Bernard Grua | Media blog

Chinese border at Kunjerab Pass et  4 693 m The Chinese “ Belt and Road Initiative ” (BRI) , also known as the “New Silk Roads” , is a work in progress that raises many questions. Yet in Pakistan, the Karakoram Highway, commissioned in 1979, may provide some answers. Parallel to the challenged sovereignty of the country, it could be observed, until these last months, a religio-patriotic discourse with a questionable consistency and an expensive open or latent state of war seeming to assure a form of national cohesion. However, this discourse and the state of war increased Pakistan's international isolation and strengthened its dependence on China as well as indirectly laid the roots for potential fractures between the north and the south of the territory. This article in  French Maps of Pakistan (source: French MFA) and Karakoram Highway (source: Wikipedia)

Zood Khun, mountain in front of Pamir Serai at 10:30 PM, early August Remote and isolated Zoodkhun, the high mountain village of Gojal in Gilgit Baltistan, is a remarkable place to observe and to photography night skies. This article is the translation of the French one published by Bernard Grua, from France, on his travel blog: “ Chapursan, quand la nuit de Zoodkhun dévoile l’univers ”. Zood Khun, western ridges, light going down to the Valley at 05:45, early August The gate to another endless world In the Upper Hunza , on the borders of Central Asia, at the end of the narrow Chapursan Valley , Zood Khun is surrounded by the high ranges of Karakoram , Hindu Kush and Pamir . There, by the end of twilight, the observer does not feel himself in a wide space encircled by the lower edges of a celestial vault. He gets nearly the sensation of being in an almost closed environment. However, he soon understands his first impression was wrong. While, looking up, it seems to ...