Dear pakwheelers
This year I decided to go to previously unexplored region of Azad kashmir i.e banjosa and tolipir. the travel dates were 13th to 17th may. Now i would like to share my experience for those who wish to travel to new and exciting places this year, as my trip with family was outstanding, comfortable and full of scenic beauty. The ride was Santro 2004 model with custom power steering. Details are as follows:
May 13th day 1
left for faisalabad.. we three members (me, wife and two year old son), two more members were to join from there... had CNG cylinder removed so lot of trunk space... apart from clothes and stuff we had a mini cooking cylinder, frozen food and other kitchen items for cooking, tea etc.
lahore shaikupura to faisalabad road 180km, car average 17.5 km/l started 7pm reached 9 15pm, fuel cost 1160/-
May 14th day 2
rained cats and dogs in FSD and my son health put us in doubt, yet we decided aggainst the odds to continue with journey... now 5 members and trunk full of useful items left for lahore isb GT road at 7 am.... since on petrol and on budget and 1000cc car so i prefer to travel via gt road instead of motorway which has double fuel expenses plus 100 km extra... fsd shaikupura road is in good condition but shaikupura- gujranwala single road is painfully bad condition. tood us 2.5 hour to reach gujranawala. had tea after gujranwala cantt... crossed rawat at around 1pm and turned right towards islamabad highway... again refuelling (fuel cost 2220/- for 350 km)again truned right towards kahuta (1.30pm) took us one hour to reach kahuta... the road reminds me of hasan abdal - haripur road.... had a road side lunch (picnic style)
offroad...
reached rawalakot at around 4.30... via azad pattan... a patch of road is in bad condition overall quality of road is fine... mountanious terrain starts right after kahuta and then it is all ascend....
rawalakot was in bad shape due to rain... did some shopping ... and turned right towards banjosa... asked local how much time more and reply was always half hour... yet it took almost one hour to reach banjosa..
. (6.30 pm)..
had a prior booking for tourist lodge (government fixed rate 1600/-) lodge was in great shape so was banjosa... although could not enjoy due to sunset... used the lodge kitchen (regrtted later on as they demanded 200 extra for using kitchen and we had our cylinder alongwith) and had chicken karahi (we had frozen in hot case) for dinner with fresh chapatis. lodge is few meters away from banjosa
Day 3 15th may
breakfast at 9... visited and enjoyed banjosa with bit of stuck in the middle of nowhere adventure...
started for tolipir... 1.5 hour drive... all ascend (mostly first gear) and scenery is on right side (driver side).... toli pir reminds of sri pye but here the view is better yet at sri pye the grassy ground has more charm... anyways car took us there... with one or two difficult spots.... again had frozen food in use... fresh chapatis we bought from kahi gali from where three roads leads to banjosa, rawalakot and tolipir.... tolipir offers a fantastic view... snow capped mountain (supposedly gangachoti) and a deep valley in view...road to tolipir is fine... road from kahigala to rawalakot is under construction...
stayed at tolli per for three hours... left for rawalakot at 4 and reached at 5.30pm... previously it was decided that we shall go to muzzafarabad via bagh, sudhan gali and chikar yet locals said this route is dangerous must go via kohala... so we had a prior booking for tourist lodge at paniola, a town we had no idea about.... spend an hour in rawalakot _ reached paniola in almost 45 minutes... a local advocate and a famous person Mr Mumtaz helped us find the tourist lodge... he also offered us to stay at his home.... paniola is a non tourist city and that is what i liked about it... the tourst lodge offeres a faboulous view with neither smell of diesel nor khaba program as in naran....peaceful, quiet and all natural. ...lodge was old but comfortable...
Day 4 16th may
left paniola after breakfast......paniola was way above the stream.... (shahi nullah) coming from rawalakot and going towards jehlum at dhulkot... yet after few minutes at arja we found our selves level to stream... crossed the bridge went off the road to enjoy the stream... had already finished our frozen food so bought some pakora, rice and chicken currey along with some salad and potatoes from the market... took almost 1.5 hr to reach dhirkot... the bazar was rushy... right away started ascend toward neelabut.... went off track once but reached a beautiful place... reache neelabut in 30 minutess. (although through direct route it is 10 min hardly).... neelabut is at height and the surrounding valley view is best i have seen anywhere.... one get to see layers and laeyrs of valleys down beneath... at the top most point there is a yaadgar (neelabut is historical in freedom of azadkashmir) and tourist lodge... we did not had prior booking...loved the place so much that dropped the idea of muzafarabad and decided to stay there. the person there was not friendly as well... we called Mr Malik Tariq (Assistant director tourism rawalakot) to took advice. he guided us to stay at tourist hut in dhirkot.. (few meters above neelabut road).... huts were good and economical... (600/-) had lunch in neelabut... had bbq at night ... visited neelbut almost two times and a park as well...road from rawalakot to dhirkot was one of the best we had experienced in journey... even better than GT road... had 1000 rs (9 liter) refueling from dhirkot PSO
Day 5 17th may
this is return day... again visited neelabut.....enjoyed the beauty from top... tried to capture (but failed) in camera... took multiple panorama clicks....went to forest rest house in dhirkot to see the biggest and oldest tree of that area...had a half and hour hike in jungle one of the most exciting (reminded me of the lords of rings, seemed like trees would start talking)....started descending towards kohala.... road was in bad shape... took almost one hour to reach kohala.... enjoyed but the kohala picnic spot at river jehlum.. i dont like the fact that place has become so commercialized that you cannot enjoy the river bank without standing in those khaba tents.... road from kohala to lower topa is again in bad shape... took almost one and half hour to reach lower toppa... saw wild boars on way... experinced a bit fo drizzle (first during the journey) and then slowely descended on muree expressway at it was wet.. reached isb by 5... started from pindi to lahroe at 6... reached lahore and home by 11... had a dinner in driver hotel on way...
the journey was very excited... one may not get to see very high or extremly snowcapped mountain but the greenery, landscape is bewitching.... interesting thing is that althoug area is populated yet not commercial... so neither they try to empty your pocket nor you see beggers....
total expense was almost 17k... fuel expense was 8500, total distance travelled 1245km... car average almost 15.1km/liter... had a silencer damage on the way to rawalakot day 2 which turned engine sound into sport car....
lodging expense was (1600 x 2 = 3200+200 = 3400 banjosa, 1600/- paniola, 600/- +100 tip = 700 dhirkot)
food expense (2000 almost on way and rest was home cooked)
contact : for booking in rawlakot region tourist lodge... one may contact Mr Tariq Malik (assistand director tourism)+92-(0)-5824-920123 03455738908, 1600/- is the official rate for tourist lodge at paniola (gul muhammad 03445005117 ) banjosa (Shakeel 03465935117), koyian, ghori mar, tattapani in rawalkot region and suddhan galli, dheerkot (Muhammad Arshad 03005800657), and neelabut in bagh region...
now enjoy the clicks
