| July 8-9-10 The Shandur Polo Festival (The highest Polo Ground in the world at 12,500 feet - 3,800 meters) On the 7th of July, I set up camp in Shandur and woke up early the next day to the smell of fresh mountain air. I was out and about talking to my camping neighbors when I spotted a jeep climbing the same hill I suffered just the day before, coming towards me at a speed my Vespa only dreams of. The jeep was heading my way, not slowing down one bit. I knew it was aiming for me as it sped towards me faster and faster, and just a few feet short of running over me the driver braked and the jeep skidded to a stop. It was then that I made of the driver's face; my best friend Mujtaba was sitting behind the wheel with a huge smile on his face. I knew two of my closest friends, Mujtaba and Ali, were planning to fly out to Chitral and then renting a jeep to Shandur. A big emphasis on the word "planning" for I was sure it wouldn't go through like 90% of all of their other plans. Plans are usually useless with these boys, and I know "spur of the moment" works best with them. Imagine my shock when I saw the two of them in the jeep in Shandur. They jumped out of the jeep and our excitement was heard from one end of the campground to the other. Wahhhh!!!!!.. Muj and ali somehow got a VIP army tent reserved for themselves and had space for another person. I was packed in seconds and settled in with friends. I'm sure I was the most excited one at the festival. I had my two best friends by my side, and we were hanging out on the rooftop of the world. Shandur is situated right in the middle of the two great cities of Chitral and Gilgit. This land, Shandur, is disputed between the two cities; both claims the land as theirs. There is a strong rivalry between these two cities and they both send teams to Shandur every year for a match of polo. This is not a friendly game, but a war game. This game was not just about horse against horse or player against player, it's about city against city and Chitrali pride against Gilgiti pride. Tensions ran high, the pressure of success was overbearing, and the mood was perfectly set. We all got ready and went off to experience the greatest, highest, toughest, the most dangerous, and above all the most spectacular polo match in the world. Shadur polo was as raw as polo can ever be. There were no referees and no rules (you can do whatever the hell you want just as long as you get the ball through the posts). In regular polo matches, a player changed his horse every few minutes for top performance, but in Shandur, they weren't allowed to change horses at all. The players were expected to stay in the game until their horses died or the game ended. Simple, straight, CRAZY. The boys and I made our way to the stands and found seats as the opening ceremony begun. There were different types of cultural music that was being played in the crowd accompanied by different cultural dances all around us. People brought their drums, flutes, and instruments I've never seen before.
Para-gliders hovered above the ground and landed perfectly in the center of the polo ground. The huge lake next to the playing grounds and the mountains that enclosed us in this heavenly place completed the scenery. For some reason, I felt so small standing in the middle of the crowd. It wasn't the fact that we were surrounded by big mountains nor was it the fact that the sky looked endless above me. It was the overall experience. Everything my eyes laid upon was more than imagination could come up with. There were horses galloping and fighting a war a few feet in front of me and crowds deafening my ears with cheers whenever a player struck the ball. I've never seen such hardcore supporters and such hardcore fans. Each time Gilgit would score, the Chitralis would look sullenly on as the Gilgit supporters start playing their music and performed their special Gilgiti dance. Then, the next second you'd see the Chitrali dance with Chitrali's music when their players scored as well. I swear, my story telling does this festival no justice. No amount of words will ever capture the spirit of this place, you have to go experience it yourself. Shandur is one of a kind and when I say it's one of a kind and a must visit, for sure you know you won't be disappointed when you come (This is a hint for you all to start making your plans for next year's festival!) For 3 days straight, we spent our waking hours watching and cheering on the players at the polo matches. I cheered Gilgit when they scored, and 2 minutes later cheered for Chitral when they scored. Then, the time came for the final match: Gilgit A-Team vs Chitral A-Team. Mujtaba, my friend, had brought us custom-made polo shirts from Lahore that had SHANDUR POLO FESTIVAL 2012 printed on the back. The shirts were red, so we had no choice; we were chitralis for the final. We got to the grounds well before the match started and were the coolest kids on the block with one of a kind shirts. Everyone wanted to know where we got the shirts from! The match started and Chitral scored again and again. It was 4-0 with Chitral winning. The Gilgit crowd was dying. Suddenly, Gilgit scored and just as their lifeless crowd was coming back to life, Chitral scores. After a very intense battle, Chitral beat Gilgit in the final by 5 goals. Celebrations! The Gilgitis solemnly left the stands as the Chitralies danced away the victory. The police jumped in and circled the players as the crowd went nuts with excitement. I grabbed Mujtaba and we ran down the stands. Mujtaba looked at me questioningly as I pulled him along. I told him that we needed to exchange our shirts for the real polo game shirts. I wanted number 4's shirt because he was the man of the match and Muj said he wanted the captain's number 5 shirt. We dodged past the police and made our way towards the center where the players were. We both took off our shirts in front of a few thousand people and walked towards the players. We show them our awesome Shandur Polo 2012 shirts asked to trade with theirs. They made funny faces, hesitated, but then finally gave us their real polo shirts. I've never felt as happy as I had when I put that shirt on. It stank badly with Horse shit + horse sweat + man of the Match's sweat staining it... ohh, IT WAS GREAT! The shirt stayed on for the next two days. Shandur polo festival at it's best! Later that day, I spotted my sister. She came there with ATP (Adventure Travel Pakistan) to attend the festival as well. Her face mirrored my look of awe and nodded in agreement when I said that this was the coolest thing I've ever seen in my life. I was planning to head off to Gilgit from Shandur that same day, but we heard that there'd been a massive landslide 3 hours east of Shandur. There was no way a Vespa would be able to cross it by the end of the day so we decided to camp one more night. ATP was kind enough to let us 3 boys camp and eat with them. We met some very interesting people. Some, I won't mention, but Omer the Guitarist, Qasim and Shezad the managers, and Mian jee were definitely personalities that I won't forget. We ate a couple of fantastic meals, drank a lot of chai, and sat for 5-6 hours hanging out at a bonfire under the stars having the time of our lives. The sun was rising when I finally decided to head back to my tent to rest up for the long ride that following morning. I hope Gilgit is ready for me!
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