Atch Kotch Pakistan

This is a structure of a watermill  on the way to hilltop of Shimshal. It was constructed at the place which has a similar condition as Pasu’s watermill hut.

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The water to the water mill hut flows from the water gate . Photo③ is a water gate leading into a watermill from a stream.

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Photo④ shows the upper side of the gate. When a mill operates, those rocks are put aside and then water runs down through a wooden gutter to a watermill.
Photo⑤ presents the side view of a gutter. It was dried up at that time.

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The watermill in Passu was already abandoned but many of them have still been used for processing grain widely in Hunza  area.   On the web site of Mr. Yonezawa, a junior high school teacher, explains the basic structure of a local mill in Gulmit.

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Shimshal village at the end of August when wheat is harvested. Sheaves of wheat were drying on a ground.
And, photo shows a threshing mill powered by cow.

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The simple self-sufficient lifestyle of the people in Shimshal village continues down to the present time.

(Editor・Elena Akari /English translator･T Utida /Photo･Writer Sisso ）

We met a villager who was walking with domestic animals soon we could see Shimshal village between mountains. (photo②)

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A flag was standing on a pile of rocks, which might have been a sign of a boundary of a village. This was perhaps a sacred symbol of safety for the people in the village. 

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A small waterfall was dropping from a cliff.(photo⑤) The field was now dense with grass and trees.

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Several women were washing clothes at a riverside.

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Photo⑪ is the panorama view from a hillside graveyardThe Shimshal River flows at the foot of a mountain.  The left side of the Shimshal River is flows at the foot of a mountain. The left side of the Shimshal River is on the west.
The Pasu village is located on the west side of Shimshal. Shimshal village is also visible on the right of picture.

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The village is surrounded by a 3000-meter-plateaus.  For your information, Mt. Fuji, the highest mountain in Japan, rises 3774 meters.

(Editor・Elena Akari /English translator･T Utida /Photo･Writer Sisso )

We began our journey again praying for safety.
After a while we got to a riverbank.　Water destroyed this side of the road because the water turned its  stream without flowing in the riverbed .
We passed through a shallow flow by a jeep.

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We met　a man who was securing the place with his shovel. (photo③)

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10 minutes after leaving the riverbank, we arrived at the edge of Mulungudi Glacier. (photo④)　The surface looked like a black rock, which is similar to the Gulkin Glacier. Water overflowed around. Is it water that began to melt from the glacier?

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In 2006, we dropped at a rock&-brick-built cafeteria and had a cup of chai there. (photo⑦) Unfortunately the cafe was closed in 2007.  Instead of the tables we found only a big rock.(Photo⑧)

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There was a road winding up to the mountain behind the cafe.
A white hut was seen on a sheer rock a little further away.　
In an article written by Mr. Imamura on his web site, it said that, “About 2 hours drive from Pasu, the road comes to the end and meets wooden huts.  Those huts are used as the storehouse of necessities which were carried from Gilgit and accommodations for the village people.” 
I saw those kinds of houses far behind the cafe. 

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By 2006, the road opened between Pasu and Shimshal.  It takes about three hours by jeep from Passu to Shimshal .

This journey reminded me of the beauty of great Mother Nature and at the same time of the  huge hardships of the villagers.

(Editor・Elena Akari /English translator･T Utida /Photo･Writer Sisso ）

Shimshal Village is three-hour-distance off Karakoram Highway, leading eastward up along the Shimshal River.
As we went up, the road became steeper and the riverside view turn into a deep-cleft valley. After 15 minutes from Passu, the stream was calm and shallow.  I saw some sandbanks here and there.(photo②)

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After 45 minutes, we came across the second bridge. (photo③) The width of the　river was getting narrower and the stream was getting wilder. 

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Picture of ⑥ represents the view from a suspension bridge. Now the river was seen between chasm of a valley. 

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By that time, we had to drive on an extremely rough and dusty road. The road was somehow cleared and widened for a vehicle by crashing down rocky wall. It might be a tough work to make a road　in such a place but it still needs a lot of repair. 

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Can you see the jeep running in the cloud of dust ? (photo⑩)  I passed this road in 2006 and 2007.  I was praying to arrive safely as we met dust storms.

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After a while, we got to a flat area.  The jeep stopped in the place where a red, white, blue flag stood. An offertory box was set up in saint’s structure there.
We prayed for our trips safety.

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I thought that the road to Shimshal that was cut in the rock, might have been carved out of sacrifices of lots people along its history.

(Editor・Elena Akari /English translator･T Utida /Photo･Writer Sisso ）