I went to
look at how people
survive living in
the lower valleys
in the deep valley
of the Himalaya.
 And, so I went
 to Pakistan,
 the area called Hunza
 in Northern Pakistan,
 bordering with
 China to the right
 and Afghanistan,
 the Wakhan Corridor.
We are down below
where people can
actually grow,
have agriculture.
Subsistence agriculture,
it's very difficult.
It's a harsh
environment, you need
hard work in order
to grow anything.
 The Burusho, they are
 also called Hunzakuts,
 they are the
 people of Hunza.
 And there is about
 80,000 or so of Burusho.
They speak their own language
which nobody really knows
where it comes from.
The only link they
found with that
language was in the
Basque Country.
Imagine the connection, it's
just incredible. Nobody knows.
 So, subsistence agriculture.
 This is Samhina tending
 to a potato field
 below the Altit Fort,
 over 1,000-year old fort.
 Down below is the Hunza
 River, 1500-feet below.
 And so this is
 subsistence agriculture.
 You find any land
 possible to grow.
 Potato since
 fairly recently .
 And the village right
 behind, fortified villages
often for cold, for protection.
It's part of the old Silk Road.
 There used to be lots of raids
 traditionally from caravans.
 And so they live in a very
 strong community atmosphere
 because of this
 closeness they have.
 And if we go into that
 house that is up there
 you know, you walk into this
 kind of beautiful scene.
 So this is life
 in Hunza indoor.
 Very simple kitchen .
 And then you get
 offered tea like
 anywhere there,
 salted tea.
 So, this rock, you see
 that it's rock salt.
So you get-- pour your milk tea
and you take the
rock and use it to
stir your milk,
your tea in there
and it will give
salt to your tea.
You know, traditionally
salt is,
has always been fairly
easily accessible.
You can find areas
with this rock salt.
But sugar is not part of the,
you know, traditionally
their diet.
It's just... it needs
to come from far away.
This village you saw is really
Hunza, is Central Hunza.
I wanted to go a bit further
to really walk away as much
as possible from market food.
 So we went further
 north towards the
 border with China
 over this lake
 that was formed by
 a huge avalanche
 in January 2011,
 I think.
 And now we have the 30-miles
 and about a mile deep lake
 that was formed
 by this whole
 mountain that fell
 in the valley
 basically in the
 Hunza Valley.
 So, in winter it means
 crossing with a boat.
 The lake receded
 a little bit in
 winter and left this
 carcass of a boat
 which was quite surreal in
 the mountains to see that.
 If you look down while you
drive after you've left the boat
 you see the Hunza River
 and you see this
 hanging bridge and
 often there's people
 walking on them .
 They are going from the
 village to the pastures.
 Both in winter and in summer
 they go to the pastures.
 I don't know if you
 can see but there's
about this gap
between each step
on the bridge, with the
wind it's often moving.
And you get this
60-year old grandma
you know, coming,
just cruising through
there and you arrive
and are like, "whoa".
Very impressive. So, let's
zoom in to this woman.
 I arrived and I
 crossed that bridge
 and I arrived
 in the pasture.
 This woman brought
 me apples.
 This is a Poplar forest
 that was grown by,
 you know, ancestors
 of this woman here.
 If you zoom in a bit more,
 this is what they are doing.
 They go there, most in
 winter, mostly to cut wood.
 They are cutting
 this sea buckthorn
 that grows very quickly
 and they have a rotating
 system within the community.
 So it's sustainable
 and it can regrow.
 And these grandmas
 they go around,
 you know, these older ladies
 or younger ladies, whatever
 they go in the pasture
 to cut wood every day.
They walk about two
hours round-trip
to bring back
and they use it
they need that wood for cooking
and for heating the house.
 The sea buckthorn
 has these berries on it
 that are easily
 gathered in winter
 when the berry
 are frozen.
 Because in summer if you
 take them, they break.
 The skin is too thin.
 Great heart tonic and
 lower cholesterol.
 You know, they eat that
 all the time there.
 The women also
 bring back hay for
 the animals, to
 feed the cows.
 These women go out
 every day and
 they are just
 having a blast.
 They are laughing all the
 time, talking all the time
 they really look forward
 to these outings.
They are going to
walk away from the men,
walk away from the village
and gossip all they want.
They got this funny guy walking
around following them.
We had a blast that day.
It was really just a
fantastic, you know...
Just really great.
It is work but to
them it's just...
they do that
every day.
 Soon enough
 I get invited
 right and left into houses.
 Great atmosphere, very tight
family bonds in North Pakistan.
 This woman is preparing
 flat bread, "chapati".
 And they do all kind of
 different variation of that
 around chapati, with
 this flat bread.
 It's the main thing.
 It's grown
 always locally .
 On the upper left
 it's called "Chap churo" ,
 layers of flat bread
 it's a bit like a pancake with
 diluted milk and apricot oil.
 There's buckwheat on the upper
 right with mulberry syrup.
 And then apricot
 down there.
There's places where I went
where there was no real dinner.
The act of eating wasn't
a ritualistic kind of...
experience.
 But in North Pakistan,
it's really people gather round.
 There's usually one
 common plate,
 so you reach out together
 into one plate.
 It's a very important
 moment to get together.
Apricot is very important.
They make this--
Apparently pasta came from
that part of the world
 from Western China,
 not too far away.
 They roll out this
 chapati very thin and
 then cut it in slices,
 and make pasta,
 and then mix it with dried
 apricot from the summer.
 They dry a lot of their
 fruits and vegetables
 so that they can
 keep all year round.
 And they mix it together
 with the pasta, the apricot
 and get this quite
 delicious dish.
 Rarely do people
 hunt there
 because they are
 herders as well.
 But some time ducks that fly
 over from Siberia to India
 get stranded in valleys
 and then they cook them.
 This guy Yahyah Naig
 on the right has been
 hunting the whole day
 to get this duck.
 Their tractor is the bull,
they use manure for fertilizer.
In every duration,
whether it is
peace, whether
it is trouble,
whether it is earthquake,
whether it is
something calamity.
So, Inshallah the
world will come
very peaceful and
we shall be one.
And because the world
is becoming now
a universal village,
a global village.
Being a teacher I have been
teaching my students to be
to be very, very,
very cooperative
and think about
universality.
So that we can live
together peacefully.
Just a little talk with your
average, you know, farmer.
It happens a lot in
Pakistan and I love it.
 But this is part
 of my, you know,
 excitement of being
 a photographer .
