PAKISTAN - CHINA BORDER (Driving the Khunjerab Pass)

Good morning and welcome back to Pakistan. Check this out. Look at that. There's just epic views all the way around. This is where we woke up this morning in a place called Sust. And it's actually only about 25 miles from the China border or from the most northern part of Pakistan as well. Maybe a little bit more to the China border. But we're going to find out because that's where we're driving today. We can't actually cross into China, and I'll tell you why later, but we can go right up to it and finish this epic journey north through Pakistan. Let's get moving. I've also, by the way, you see my hat here, I can't remember the name, but it's a cultural thing of Hunza where we've just passed through. I think this might still be Hunza, but you also notice my get up because this is going to keep me warm. We are already at 3,000 meters and we're about to go up to 4,600 meters today, so it's going to get pretty cold. Here we go again. I did it. No, not you. Yeah, it should like get pumping now. We just need to keep revving it up as we go down the hill. Again. And then we can do hill starts when we need to. Bit of a false start, but now we're off. Hopefully we'll make it. Hopefully we don't have that too many times today, which just wasn't starting. Okay. So that's the first checkpoint because we're going right up to the China border, and they also have to make sure that we're coming back because if we don't, we can't really cross in. So yeah, and I think also closes after a certain time because it gets pretty high altitude. So just making sure we're going there but we're coming back the same day. Almost at the meeting point now for the Kunjerab National Park entrance, and that's where we're going to meet the other red shores. There's four in total, and then we're going to go and convoy to the border because it gets pretty steep. It gets up to 4,800 almost, I think. So we don't want to spend long up there, but we do want to go all together. So in a minute, I'm going to pull over and we're going to wait for everyone. Okay, and this is our meeting point. So it looks like I won't be flying the drone here. Right on the border of China, so maybe that's why. Okay, so I have to leave my drone here. Yeah, my drone is going in here. Okay, yeah, fair enough. It's on the border of China, and there's also a lot of wildlife here. So I've had to leave my drone in the ranger's office, and I've got a weapon slash arm receipt. Obviously, it's not a weapon, but yeah, I obviously won't be droning there. Maybe on the way back. Hopefully, we can see some wildlife though. All right, check it out. These are all the things you can see here. So there's bears, ibex, snow leopard, lynx. Got a convoy ready to go. So from here, we're going up to the Kunjerab Pass, and it is 4,800 meters. So the idea is if anyone feels the altitude and starts to feel ill, because we are actually going up like 2,000 meters today straight, then we're just going to individually turn back around and come back down. But even when we get up there, we're only going to spend like 20 minutes, half an hour up there because it is a lot to go up in one day. But it'll be worth it to get up to the border, see hopefully some wildlife, and then come back to Sust. And we are going flying! Bye! Oh, I know. Okay, we're filling up here with our emergency bottle. There's no chance we're going to make it to the border and back on one tank because it's 50km each way, and these tuk-tuks can't do that going uphill at altitude. So either there's petrol at the border, which would be great, or if not, then we'll figure it out. All right, team no fuel. What? Team no fuel. No? We have half a tank, we just checked. Okay. And still pretty full. Yeah, these guys ran out five times yesterday. Don't bring that up, please. Onwards. Hey, man. Oh! Look at this. I think they're out. They're out of fuel. I see Jordan and Mark and Ricardo down there. I think they're out of fuel. They're done. We're getting close to it now. We're not far at all. We must be over 4,000 metres, I'm sure. Okay, perfect, because we pulled over, and just here, there's a little orange marmot. Just there. And Claire is very excited. There he is. Yeah, nicely done. That's one down. Snow leopard. We're almost there. I can see the gate. I can see the gateway to China and a bit of a village. Check it out. We made it. Right there is as far as we can go. That's China. There's a giant gate there, but that is literally the China border, Kunjerab Pass. Done. A trip, what a journey. This is the end of our driving, as in the farthest we're driving in Pakistan, but we do have to drive all the way back to Gilgit. So this is the end of the journey, but we've still got to make it back over the next two days, so it's not really. But, yeah, it's just very, very cool. What an epic trip. I've never driven roads like this. Probably, I mean, definitely, actually, the best road I've ever driven and some of the best mountains I've ever seen. So cool to do. And I think in normal times, you could cross through to China, but there's still the 14-day quarantine in China right now. So, I mean, it's not even worth it, but you could do normally. Now, right now, no one is. We're going to get some photos, celebrate our achievement of being here. We're also 4,800 meters, so we're probably not going to spend that long up here because we are pretty high, and then we're going to head back down to Sust. Good driving. Smashed it. No problems. Are we? So we're at the top. There's the China border. 4,700 meters. We have the world's highest ATM. Okay, we are off. It's Claire's turn at the wheel. I'm back in the rickshaw. Time to head back to Sust. There's also actually... There's nothing between Sust and here. There's no, like, shops or anything, so I'm pretty hungry. We've got to drive, like, the two, three hours back for lunch. Okay, well, it happened. We are now out of fuel. So, I think the mechanics asked for it. It's not that far behind, so we're going to wait. Maybe wait for, like, 20 minutes, and hopefully they have some fuel they can lend us. The problem was we did actually bring an extra, like, two liters, which we already used, but there's just no petrol from Sust all the way to here and back, so we needed to bring more, but hopefully we have enough backup petrol for four rickshaws. The cavalry has arrived. See ya! Yeah, we're out. Got some backup. Nice. All right, we are off again. Maybe we'll make it back now. Time to get my weapon back. My drone. Cool, got it back with a little bit of confusion, and now we're back off to Sust. Ready to go? Let's go. Yeah, we really weren't sure if we were going to make it on the fuel we had. I think we've just got there. So, first thing, let's fill up the tank. That'll do. There you go. Home sweet home. It's the morning after, and this is how we're loading the van. We are ready to go again. We're now leaving Sust and heading back down towards Gilgit. We're going to stay in Hunza tonight, so it's not loads of driving. I think we probably have about three hours of driving today max, but we're going to take it easy and see what else we can find. Very chill day to explore some Hunza. Let's go. I just saw this sign, so I had to pull over. Check it out. I mean, it actually is. Mini Switzerland isn't a joke, but the mountains are probably much bigger than the ones in Switzerland and arguably more impressive. Mini Switzerland. I've never seen mountains as beautiful and grand as this. We are still going. We're going back towards this range. I just pulled over again because I think this is the famous view of Karakum Highway that I've always wanted to see, and as soon as I saw this photo, I knew I wanted to come here, and I'm pretty sure this is it. Actually, we just found it. This is the view. We just pulled over to go to this famous rope bridge with a view behind it. I think it's the Husseini Bridge. Let's go. Yeah, this is it. We just paid 100 rupees, about 50 cents, and now we can climb across there if you want to. Okay, I'm going to give it a go. I might not go all the way across. I heard, but she's not going. Come on, please. You want to go? Yeah, come. Come on, come on. Yeah, you don't have to go the whole way. Welcome to Pakistan. Yeah, thanks, man. Right, and now we are going. There are some pretty big holes between it, if you have a look. I really don't like these that much. This one's not that bad because I know I'm not going to fall that bad, but it does make my stomach go a little bit. You know, it's a strange feeling. Like, when you're just walking step by step, it's absolutely fine. It's only when you just stop thinking about it. Okay. So, it's only when you really think about it that it's difficult. If you just walk, you're fine. You good? So, my stomach's gone a little bit. I know, as soon as I, like, lose my grip. I don't know why. Normally, you can hold your phone fine whenever, but right now I'm like, I'm going to drop my phone. What do you reckon? Uh, it's fine. I did it. I don't know if I'd want to do it again. Going to go back. Ooh, okay. I've heard about this dish. We're going for a chop shuru and some pakora. All right, we've got the pakora right here, and this is a chop shuru. Okay, this looks like beef, chicken, onion, a bit of veg, garlic, ginger. Very nice. Check this out. Okay, we have arrived. We are now back to Hunza, and I'm going to finish the video here. We're staying in the Hunza Darbar Hotel. We've got a bit of luxury for tonight, and it's going to be, the room's really nice, got a great view, and I think the food's going to be pretty good. I'm going to finish this video right now and just say, what an epic last two days. I think, like, getting up to the Khunjerab Pass was incredible yesterday. And then the views today as well, just as insane with the bridge and everything else. Honestly, Pakistan's quickly becoming one of my favorite countries I've ever been to. That's not an exaggeration. It really is that cool up here. But there's still more. Still got plenty more to come from Pakistan. We've still got another day of driving tomorrow as we drive back to Gilgit, so check back for that. But for now, I'll just say again, thank you for watching, and see you in the next one.