Sino-pak

Relatively interesting article from the Jamestown Foundation on how Pakistani tribal volatility likely contributes to support from China that is more conditional than might be thought.

Indo-Tibetan Border Patrol 3400m

Alpine ski patrol – spotted by Flashmen agent currently in northern India.

At Auli, near Josimath on the upper reaches of one of the feeders into the Ganges. Looking towards Nandi Dev peak, India’s highest and closed to climbers since 2004.

Soldier Sahibs

Charles Allen published a book on the ‘men who made the North West frontier’ around 10 years ago, covering the lives of a half dozen cadets of Henry Lawrence in the middle years of the 19th century and they operated across the Punjab and Afghanistan. One of them, Neville Chamberlain, reflecting on an encounter near Peshawar, is quoted in the book as having diarised “I turned round and said to an officer, ‘These fellows do not fire badly’. And true enough for the moment afterwards I was struck (in the thigh). The ball struck me so hard that my friend answered, ‘You are hit old fellow’, but I needed not to be told to make me aware of it.” Lt Chamberlain was no doubt very grateful to be working alongside such a splendidly observant fellow.

Shandur

Gilgit, well known to travellers as it sits upon the Karakorum highway, and the even more fabled Chitral are linked by a mountain road that climbs to and crosses the Shandur pass. Here at around 3,800m the pass politely plateaus, making room for reputedly the world’s highest polo ground. It’s here that teams from the two towns meet for the annual polo tournament every July, in a tradition reminiscent of Florentine football. The event is well described in Michael Palin’s book on the Himalayas. The event itself is antique and the setting impressive and all in all sounds like a good excuse for a holiday.