This blog will cover two vlogs you can check out on our YouTube travel channel. You see, this day was a tad long, and we didn’t succeed with what we set out to do that day (surprise, surprise!), but in hindsight, the original plan to climb Marsur Rock in Skardu, Pakistan was way, way too ambitious.

So, what was the original plan, you say? Well, it was to climb up to 3,300 metres above sea level at a starting point of around 2,400 metres, so not TOO much; however, please note that at this point, we had barely been in the beautiful country of Pakistan for 72 hours. It was our third day, and we had already changed our hotel twice, once due to flying from Islamabad to Skardu and only staying in Islamabad one night and the other well, because the hotel we stayed at was super gross. It has excellent reviews on Google etc., but it’s a load of crap, the place was disgusting, but we travel frequently and don’t like to whinge. Pretty sure we were given the staff room with nothing cleaned, and we paid 5,000 PKR for it. The room was costly considering the lack of amenities and cleanliness, but hey, we were tricked by marketing. Not ashamed to admit it.

Moving on from whine country, we started the day by contacting the chap of another hotel who sent a driver to pick us up (It’s complimentary, usually from the airport). Because of that, we got a lovely drive through Skardu city to Hussainabad. Hussainabad is a teeny tiny village to the right of Skardu. It’s on the way to Khaplu and Shigar Valley, two areas we will discuss in more detail in upcoming travel blogs and vlogs. It’s also on the way to Manthoka waterfall; more about that later!

The drive through Skardu city was immense, an absolute joy, and the sights were astounding! It was the start of excitement for both Natalie and I but for different reasons, well, maybe the same, as we were both keen to explore this Pakistani heritage of mine. Remember, Pakistan constantly comes up as a place you shouldn’t fly to, and even when we went, we weren’t supposed to go due to red list covid rules. However, we had to get very, very creative in avoiding the enforced ‘Red-List Hotel Quarantine’ costing £2,500 per couple to stay at a hotel usually valued at £400 for the week; however, this does come with microwaved food. Yum! You can read that Pakistan travel blog post here.

On this excursion, we thought it would be an excellent opportunity to withdraw cash in Pakistan. We usually encounter issues with ATMs, but after travelling to some 42 countries by this point, we were equipped with what you need to overcome this issue, perseverance! However, some countries can be more frustrating than others and here in Skardu, Pakistan, most of the ATMs did not work! That is until we found BANK ALAFAH.

The Maximum cash withdrawal is 20,000 PKR. Please have no qualms about carrying large sums of cash on you, it comes in handy, and you’re incredibly safe. People will stare, but the danger is literally at zero. That was our experience, at least until you get to the cities, but even then, their bark was worse than their bite. I will explain those brief moments way down the road; we have ALOT to cover first!

So, we rock up to the hotel, feeling refreshed with these fabulous mountain views, we got cash out, and our driver stopped so so SO many times for us. We thought we should give him some rupees for his effort, and he was incredibly grateful; it always feels good to help others after being shown so much kindness.

We checked in and were very excited about our room; it was clean! After a quick shower, we put on the Kurtas we purchased in Islamabad on our first day and set out on our mission to climb Marsur Rock. After all, it was only 36 degrees centigrade and would take us 4 hours up and 2 hours down; what was the problem!?

I’m a fool for thinking we could do it because think about it. A six-hour hike isn’t that easy, especially with the jetlag, heat and choice of clothing, so we thought we’d head to the waterfall, which, luckily for us, was on route!

Again, the hike to the waterfall was incredible; we passed through a little village with many a friendly face. We saw streams that looked so refreshing that we just had to use them to cool off and more mountains than you could count. We got a few stares from out-of-towner Pakistan travellers and were asked why we were not in a car? We’re here to explore Pakistan, not be in air-conditioned vehicles; if we did take the 10-minute short drive, we wouldn’t have the fond memories we possess now.

We did it. We had arrived at the waterfall. We went through the entrance, climbed a little bit, fell over, climbed a tad more and wow…

WHAT. A. LETDOWN.

Maybe we had been spoilt by the scenery we’d seen our first few days in Pakistan, but we were expecting something louder, something grander, you know maybe, an actual waterfall and what we saw was, well, it didn’t meet our expectations. Perhaps we should have climbed Marsur Rock in our attempt to attain epic views.

Not letting that get us down, as you’ve seen in the vlog, we decided to buckle up and climb the waterfall to see if there was a proper one somewhere further up? What did I tell you about perseverance! I say us, but Natalie started climbing, and I had to follow her. That remarkable woman is always getting me in trouble and showing me up! We kept climbing and climbing, getting further and further up. We hadn’t seen another person in a couple of hours, the sun was beating down, but we were amongst these tall pine trees, which provided shade.

We finally said no more and just sat on some rocks overlooking Skardu. We were fortunate enough o be able to see for miles and miles and miles the deserts, the mountains, the Indus river, snowy peaks, and countless pine trees, all in the absence of any noise pollution, and we barely saw a car even pass by on the valley roads. Serenity. Pakistan is full of natural wonders, and come to think of it, that is where most of our travel vlogs in the Pakistan series were spent.

Honestly, the waterfall may have been a letdown but the views attained for ‘climbing’ it were majestic. Dare I say it, probably just as good as Marsur Rock which, if you can climb, then please tag us on Instagram and let us know the details of your journey. As for us, yes, the views from Marsur rock probably would have been equally as impressive, or perhaps more so, but we were more than content with our choice.

Sitting up there, watching the clouds move over the mountains and taking in the absolute beauty of Pakistan, was a highlight. Even as I write this now from Scotland, I am still mesmerised by what we saw and so happy that Natalie took the opportunity to keep ascending, considering that we had half a piece of bread each, a cup of chai, a paratha and two eggs. It was now about 3 pm with that 36-degree heat. It shows you’re more than capable if you Just Do It; maybe Nike were right.

Toodles