this.
The only thing is this is detachable.
- Oh, interchangeable. - Change the feather color?
- Two-in-one.
- [Man] I think the hat suits you.
- Thank you, I'm gonna take that as a compliment. (laughs)
- [Man] Oh look at that blue just brings out.
- It's matching. (laughing)
- [Siya] Looks good.
- It's actually pretty comfortable.
- [Siya] What's it made out of?
- I couldn't even tell you, it kind of feels like velvet.
You know, like velvet or something.
- [Siya] You know what that hat is called?
- No, what is it called?
(vocalizing)
What's it called?
- [Siya] What's the hat called?
- Uh, I don't know.
(laughing)
I don't know what it's called.
- What do these hats represent, what are they called?
- Well this is traditional hat from Hunza.
You can see it has a thin brim and it has seaming here.
So you always have to keep the seam towards your back
because they say in old days
I heard this from elderly people
that if you by, even by mistake, if it comes in front
then you are going to fight with someone.
(laughing)
So, they're not going to fight with someone today.
So when you wear it, you wear it
like slightly sideways like this.
This is normal way of wearing Hunza cap.
And if you are, sometimes when you are tired
you put it like, this is called Ahmad Shah Massoud style.
You know, the slightly backwards.
And if it is too much towards the back
then it means you are not in a good mood.
- [Siya] So you you actually adjust it
according to how you're feeling.
- Yeah, according to your feelings.
And if you are attending a wedding or a festival
then you put the feathers in it.
You know, you have seen, those white heron feathers.
That's how it works.
- [Siya] What's the hat called?
- It is called (speaking in foreign language).
(speaking in foreign language)
In different areas it has different names.
Like this one is slightly different.
It has a bigger brim with some lines on it.
This comes from Chitra.
From the western parts of Gilgit-Baltistan
and also from Chitra.
- I think it's very fascinating
that just a one hat can say so much.
(man laughing)
- It's basically your like profile update, right?
Like how your mood, how you feeling?
Check my hat, okay.
What do you guys think?
Okay, so this is seam at the back, I can feel it.
- Okay, good. - What is this?
- Wow, look at this, I look like a prince.
(men laughing)
- The Prince of Hunza has arrived.
(men laughing)
- I love it, very unique.
I am a fan of hats, I really like hats.
I have a lot of variety of hats.
This is very traditional to here.
(upbeat techno music)
(jaunty circus music)
(dramatic music)
I'm pretty happy with my hat selection.
I like the color, I like the fit
and I like the local essence it has for here in Pakistan.
And then when I wear it back home, you know
I'll remember this trip.
And the market shopping continues.
I feel either more like a local or more like a tourist.
I am not sure, maybe a bit of both.
(motorcycle putters) (pensive string music)
- It's really good.
- [Siya] What is it?
- Smell it, this is Hunza thyme.
It's a Alpine herb, it's called thyme.
Locally it's called. (speaking in foreign language)
- Hunza thyme. - Hunza thyme
- So that rock is called
(speaking in foreign language)
and it's found in the mountains
and it's supposed to be very good for energy.
Some people use a very tiny amount in drinks
like milk in the morning or at night
so it's good for muscle pain, knee pain.
It's good for overall energy in the body.
- [Siya] Right, so it's probably full of a lot of minerals
is that it?
- Probably, I'm not sure the makeup of it, but yeah.
So that's, if you buy that
that's going to last you a whole lifetime.
- [Siya] Oh wow.
- Because you only need a very tiny amount.
So this is something that you would use
and would probably last you two, three years
because you need very tiny amounts.
- [Siya] Right.
- If you take too much of it, it's bad for your body.
- [Siya] It's pretty neat to see a lot of Persian influence
Iranian influence here
because half of my background is Iranian.
My mom was born in Iran and came to Canada.
So it's really neat because I've never been to Iran.
And this is as close as I've been to that culture.
So Pakistan is kind of a blend of different cultures.
A little bit of Alexander the Great.
A little bit of Indian influence.
There's even some Chinese influence.
Some Afghani influence.
And then of course Iranian influence.
So you can see a bit of Farsi, a little bit of Sanskrit,
a little bit of English scattered all around the country.
(pensive instrumental music)
- The kitchen here, mostly things are
of water forged stone, wooden, metal.
So most of the many things we got from Kashmir and Kasha.
- [Siya] - That is a primitive mousetrap, that's awesome.
These are made of.
Are these stone or metal?
- [Guide] Metal.
- [Siya] These are all metal.
These are all metal.
And then, the ones at the back are stone?
- [Guide] Yes.
- [Siya] And then those are grinders over there.
- Stone grinders. - Amazing.
- [Guide] That's for making chapathi.
That's for (speaking in foreign language)
for making buttermilk in pumpkins.
- Yeah, and those are like pumpkins,
like gourds back there, and hanging up here.
That's how they would store milk
and butter and water and wine.
We're now exploring the royal fort.
So less than 100 years ago
royals actually lived in this fort
and then it was turned into a touristy
you know, World Heritage site
where you can come and visit,
take the tour and explore the views.
And it's so rustic, it's so primitive
but also very intelligently designed.
Even like all the pillars
are just so beautifully designed and carved.
You can tell that the altitude's hitting me.
It's hard to do anything physical.
There's a lot of earthquakes that happen in this region
because of all the tectonic plates, all the mountains.
They've actually designed this place
to withstand earthquakes.
So, you know, back home, we take a piece of wood
we put it up next to a piece of wood
and then they're nailed together.
Here they're kind of put together in a little puzzle
a little zigzag shape
so that if there is like pulling and pushing
from an earthquake, that it they don't pull apart.
They're kind of locked in together.
Which is very smart.
There's also no nails.
All the pieces of wood are held together
through little notches and dowels.
It's very impressive.
So this palace, this fortress
was actually influenced by Chinese, Tibetan, and Arab.
So you'll see like different decorations.
You'll see different engravings
that have different influences from different cultures.
You'll even see Persian influence.
And it's pretty fantastic to see all those cultures blended
into one house, one castle, one fortress.
Like if I was to design my own house, my own castle.
It would have many different cultures' influence
into the different designs in the rooms
so you know 750 years ago when this place was built
it was built with culture in mind.
If anyone can read Farsi.
Any of my cousins out there,
please let me know what this is saying.
(instrumental music)
Hey, we have left the fort.
Now we've come to a cafe for some coffee and walnut cake.
Walnut cake is supposed to be very popular here.
So this is Hunza Walnut Cake.
All right, I'm seeing it.
- Oh I can smell it. - Wow, so good.
- Hunza Walnut Cake.
I'll have one walnut cake and a double espresso.
(speaking in foreign language)
And iced coffee.
(people chattering) (dishes clanging)
- I put too much in my mouth.
This is so good.
- [Man] It's special, isn't it?
- Really good.
(people chattering)
I don't know what it was.
- [Siya] Are you glad that you're sharing?
Or do you wish you got your own now.
- [Woman] No, I'm glad I'm sharing.
It's really good, but it's very sweet.
- Finished our coffees and walnut cake.
Now we're headed to Lake Attabad.
And I've seen pictures of this place online,
looks spectacular, so I cannot wait to get there
and I'll show you guys, you're gonna see in a sec.
(pensive music)
The only lake I've seen this blue
is like Lake Louise in Canada
and that's the iconic blue lake
that you see with the mountains.
But this.
This might be more beautiful.
- So in 2010 there was an earthquake here
and they evacuated
most of the people living in this village.
However some people who stayed here died
because of the melting of the glaciers up north
because of the earthquake and the avalanches that came.
And all the village that was here
is all buried underneath this lake.
If you move forward, you can see
some trees and shrubs growing from the bottom
that you can see on top of the lake
that were a part of the village once.
So there is a whole civilization
that is buried underneath this lake.
- [Siya] What, did people die?
- I'm not sure how many. - Or were they evacuated?
- They were evacuated, I think, I'm not sure.
- No, there was a lot of people.
The older families, the older people,
they decided they wanted to stay.
They said we were born here, we will die here.
- [Siya] Oh wow.
- Yeah, so there's a whole group of older people
who decided they were gonna stay here.
That was the village up there.
So it's all, the landslide came, it all fell under.
And the Karakoram Highway is also 10 meters under there.
And then, because there was no connectivity
for China to go other
they then built these 17 kilometer long tunnels
through the mountain.
So what I found fascinating about this is
that in the beauty of this lake
which everyone comes and enjoys.
- [Woman] There is a very sad, like sorrow end
to a lot of people who lived here.
- Yeah, this was a civilization.
These are people who lived there.
Their lives are gone.
But with every cloud there's silver lining
and what Attah is telling us is
that these people now have a very good livelihood
because they run boats from one side to the other
for tourists.
- [Siya] Right.
- So it's interesting, you know.
- [Siya] Yeah, yeah, Allah provides.
- Allah provides, yeah. - Allah provides.
- One man's disaster is other man's.
- Another man's treasure. - Treasure, yeah.
That's exactly what has happened here.
(wind rustling) (people chattering)
- [Guide] You can see the difference
in the color of the mountain.
- All right, we've now made it to Hussaini Bridge.
It's a very dangerous bridge to cross
because the wood slats are spread apart like a foot.
There's more space in between
than there is space to walk on, put it that way.
And it's super windy.
And the river below is glacier water
so if you do fall, it's gonna be freezing.
And I don't see a lifeguard around.
- [Woman] All right, turn around.
- So I am now on the bridge
and you can see that there's more space
in between the slats than there are slats.
So it's pretty risky.
Yeah, like your shoe is definitely wider
than this slat of wood.
- [Woman] Yeah, it's not great. (laughing)
- I don't think you would actually fall through
but, I mean, there is a chance
you could fall through, definitely.
That would suck.
But I guess other people do this every day.
This is just their normal route to to get groceries, right?
- How are we gonna do this?
- [Siya] Yeah, little traffic jam.
(laughing)
- Hello. - Hello.
- [Siya] We did it.
- They're so cute.
- [Siya] Are you afraid of heights?
- Yeah, I am.
- [Siya] So how is this experience?
- It's very scary, but it's all right. (laughing)
It's pretty cool, I like the name.
I've always really idolized the Indiana Jones movies, so.
Had to cross the Indiana Jones Bridge. (laughing)
(yelling)
(laughing)
That was not fake!
That was very real. (laughing)
(soaring violin music)
- That was one crazy day.
It was a lot of driving, a lot of awesome sights.
Mountains, lakes.
Whoa, crazy.
Like Pakistan just doesn't stop surprising us.
So tomorrow we have more adventures ahead
so tune in, and if you haven't watched the other videos
I recommend checking those out.
They'll be in a playlist somewhere.
But tune in tomorrow for more Pakistan adventures.