Besham

By mid-noon, the Karakoram Highway further up north of Mansehra was said to have cleared of obstruction already, but only upto the small town of Besham.

Besham is about 40km away from Mansehra only, but any distance covered meant we were closer to Fairy Meadows. Anyhow.

Couldn't wait to check out of the room anyway.

The journey was a slow and enduring one; with the road still full of loose stones and partially flooded at many parts.

The road was not yet officially open, and vehicles were not supposed to proceed any further on the Karakoram Highway due to safety reasons like further land slides or rock falls i supposed. The roads at some point looked pretty disastrous to me.

Eventually, our vehicle was stopped by the police when we were only about half way through to Besham. Vehicles started turning back and there were many people waiting by the roadside.

We were feeling rather helpless, being dumped at by the roadside as our vehicle that has brought us there began heading back in the way we came. We turned to the police but they all insisted we should go back to Mansehra as well. But the strange thing was some vehicles were allowed to pass but the majority wasn't allowed to. So what does the desperate do? We started to flag down those that did and managed to hitch a ride to Besham. Yay!


Vehicles couldn't proceed any further

 

Police stop

Two men picking and loading the rocks onto the trucks manually

Managed to hitch a ride

The disastrous state of the highway

Besham was the furthest we could go, as the road ahead was totally destroyed.

Besham is another small town with all shops and guesthouses situated by the highway.

News of foreign blood arriving in this small town spread rather quickly and we found ourselves face to face with the chief police inspector of the town within hours.

He advised us to stay in this little town till the road ahead was cleared, which might take up to a week! That was what he advised. Following which, he then ordered his 2 armed policemen to follow and protect us wherever we would go, and that includes crossing the street to buy some neccessities like toothpaste and paper. Imagine the attention we were bringing with the 2 armed guards. It should be rather hilarious, if not for the situation we were in - stranded in a small town with a serious shortage of food, unknown as to what lies ahead due to the broken roads and bridges.

The inspector's house

Houses nearer to the Indus River destroyed

We stayed in Besham for 3 nights and the inspector kept feeding us news of people dying and roads collapsing which made us feel rather helpless and trapped. There were no way we could use the Karakoram Highway, even on foot. At this point, we were rather anxious because our 20 days visa was slowly making its countdown and the last thing we wanted was to go back to where we had came from.

On the 4th day when everything seemed rather bleak and we were wondering how freaking long more we were going to stay stucked in this small town feeling food-deprived (at this point, i was rather desperate for some real food like meat after nearly 2 weeks of only lentils and bread) and totally devastated with the current situation of the Karakoram Highway, we saw 2 Dutch walking on the Highway! heading towards where we were at Besham. Without a word, we ran like sprinters in a marathon would approaching the finishing line hahaha and i thought for one moment they think they were going to get mugged. They said it was possible to cross the highway by foot and by arriving at this town, they had also proven their point, we didnt waste any more time and went back to the guesthouse and packed up within an hour and then checked out.

Basically, we all had the opinion that we were being fed news of all the dangers because all the hotels proprietors just wanted us to stay there so they have the revenue from our stay.

Screw the inspector, did i mention whose nephew is the hotel owner.

Our personal guards

Mansehra

By now, it was already the peak of the monsoon season in Pakistan. Media and news showed nothing but floods and landslides, deaths and missing people, with an occasional insert of killings and suicide explosions in Pakistan.

This particular year, the monsoon was exceptionally heavy, with the amount of rainfall being the highest in decades. Villages totally washed out by the overflowing river, bridges that collasped and pipelines broken, cutting off supplies of food and drinkable water.

Pakistan was officially declared into a state of emergency.

Moving on from Rawapindi, Naran was the next stop but news from the bus operators said  it was inaccessible due to broken bridge.

With the Naran route out of the itinerary, the next destination would be the Fairy Meadows via the famous Karakoram Highway also better known as the KKH, which was about 200 km away.

Karakoram Highway is the high road to China, which was blasted and bulldozed through an intractable landscape of raging rivers, deep ravines and high mountains in the 60s and 70s. It is a 1200km marvel of engineering and a symbolic collaboration between Pakistan and China. The Karakoram Highway follows a branch of the ancient network of trade routes also known as the famed Silk Road.

However, on the day of departure from Rawalpindi to Fairy Meadow, the Karakoram Highway was declared out of bounds to vehicles due to damages caused by the raging rivers and rock falls.

We were very much trapped in Rawalpindi.

But we had to try somehow to get out of there anyway. Went down to the Bus terminal and managed to get a bus to Mansehra (70km away) cos that was the furthest any vehicles could go.

Mansehra was just another village by the Karakoram Highway that has nothing of interest to tourists. The only thing worth seeing perhaps was a set of edicts inscribed by King Ashoka 2200 years ago.

Town of Mansehra

Many sections of the road flooded

Interesting sight?

The worst room  ever, paradise for the bed bugs

Taxila

Taxila is one of South Asia’s richest archaeological sites, with ancient cities excavated.

In 326BC Alexander the great stopped here en route to India, and in the 1st century AD the Kushans built their city here, with Taxila the cultured capital of an empire stretching across the subcontinent into Central Asia. It was the birthplace of fusion of Greek and Indian art, and also the place from where Buddhism spread into China.

The entrance fee for the museum is 200 rupees, and entrance to all 7 archaeological sites cost 200 rupees. The 7 sites are dispersed within a radius of 2km, so you could just choosea few to visit which was what we did. Hired an auto-rickshaw to ferry us for around 400 rupees.

Visited Dharmarajika, Sirkap, Mohra Moradu and Jaulian and were immediately archaeologically- saturated. It was definitely interesting to see but its just another case of “when you have seen one, you seen all”, with a lot of the architectural designs being rather similar.

Took the train back to Rawalpindi and the train was rather empty.

Monastery with dozens of closet-sized meditation cells

An orderly walled city in the 2nd century BC. The idea is nice, but what’s left is rather disappointing; most buildings were just reduced to a few feet tall walls of stones

The Museum. Home to many old artefacts

Healing Buddha with a circular hole at his navel. The hole was intended for worshippers to place their finger in when offering prayers against certain bodily ailments. According to popular relief, some illnesses are effectively cured by merely touching his image or calling out his name.

Rawalpindi

Rawalpindi - think it was one of the most demoralising days in Pakistan, the twin city of Islamabad (capital of Pakistan) which was just 5km away. Both cities were commonly viewed as one although neither city is a major tourist spot at all. Taxila was the purpose to visit here, which was about 30km away.

After reaching Rawalpindi from the Khewra salt mine in the evening, i got so sick i thought i was dying :(

Took a taxi from Pir Wadhai bus station to the Saddar Bazaar, where all the cheapest guest houses were gathered. The taxi ride cost 120 rupees.

Upon reaching there, the guest house we wanted to stay was closed down. And coincidentally all the cheap guesthouses in the vicinity were strangely full as well. No one could take us. At this point, i just wanted a freaking bed to lie down.

Didn't see any foreigners around at all but strangely there were just no rooms available?
Was left with no choice but to approach the more expensive hotels, and fortunately, got a positive answer.


But for just 5 minutes. what's unfortunate was upon checking our passports, we were told that we couldn't be taken in by the hotel because there was a fine print on our visa that says ”Not valid for restricted/ prohibited areas”! We did not even noticed that such a clause exists, much less that we were in a prohibited area! Holy shit. Despite requesting to stay for just one night, the guy was rather adamant that we leave.

Waited for about 30 minutes before we managed to get a taxi for 100 rupees to Rajah Bazaar, another area with more cheap guesthouses. A huge rip off, but i was dying soon anyway so i really couldn't care less.

We went into the first hotel called Seven Brothers Hotel but was told straight in the face that they were full as well. Such big hotel with all rooms filled?

And after what seemed like eternity, we had to sit there and act all pitiful and fill in some forms (for foreigners only) which the manager took ages to find because apparently they havent used it for decades. Somehow, they could come up with a free room just like that. It was crap. They had the rooms, they just didn't want to admit any foreigners.

Thank Allah!


Finally.

Nothing much to shout about this city, i was't feeling that great most of the time to appreciate the place and really, it was just another city.

The city

Typical attire for men in Pakistan. Not sure what the women wore, hadn't come across any on the streets

Not sure if you need a spanner, hammer or gun? Fret not. This shop caters to all your needs. If  this shop is not enough, you can find a whole load of similar shops in the same street just by the Seven Brothers Hotel

And finally, sleep!

A typical Pakistan meal

Khewra

Getting from Lahore to Khewra wasnt as straight forward because it was off Grand Trunk Road, the main road to Islamabad.

We had to ask for buses to take at the bus terminal but most of the people there didn't understand English at all. And to make matters more frustrated, the people loved to crowd around us whenever we tried to talk to anyone; they find foreigners interesting. After much pain and even much more hand gesturing, finally found a mini van to Lilla, the closest from Khewra that they could stop on the Motor Way and from there we had to take another van for about 40 mintues.

The overpacked minibus

The entrance fee for the salt mine is a hefty US$10 or 800 rupees. Freaking expensive considering it was such an isolated sight.

The mini train that brings you into the cave where the deposit of salt is situated. You can walk for about 1km or take the train for 20 rupees.

The tunnel built by cutting through salt

Salt crystals

A tower made completely out of salt brick

:)

Lahore

In 1947, partition ripped through the heart of the original Indian Punjab state, with the new border slicing between Punjab’s two major cities – Amritsar in present day India and Lahore in Pakistan. It was clear that Punjab contained all the ingredients for an epic disaster and the resulting bloodshed was worse than anticipated.

Massive immigration of population took place, with the Muslims fleeing northwards to Pakistan and the Hindus and Sikhs rushing down the south to India; the trains crammed with Muslims were intercepted by the Hindus and killed, while the Hindus and Sikhs suffered the same gruesome fate at the hands of Muslims as well.

By the time the Punjab state chaos had subsided, more than 10 million has changed sides, the most in present day migration. It was estimated about half a million of people did not make it.

Although Lahore is not the capital of Pakistan (Islamabad is), it won hands down as the cultural and artistic hub of the country.

Stayed at the Regale’s Internet Inn, the most popular choice of accommodation in Lahore. There were no rooms but just dormitories available. The Inn is okay with the friendly owners to make up for what it was lacking in.

The dormitory

Coming from India, was feeling rather meat and food-deprived after going 'vegetarian' for almost a month. I was estatic when we heard from Chen that there were really good barbeque stuff around the town and so... We went to Gowal Mandi, aka Food Street in Lahore and all the roasted chicken and kebabs we could find were all at our mercy that evening. hahahaha. I sound like some food deprived meat eating cannibal here uh. But a girl gotta do what she have to do and it was eat! Little did i know Lahore would be the first and last town in Pakistan where we could really get decent food.

And we experienced real hospitality the first day we were there.

A man invited us to his shop for chai (tea) while we were on the streets and even offer to buy us food. Then he began asking why we came to Pakistan despite all the bad media coverage by the press and started going on about how good Pakistan and Islam really is. And then finally when we were leaving the shop, we were stopped by a young group of men again and they offered to buy us chai again, and also paan (leaf wrapping some spices). Didi i mention that it was really obvious that we were foreignes because basically there no tourists at all which was realy great because i really did enjoyed the non-touristy feel of Pakistan. And so, we attracted attention everywhere we go or whatever it was we were doing and that included just sipping tea at the local teahouse.


Later that night with some of the travelers at the guesthouse, we had had the opportunity to see and experience Sufism, an ancient practice that coaxes the person performing it into a frenzied state. The person in question will sway and whirl vigorously, shaking their heads as they gather the momentum while at the same time, beating the drums to a highly synchronised tune. And you probably won't get to see it just by wondering the streets yourself. Our driver had to get contacts and drove us to a few places before we actually found one in action.

Lets just say its was the most amazing yet surreal experience that i ever had.

First sufism was for this baby

This man is deaf but could play the drum perfectly by sensing the vibration of the sound through his belly

The man starts spinning at a really fast speed just after a few rounds



We were welcomed like royalty, with flowers and front row seats. The whole works :)

The auto-rickshaw driver drove us around the towns into the backstreets and poked his head into every corner searching for one. Luckily for us, we found two Sufism respectively; one was for a family’s baby birthday celebration while the other for some family occasion. At both celebrations, the crowd was ecstatic to see tourist visiting their private celebration. The hosts treated us like royalty and the rest of the people who were present couldnt stop snapping pictures and videos of us, especially me, well because there were no females present at all. At the first one, all the females were made to hide behind a sheet of curtain while the whole performance was going on, god knows what they were there for when they couldnt even see a thing. At the 2nd one, there were no females present at all it was actually intimidating. Mar and me were the only ones. 

At first it was kind of head dizzy fun, with everyone pushing against us, trying to get a glimpse of us and even to dance with us. But then, things started getting albeit too messy too chaotic, and there came the shoutings and men with guns and rifles actually started appearing to control the crowd. Then i think our balls shrunk a little, if i had them ;)

At the second sufism we attended, we were all seated on the stage instead of the front row. The stage! Imagine that. Whoever watch a performance from the stage??? We were all put onstage with some other people, apparently theVIPs. Reckon the host family was trying to show off that their celebration was visited by foreigners.

For the next 2 days, we visited some other places in Lahore too.

Badshadi Mosque, which can hold up to 100, 000 people. There was a room that housed the hair of Prophet Mohammed too . Though it was less than 1cm long.

Landa bazaar, where all stuffs sold here are used stuff.

Lahore musuem. It was quite impressive, considering many of the artifacts on display are dated back to the stone age. Its not surprising as it is near the root of the Indus civilisation.

The Lahore Museum

The famous Fasting Buddha

Streets of Lahore



Landa Bazzar