My plan was to travel by car on 10th Sep 14. In the afternoon of 9th I got a few calls telling me Multan is under a serious flood threat so either i should go today or wait a week. Hurriedly, I packed my stuff which was a lot of load (all breakables, delicate electronics) since I have permenantly shifted to Karachi. In my hurry i packed my camera charger alongwith battery so disappointly i was unable to do the photography. Here are a few facts for those who intend to travel on this route in near future.
Figures
- Car : Swift 06 (automatic)
- Passengers - 02 (myself and my son)
- Distance about 1600km (rounding off)
- Fuel Average : Approx 15 kmpl (with AC) .. (day 1 : 15.5kmpl, day 2 : 14.9kmpl and day 3 : 14.6kmpl)
- Travelling time : 23 hrs (including roadside stop-overs)
It was a three day journey, so next is a daily account
Day 1 (9-9-14): Islamabad to Lahore via Motorway
- start time from NUST H-12 : 8pm
- reached Lahore exit at thokar niaz beg at 12 midnight while stopping twice for tea and snacks
- Average speed 120km
- Distance about 370km (from Kashmir Highway, Isb to thokar niaz baig exit)
Points of concern (nothing noticible happened but these are general precautions):
- driving at night on motorway make you sleepy
- beware of vehicles tailing you
- do not interact with people at stop overs
we stopped for the night at Lahore .. so i'll omit that part and start over the next part from Multan road
Day 2 (10-9-14) : Lahore to Pano Aqill Cantt (750km approx)
- start time : 6am at thokar niaz beg
- Travel time : 11 hrs including stop overs
- Average speed - 80-90 kmpl
- travel time (excluding stop overs):
- upto Multan by pass (320km): 4.25 hrs
- Multan By pass till Bahawalpur bypass (95km) : 1.25 Hrs
- Bahawalpur bypass to rahimyar khan bypass (200km) : 2 hrs
- RYK to Pano Aqil Cantt (135km) : 2.5 hrs due to bad road stretch of about 30 km
- Points to note
- Leave early to avoid traffic at start of lahore plus highway police has a nasty habbit of speed checking at odd places but usually they don't show up till 9am and their favorite area is between multan and lahore
- Taj is a good chain of restaurants on highway with good food, service and reasonable rates
- every major city or town has a bypass use it to save time and hastle
- do not travel in dark hours in Sindh
- last 30-40 kms was a bad road patch so be prepared for left side overtaking in most of sindh
- Long haul trawlers take a sway to avoid bad patches with no consideration to the speed of car coming from behind .. rather at some point i was quite convinced that they intentionally break your speed ... beaming while overtaking helped at times even if the trawler and trucks were going in their lane
- Dogs in punjab have better road sense then dogs in sindh, literaly no joking, probably since there is more traffic in punjab
Day 3 (11-09-14)
Pano Aqil Cantt to Karachi
Distance some 500km (490km till Malir)
start time : 630 am
travel time 8 hrs including stop-over
average speed : varied with road condition first 80 km were really bad with single lane driving
Road improved at 35km short of hyderabad by pass .. then the superhighway was good but the strong wind and bumps off filled patches restrict your speed to 100-110kmph
Points of concern
- start early to avoid heavy traffic
- left over-takes are a must to maintain speed and average
- i used every under construction road patch to save time otherwise initial 80km was a mess due to single lane traffic, follow the hiace wagons where there are traffic jams or long lines
- do not tavel in dark hours in sindh except for super-highway
- Taj restaurant at Morro was good but the staff was cunning so beware of what u order and what u pay for and the rates written in menu