Days 1–2
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa3,224 m
Naran
Saiful Muluk before the crowds
We left the hotel at six to have the lake to ourselves. We had it for eleven minutes, then three jeeps arrived playing the same song.
Open in Maps: Naran
Our honeymoon
Hira & Usman
Naran, Hunza & Skardu
June 20269 nights
Nine nights, three valleys and one very patient driver.
Two days after the walima we packed one bag each, which lasted until Naran. This is the trip as we wrote it down each night, so the family can stop asking for the photos one by one.
The route
Lahore to the lakes, and back
Up the Kaghan valley, over Babusar, along the Karakoram Highway to Hunza, then east to Skardu.
Open the whole route in MapsDays 3–5
Gilgit-Baltistan2,438 m
Hunza
Chai on a roof in Karimabad
Three mornings on the same guesthouse roof, watching the light reach the terraces one field at a time. Apricot cake every day, and nobody stopped us.
Open in Maps: HunzaDay 5
Gilgit-Baltistan2,559 m
Attabad lake
A colour we had no word for
Us, and that blue The boatman said the lake is twelve years younger than Hira. We took the long way round, then sat on the shore until our fingers went numb.
Open in Maps: Attabad lakeDays 6–7
Baltistan2,228 m
Skardu
The lake with the red roof
Everyone told us to see Shangrila, and everyone was right. We rowed out in the afternoon and did not talk for a while, which for us is a record.
Open in Maps: SkarduDay 8
Baltistan4,114 m
Deosai
On top of the world, in a jacket
Before the wind found us Four thousand metres up, flowers to the horizon and a wind that went straight through two jumpers. We saw a marmot. Usman says it saw us first.
Open in Maps: Deosai