Kyrgyz along the Karakoram Highway

My flickr contact ChoongChing posted this amazing image of Kyrgyz children along the Karakoram Highway taken with his Ricoh GR.

The Karakoram Highway (KKH) is one of the world’s most scenic mountain roads. It connects Xinjiang region of China and Gilgit Baltistan of Pakistan.

Halfway through the journey, we made a stop at a small Kyrgyz settlement. A group of Kyrgyz children spotted us and ran towards our vehicle. One of them tried to sell us some souvenirs while the rest just stood there smiled at us.

The vast dirt emptiness of its surroundings left us in awe. “These are some of the toughest humans on Earth!”, says Asthon from Melbourne.

Lesson, Muzaffarabad, Pakistan

My flickr contact Maciej Dakowicz has captured an intimate scene in Muzaffarabad, Pakistan.

Note the framing of this image, with the face coming in from the left edge of the frame. Also note the state of the books and of course, the fourth boy in the back left. Maciej is an expert at framing and capturing scenes like these.

Note: One of the many reasons I love Flickr is that I have contacts and connections in all corners of the world. The images that these folks post are not put through a photojournalism filter, they’re just scenes from lives in different places. It’s brilliant and I’ve been watching many of these feeds for close to ten years. Flickr remains my very favorite social network and the only one I take seriously.

Wazir Khan Mosque portrait – Lahore, Pakistan

My flickr contact Maciej Dakowicz captured this excellent portrait of a girl in front of the Wazir Khan Mosque in Lahore, Pakistan.

Sunset in Chiffron

Flickr member Zolashine has posted a spectacular image of a sunset on the Biafo Glacier in the Karakoram range of Pakistan.

Porters on Biafo Glacier, Pakistan

Flickr member Zolashine has posted a spectacular image taken with his Ricoh GR of porters carrying gear across the Biafo Glacier during a trek from Snow Lake to Hispar La, Pakistan.

The Karakoram Region is an area I’d love to visit some day. Highly unlikely but one can dream.

Driving a truck over the Lowari Pass in Pakistan

This 25 minute documentary is worth watching. The pass, in northwest Pakistan has one of the most dangerous roads on earth traversing it. Incredible.

Zoom it out, enjoy the scenery and the older brother slapping the younger one around.

[via Kottke.org]

Pottery seller

My flickr contact Maciej Dakowicz has posted a spectacular image of a pottery seller in Lahore Pakistan.

Using an RC Helicopter to film a Trango Towers expedition

The Trango Towers are a group of spectacular rock spires in the Karakoram Range in northwest Pakistan. In this video a radio controlled drone helicopter is used to film the approach and climbing. This is incredible footage shot in a very remote corner of the world.

Here’s another video that contains some of the same footage and more of the actual climbing.

[via Devour]