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Pakistan Left Me Speechless... Then I Found This After exploring Skardu, I set out to discover some of the most beautiful and least visited places in northern Pakistan. What I found in Basho Valley and Bilamik was beyond anything I expected. From crystal clear rivers and towering mountains to remote villages and breathtaking landscapes, this journey showed me a side of Pakistan that most travelers never get to see. If you think you know Pakistan, think again. Locations featured: • Skardu • Basho Valley • Bilamik Valley Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/itsjaypalfrey Preorder my book: https://www.jaypalfrey.com Join me on an expedition: https://beyondborderexpeditions.com Support my travels: buymeacoffee.com/jaypalfrey #Pakistan #Skardu #BashoValley #GilgitBaltistan #TravelPakistan #NorthernPakistan #AdventureTravel #TravelVlog #HiddenGems #Mountains #ExplorePakistan #SoloTravel
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I've just arrived back here in the capital city of Pakistan
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Am I staying? No. Is it 40 degrees? Yes. I am heading straight to the mountains
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We're heading on a one-week expedition to two different locations. The first stop is going to maybe be a lifelong dream
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Inshallah, I can see them. But first, let's head to the airport and I can explain what we're going to be doing
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20 visits to Pakistan and honestly it never loses its magic. From the mountains of the north to the people I meet along the way
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there's a feeling here that I can't find anywhere else. The kindness, the culture, the adventure, the beauty
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Every trip gives something new and after 20 visits one thing is certain
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Pakistan will always keep calling me back and I am ready for this new adventure
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okay team alhamdulillah i've arrived to my cabin that i'm staying in tonight i'm staying in a
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place called the mountain cottage it's around 30 minutes from the airport in skado city center
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a really nice place and uh of course i'm not in pakistan in the mountains unless i have one of
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these giant pink thick blankets i am so excited for tomorrow it's currently nine o'clock in the
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evening i'm waking up bright and early at six o'clock uh i'm going to meet up with my friend
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asif again he actually picked me up from the airport today and he drove me all the way to
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this place we had tea and then i said goodbye to him so we could go and get some rest before
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our adventure starts tomorrow so you will meet him early in the morning inshallah after some
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really good coffee and I want to tell you what we're doing. So for the next week I'm going to be
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spending the week up here in the mountains of Skardu but I'm not tracking my usual route
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Actually tomorrow I'm heading to see snow leopards. I'm praying that I'm going to be able to see some
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of them. The most perfect time to see them is during the winter of course. However I'm hopeful
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that I get to see them tomorrow. I had the time, Alhamdulillah, that I could do this at this point
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in the year. So I said to myself, why not? So Asif and myself are going to go on that journey tomorrow
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I'm really, really, really excited. And I can't wait for you guys to meet him. Many of you have
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probably seen him on Instagram with his incredible videos, incredible photography. And he's genuinely
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one of the nicest guys I've ever met anywhere in the world. Just such a genuine, humble, kind man
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and it's truly an honor to be exploring his hometown with him. He was born here in Skaru
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And then after this journey finishes, the Snow Leopard expedition, I'm then going to go to a
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different valley called Nagma. Nagma Valley is one of the most beautiful places here in Baltistan
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and actually when I finished the K2 trek one and a half years ago now how has it gone so fast
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but one and a half years ago I trekked over the Gondagorola trek the Gigi Ale pass and I
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hiked down a valley called Hushe and Nagma Valley is very close to Hushe and it's one of the most
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beautiful places I've ever seen in the world however I've never had the chance to go back
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to this area since K2 or even before it was my first time so I'm so blessed and so thankful that
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I get to spend the next week exploring brand new parts of Pakistan that I've never seen before
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so for now it's nine o'clock I'm gonna get some rest inshallah and I'm gonna wake up bright and
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early at 6 a.m I'll see you in the morning after hopefully I get a good good night's sleep
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Early the next morning I woke up and met Asif and began our journey towards Bashu Meadows
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The road to Bashu is an adventure itself. After leaving the main Skadi road, the road becomes a rugged mountain track with incredible
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views the whole way, suspension bridges, glacier rivers and steep narrow roads
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Good morning, everybody
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Welcome to Bashu Meadows. As you can see, it's a sublime area here in Baltistan
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We just spent a couple of hours driving in the very bumpy jeep high up into the valley
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I around 3 meters in height right now and I surrounded by snow mountains Now this is the beginning of the trek From here I will trek approximately three hours high up into the valley
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behind me. 15 days ago there was snow leopard sightings across this valley and this ridge just
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here. I'm praying I get to see them today but if not being here in Bashi Valley is still sublime
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enough. It's very rare for you to actually see snow leopards and it takes a lot of time to be
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patient and to try and see if you can see them. A lot of the time it takes seven to ten days to even
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try and see a sighting so I will do my best today to see what I can see but most likely the
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probabilities of seeing them are very low. Actually it's around five or six percent which is yeah very
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low but still the journey up here was worth it and I get to see Bashu Meadows for the first time
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in my life. I love coming to brand new places here in Pakistan despite coming here so many times
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Actually I tend to follow the same route where I go to Skardu, Hunza up into Karimabad and Pasu
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and then back down to Islamabad and Lahore. However I'm now in a brand new location and it's beautiful
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Basu Valley is one of the most beautiful hidden gems near Skardu, known for its huge green
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meadows, pine forests, glacier water streams and dramatic mountain scenery. The meadows
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sit at high altitude around 3600 meters high in the Himalayas, while the surrounding peaks
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belong to the Karakorum range, which give the landscape a really unique look
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Hello, my name is Asif Ashur. Now I am at Pashomi Dawes
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Me and Jay are going for a sporting snow leaper. Today weather is a little bit cloudy, so it's very difficult for sporting snow leaper
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And this is not good time for sporting snow leaper. The good season is winter season like December and in of April
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I have been this year three times I have spotted the snow leopard, but not this location in Houshe Valley
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Houshe is the last valley of Grand City District. I trekked there on the way back from K2
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Yeah, back from K2. After GGLA. And his photography and videography of the snow leopards are beautiful
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Thank you. You're welcome. Chale? Yes, let's go. it was raining for around an hour so we sheltered inside of the camp and now we're heading
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on a hike all the way up to this ridge which all that we can see snow let go
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but i'm not too confident that we're going to see them today but either way it is a beautiful trek i can smell the pine trees
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and wow it is beautiful i can't wait to get to the top it's around a two hour hike
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so inshallah have the strength Still on the search for snow leopards, we tracked further into the steep pine forests
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my confidence high despite the elements telling me I was so wrong. The weather changed once
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again, making visibility so bad. Snow leopards are often called the ghosts of the mountain
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because spotting one in the wild is extremely uncommon. As Asif explained, winter is the best time for sightings
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especially between January and April, when snow leopards move to lower elevation following prey animals like Markor and Ibex
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After searching deeply for a while, we gave up on the mission and just decided to enjoy
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the beauty that surrounded us here, Bashur. Thank you Music
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Okay team, good morning. So I was just about to leave on a trip across the valleys
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However, Asif just brought over this electric scooter for me to explore the valleys with
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The weather actually has changed so much over the last 24 hours
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It was raining so much and the forecast over the next couple of days looked really, really bad
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So we've cancelled the Nangma Valley trek until a few days later when insha Allah the sun will come out
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The sun has come out now however the weather is changing too fast for me to go to that valley
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So I thought I would explore more of Skaru that I haven't seen before
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And Asif Alhamdulillah just came over with this bike. He didn't tell me he was bringing it. It was a complete surprise
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This man is genuinely one of the nicest people I've ever met in my entire life
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he has just given me this bike for three days to explore and I can't wait so today
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inshallah in a few minutes we're going to take this bike and we're going to head across one of
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the valleys down into towards Safranga the cold desert and we're going to see what we can see
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along the way it's going to be a journey I have no itinerary no plan I'm just going to go and see
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where the day takes me and inshallah see some more of these beautiful views that you can find here
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in Scotland. Tell me. Tell her. I have just stopped
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I'm about halfway through the journey and I had to drive through Scaldi city
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which is a little bit terrifying because there's goats running around everywhere
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People kind of pull out whenever they want to but yeah what a drive. I've just arrived
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to this viewpoint here. This is one of my favorite viewpoints that I can stop at. You can see
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the bike just behind me. I may have fallen in love already. Take a look at this. There is no
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greater feeling than traveling by yourself in your own mode of transport, whether that's a car
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but especially a bike. I know this is just an electric bike but it still it still does the same
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thing and you have the ultimate taste of freedom, listening to music in your ear
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meeting incredibly kind local people and going wherever you want and this right here
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is why I love traveling here. It is the best feeling. Wow
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Once again the next morning I woke early only this time I was heading to another untouched
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paradise here in Baltistan. Today I'm heading to Bilimik
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The journey began with a dramatic suspension bridge at Shout Valley which marked the gateway from the Karakoram to the Himalayas and leads directly to Bilimik Immediately after the bridge the steep incline began barely wide enough for the jeep with huge drops on one side and snow peaks surrounding us from every direction
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And somehow the views just kept getting better and better the deeper we went into the valley
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The higher we drove into the valley, the worse the weather conditions
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Initially, I was a little sad as I really wanted to see the valley when it was clear skies
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especially since Bashar was also rainy. However, I reminded myself that without the rain, the valleys would not be lush green
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There would be no rivers like this and I am so blessed to be visiting this stunning valley
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So, I switched my mindset and got myself ready to experience one of the most beautiful places here in Baltistan
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And then I arrived to this. Thank you
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The rain continued to move in, so we sheltered in a guest house and was met with a delicious home-cooked lunch
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On today's menu, buckwheat. Buckwheat itself is hugely important in Baltistan because it grows well at high altitude
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and a lot of traditional foods are based around it. This dish has a smoky, sweet taste, and locals eat it dipped in really hot ghee
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Riding through Bilimik Valley on horseback honestly feels like complete freedom. no roads, no noise and no distractions
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just endless mountains, rivers and open space in every direction there's something about being out here
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that makes you feel wild again, completely connected to nature and fully present in the moment
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and honestly this feeling this feeling is the best feeling in the world
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experiences like this remind me how lucky I am to see places like this
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and I'll never stop being grateful I also learned that I can speak to goats
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Wow, wow, wow
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What an incredible adventure the last four days has been it's always an adventure up here in the mountains in baltasand however the last four days has
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probably become one of my favorite adventures so far i've explored brand new valleys of bashu and
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bulimik i've driven around on a electric scooty by myself enjoying the views and enjoying the
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freedom and it's been beautiful so much so that i have been having a lot of conversations about
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potentially making this my home. A conversation I've been having in my head for the last two years
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but now I think I'm ready and it's time to hopefully inshallah put something
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out there physically and make it work. I'm really excited. The adventure does not stop there
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We are leaving inshallah in a few hours and we're heading to Nagmavali. As you can see from the
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weather, Alhamdulillah, is cleared. There's no rain, no snow forecast for the next week. I'm praying
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that that continues and we can make our journey to Nagma the best it can possibly be. And I can
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see one of the most beautiful valleys, not just in Baltistan, but the entire world. So I'm going
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to finish packing my things, jump in the jeep and head to the starting point of this trek. Thank you
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so much for watching. Next week, inshallah, you will see the video from this trek in Nagma
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I can't wait. I'm really excited. Three days no Wi-Fi, three days of trekking, three days of witnessing
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God's creation. And I'm really, really grateful. Thank you so much for watching
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See you on the next adventure
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