Islamabad, 27th August 7am

This first day in Islamabad and we have been booked in to the Shalimar Hotel. We met the Jasmine tour group and we

 made the final trekking fee payments and paid our helicopter bond. We went into

 the city to buy food for the wall and tomorrow we rise at 5am for 12hrs car, after a second day of driving we will

 arrive in Skardu. The sights and sounds of a new country are always fantastic, it reminds me a little of Madagascar. The

 way they make bricks at the side of the road and children recycling plastic for little money. Today we have really

 only seen commercial Pakistan and tomorrow The Karakorum Highway will take us to the

 mountains.

More news about Tomaz, he has left by plane to Skardu but the helicopter cannot take off yet due to the weather. Communication has been lost with their Base Camp probably due to a lack of battery power.

On a more cheerfull note i will leave you with one thought....How good are goats at balancing?

Answer....Amazing!!