Plucked Snippets

Before I continue with part 3 of travel diaries, discussing Kashmir in all its magnificient beauty, I took some help from Wikipedia  so that you can understand the region better. 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...

So travel diaries II is here after much procrastination. In part 1 I talked about the initial prep so you didn't miss much, but if you want, you could still go back and give it a read. Now comes the fun part of when the actual travel starts. We opted for the train to get from Karachi to Rawalpindi/Islamabad, because we wanted a nice scenic view. It was almost a 26 hrs ride approximately. Greenline is a nice option if you prefer train over plane. So we started our journey from Karachi Cantt station at 10pm, had dinner around 11 and since we couldn't really see anything outside due to dark we slept around 12. Our inflatable pillows were a blessing right then, also a tip - you might want to get your own pillows (inflatable) and light blankets because otherwise you have a choice to rent them from the train but I mean, my OCD factor kicks in then and I prefer my own bedding. We woke up for Fajr, prayed in the train, a fun fact or not so fun fact is the washrooms where the noise le...

Hey you guys! I realize it has been a long time since my last post, but Im back with stuff which you will hopefully enjoy, fingers crossed! I have been planning a family trip to the colder areas of Pakistan ( I did'nt say northern because these areas are not actually strictly only in Pakistan) for quite a few years but unfortunately it was always something or the other & the plans always ended up cancelling. But finally, this Ramzan ,May 2018, after long planning, we decided on a 10 day trip to Kashmir & few other areas . Now 10 days don't sound a lot, but you will actually get to know  how much we actually experienced in that time period.I will break this travel diaries post in a few parts,starting from prep, which will be helpful for you to decide on what and how to pack, packing lightly somewhat, and tell you all the fun and useful tid-bits incase you plan these locations for your next trip. So starting from Clothes . The temperatures were obviously lower than Ka...