In the far reaches of Northwestern India and Pakistan
on the high plateaus surrounded by mountains and rivers
a rich tapestry of community and culture
have co-existed for centuries.
Once one country, they are now neighbours separated by a border.
I'm Levison Wood
and this is Ash Bhardwaj.
We're explorers and life-long friends
who have travelled to the far corners of the globe
from Sudan to the Himalayas.
We are on a 2,500 kilometre adventure.
Starting our journey
from the border villages in Northwestern Ladakh.
Oh, yeah.
We'll use the Line of Control as our roadmap,
heading south through one of the coldest inhabited places on Earth.
It's absolutely freezing up here.
Travelling through the stunning valleys of Kashmir.
It's almost like the Shangri-La of India.
And then into Punjab.
(ALL) Sat Sri Akaal!
Before crossing into Pakistan at Wagah.
Ready?
I can't hear anything.
Welcome to Pakistan.
Our journey will end in the village of Fraono
on the other side of the border.
We'll bear witness to how the border has divided lives
but where hope of a reunion still lives.
We'll navigate dangerous terrain.
Keep going! Keep going! Keep going!
Cross into uncharted territory and enter frontier towns.
A lot of military movements up there.
Not necessarily a good look.
That is all Taliban territory.
We're heading off the beaten path on an expedition of a lifetime.
-You're going towards Srinagar? -Srinagar.
You're going to Islamabad?
We've travelled through northwest India from Ladakh through Kashmir
and have crossed over from Amritsar to Lahore.
Now, we're on the final stretch of our expedition.
We started this journey with drama
and we're going to finish it with drama.
Whilst I'm driving past Bin Laden's house,
Lev is probably 30,000 feet in the air.
Making our way through Northwestern Pakistan.
Pakistan's best kept secret. Well, I'm intrigued.
I think you started a fire, Ash.
To reach our final destination very close to where we started from.
We've pretty much come full circle. What a journey!
Lev's still having a nap.
So I'm going to go for a bit of an explore
as what I can see in the train.
We're about two hours from Peshawar
and I have come out to have a look and it's stunning!
Really different to the Punjab that we have left behind.
Instead of being very flat and lush
it's much rockier, mountainous, drier.
Very excited to get to Peshawar.
Peshawar is somewhere I wanted to visit for a long time
even though it's right up on the border with Afghanistan
it has a lot of relevance for my family.
My grandad's cousin,
was arrested in Peshawar.
He was on his way to Kabul
as part of this conspiracy called the "Ghadar Conspiracy",
which was an effort to start a mutiny
to overthrow the British rule in India.
He was arrested at Peshawar train station in 1914
and sentenced to death.
He eventually spent his life in prison.
He was in jail for 20 odd years.
So, I've always wanted to go, and visit Peshawar.
I never thought I'd be able to do it
but I'm going to go to the very place that he was arrested.
Peshawar train station.
Trains and the old Indian railway system,
I love it.
Sir, someone would have come to see you.
-How are you? -Hi, I'm fine.
So, I've been near railway tracks before,
seeing trains approach very close.
Never have I been right in the engine of the train.
And it's amazing.
It's amazing how late people wait before they get out of the way.
-Can I press? -Yes, why not? Sure.
(HORN SOUND)
Five-year-old me would be so happy
that I finally achieved that in my life.
-Thank you so much. Thank you. -My pleasure. Welcome.
Right, onto Peshawar.
So, we have just arrived in Peshawar station.
Just woken up myself. I'm a bit tired. You have been up for a while.
I mean you've been driving the train, isn't it?
I have been driving the train
and I'm very excited about being here.
This is very special place to me, Lev.
How many hours is that, Ash? Is that about 12?
-Twelve hours -Twelve hours,
to get here to Peshawar station.
And this is it. We're in the North-West Frontier.
I never thought I'd come to Peshawar
because it's so hard for me to get a visa to Pakistan.
And because of, you know, the security stuff
in the decades before.
So, to be here now, it's really special.
First, we're heading to a place
with great geographical and historical significance
on the Northwestern edge of Pakistan.
So far we've been traversing the Line of Control,
but Pakistan's other border is no less controversial.
So this is the road to Afghanistan,
the famed Khyber Pass, 50 miles long.
And historically some of the most dangerous territory on Earth.
This is the route that invading armies
have been travelling for hundreds if not thousands of years.
You know, it's the route that Alexander the Great took
it's the route that the Mongol armies came over
the invading Afghans
and then the British in both directions.
And I suppose this, this has always been the frontier of
the Indian subcontinent,
the gateway to India and itself, and...
Yeah, that's why it has always been known as the North-West Frontier.
I expected to see more military all around
but that doesn't mean this isn't an area without risk.
This is the Afghan border.
Down there is the village of Torkham.
And...
quite unbelievable to think that we're standing
right on the edge of the Indian subcontinent,
top of the Khyber Pass, looking down into Afghanistan.
That is all Taliban territory.
It's almost like looking at something you've heard about,
like, this pseudo-mythical place.
It's weird for me to be standing here overlooking Afghanistan
having been there as a soldier myself, you know?
I used to, I fought there
part of the British army against the Taliban,
and now they run the country.
So I'm sort of here with mixed feelings really.
It's quite sad, particularly for the Afghan people
who now live under this brutal regime.
-Salaam-alaikum. -Walaikum-assalam.
Hello. Hi, how are you?
-Where are you going? -Afghanistan.
-Kabul? -Yes.
-Oh, Jalalabad? -Jalalabad.
Oh, okay!
-What is in your truck? -Coal.
-What's that? -Coal.
You're taking coal
-from Afghanistan to Pakistan or... -Peshawar.
-Peshawar! -Peshawar!
-There's a lot of trucks. -There's a lot of trade, isn't it?
Trade is good for them both.
Whatever's happening in the geo-politics
people still need their goods coming across through the border.
We make our way back to the city of Peshawar
one of the oldest cities in south Asia
that was once an important staging post for traders.
You don't see many women around here, do you?
No, not really.
-Like a real difference to Lahore. -Yeah.
Feels a lot more male-dominated, doesn't it?
Pretty much all men are in the traditional Salwar-Kameez.
Nobody, nobody is just like, in jeans and t-shirts unlike us.
Salaam-alaikum.
Certainly makes us stand out, a bit more.
Yeah.
In a back alley of Peshawar's historic Qissa Khwani Bazaar,
we're meeting Dr. Abdul Samad
one of Pakistan's leading archaeologists
whose current project has a deep link to the Indian film industry.
You are standing here in Dilip Kumar's house.
He was born right here, in this house.
-Really? Wow! -Yeah.
So his original name was Yusuf Khan but then he went to Indian industry,
the Bollywood industry, so he is known as Dilip Kumar.
So now we are restoring this small house
and we plan to have a museum here
and the Bollywood connection between Pakistan and India.
So we will display his life contribution.
And is the hope that you will,
you know, you'll attract people that are
obviously, film lovers and people from India
to come here as well in the future
-hopefully. -Yes.
Last year, when we got this house
the late Dilip Kumar, he was alive at that time
he appreciated that step.
His wife is very much interested to come to see this ancestral house
and I'm sure more people will come
and they will see the real face of Peshawar, real face of Pakistan.
Not the one which is projected in the media.
Work isn't the only thing Dr. Samad is passionate about.
He also wants to show us how the men in Peshawar have fun.
And for that, he's driving us to the nearby city of Nowshera.
Come on, Ash. Ready for a bit of off-roading?
Yeah!
Looking forward to this spinning around in this playground.
You guys are probably the first non-Pakistani here...
-Yeah? -...to come here.
That's why we just took a longer route because
we just don't want to be seen by anyone.
-The first foreigners to be here? -Yes, yeah.
Because it's a
-military training area. -Really?
Yes.
This is a regular playground for Dr. Samad and his friends,
who join us this evening.
You definitely need all the handles
if you're in the passenger seat as well.
Holding on with both hands.
These are customised cars, I mean...
Okay.
Good for a bit of proper offroad exploration?
You're basically the Pakistani Indiana Jones!
Dr. Samad takes it up a notch and shows us his wild side.
Let's do it.
Maybe...
-Yeah! Yeah! -Real life begins when you shift
to the four by four.
-Good for sunset. -Yeah.
This is beautiful from up here.
So, where's the nearest,
sort of, archaeological site to here, do you think?
All around this valley,
you have archaeological site, mostly Buddhist sites.
The Gandhara and the Takht-i-Bahi
World Heritage Site.
-Okay. -This is a melting pot of cultures
like the Greek, Roman, the Vedic civilisation.
Different religion, different cultures
were learning from each other and something new were emerging.
You can see the Indus River twinkling over there and these...
little streams running into it that are lush and green.
So once you've crossed those mountains,
and you've got down here this would seem like paradise.
And a good place to
settle down and build, build a home, build a civilisation.
All right, what's next then?
Yeah, we're going to have a few obstacle,
and then there's some secret for you.
-Some secrets? -Yeah.
Okay.
Some special training for you, Ash?
I like secrets.
Next stop, "The secret".
Well, we couldn't have predicted this.
Yeah.
What are we, what are we shooting at?
Yeah?
What happened?
I was not expecting that.
Sorry, sir.
We are in the semi-autonomous tribal belt of Pakistan.
That's loud.
Where owning a military grade weapon is considered normal.
-Good to fire. -Ready to fire.
Yeah.
-Okay. -Don't miss the holes.
I'm not going to miss the hole. Of course, not.
Just a second.
Just three-four rounds.
-Just one... -Yeah.
-Okay. Ready? -Just, just one.
Come on, Ash. Your turn.
All right, come on, Ash. Ready for it?
-Where's the safety on here? -On the left.
You see that little switch?
-Come over. -Dropped the mag.
-Now, weapon change? -All right.
-Wow! -I think you started a fire, Ash.
-Huh? -Over there, yeah.
Here we go.
Wow!
-Bang on target. -On safety?
-Enjoy that? -How was...
How was my technique? How was my firing position?
I think you're, you pretty good, Ash.
I can't hear anything. I've got ringing in both ears.
So, does everybody in this region regularly fire weapons?
Does everyone own a weapon?
This is only for safety purpose, nothing more than that.
And, and it's genuinely something you need in this region?
-You need for sports -We don't need anything...
-purposes as well. -just for security purpose.
especially where you are standing in such a place here
you can have wild animal here, so...
You can have wild animal-- Right!
-These rabbits are pretty dangerous. -Dangerous rabbits.
-Pigs! Pigs, sir, pigs! -Pigs?
Everybody own a weapon mostly for sports purposes.
-Yes. -Yeah.
-Sports purposes. -It's a habit and hobby
-Yeah. -to keep a weapon with you.
Pakistan has been great fun so far
but I certainly didn't expect to spend
an evening driving around in four by four
and firing off weapons in, you know, an army training ground.
Yeah, it does seem like a bit of a bizarre day out, isn't it?
But I've had a lot of fun actually,
and sort of seen how the Pakistanis let their hair down.
It seems to be one way of doing it, isn't it?
Sort of drive around, flash these cars around
and then go and fire off some
automatic machine guns for a good, good measure.
Very good fun. Enjoyed it.
Let me just make sure I got my seat belt on first
if you're driving, Lev.
All right then, you ready?
As we leave Nowshera and head to Islamabad for the night,
I notice that my ears are still ringing
and haven't quite recovered from the shooting.
But I'm hoping it'll sort itself out.
We're out this morning to explore one of Pakistan's most famous
UNESCO World Heritage sites, Taxila.
We can jump in one of these Qingqis?
-Yeah. -Is that how you say it? "Chingkwi?"
-"Chingchi?" -"Chingchi," yeah.
Salaam-alaikum.
Can we, can we go in, yeah, to Taxila?
You want me to drive? Yeah? All right.
Let's go, driver.
Let me give you this camera, mate.
Am I going to have to negotiate a fee with you now?
How much to Taxila?
I'll charge special rates for you, mate.
Don't worry.
How much? I've been told I should always get a price before I go.
I'll do a special discount rate for you.
How is it compared to riding a motorbike, Lev?
It's a big different. It doesn't feel quite so balanced.
Worried enough for everyone else on the road.
-Okay? Are we good? -Good.
-Yeah. -How's he doing?
I think he's a bit nervous
that I'm gonna bugger up his Chingkwi.
He's warding off all the other traffic about me.
He's saying, ''Keep my eyes on the road.''
There it is, Ash. This is Taxila.
Huh? How? Oh, foot on the floor.
Okay.
You have to use your feet to stop!
Okay.
There, we got it right. Thank you, my friend.
-Okay. -Okay!
How was his driving?
-Driving was it okay? -Was it okay?
Very good? Thank you.
Cheers!
So, this is it, Ash. This is Taxila.
So, what is, why are we here?
-What's so special about this place? -Well, I love this place
because it's a city, an ancient city that was actually founded
some say, as far as five thousand years ago.
Wow!
But there's recorded archaeological evidence dated back
thousands of years here.
Alexander the Great even passed over this place
and took it over for a short while back in,
I think, 326 BC but
some of the ruins here date back over 3,000 years.
So it's quite amazing.
It's an old centre of Hindu civilisation,
Buddhism as well
and it claims to have one of the oldest universities in the world,
right here.
I love how excited you get by
-these things. -I love it. It's great.
We're meeting Dr. Nadeem Omar Tarar,
an anthropologist passionate about Taxila's history and art.
What are you making in here?
Oh, it's Pakistan's best kept secret.
Pakistan's best kept secret! Well, I'm intrigued.
He's making a stupa the traditional funerary architecture of Buddhists
who have lived here
-2,000 years ago. -Yeah.
But the practise still lives on.
So this is a copy
-of the ones inside Taxila? -Yes, exactly!
So, you know what? I was here in 2004
the first time I came to Pakistan
and I remember going around inside Taxila seeing
and one of the locals to the had something in a blanket
he said, "Do you want to buy a Buddha's head?'"
And I looked at it and said, "Is this original?"
He said, "Yeah, yeah, it's original."
Of course, I said, ''No''.
-I'm an anthropologist, -Yeah.
-and I see a value there. -Yeah.
I see a skill which was lost being revived by them.
Is it possible for the untrained eye
to tell the difference between an original
-and one of these replicas
that he's making? -Absolutely not!
And that is why it's considered as counterfeit and illegal.
And so how many of these replicas
are now in museums or people's collections
-thinking they were real? -Your guess is as good as mine.
Even in British Museum, you never know, his work is there.
Dr. Nadeem asks me to give it a shot and I'm game.
Let's go. You can sit here
-and he can... -Yeah, okay.
I hope this is not going to put me in jail.
So, where do I sit? On the little stool?
Yes.
Oh, I'm not sure my legs are up for this.
By the way, that's a Greek figure.
-Yeah, you can see the hair. -That's not a Buddhist figure.
You're actually doing it better.
It's quite a feat.
-He's a quick learner. -I think I found my new trade.
I knew I was built for something.
It's taken me this long to figure it out but
counterfeiting is my, is my calling.
We head out with Dr. Nadeem to explore the ancient city.
Why is Taxila so important for, like, cultural significance?
Why is it such an important site?
See, Taxila is important because it existed at the crossroad.
The Silk Route which connected China with Rome
-Yeah. -was actually passing
-through Taxila. -Wow!
Alexander the Great came here.
I mean, why was it so important to, to that culture
and how did that spread?
It's very interesting that these roads.
Yeah.
Were used by the conquerors as well as merchants.
Right.
They're not just sharing sort of goods,
-but they're also exchanging ideas. -Yeah.
So as a result of that, the whole area acquired
-a cultural. -A Greek flavour.
A Greek flavour!
And, and Greek culture permeated, as you see through the sculpture
-The art. -because that is the only
thing that survived.
And they tell they reveal the fusion of this Greek culture
-with the Indian culture. -Yeah.
-So, what's this place? -This is Jandial Temple.
This is a Zoroastrian temple.
Built in a Greek style by the Greek masons.
I came here in 2004. I remember this place.
It looks like it's been quite badly damaged.
Is this recent, then?
Well, people have been stealing the stones.
Yes, exactly. They do it almost imperceptibly.
If you have taken photographs of the place over time
it's only when you can spot the difference.
I've got a photograph of this place. Let me find it.
Oh, really?
So, they just take, like, one little stone...
-Look at this! -Yeah, yes, exactly.
-This was me in 2004. -Oh, wow!
Right there, and you can see the column
-that's completely that's just gone. -Oh, dear.
In fact, it's been stolen! The top has been stolen
and all of that wall gone!
Totally destroyed! It's heartbreaking!
This visit highlights the fact
that preserving heritage takes collective will and effort.
Hopefully, people like Dr. Nadeem
can help keep these ancient sites safe
for generations to come.
I'm loving my time in Pakistan.
You know, it was great to feel immersed.
And it was also
great to go out and spend some time with
these guys, learning how Pakistanis have fun.
They've been so incredibly welcoming
and to go smashing around in the desert and
doing the four-wheel driving and then
you know, firing off guns into the desert, which
those seem to enjoy a great deal.
It's also caused
an unexpected problem for me. I have...
Actually had some hearing damage from firing off the weapons and,
I went to go and see an ear specialist today
who recommended that I don't actually get on a flight
for the next few days.
So we're heading up to Skardu, and Lev's going to take the plane
and head off and start exploring the area a bit.
I'm going to have to take a...
...a car journey up there
so I don't fly, which is going to take about 20 hours.
Take care. See you on the other side, yeah.
-All right. -Great. Enjoy the flight.
Good luck. Safe driving.
Well, the streets of Islamabad are
pretty quiet at this time of the day. It's just gotten 5 a.m.
-Hey, Ilyas, long drive? -Yes.
-20 hours? -20 hours!
So, the road to Skardu begins.
Because of local security concerns, we'd been advised to fly to Skardu.
But after travelling for almost 2,000 kilometres by road...
Ash, has no choice
but to brave the long journey because of his ear condition
while I take to the air.
So we're just driving past
the city of Abbottabad, which gained infamy
as the location of the final hideout of Osama bin Laden,
the leader of Al-Qaeda.
We talked about possibly going in to visit it but
it's a very sensitive area
very sensitive spot right in the middle of a very militarised city.
So, we decided it probably wasn't a good idea.
But it does feel very strange to be driving past
the home of a man who changed this region
and indeed the world so much and
whilst I'm driving past Bin Laden's house,
Lev is probably 30,000 feet in the air
enjoying glorious views of Nanga Parbat and the mountains.
(ANNOUNCEMENT OVER PA)
Zero, two, four, eight.
So this is Skardu...
...right up in the north.
But actually, it reminds me a little bit of where we started...
in India, up in Ladakh.
which is actually not far away.
Just over that mountains there.
I'm on the Karakoram Highway,
one of the highest paved roads on Earth.
It extends from the Punjab province in Pakistan all the way to China.
After 10 hours of driving,
I reach Jaglot a small town with a unique feature.
So this point here where the Gilgit, and Indus rivers meet,
is also the junction point of
the three highest mountain ranges in the world.
You've got the Himalaya down there
Karakoram over here and then the Hindu Kush over there.
Hindu Kush is the one that runs into Pakistan,
from Pakistan into Afghanistan
and the Karakoram goes up towards China
and then the Himalayas, of course, we know from India and into Nepal
finishing in Bhutan.
So amazing to be at this junction, of these three great mountain ranges
a quirk of geography and geology
when the Indian subcontinent smashed up
into Asia about 60 million years ago.
I'm spending the night in the middle of the Katpana desert
at a remote campsite with phenomenal views
run by a former corporate executive, turned adventurer, Fahad Mahmood.
But first we're off to check out the Sarfaranga sand dunes.
Well, I'll give it to you.
You've brought me to a pretty magnificent place.
-I told you about it. -Absolutely. Beautiful!
This is most probably the highest cold desert on the planet.
-Is it? -Yeah.
Wow!
Let's see what the view's like from the top,
-shall we? -Why not?
What's it like living here, then, for you?
You're a local? Where were you born?
-I was born in Lahore. -Oh, right. Okay.
-So, you moved here because of this? -Yes.
-Because of the beauty, I guess. -Because of the nature.
Yeah.
When I said to people I was coming to Pakistan
When I said I was going to India,
everyone was like, "Have a lovely holiday."
The moment you say you're coming to Pakistan, everyone's terrified.
They think you're going to get kidnapped to Kaboom!
Yeah, blown up by the Taliban, but like
you come here, it's actually not so different from over the border.
In fact, it feels incredibly safe here and
everyone is lovely and welcoming and hospitable.
I mean, what's your take on that? What would you say to the world?
I think we, we are one of the oldest civilisations on the planet.
-Yeah. -And we carry that genes.
So we are not what you think we are,
we are way, more deeper than that.
You just need to come meet us.
It's just a dream.
Whether you're a mountaineer, a photographer
or just all-round travelling adventurer.
This is the place to come.
Well, what a day!
I mean, apart from being split up with Ash
it's been really, really awesome.
For me Pakistan has been amazing. I've had such an incredible time.
The sheer diversity of the country, and of course, the hospitality.
Staying here on the top of this cliff overlooking that valley
has gotta be one of the best campsites anywhere in the world.
So we've been waiting for Ash, and he's finally arrived.
Ashwin! Hello, mate.
Come, say hello.
-You are all right, buddy? -I'm exhausted.
-Are you tired? -Yeah.
So, Ash has just arrived. It's good to be reunited with him.
Sounds like he's had a pretty long and tiring ride.
But, you know, it's good, it's good that he's here.
And, yeah, it means we can actually finish the journey together,
which is fantastic!
So I'm just going to let him, leave him to rest for an hour
or so to catch up on some sleep, and...
And then we've got to go and do some deliveries.
We borrow Fahad's bike and make our way through Skardu
looking for Ghulam Qadir's house to deliver a precious cargo
that's been our travelling companion since Ladakh.
Gullu will be very happy. This has travelled a long way.
This has come a long way.
Yeah, he sent me a photo of the door.
-Yeah. -This is it.
-Let's hope he's in. -Hopefully.
I wonder if he's in.
-Hello! -Yes?
-Hello, hi. -Hello, hi.
-My name is Lev. -Yes?
-I'm Ashwin. -This is Ash.
-Salaam-alaikum. -Walaikum-assalam.
We're looking for Mr. Ghulam Qadir.
Ghulam Qadir. He's in Islamabad.
-He's in Islamabad? -Yes.
-But he lives here? -Yes, I'm his son.
You are his son? Okay. Your name is?
-My name is Basharat. -Basharat.
-Nice to meet you, Basharat. -Thank you.
Do you know a man called Gullu from India?
-Yes, he's my cousin. -He is your cousin?
Yes.
Well, we have a present for you from him.
Oh, that's nice. Thank you, thank you.
-It's travelled a very long way. -Thank you.
So, please come.
We haven't actually seen this pressure cooker.
-Yeah. -We should see what it looks like.
-Yeah, we have to check it. -Is it a good one?
-This is so nice. -Yeah?
And you cannot get this in Pakistan?
No. This cooker is specially made in India.
-Right. -Really?
I don't, I have ever seen such type of pressure cooker.
Right!
One pressure cooker that my father bring...
almost in 1990.
-Still, we are using that cooker. -So you're due,
-so you're due an upgrade? -Yes.
How many years ago was that?
-32 years! -32 years ago. God!
It must be strange having half of your family
on this side of the border
and half of your family on the Indian side.
Yes, it's too strange that a single man lives here.
All of his family lived there for almost,
it is now...
-71 to here, almost 52 years. -Yeah.
-Wow! -It was.
Does it ever feel lonely being separated from your family so much?
Yes, absolutely.
My father, when he calls my village
-after the end of the call, -Yeah.
almost he...
He doesn't show that he's sad.
He also had a wife in my native village.
-So, he had to remarry? -Yes, after...
Almost 10 to 12 years, he waited for her.
After August 1983.
Right.
During crossing the Indus River, Shyok River
is she fell in that river.
She was trying to cross the river?
-Yes, she was trying to go. -And what happened?
And her dead body was
in Khaplu village, her grave is there.
-What a sad story! -By his hand
my father made the grave of his last wife.
And after that, in 85, 86, our father married with my mother.
God!
-Very sad, very sad. -So whenever we see our father...
after he...
he's a bit...
it's okay.
You don't have to go on if you don't want to.
I'm so, I'm sorry to have upset you.
And there's one more thing
my father don't visit Fraono because of a single reason.
He sees his own village.
So, to avoid the pain
-he doesn't go there? -Yes.
there because it would hurt him too much--
He can see but he doesn't go there.
He's unable to reach there.
I can't imagine what that'd be like.
So this thing often hurts our heart.
Basharat's account is similar to stories
that we heard on the other side of the border.
For people living in either country, the pain of separation is the same.
With one delivery done, we move onwards to make our final delivery.
-Hello, sir. -Hello.
-Are you Mr. Bashir? -Yeah.
Hello, sir. My name is Levison.
We are carrying a gift for Muhammad Bashir from his sister Rahima.
Who we met at the start of our journey in Turtuk.
Well, I have something a little present for you.
-One of my photographs. -Thank you.
Here we go, here we go.
My brother, my sister, my mum and my...
-sister's son. -Yeah.
-Thank you. Thank you. -Oh, my pleasure. My pleasure.
They thought you would like that. So...
-Thank you very much. -Oh, there we go.
Yeah, they spoke so warmly of you. They, they, they miss you a lot.
They miss you.
-I'm also missing them. -Yeah.
We can take a photo to show your son?
The last time that Muhammad Bashir met his mother was back in 2013,
when he was granted a visa to go to India.
What did it feel like to return home?
Well, I'm very excited. And especially my mother.
-Yes. -After our separation
-10 years we have no communication. -No?
-Well, because-- -When I write a letter...
Yeah?
It reaches there after six months and their reply
-comes after six months. -Really, wow!
In one year, we have communicated with one another.
Well, thank you so much for being a part of this journey.
-It's made us very happy. -Oh, my poor English, I have...
-No, your English is fantastic. -No, your English is wonderful.
Thank you so much. Thank you.
That was really nice, seeing Mr. Bashir
and handing him the photograph from Hashmat and his family.
Really, really nice.
It really has been very special.
We're privileged to come here and meet these people
and pass on the messages of love from their family in India
and to share their story.
After travelling over 2,000 kilometres...
across one volatile border dividing two countries
we have just under 200 kilometres to go.
And once again, the Shyok river guides us to our destination.
So we're walking to Khaplu,
which is sort of getting closer to the Line of Control.
And, yeah, it's sort of weird now
going towards the end of the journey.
And as we were on the other side, we're following this great river
that has been the lifeblood to
civilisations for thousands of years and...
Yeah, it feels like we're coming full circle, literally.
It's quite an oppressive day with these
dark storm clouds coming out and it might rain soon.
But...
we've got this really amazing dramatic scenery
and these beautiful cliffs,
and the river cuts into the gorge down there.
So it's, you know, we started this journey with drama,
and we're going to finish it with drama.
We arrive in the town of Khaplu
which was once the second-largest kingdom
of the Yabgo Dynasty in Old Baltistan.
Something's kicking off, isn't it?
-Hey! -Look at this!
Today, there's a festive spirit in the air.
Hi. How are you?
What's happening?
-Polo match! -There's a Polo match today?
-Oh, boy! -Can we join? Can we follow you?
Come and watch?
I think they're all very excited to play a bit of Polo, aren't they?
They're dancing.
Like Turtuk, Khaplu is home to the Balti people
and the Polo is played with passion here as well.
The match is being held on the polo ground near Khaplu Palace.
And it starts the traditional way
with Nasir Ali Khan, the region's king throwing the ball.
All right, it's kicked off.
Go! Go!
-Blues score! -Go, Blues!
These guys look pretty skilled.
Get it in. Finish it! Finish it!
Finish it! Oh, close, close!
Hi, how are you doing?
We meet Ali Abbas
the reigning prince of Khaplu who is one of the polo players.
-Beautiful horses you have. -You ride?
Yeah, we do.
A little bit. Yeah, we played polo in Turtuk.
Although the horses were a lot smaller.
Yeah, you got, you got much bigger horses here.
The Prince asks us, if we want to ride?
And we won't pass up the opportunity to get on horseback once again.
Hold up, hold up.
-Let's go with this one, then? -Okay?
He's a better size for me than Freddie.
I'm just going to trot along.
Go on, Lev!
-Go on, get in there. -It's like rugby.
Horse rugby!
Horse rugby. Yes! Go!
All right, they're barging them straight into the wall there.
-Yes! -Go!
-Yeah! -Yeah!
Well done, boys!
What a sport. They call it the sport of kings, don't they?
Here we go. I'm on the Prince's horse.
Princes and kings!
Should we have one little race, Ash?
-Quick. One quick little race? -Yeah, I'm in.
Go!
I can't resist one final head to head.
Come on, Ash.
This could be my last chance to redeem myself on a polo ground.
Yeah, come on, Ash. Good lad.
Well done, Ash. Well done.
I think your experience of being
on the Prince's horse certainly helped.
Very invigorating. Thank you, sir.
-Well done, mate. -And thank you, Freddie two.
You looked after me. Well done.
Should we join in the dancing?
Lev may be better with horses
but when it comes to dancing, I'm in my element.
Good effort, mate.
Thank you!
It seemed like such an amazing, vast goal
when we set out and
with all the challenges that we've gone through to get here.
And we've come all the way around and we've seen so much
and for me in particular,
the two places that have mattered so much,
being Punjab and Pakistan.
They're two places I've wanted to visit for so long.
And I don't know quite how I'm going to feel when I...
get to the end point near the village of Fraono
and just look down the river
at where we started.
Can't believe this is it the final night
here in Khaplu and yeah, only 50 kilometres to push
to get to Fraono and that's the end of the road.
I can't believe the journey is almost at an end.
It's quite emotional, really.
But yeah, I'm looking forward to...
You know, completing the circle really.
And it is a heavily militarised zone
so I don't know if there's going to be any checkpoints so,
how close to the border itself we'll be able to get
hopefully, we'll be able to get to the village of Fraono.
But let's see...
It's the final morning of this 2500-kilometre journey.
Which will end in Fraono, on the other side of Tyakshi...
the village in Ladakh, from where we started.
There's one final barrier in our way.
There's a military checkpoint just a mile or so ahead.
And we've heard that there's
is actually quite a big military presence
in the valley where Fraono is situated.
We've not seen too much military movement around.
But, you know, these...
We've had troubles with checkpoints already on this journey, and...
It is a contested border at the end of the day.
And we've seen on the Indian side
just how much military presence there is on that side. So...
it's going to be the same here, isn't it?
And it makes sense that they don't want people
walking around in these kinds of areas, do they?
Yeah, I mean it is such a cliche but
it isn't about the destination, it's about the journey.
this journey has been incredible.
-It's been awesome. -It really has.
We've pretty much come full circle. What a journey!
We're only a few kilometres from Fraono
when we're stopped at a checkpoint.
They've taken all our papers
and we're waiting to hear from the authorities.
One thing this journey has consistently taught us
is that border towns along the Line of Control
are heavily guarded and remain highly unpredictable.
We're trying to get over there.
That's Fraono, just about 35, 40 kilometres
on the other side of that, that mountain pass there.
That's where we wanted to get to.
And sadly, because of politics and bureaucracy, they said, ''No''.
Basically, this checkpoint here, this is the end of the road.
It's very sad.
I'm really, I'm sad. I'm frustrated.
And in a strange way,
it's helped me empathise even more with the families.
Imagine having that for 50 years. It's bad enough for us.
This, this border, man. This damn border.
Whilst this isn't exactly where we wanted to finish our expedition,
we set aside our disappointment
and complete our journey in a different way.
We're almost at the end now. That's where we're heading.
That mountain in the middle of the river valley.
We're going to get to the viewpoint there
where at least we can see down the valley
towards the point that we started this journey.
What a place to finish, mate?
This is one of the most beautiful places on Earth, undoubtedly.
And...
I feel privileged to be here
to finish this journey here with you in this place
that has so much significance and meaning,
summarises so much of what we have looked at in this journey.
And perfectly, we've got one final tough push up hill
to get to the end.
Let's do it.
Yeah, one final climb up that mountain
and then we've made it.
We made it.
Yes! Well done, mate.
This is it, the final point.
What a place to finish!
Yes, this is the end of the journey,
because over there, down that valley,
that's where we started
and here we are, right on this little summit
overlooking this beautiful valley,
amazing river, right on the roof of the world.
That ridge line there,
you can see that was the one we could see from Tyakshi,
when we looked up
and it went around the bend.
That was the ridge we saw.
We did it. We did it!
We feel incredibly privileged
to have explored the borderlands between India and Pakistan.
We have experienced great warmth and hospitality
in both these countries that were once one.
And still have so much in common.
We hope that this line that has divided them for so long
does not stop these two nations
from finding lasting peace in the future.
Subtitle Caption by ZestCorp