To start what could only be described as a day of time pass, we visited the Amburiq Mosque, said to be the first of Shigar.
We then travelled West on to Skardu for what was supposed to be a brief ATM stop but turned out to take over an hour. Still, we got to see the Old Market at least.
After a brief diversion to see a dried up lake and some sand dunes (and eat a bag load of Apricots), we continued to Kachura Lake.
The best thing about the lake? The fish lunch. Trout? Herring? I didn't care. It was great.
Interestingly I noticed a lot of polite yet very public instruction for women to wear and respect the hijab. I've yet to see any kind of similar material in Karachi. And it's probably going to get me into trouble to say it but the girls did appear a little more discreet this far north.
On the way back from the lake we stopped off at the Shangrila Resort where we paid 500 rupees each to wander its grounds. Needless to say this was a waste of both time and money. A late evening tea was had at the Skardu PTDC overlooking the Indus River. We took the opportunity to visit an exhibition on the K2 and the impressive services provided to those who wish to challenge the mountain. The sense of national pride was palpable.
We then headed back to Shigar, which was a little irritating as a big chunk of our journey tomorrow will be to retread most of the road that we drive today as we finally start making our way back in the direction of Islamabad.
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