Welcome to Day 8 
Today was a special day ..... i took proper shower after 7 days lol 
But the water was cold in 'garam hamam' and had to live with that
It was a bright sunny morning and ideal weather for going to upper Neelum Valley.
It took around 75 min to take shower, change clothes, wrap up the luggage and doing breakfast. Quite quick as compared to previous many days
We were on the road around 8:30 a.m. I went to backseat to take shots easily in all directions and the suggestion came from Qari sahib
Lots of people were waving at us to stop and give them lift or a seat for per head fare as the jeep was empty. Qari sahib handled this and in next 3 days, he used to stop for selective persons to give them lift who according to him were looking 'shareef' hehe
Nothing much between Sharda and Kel except lovely scenery all around. We gave first lift to a person who was a mechanic and was repairing a vehicle 20 min before Kel. He wanted to go back to Kel to pick up some stuff for his repair work.
We were stopped at a checkpost before Kel. Me and Qari sahib were guessing who would be called by army guys. He called both of us and entered our particulars in register. The poor guy wrote Kohat for Kuwait for me and Qari sahib went like ROFL
A big problem in Dowarian was that there was not a single PCO in the village and the PCO at Sharda was out of order :S So, the first thing i did after reaching Kel was to make a phone call back home and i told them my rest of the routine as well.
Then resumed the journey and crossed Kel to start the "Paradise Route" ..... Kel-Taobutt
Today, i clicked the highest no. of shots in any one day ... 675 So friends, this will be quite a long day
We passed through a few villages. I had marked certain points to stop on this route and first was Janwai. I wanted to take village shots from above but this whole village is cut-off from main road by kind of fence and stone walls.
I checked with a local and he told where to look for entrance into the village but that area looked very private with lots of houses so i chose not to go in. Then we stopped at a water stream just after Janwai and took few shots there.
Next destination was Valley above Phulawai 
We took the detour from the main Neelum valley road and went towards unknown destination without any knowledge what we will discover.
The first thing we faced after a few turns was .... Warnings by locals not to take pics 
Their style of warnings was very familiar yet awkward for this particular area of North of Pakistan. Later we came to know that we have entered a valley which was populated by Chilasi (Kohistani) people who crossed the passes from Astore side and settled in this valley. This was their 3rd generation living here. I discussed the issue with Qari sahib that pics have to be taken so what is the way out ???? He said lets stop near any local. We stopped at a shop and a young boy and an old man came out. Qari sahib started the chit chat which was not much welcomed by them. Their expressions were like they didn't like our presence but Qari sahib used his vast knowledge about "Deeni Taleem / knowledge of Fiqh" and related "Madrassa" and "Alim" stuff. And soon, they toned town and the young boy happened to be one of the students of madrassa about which Qari sahib had enough knowledge
So, life became easier and their attitude changed at once. They gave us permission to take pics but not of women or houses and also offered us lunch once we come back
But we thanked them and started clicking again on our way forward. We got name and locality information of the people in case we had to quote reference.
We completed 6.3 km of jeep track out of total 8 km and then road started to descend into the valley so we decided to turn back. This is actually not a road but a very rough stone path which is rarely used by jeeps as there were no tyre tracks.
The valley expands after jeep track and there is a pass called Sarwali Gali which can be used to enter Rattu area. The Chilasis in this area used 2 routes to come into Kashmir.
1- Sarwali Gali
2- Kalapani Pass
I had knowledge of a Kalapani pass but that was on Taobutt and Kamri side but these Chilasi people told us about a new route to enter Kalapani area and this new route is between this valley and main Neelum valley I have marked that route with a green arrow in the following map.
So, after getting lots of new information we came back to main Neelum valley road. This area needs lots of exploration as there are few lakes visible in Google Earth at the end of this valley.
For the time being, i will call it Seri Valley as Seri Bala is most well known village in this valley and is at the start of it.
Now we started the normal routine of passing through Sardari, Halmat and Lower Taobutt. I really liked 2 locations which are not usually mentioned in this routine:
1- Karim Abad: This is between Halmat and Taobutt
2- Saonarr: This village is across Neelum river between Phulawai and Sardari. It gives an amazing backdrop view of the rising valley up to LoC. There is a bridge as well connecting both ends.
We gave 2nd lift to a school going kid Ghulam Yaseen who is resident of Taobutt bala.
We were again stopped at Halmat by army and they kept our ID cards. We continued the journey and kept on clicking
Reached Taobutt at 2:30 p.m. Earlier, i was planning to leave for Kel the same day but when i saw the beauty of the area, i decided to camp here and then leave in the morning.
We had lunch at the hotel in Taobutt. There we met a person who was kind of lost. I will tell the very interesting story when i will share the pics
After lunch, we climbed up the hill behind Taobutt hotels and went ahead to explore the villages above. We did a 2 hour walk and came back from Gagai nallah side. Ghulam Yaseen was our guide and his company was very interesting
We pitched the tent and shifted luggage inside the tent. Then after maghrib, i rested for an hour or so. Afterwards, me and Qari sahib started a night shoot at Taobutt and had some light painting fun as well
For dinner, we used the Freshmate packs with chapatis from hotel. There i met another very interesting character; an aged person who seemed to be jeep enthusiast from Pindi. His name was Raja Amjad Sultan. Long story which i will tell with the pics hehe
Finally went to sleep around 12 a.m.
Night Stay in camp at Taobutt Bala
