Nicholas Rice: K2 and Broad Peak Dispatch

2008 K2 and Broad Peak Expedition

Dispatch Three: June 1st, 2008

Day Three: Rawalpindi; Running Errands

Today, after waking up again extremely early, I made a few phone calls over skype, had a quick breakfast in my hotel, and headed over to the ATP office where my friend Sultan met me and accompanied me as I ran around town; first I went to the Karachi Complex in G9 sector to get passport photos taken (which actually took around an hour thanks to power outages and the fact that they used film and had to actually develop the photos while I sat there). Afterward, we got a taxi, loaded my generator into the backseat, and headed into Raja Bazaar to get it tuned. After the 45 minute drive crammed in the backseat with my generator, we arrived at a hole in the wall which was apparently the best place to get the generator serviced, and they told me that the intake valve was probably broken and that it would take them 4-5 hours to get it fixed. We used this time to go to the new mega-supermarket called Metro in Sector I/11; it has to be the most difficult store to get into that I’ve ever gone to. First, we were searched in order to enter the parking lot, and then we followed a barricaded maze to get to the entrance, where yet again, we were searched and went through a metal detector. They had to make me a day card to enter (the store is only for professionals in the hotel industry and diplomats, so I have no idea why they decided to let me in). After checking my backpack at the lockers, we were finally in. We got the groceries I would need for base camp, and were on our way. We returned to Islamabad, had high tea at the Marriot, then returned to Rawalpindi for the generator. After shoveling out 4,500 PKR for the repairs and four spare spark plugs, we headed back to the hotel and I called it a night.