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From Skardu two roads lead to the Askole and Hushe Valleys, main doorgates to this snowy giants, and to the huge glaciers of Baltoro , Biafo, and Trango. Here begins the way for climbing legend mountains like K2, Gasherbrum or Trango Towers, so the town is a major summer tourist hotpoint. That means, many hotels and shops, and expensive prices. The town is built up along the main road, and both sides of this grows up the New Bazaar (Naya Bazaar) in which hundreds of shops offer almost everything. To the west one finds Yadgar Chowk, with an ugly monument, and from there, the quarter behind Naya Bazaar, in the right hand side is Purana Bazaar, the old one. Following west from Naya Bazaar, there is a polo ground, and next Kazmi Bazaar.
Skardu is an dusty town looking to its building environment, but a really colourful one if you take a look to people. Streets are full of men (no women), mainly balti people, but also a great deal of other ethnic origins pack the streets of the bazaars: Pashtun, Hunza, and even Uygur, due to the close border.