Guess What Happened On My Honeymoon?

This one is just me, and I am telling you a story I have been meaning to share for a while. It is about our honeymoon. Not the soft, romantic part you see in pictures, but the part where everything went sideways and we ended up crossing landslides in the dark. It was wild, it was scary, and looking back, it is one of the most vivid memories I have from that trip.

We went to Skardu. It was a simple plan, really. We had saved up, we were excited, and we wanted to see the mountains. The road to get there is long and winding, the kind where you cannot take your own car. You rely on local transport, and you just settle in for the ride.

The news that changed everything

On our way back, we got the news. A landslide had blocked the road ahead. Our return would be delayed. At first, we thought, okay, fine. We will figure it out. But figuring it out in the mountains is not like figuring it out in the city. There is no signal, no way to contact anyone. You are completely disconnected.

We ended up in a small jeep with a driver who had his own way of doing things. I will just say he was a little too confident on those thin mountain roads. We were nervous, but what could we do? Eventually, it happened. The jeep hit something hard, lost balance, and tipped right over. We were in the middle of nowhere, with a river on one side and a mountain on the other.

Crossing the dark

We managed to get out and walk to the next village. Everyone was staring at us, and we were just standing there with our cameras, our tripod, all our luggage from a long trip, wondering what on earth was happening. The driver eventually arranged another bus, but it could only take us so far. To get to it, we had to cross the landslide zone on foot.

And mind you, it was getting dark. There are no streetlights here. Just the sound of the river below and the outline of huge boulders. The local villagers were incredibly kind. They picked up our heavy suitcases and literally tossed them across the landslide. Then they helped us cross. One landslide. Then a second. Then a third. We crossed five landslides that night, in complete darkness, with just a torch light to see the next step.

What we hold onto

We were scared. We were also strangely motivated. We kept looking at each other like, did that really just happen? We survived something that felt completely unreal. And the people we were with, strangers on a bus, became our team. They looked after us. They made sure we got to the other side.

I think about that night often. Not because it was a perfect honeymoon, but because it was a real one. It was an adventure we did not sign up for, and we got through it together. Sometimes the stories you end up telling are not the ones you planned. They are the ones where you saw how kind people can be, and how strong you are when you have no other choice.