Skardu
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
Skardu is the capital city of Baltistan a subdivision of the Northern Areas of Pakistan. It is also the name of a district in Gilgit-Baltistan. It is located in the wide (10 km) and long (40 km) Skardu Valley, in the very place in which the Indus River receives the Shigar River waters. Quite high (near 2500 m o.s.l.), the town is surrounded by gray-brown coloured mountains, which hide the 8,000 metre peaks of the nearby Karakoram range.
From Skardu two roads lead to the Askole and Hushe Valleys, main doorgates to this snowy giants, and to the huge glaciers of Baltoro, Biafo, and Trango. Here begins the way for climbing legend mountains like K2, Gasherbrum or Trango Towers, so the town is a major summer tourist hotpoint. That means, many hotels and shops, and expensive prices. The town is built up along the main road, and both sides of this grows up the New Bazaar (Naya Bazaar) in which hundreds of shops offer almost everything. To the west one finds Yadgar Chowk, with an ugly monument, and from there, the quarter behind Naya Bazaar, in the right hand side is Purana Bazaar, the old one. Following west from Naya Bazaar, there is a polo ground, and next Kazmi Bazaar.
Skardu is a dusty town in regards to its built environment, but a really colourful one if you take a look to people. Streets are full of men (no women), mainly balti people, but also a great deal of other ethnic origins pack the streets of the bazaars: Pashtun, Hunza, and even Uyghur, due to the close border.
External links
- Skardu Map (http://www.geocities.com/johnmap2001/kkh/maps/gilgit.html)
- The Changing Northern Areas (http://www.dawn.com/events/lifestyle2002/ls16.htm)
