Shimshal is a very remote valley in far North Pakistan. It is at 3500meters in the high Pamirs, near the border with China. It saw its first car in 2003 when the locals built a 57 km road to connect with the Karakoram Highway. Prior to that all goods were portered in via a perilous Silk Route track high on the cliffs, with terrifying river crossings. My husband hiked in along that track in 1989 so we wanted to check out the valley today…where he met some people he first encountered then.
Then road here has a drop into a raging river on one side, and rock overhangs on the other. We did it in, and out again.