In Search of Cherry Blossom - Skardu Exploration 2023 | Khaplu Fort | Shangrila Resort | Kharphocho Fort | Upper Kachura Lake

At the start of 2023, I began to plan a solo tour of the entire Skardu region which includes famous scenic spots such as Kharphocho Fort, Shangrila Resort, Khaplu Fort, Upper Kachura Lake, and Organic Village. I captured all of them with lots of gear such as my drone, 360 camera, a DSLR, and obviously my cell phone too which was the most handy option at some places. In Search of Cherry Blossom It was a solo tour with the purpose of creating lots of digital content about the world-famous natural and landscape beauty of Skardu and its surrounding valleys. I have seen Skardu mostly in Summer or autumn, but this time I wanted to capture its beauty in Cherry Blossom. This time I had a different and bigger plan to capture Skardu’s landscape, with state-of-the-art new gadgets and a better drone in my armory. The day I reached Khaplu, my primary cell phone with which I was used to operate the drone; crashed badly. Then, with my local guide, I went to the market and tried to get it fixed but all in vain. There was just one phone mechanic available in the entire Khaplu town and he replied that there was not much chance of its survival if I took the risk of reinstalling the software. It might work or might not so it is better to take it to Skardu and get it checked in the designated phone repairing lab. (That cell phone is still dead and could not be repaired, even by the company’s service center). We left the place and came back to the hotel, I had a backup phone so I decided to stick to the original plan and capture Khaplu Valley. The next morning when I woke up, I realized that there was no electricity last night so all the batteries of the cameras and drone were still thirsty! The guy who was supposed to start the generator forgot to turn it on, so we had to stay there for a couple of extra hours. The hotel staff turned on the generator and I charged the batteries. When I left the hotel for my 1st destination of Khaplu, I was already behind schedule, but I reached to Sarena Khaplu. A fort converted into a museum and hotel, currently managed and run by Sarena Group of Hotels. It was restored by the Agha Khan Foundation and then handed over to Sarena. I mounted a couple of cameras in the courtyard of Khaplu Palace for time-lapse recording and prepared my drone for a flight. After connecting the controller’s wire with the phone, it dawned upon me that the drone was not receiving transmission signals from the controller. I plugged and unplugged the wire hundreds of times but no result. I thought that probably the cable was faulty, I sent my guide to the local market to get a new cable, he went off and came back with another tragic news that this sort of cable is not available in the entire town of Khaplu. Without a controller connection, my drone was dead. At that point, I felt for a moment that my entire journey was now WASTED. But I did not surrender to the tough circumstances I was in, I adopted the way of our finance minister and started to look for the ‘donors’. One by one, I asked each and every employee of Khaplu Palace to let me borrow their phone for at least 30 minutes. Surprisingly, none of them refused but bad luck followed me here, their phones were not compatible with my drone’s controller. Then perhaps divinity jumped in and I saw a young guide from Gilgit, he was giving tour to his foreign clients. I saw his phone and in a fraction of a second, I judged that his phone was compatible with my drone’s controller. Never in my life made that face which I made in front of him before making my request, I pleaded him to let me use his phone for 30 minutes with a meek face and with a swear that I would not intrude into his phone’s memory. He smiled after listening to my humble and worth-trusting solemn promise and nodded yes, after a few taps on the screen he created a space for me in his phone and handed over a password to his phone. His phone’s screen was not as bright as it was on my dead and secondary phone but I had no option other than that so I found a place to stand in shadow to see as much as I could on his phone’s screen. Finally drone took off and started to record the footage, since I had planned the shots before I tried as much as I could to keep the drone in my eyesight (due to the low brightness of the phone’s screen). I also took overlooking shots of the Khaplu palace but those were taken almost blindly. After landing the drone, I returned his phone with the utmost humble and kind words for his great favor. The next day I got my backup phone serviced from Skardu City and tested it with my drone and its controller, it worked fine. But still, I bought another new cable just in case something happened and the phone’s port stopped taking the required signals from the drone’s controller. In the Kachura area, the drone and controller worked fine and captured a ton of footage. With unique angles and different perspectives that you might have seen by now on your screen.