Pakistani police stopped my journey 🇵🇰

Cycling The World – Ep. 18

In this episode of my journey to travel the world on a bicycle, I am sharing my experience cycling across Upper Chitral in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
(KPK) region in Northern Pakistan. This region offers a similar natural beauty to Gilgit-Baltistan, but also can be more challenging to travel independently for foreigners due to regulations enforced by the government and police.

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Good morning. It’s another day here in northern Pakistan and I believe there’s someone outside of the tent. Let’s have a look. Good morning. Hello. Hello. Hello, brother. How are you? You’re fine. You were here the whole night. Yeah. Yeah. Why? It’s safe. because it was our problem. Yes, it was not cold. Yeah. Okay. But now you can leave if you want. You know, it’s the day. I’m alive and well. Yes. Okay. Okay. When when you go? Uh in a bit. Like 30 minutes or so. 30 minutes. Yeah. Okay. I’ll pack up the time. You do enough for me, you know. You keep me safe even though it’s already safe. Okay. Okay. Okay. I go. Nice to meet you. Likewise. Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay. Goodbye. Okay. So what happened is last night the police visited me and urged me to stay in a hotel. But I was like you silly goose. I was already sleeping. I’m not going to pack up my tent and cycle like 5 km in the dark just to pay and stay in a hotel. So they were like okay but we are going to have to be watching you. And I was like whatever. Do what you have to do. Just don’t wake me up again. But I didn’t know that that meant that two guys will have to wait the whole night outside of my tent watching me in the cold. So now I feel kind of bad that they had to do that. But they also told me that the region is actually safe and they just have to follow orders from above. So it’s a bit of an odd situation. Man, the landscape here is absolutely amazing. Once again, Wow, this road. The word sketchy doesn’t do it justice. Crazy terrain. Oh, what is this road? Holy. It does seem like the worse the roads are, the more beautiful the villages are. Look at that. What is going on? Hello. Hello. [Music] So much gold and car traffic out of nowhere. Hello. Hello. Good morning. How are you? Fine. How are you? We come from you. Uh from like 10 km this way. Yes. Who is with you alone? Alone? Yes. Enjoy? Yes. Very much. Where I belong? Sorry. Uh in which city you belong? Uh in Hamburg, Germany. Germany. Yes. Now this weather is cold. Ah no, no, not cold. No. But the road not so good. What help you? V. Uh nothing. All good. Tea, breakfast? No, nothing. Uh, lunch, dinner. No problem. If you stay, no. I go to Mas. Yeah. All good. Yes. Bye-bye. Bye. Have a good one. I’ve definitely been on more safe roads than this one. Look at all these rocks. And then how steep it goes down there right into the river. I guess this is the road. I might as well cycle in the river to the left. Whoa. Jeez. Oh, close call. [Music] All right, I made it to Masouch, the next bigger town here. Yeah. And I think I’m going to stay here in a guest house or something cuz my whole body is sore from these horrible roads the past few days. I need a break. Hello. How are you? Good. Nice to meet you. Fine. Yes. Thank you very much. Yes. You’re the owner of the guest house. Yes, sir. Okay. All right. Thank you. Tourist garden. Tourist garden. Yeah. Welcome. Thank you. Welcome sir. Thank you very much. Okay. Welcome to our little place. Oh yes. Looks beautiful. Nice. No other tourist here right now or No, this year only you are second. Oh, really? Yes, sir. Oh, wow. Please relax. Okay. Thank you. Yes. Thank you. Okay. Yeah. The road to here so difficult coming from Chhatr. No, no, from Gilgit. Oh, really? Shandua. Yeah. So, how is Shandlu cold? Ah, it’s not so cold maybe. And snow. No, no snow. No snow. And the road is The road is not good. Water and Yes. Lot of water and bumpy. Yes. So sir, no first tea. Yeah, maybe. Yeah. Do you also have like food or something or is there restaurant in there? Yes. Yes. Breakfast we make? Yes. I didn’t eat much breakfast. Yeah. Egg. Yeah, egg maybe. Chapati. Chapati sounds good. Tea. Yeah, sounds good. Thank you very much. Hello. Nice to meet you. Great. Thank you. Yes. Okay. Wow. Thank you very much. You make this bread yourself or? Yes. Oh, nice. Yes. Many people like bread. Yes, we like bread a lot. Yeah. All right, it’s the next day and I’m ready to hit the road again. And just wanted to show this room real quick. It’s a nice traditional home here in the mountains and only 1,500 rupees per night which is like $5 or so. Definitely worth it. All right. Okay. Thank you for everything. Okay. I show you. Okay. No problem. Okay, sir. So fine. Have a safe journey. Thank you very much. Thank you. Welcome, sir. Thank you for the hospital. Meet some friends. We’ll do recommend this garden. Okay. I’ll recommend you. Okay. You go then. I know. Yes. Okay, sir. Thank you very much. Bye-bye. Hello. Fine. How are you? You are alone. Yes, alone. Now you are going to lower Chetal. Yes. To Boni Chetal and so on. From here to Boni and then Yeah. You stay in Boni. Uh maybe maybe I’ll also go a bit further than Boni. Yeah. And now uh you are coming from Gilgit. Uh yes from Gilgit. But I stay here in Masush last night. In Mas? Yes. Okay. If you need any help by us. Uh, no. All good. Thank you. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Bye-bye. Goodbye, beautiful Mushouch. And now the journey towards Chitra continues. And luckily the road here is actually not that bad. Hello. Out of the way. [Music] This is definitely the best road since like 7 days or so here. Okay. How are you? Yes. You speak English? No. Okay. Yes. I make some video. Hello. Nice to meet you. I don’t understand. Sorry. Okay. Aa. Okay. Nice video. Bye-bye. [Music] Man, this valley right here is so beautiful. Look at all these nice houses and fields. And we got some really big mountains. I believe the one to the right is 6,500 m tall. [Music] Hello Too steep and the road is pretty bad again. But a beautiful view. [Applause] Yeah. Yeah. Close call here. Hello. So dusty. And it’s crazy to think that this is the only road connecting all those people living in the upper valleys and villages with the rest of Pakistan, which are probably more than 10,000 people here. Hello. You need visa? No. Okay. Yes. Thank you so much. So, you are our guest, sir. Unfortunately, we are working here. So, we are not proper condition. That’s why. Okay. Thank you, sir. Thank you so much. Wow. Oh, wow. I don’t believe it. There actually is a bit of asphelt right here. Let’s go. [Music] The road right here is pretty bad again, but at least the panorama here is incredible. Look at this massive valley right here with the mountains. Hello. How are you? I’m fine. Nice. This is the road to Chita, right? Yes. Not up there. No. No. Okay. Thank you. You have to judge those street. Okay. Thank you very much. Are you British? Uh from Germany. Oh, wow. Yes. All right. Okay. I continue. Okay. Bye. Bye-bye. Man, it is super windy. Oh, look at that. What the hell? I don’t know what’s going on. Out of nowhere, it’s super windy right here. Hello. [Applause] Hello. The restaurant is open. I can eat something in the restaurant. Restaurant. this. Yes, I can eat. Okay. Okay. Thank you. You’re in a very good mood. Okay. I go eat something. Okay. Oh, what a welcome. Okay. Yes. Sounds good. and and chapati. Chapati. Okay. I can three three chapati. Three chapati. Okay. Yes. W the kitchen is super smoky. Can I don’t know how they breathe in there. Okay. Shukria. Thank you. No problem. All good. Sure. Thank you. Shukria. tea drink. [Music] Okay. How much? Okay. One second. Okay. Thank you. Bye-bye. Thank you. Look at whatever this right here is. It looks like a glacia, but it’s not. It’s like made out of fine sand. I have no idea what it is. [Music] [Music] Hello. How are you? Turkey. Hello. Cheeky. All good. Do you need visa, passport? Awesome. Okay. Hi, man. How are you? Fine. How are you? We have some sweets here. You pack. Sorry. Sweet. Ah, it’s okay. I just had a at the restaurant. Thank you, man. Thank you. All good. Okay. Take care. Okay. Bye-bye. Thank you. just spotted this nice grassy area surrounded by trees which is going to make for the perfect campsite for the night. Today was honestly not the most fun day ever. The road is simply too dusty here. I mean, look at my bike. I cleaned it yesterday at the guest house and this is what it looks like today again. Saving my clothes, laundry yesterday again. Everything full of dust. I hope tomorrow will be better. So, see you then. Good morning from a different location right here. Last night while I was camping, the same thing as the last time happened. Basically, the police came searching for me and eventually found me. And same story, they told me for my safety, even though the area is safe, they would need to have a police officer watching me the whole night outside of my tent, which is of course annoying for them and for me. So, I didn’t want to be a burden and they basically brought me to a local guy’s house nearby where I spent the night. So, that’s the thing here. Also, they kind of told me how the system here works. Whenever a foreigner passes through a checkpoint, after a while that checkpoint will make a phone call to the next checkpoint and if I haven’t have passed through the next checkpoint, they will come searching for me because they maybe thought something happened. I got lost. But I was just wild camping and yeah, now I know for the future that if I want to camp, I will definitely tell the police in advance.