last year at Eid.. I was there at home with my family in pakistan .. and from the day I reach ISB .. my sisters were buggin me to take them out to northern areas once again .. and I was like oh God .. “NO!!” not again cuz I know my sisters very well .. I knew once they go out with me .. they won’t do anything and I’ll become a full time porter + waiter + driver + Guide + everything for them .. additionally they’ll squeeze out everything from my pocket and I’ll be left with a 5 rupee note in the end
so I looked at my mom and asked for help .. but!! she showed me a big chittar and said loudly .. “ziyada batain na banao or chalo tayaar hojao … we are going out!!!”
Now there was no way out .. so I took out the maps and draw a plan for 10 days .. and than called up my friends for the necessary arrangements of accommodation at the places we were going to visit :~)
Our plan was like we’ll start from Thandiani .. stay one night at Abbotabad .. than move towards Balakot and stay one night at Shoogran .. two days for Kaghaan, Naran and Jheel saif-ul-mulook .. than we’ll change the track and travel towards Batagram, Besham , swat and Chilas if possible .. and finally back to ISB :~)
now rest of my commentary will go with the pictures :~)
This picture was taken on the way to Thandiani :~)
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This is Thandiani!! we stopped here for a while to have a nice cup of coffee .. than moved ahead towards the Rest house where we spent a night with out electricity well, there generators were out of order that day .. and we had to spent the night with Laaltains and gas heaters :~) but it was FUN!!! :k: we were all alone without light at the altitude of around 12k feets :~) and wind child was amazing :~)
btw, the one dressed up like a Eskimo is my little sister :~) and the handsome on the back of the car is my nephew Hamza :~)
After spending a cold night at Thandiani we drove down to Abbottabad .. and by 9:30 morning we were having breakfast at PC Abbottabad .. well, we have few relatives and friends in abbotabad so it was planned to stay there a day for social visits :~) so that was a boring day .. but both my nephew and niece had a good time playing around in the garden of PC Abbotabad :~)
This is Hamza :~)
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And this is my 2nd mother Zainub :~) I mean my niece :~) well, most of the time during my vacations .. I am totally occupied by these 2 naughty kids :~)
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This is the killing look .. she always give me this .. whenever she need something from me
neways after spending a day at Abbotabad we moved towards Balakot and Shoograan :~)
This photo was taken on the way to Balakot!!
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From Balakott we climbed up to the hill of Shograan thru a very thin zigzag road of that breathtaking mountain .. The experience of driving thru that narrow road was amazing!!! I can never forget that .. its something I always look for :k: actually we’ve been to all these places before but Shoograan was very new for us :~) thats why when I reach to the middle of the height .. my mom started yelling at me to take them back :~) she was scared!! but somehow I managed to convince her that I can’t turn the car back .. the road is very thin .. so theres only one way .. and that goes to the top :~) neways I reduced the speed just to make her feel better :~)..
finally khuda khuda kar key .. we reached at the top and stayed there at PTDC for a night .. the place was amazing .. we had a good time moving around in the lush green landscapes of shoograan .. and the food was also very tasty there :~) .. ne ways next day was planned for Kaghaan and Naraan :~)
So we woke up early in the morning .. and the journey started once again .. :~)
by the time we crossed Kaghaan it was already snowing :~) I stopped the car at a place to take some pictures :~)
My eldest & youngest sisters are enjoying snow with my nephew and niece in this picture :~) whereas both my mother & darmiyaani sister weren’t ready to come out of the car :~) IT was really cold out there!!
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My chhoti sister realized it in just few minutes .. and jumped back into the car
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eventually NaasPeeta was left all alone out there in cold
By the time we reached Naraan, everything was covered by snow .. the road becomes slippery and driving becomes difficult .. at a place near to our rest house .. my car slipped out of the road and the rear wheel got trapped in a hole :~(
so we all came out of the car and I started working on the situation … well, while I was working on the car my sweet elder sisters were totally relaxed … standing next to me discussing the weather and the youngest one was very busy taking photos
Grrrr!!! I called up my chhoti sister and asked her to take control of the steering wheel .. or baaki sabko apney saath dhaka laganey ka hukum de diya
khair do teen zoor ke dhakoon ke baad gaari bahir nikal hi aai :~) but due to the bad weather we decided to go back to Kaghaan and spend the night there :~)
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next day we changed our plan and moved back to Mansehra and from there we started our journey towards swat and Chilas :~)
Near Mansehra I saw a cute kid saling “lukaats” and oranges :~) btw, whenever you go there .. buy lukaats from him .. they are really extraordinarily sweet and tasty :~)
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After crossing Batagram I stopped the car to have lunch at the road side :~) wow!!! .. it was an amaaaazzzzinggggg experience :k:
Heres my three musketeers :D my sisters and my mother enjoying the taste of fresh oranges in a sunny day at the road side of Batagram :~)
I really love my sisters ... they are soo full of life and they know how to become a real paindu like me whenever its required :D
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Now here is the biggest paindu .. enjoying both fresh water of Nestle and fresh air of Batagram :~)
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After having a nice and tasty lunch ... we started the journey once again and around 3:00pm We finally arrived at Besham.. Besham is a no man's land .. automatic and semi-automatic weapons are sold openly there... One salesman even offered us a pistol .. in the shape of a fountain pen .. for just 1500 rupees :~)
neways The place was amazing so we decided to stay there for a night :~) this is the Rest house where we stayed ... it was a bit away from the town and market at a very peaceful place :~)
Our next destinations were swat and Chilas .. guys these places are really amazing :k: and if you are not afraid of heights and love driving on dangerous tracks than these are rite places .. you shud travel to :~)
we spent most of our time having fun beside the river of Indus .. heres a picture of Hamza :~)
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and Zainub is trying to follow him :~)
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A different view of the river :~)
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Near Swat valley we stopped once again for another road side coffee break
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yahan hawa itni taiz chal rahi thi ke banda urh hi jaye .. so hamza was trying his best to stand against the wind :~)
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Overall the trip was amazing and we had a blast once again in northern areas :~) I don’t know how many times I’ve traveled to northern areas of Pakistan so far .. but still whenever I go there I feel like it’s my first time :~)
phewwwwwww!!! End for now … will post some more laterzzz :~)
Ji janab!! jahan bhi ham 5 bhai behan jama hojain wahan BLAST to hona hi he
or wo bhi jab abbu ji kaheen idhar udhar gaye howey hoon wese we were missing our big brother and his wife agar wo dono bhi saath hotey to maza hi aa jata :k: atleast mujhey gari ko akeley dhaka na lagana parhta
ne ways u shud go there sehar .. its really amazing out there .. the feeling is extraordinary … I beleive virgin nature is only available in pakistan .. totally untouched :k:
wah. Kia maza aya to see your pictures and most of all to read your comments. Bahaut khushi mili, NaasPeeta, shukriya; you always have interesting posts Masha’Allah. Yes please post more pics if you have any (errrm, hehe, only if you don’t mind and it’s not too much of a hassle). There are some parts of Pakistan that, literally, take your breath away. And you will always find some of the world’s nicest, most generous people in areas like this. Bahaut interesting aur achay pictures hain Masha’Allah, thank you soooo much for posting them.
naaspeeta that was wonderfull yaar!
I realy enjoyed you tekst and snaps.. :)
next time I go to pak for a long period, you should come too, hamme ghumaana... my family is bhulakkar in this.. :)
hehe hehe,
if I say ghumaane le challo,
they take you for one day to Lahore and say, wo eek din le kar ghaye the na...
well this is the real sair sapaata I think.
It would be interesting to write up a travalogue and put it in the appropriate forum …for those guppies who would like to know the routs u followed …places u stayed …prices …etc so that they can plan there own trip when they come back to pakistan.
Nassiii !!! you made me really really sick today these are really nice pictures yar,
today it all had reminded me my trip to whole Pakistan… sigh* me my friends and friendsniaN , we have been to all these places , so many memories so many laughs in those valleys and rodas, I still can smell and sense them in those pictures which I have with me, in those songs which we were listening all the time, in those smells, oh man you littereally have made me sick today! I am feeling home sick now, I wanna go back there, I don’t like usa, I love Pakistan
cuz I know my sisters very well .. I knew once they go out with me .. they won’t do anything and I’ll become a full time porter + waiter + driver + Guide + everything for them .. additionally they’ll squeeze out everything from my pocket and I’ll be left with a 5 rupee note in the end 
wese we were missing our big brother and his wife 
pleajeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
office mein kaam nahee kerte, pakistan jaatay hayn toh shumali ilaakon ke sayr sapaatay 
THATS the Pakistan i wuv 