Craig was up all night with diarrhoea, maybe from the pani puri that we ate when the lady next to us said “be careful, you will probably get diarrhoea from that”. I was fine though so who knows but it was a terrible day for it to happen as we were about to spend 5 hours on a bus from Lahore to Islamabad. It was a much swankier bus than we were expecting with nice recliner seats, tv screens behind every seat and a selection of movies to watch, not bad for £5.50 per person. We stayed in a not so nice hotel in a green-lined suburban street that was walking distance to many eateries. Craig was still feeling very fragile so we just found a busy place selling beef pulua rice and asked for a portion without the beef. They managed to tick the no beef box but after two mouthfuls I found a bug inside mine and suddenly didn’t feel hungry anymore.

We only set aside one full day in Islamabad as we’re not city people and came to Pakistan for the mountains – where it’ll hopefully be cooler too! So our plan for today was to do some unusual sightseeing and head to a truck-yard to admire Pakistan’s truck art. All of the trucks driving around the country are covered in intricate artwork, apparently it started as a way to remind them of home while on their long drives and it took off so much that someone suggested painting missing children’s faces on the trucks and they had quite a successful turnout of children found from this project. They don’t just stop at the painting though, the trucks are also adorned with bells and metal chains so that they jingle as they drive.

The truck yard was just off the highway and very much a working place. We got to see the trucks in all different stages of transformation. It started with either a modern truck base or an old British Bedford from the 60s. Wooden framework was added above the driving zone and then panels were fitted in. The art work was a mix of paintings, stickers and metalwork. They were absolutely incredible and I adored the style and amount of colour used. We watched a few artists in action, painting sections and adding stickers. One man said he was the sticker artist and he could create some art on my phone case for 1000 rupees which was around £2.80. I decided to go for it and we were led to the back section of the yard where the ground was thick with mud so he quickly grabbed some plastic slabs and popped them down for us to step on, one awkwardly cracked under my weight. His artist studio was a dark but cool room with sticker off-cuts all over the place. It ended up taking 45 minutes for him to complete, he seemed like a perfectionist and every time we thought he was finished he’d point his finger to the air as if he came up with a new idea or colour to add. It all looked very precise and neat as we sat 2 meters away but in reality it’s a bit messy. I don’t mind though, it’s a cute souvenir and the chap was in his arty element adding all the detail.

Our next stop was Rawalpindi and we arrived totally parched so began searching for a little shop. We popped into an eatery that had a fridge and his food looked pretty good so we decided to order some. A customer helped us translate and it was basically a chicken biriyani but we wanted it without the chicken. We were shocked at how tasty rice could be and each portion came with a spiced potato, not bad at all for just 28p a plate! The customer who helped us order tried to buy our lunch for us, saying “you are a guest in my country”. It was such a sweet offer but we had to politely decline, we couldn’t accept but when we went to leave the shop owner also tried to do the same and not let us pay. How bloomin’ kind! We insisted on paying and he eventually took the money but wow, what hospitable people.

We enjoyed a long walk through the lanes in the old city where it seemed to mostly be ladies clothes for sale and lots of patriotic ware for the upcoming Independence Day. The Jamia Masjid mosque was a lovely sight with blue mosaics and on our stroll we passed a couple of other mosques, tucked into narrow gaps between buildings and covered in pretty flower shaped mosaics. We stopped at a random cafe filled with men to enjoy a couple cups of sweet chai before making our way back to our hotel.

Getting dinner near our hotel was a bit more stressful tonight with many homeless people around. We did have a lovely lady came up to us and explain that she was a female security guard and if we needed any help don’t hesitate to ask which was very sweet and then she ran back to her husband and looked very proud that she plucked up the courage to speak to tourists.

We had plans to catch the long 15 hour bus up to the mountains but it was the monsoon season and flash floods wiped out a bridge connecting a section of the main highway. The only other road heading that direction was considered unsafe to travel along according to the uk government and advice was given against all travel on that route. So without knowing how long the road would be unusable for we decided our best option was to catch a flight. The reason we avoided this was because the Pakistan airlines don’t have the best reputation but we had little choice and booked a ticket to Skardu in the mountains.