Out of all the places on his checklist, none had been as difficult as this one. Not only very physically inaccessible, or challenging at very least, giving the topography, and the bad condition of the roads, But bureaucratically, specially if you had an American passport. So far Chris was convinced that this blue little booklet would let him in anywhere, and grant him special privileges. He came to find that although he might have not been denied entry in most places, his presence felt unwanted and...frowned upon to a certain extent, and as far as the authorities went, they made it as difficult, or at least as uncomfortable, as their procedural power allowed them. 

It was all worth it in the end. Having the privilege of seeing in person, the magnificence of the imposing sky-high snow covered mountains, majestically rising up to the heavens like nowhere else on earth, made all the political crap completely irrelevant. At this point Chris must have been entering Pakistan or somewhere like that, it was a hard to tell, he had absolutely no reception, nor a working GPS for that matter. All he knew was that he was still bordering the Hindu-Kush, or the Hindu-Raj as they called it on this side of the valley. The one thing he recognized, far in the horizon, covered by gathering snow-storm clouds, the mountain that towered over all of them: The Buni Zom.

Going up and down, through this dirt road, that more than a road better resembled a roller coaster, which a times bordered mountains through impossibly narrow roads, that somehow the truck managed to cross. It baffled him how calm everyone on this ride was, I mean, just a glance out of the window, and the truck was very few inches away from falling into the deepest abyss he had ever seen. It must be a mountain-people thing, not get scared about things like that, he assumed.

However the trip was making his stomach churn like crazy, he had endured many hours on this trip, and he would be thankful once they arrived anywhere! But he silently put up with it, he tried to control the uncontainable urge to vomit, every time the truck hit a bump and juddered as if to fall to it's doom, he just didn't wanna be that guy and puke all over, that's all.

In all of his trips around the world, especially in Asia and South America, Chris had to travel with all kinds of animals that to him were exotic, at least to see inside a bus, so he was all used to travelling with chickens and goats, but he had never traveled with a monkey before. This was the first time someone had actually brought a monkey inside a bus. Chris didn't mind really, the little fella was after all, behaving better than the baby he had the misfortune of travelling next to on his plane to India. And as far as the India-Pakistan situation, it could get a bit confusing with the enclaves, and the weird frontiers, but everyone in the region pretty much didn't care.

After one final violent bump that sent everyone several inches into the air, including an old lady who seemed unruffled by it, the truck arrived at the top of the mountain. The driver, began slowing down, and turning down the very catchy Hindu music he'd been blasting since they left, and in all honesty, it was starting to grow on Chris. 

Christ stretched his neck to catch a better glance at the road up ahead, it seemed relatively smooth and plain, that was a plus. And as he stuck his head out of the window, he realized that this was a very heavily militarized zone, with sour-faced armed to the teeth soldiers, and that they were approaching a checkpoint ahead on the road.

Chris noticed that most of the vehicles ahead of his were being given free transit seemingly untroubled. However, there was something off about the whole thing, because one of the soldiers on the outside had made eye contact with Chris, who undoubtedly stuck out like a sore thumb. He was blond, he had very big bulging green eyes, he looked lost and confused, and a little frightened all the time if I may add. He was definitely not from around there. 

As the soldiers outside noticed him, they began chattering between them, and one of them sprinted to the checkpoint, before the truck made it there. Then the foreseeable thing happened, the truck was stopped, and a soldier stepped inside, and as tactless as every soldier you'd ever meet, pointed at Chris and very succinctly shouted: -"You, out!"

It was admittedly a little embarrassing, most of the people on the bus, who had remained oblivious to Chris' presence, or had actively ignored him for some reason, were now staring right at him. And the looks on their faces let me tell you! If they could they would have shot him right there and then they would have, but not because they noticed they had an American among them, but because he was inconveniencing them, delaying their trip of course.

Chris timidly got up, and with hesitant steps exited the bus. He turned around to look at the bus driver who was avoiding eye contact, and said to him: -"Would you wait for me?" 

-"You go, go!" -The bus driver exclaimed impatiently, still avoiding eye contact. Then Chris walked hurriedly to meet with the soldier who was going to escort him into a little kiosk. 

-"Passport." -The soldier ordered.

Chris reached down his back pocket, and with tremor in his hands handed it over.

-"Reason for your visit!" -The ill-featured soldier, who appeared to have severe burns on his face asked.

-"I'm a... climber!" -He lied.

-"Permit?!" -The soldier asked

-"Well I was hoping I could..."

-"No permit no climb!" -The soldier rebutted. 

-"Why you bring this?" -The soldier asked as he indiscriminately grabbed the camera that was hanging on his neck, and pulled it so hard the strap ripped. 

-"Hey why did you...?" -Chris was unable to finish his question, before the soldier dropped it on the floor, and smashed it with his boot.

-"That was a Nikon man!" -Chris protested.

-"No pictures!"

-"But..."

-"No pictures I say!" -The soldier exclaimed.

-"Do you have other camera?" -The soldier asked angrily.

-"No." -He lied, he had inconspicuously hidden it in his bag.

-"Where is your bag?" -The soldier asked.

Just as Chris was starting to sweat nervously, the truck driver came to his aid and began arguing with the soldier in their language. And amidst the foreign words, and the heated discussion, Chris recognized the sentence in English: -"I need to go brother!" -That the bus driver uttered.

And just like magic, the soldier reluctantly gave up the argument and made a half-hearted gesture to send them off. Then without any further hesitation, both Chris and the driver sped-walk back to the bus.

Chris felt awful about leaving his camera behind, but he also recognized that he was in no position to fight an entire army platoon over it. so he just sadly watched at the rubble left behind on the dirt for what was his beloved camera.