Video
-20 Degrees at the China - Pakistan Border 🇵🇰
· 11 min · Watch on YouTube
-20 Degrees at the China - Pakistan Border 🇵🇰
A day trip from Hunza Valley up to Khunjerab Pass, where Pakistan meets China, with Mac and the guides.
Harry goes expecting something like the India–Pakistan ceremony at Wagah and finds the opposite: a closed border with nothing crossing it, one armed guard, a painted line, and a wind that ends the visit early. What is memorable is the road up — landslides, ice and loose rock — and the small things at the top: the world’s highest ATM, and a phone that quietly switches to Chinese time three hours ahead.
Obs: this page is based on auto-generated subtitles; the pass is named from the description, which the transcript does not render legibly. Figures the transcript leaves ambiguous are marked unverified. The tour operator whose booking links appear in the description is not named.
Key moments
- [00:30] Two and a half hours each way, and he expects the border to be as theatrical as Wagah.
- [01:02] A fish farm on the way up, and the reason to hurry: the sun sets around 2pm here in the mountains in winter.
- [01:34] A stop at a police station to register, because of how close they will be to the border.
- [02:04] The driver who brought them up from Islamabad turns up again — a week in, the crew are familiar faces.
- [02:34] The Chinese-built highway, which he is told took six years to build (from video – unverified), and which he credits with the state of Pakistan–China relations.
- [02:34] A landslide, and stretches of road under fallen rock. Ice, snow, frozen water above the road. His conclusion: another reason for a guide, who knows where the dangerous sections are.
- [03:58] The temperatures. −11°C yesterday, −20 in the mornings, and the guides say January can reach −25 to −30. He is told the sunshine is luck.
- [04:29] $20 for foreign visitors, 300 rupees for Pakistanis, going to the upkeep of the national park.
- [04:59] The park’s wildlife board: snow leopard, ibex, brown bear, wild ass, blue sheep, lynx, wolf.
- [05:31] Yaks on the road, one of which fronts up to the car and then goes straight up a slope Harry can hardly believe.
- [06:41] The world’s highest ATM, at the top.
- [06:41] The guard, the weapon, and the line. Asked what happens if they walk past it, the answer is unambiguous.
- [07:28] The border is closed and nothing is moving through it — normally this is a goods route.
- [08:00] The coldest he has ever been, once the wind is added.
- [09:05] They are on Chinese time. Mac’s phone reads 6pm, three hours ahead, because it has picked up the network across the line.
- [09:35] Three borders between these countries now: India–Pakistan, India–China, and this one.
- [10:05] His closing note, which is the through-line of the whole northern week: he had no idea this side of Pakistan existed.