Gilgit - to - Rawalpindi - Via Babusar Pass (After the July 24th 2025 flash flood)

It took me forever to get out of Gilgit.
We reached Gilgit’s general bus stand at 6 pm in the afternoon. No Daewoo or Yutong bus was ready to go. As per new notification those buses depart between 10 am and 2 pm.
After 2 pm you can either get on the coaster or taxi. Coasters were not available as there were no passengers.
Natco was booked for days. My friends booked a ride in Faisal Movers for next days.

The tricksters.
A rent-a-car owner had me waiting for two hours and then left without telling me that they had no taxi.
Later another driver agreed to get me to Bisham. We were initially two, later 3 and waited for 3 hours to get the 4th passenger, and when we did, the driver demanded higher money, especially and only from me. His reason was that others were paying less.
“Why should I pay more if others were paying less, and also they had been there for 3 hours, and you were fine with their fare all that time and suddenly you want more, and from me?” I argued.
Luckily my friends had rented a room just next to the bus stand. ‘Pak-China Hotel’, and they came to my rescue. They found it all fishy. Took me to dinner and later insisted to stay the night and try luck next day.
The passenger, who was there for some time and he was the one driver argued, was paying less, left with the same driver. Later I saw him trying to rent the room in same hotel. Next morning, I saw him driving back to stand with the same driver. I was all so fishy and made me thank Allah for not going with them to Bisham that night.
The night was very hot in the hotel but somehow it passed.
The Morning
In the morning I sat in the hotel Balcony to observe the Bus Stand and if any coaster or Taxi will get ready. That is when I noticed the driver and his passenger. I made some rounds of the bus stand when a taxi agent mentioned that a Taxi was going to Islamabad and I should get my things. I went to tell my friends and came back to see the man has disappeared again. Finally, another taxi agent told that a taxi was off to Mansehra, I waited there for it and again said good bye to my friends.
That was the lucky time. Two kids were off to Mansehra to their Madrissa and one contract was off to Kashmore as his father in law had passed away. Driver was furious on the road and he had all my support. I wanted to get back asap. Kids were very warm and friendly. We discussed about some Islamic principle before getting halted at the village “Gini”, a few kilometers before Babusar Morr. Locals had blocked the KKH to protest against the loadshading. They demanded to meet higher officials. Lots of families were stranded while waiting in burning sun.
Local hotels were the happiest people with numerous customers.
After 90 minutes of wait, they reached an agreement and road was opened, with a little struggle to get out of the clogged road we made it to Babusar road.
Finally passed through the deadliest landslide area which was spread over kilometers. It would have been so impossible to escape that deadly zone as it stretched for so long. There were vehicles being recovered from the debris. We made a short stop at a hotel to give the car breaks some break.
Babusar was calm, only a few tourists there and onwards. As we crossed it, we met with rain till Burewai. Glaciers which would usually be packed with tourists looked very lonely. Battakundi was completely dead, Naran had a few tourists but not like usual days.
To reach Mansehra we had to stay on the national highway which seemed very long. By 6 pm I got to Naran’s bus stand and took a Hiace from there to Rawalpindi which took another 3 hours.