Travel diaries III
While Kashmir is disputed, each region is described as part of the country which has de facto control.
Pakistan has Gilgit Baltistan & Azad Kashmir region. Azad Kashmir has a population of four million. It is a self-governing territory controlled by Pakistan. It borders the Indian-controlled state of Jammu and Kashmir to the east (separated from it by the military control line between the Indian and Pakistani-controlled parts of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir "Line of Control").A devastating earthquake hit Azad Kashmir in 2005 centered near the city of Muzaffarabad. It was the eighteenth deadliest earthquake of all time and aid teams from around the world came to the affected region to assist in relief. ( more on the earthquake later).
There's no railway station as of yet but there're two airports in Azad Kashmir, in the capital city Muzaffarabad, and in Rawalakot, but unfortunately currently both of them are closed therefore its not possible to fly directly to Azad Kashmir. The nearest major airports are located in Islamabad or Rawalpindi.
While by road is the only way to get in Azad Kashmir, traveling by road to Azad Kashmir is itself an attraction as you come across the most beautiful scenes of winding rivers and hills. Practically, Azad Kashmir can be easily approachable by road from all nearby cities of Punjab and buses leave from Islamabad approximately every 20 minutes for different destinations in Azad Kashmir, but the most commonly used routes are from Rawalpindi to Muzaffarabad via the beautiful hills of Murree (140km).
Now this is where you should totally be confident if you want to travel these roads ( pun intended). These roads are some of the deadliest & scary roads, I kid you not.So now we were on our way, travelling on long winding roads of Muree express. These roads are actually good with a couple of hours traveling ahead & temperature drops as you go higher but not uncomfortable cold. There was this guy whose bike actually slipped right in front of our bus, the bus driver hit the brakes fast & the bike guy was saved thankfully, it was quite scary. After approximately 2 hours or so, we exited Muree expressway & the roads from now on were a nightmare. It should be aptly named Blindspots way!
After our bus journey ended, we had to hire a Jeep for carrying us onwards, but between finding one & continuing forwards, a good 4-5 hrs were wasted so by the time we started travelling again, it was nightfall. This is where I warn you to never ever make the decision to travel at night on these roads!!
They are hardly even roads, more like a rough strip & on top of that, there is a fast flowing river on one side & mountain ditches or mountains on the other side. There are a few scarce houses over the top of the mountains & a lack of phone network signals- all of these factors equaling to no help incase you come across some problem on the way.
Neelam Valley is a long river, possesses scenic beauty, great panoramic views, towering hills on both sides of the noisy river, lush green forests, enchanting streams and attractive surroundings. Another great river is the Leepa Valley which is full scenic beauty as well. It has high mountains covered with pine trees covered with snow during the winter season. Due to security reasons, you have to get official permission before you can go to Leepa Valey , we did'nt went there because the roads were twice as bad as what we aready travelled on.
We were going higher and can see on the mountain, a teensy light, which we were told by the driver were ,The Pak force's fire range , and more low we go, that was makbuza Kashmir ( the part of Kashmir possesed by India- makbuza literally means occupied).
We stayed the night at a motel we found after traveling for around good 4-5 hrs,somewhere on our way & stayed the night there.
Even though our destination was Taobutt at the moment, but we had to stop along the way because it was raining heavily and night time was upon us aswell, and we ended up stying at Kale. We woke up super early in the morning, like their Fajr azan timing was 3:00 am! We were tired to the bone due to travelling for almost the whole day, we slept at 7 after we found the hotel and had food. Temperature dropped during the night and I had on 3 layers plus a headscarf plus shawl. Fleece blanket the other blanket. 2 socks. Morning brought some serious Brrr vibes with it! This was probably the first one of the two places during the trip where we were freezing and since Karachites understand the pain of not having real winters, the excitement of having smoke/ vapor due to cold, coming out of our mouth was something quite fun! Im guessing the temperature in the morning was around 5 degrees or below.
We headed out at 8:00am from Kel after breakfast ( Sidenote- some local Breakfast of the champions, aka, Anda Paratha & chai is a must before you headout every morning. You can't just stop easily and find a place to eat if you get hungry on the way. Keep snack s with you, but nothing too heavy as the car moves and twists might make you nauseous.Facilities like hot water which we very easily take for granted, are only available in few places & these people probably need them the most.
After travelling for God only know how many hours, we finally reached Taobutt.
The hotel that we found in Taobutt was a gem! They had just finished with all their furnishings and fittings and it just started functioning only a week or so & it was in a pristine condition , plus the view was spectacular. Owner was a very nice man, who took time to talk with the guests and was actually very politely asking the guests suggestions about his hotel. After we setled in, had some food, we decided to roam around and explore the surroundings. A few feet from the hotel was the river, a bit of calmer and shallow water, turning to deep as you go forward. They had their very own little vegetable garden where I actually saw potatoes growing above the ground and not below it! This was by far the best hotel we got the whole trip & I will strongly advocate and suggest that if you visit the area, make sure that you stay at the place, its serenity and beauty was beyond words.
We stayed for 2 days at this hotel and enjoyed the place alot. After that, we started travelling back, (point Z to Y)
After spending two days, we left Taobut at 9:28 am the next days. I saw some beautiful yaks for the first time in my ife which we came to know are used for weight lifting on these mountainous regions. In this area, Neelam lakes level is reduced because India just made Krishan ganga dam over it.
One thing that you should be very cautious about is the number of few per vehicle. The roads over which these jeeps are travelling are already were narrow and slick, and overloading the vehicles can result in fatal accidents. If the maximum capacity is 4 to 6 persons, and the driver insists on adding more people
or tells you a cockamaime story about that reducing the cost, don't travel with them or decline them in very clear words. Its not worth the risk, and this happened to one of the overloaded jeeps that passed us. Their car slipped in the flowing river with no survivors.
After travelling for a good amount of time, we ended up staying the night at Upper Neelum. Keran was the point where we planned on staying previously but it was mostly camps and we wanted a motel/hotel room. Travelled from 9:30am- 6:30pm to reach there.
This is where we started our journey back to Muzzafarabad . Saw Neelum Jhelum hydropower project on our way, before that our driver pointed us out this bridge going down the mountains, think of mountains on both sides and green plains in between them, the bridge is where the India and Pakistan part of Kashmir is mountain ranges seperated, this is where relatives/people from 2 sides come to meet each other. It opens one day every 2 weeks but has been closed as of now due to political relationships disruption.
The plan now was to go to Muzaffarabad & then Naran & Kaghan region. We headed out from Muzaffarabad at 8:15 am and reached there around 12;15 pm.Muzzafarabad was hot like Karachi.
After having lunch, we travelled forward and reached Balakot at 4:04 pm.
The next destinations were Naran & Kaghan valley.
One of these two goofs is yours truly, both having the time of their lifes!
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