Only one trip to the bathroom last night so I'm very happy that the tablets are working! In the bathroom here, there's a western toilet, a squat toilet & a big barrel of water with a scoop (that's the shower!). Unfortunately, only the squat toilet is connected to water, so the other one needs to have extra water dumped in.

When I opened the lid, I was amused to see that there was ice in the bowl! Ok so it's pretty cold here!!

Around 7am, Khadim came into my room & lit the fire for me! It's lovely but I do feel rather spoiled & privileged.

I opened my bedroom door to go out for a short walk before breakfast & was greeted by the most beautiful sight. All the clouds from yesterday had cleared & there was a beautiful, clear blue sky, above the stunning snow covered mountains.

After taking a few photos from the landing, I started walking up the hill & discovered how weak I felt due to the altitude. Might be a slower trek than anticipated! I'm starting to appreciate why people climbing Everest just want to sit down & sleep in the snow!

The pace of life here is much slower & it's quite common to see people just sitting by the side of the road, just chatting & watching the world go by.
Mushtaq was telling me that often, the men go off to another city to earn funds they can send back home to look after their families. It's often the women who do all the local work of looking after the kids, the house, tending to the farm or animals etc.

After breakfast, we drove down the road about 500m to find some internet signal so I could let a few people know I'm still alive. It was also a great place for photos, especially with the sun out so we spent about 45 minutes there before heading back.

As there was still a little time before lunch, I headed down towards the river about 100m below with Mushtaq. We didn't go all the way down as we're going that way tomorrow plus it's a long way down which means it's a long way back up again. We could see some ladies down by the river washing clothes. They do this in winter as the water pipes are turned off to stop them freezing & bursting. It's a really long way to go to wash your clothes… plus the water is freezing!

After lunch, we headed up the road ("track") to Hushey, the last town on this road. You can continue driving a bit further but then have to start hiking. Many climbers launch their expeditions from here if they're going to Mashabrum, although you can also get to K2.

There isn't a great deal in Hushey but it was interesting to walk around a little & take some photos, including some of their "parliament" (two groups of men on opposite sides of the road telling stories to each other).
One of the guys who works with Mushtaq invited us into his house for some tea. I've been drinking more tea on this trip than I have ever drunk before in my life as it's a good way to warm up!

There wasn't anything else to do so we drove back to Khanday. I was very thankful I wasn't driving as the road looked slippery, especially when covered in snow, & it was a bit worrying that we were so close to the edge. Just have to trust that the driver knows what he's doing & has done this trail many times before.

We made it back without incident & I was chatting to Mushtaq about the beautiful peaks surrounding the village. I asked if they'd ever been climbed & he replied that they had never been named & never been climbed. That's interesting!! We then chatted for a while about the possibility of doing an expedition up one with an experienced big mountain guide & I started imagining how cool it would be to have made the first ascent of a mountain in the Karakorams and to have also named it! "K Spider Monkey" has a good ring to it! 😂

As we had a bit of spare time before dinner, I went out for another walk around the village.

A few minutes into my walk & one of the kids is photographed earlier spotted me & asked me to take his photo again, which I did.

That quickly brought in about 20 kids, all jostling with me to take photos & videos of them but pretending they didn't want me to & screaming with delight as I chased them around with the camera then laughing hysterically when I showed them the results.

I reckon this would make a great test to distinguish between extroverts & introverts as there are definitely some who just can't get enough of being in the limelight while others just want to laugh at everyone else but never want to see themselves in the photos.

It's funny how much Western parents would freak out if a stranger was taking photos of their kids yet here, no one cared at all! The adults are usually much less interested in having their photo taken of course!
Eventually, I ran out of ideas for photos with them so continued my walk to the end of the village, which wasn't far at all. I walked down to the edge of the ravine where the river is, waited for Mashabrum to show its face, took a few more photos anyway, then headed back.

The kids found me again & this time, they brought out a ball which we used for an impromptu game of soccer in the street.

It's nice that they all speak at least a little English so I don't have to learn Balti. It's also kinda cool how they all play together in the steeet, even the very young ones, with not a single adult in sight! Western parents would be freaking out if their kids were left like this yet the whole village just takes care of everyone. If a little kid doesn't realise the danger from a coming car, the driver slows down & the older kids pull the younger one out of the way. The whole town is built on the edge of a 50m ravine with almost vertical banks. There's no fence, & no sign saying "Beware of dangerous cliffs". People just use their brain & protect themselves and one another. I love this common sense approach that you find in developing countries. They don't have the time or resources to worry about stuff that individuals should just use their brain for.

I headed home after the soccer match for some dinner & a rest.