gulmit

stepan had recommended this hostel to me mainly because of the guy that ran the place, an old mountaineering grandpa with plenty of stories to tell of 7- and 8000m peaks. there were also one or two other guests there, which was great.

still, that didn't fix my bike problems. the closest (and only) bike shop was back in aliabad, half a day's ride away. i thought i could maybe hitchhike there, so i set off the next day, only to find out that all the transporters that i banked on went up empty and down filled to the brim with gravel. after a couple of hours, i gave up and went back to the hostel.

then, the next day, i set off early to try to just cycle the whole way, hoping that my bike would still make it that far. it didn't. and then, just as i had makeshift repaired it again, i realized that it was friday, which is like sunday in pakistan, so there was a good chance the bike shop wouldn't even be open. i went back again.

i was pretty frustrated at this point, so i slowly made the decision to just take the financial L and sell the bike to the hostel owner, who had already asked me if he could have it. it was a shitty situation, but i think i made the right call.

around the same time, i met hannah and axel, a hitchhiker couple from austria, who turned out to also have the same route in mind as me. we went for a hike in the mountains together and got along great, so we decided to partner up for the china crossing and maybe even as far as central asia.

we spent a couple more days at the hostel while i sorted out the bike sale with the owner. in the end, i got my five nights at the hostel for free, plus a bit of extra money for the last bit of pakistan. with the bike gone, i felt like a weight had been lifted that i didn't even knew was there. it felt great to be back to good old flexible hitchhiking.Read more