Day-3 (15-07-2017)
At 08:00 AM left Kabir wala hotel Bakhtawar to travel towards Islamabad. We decided to visit en-route Khewra salt mines. To save time, we decided do not stop for breakfast. As advised by my colleague, We choose to travel through shorkot, Toba tek singh, gojra road to reach at Faisalabad motorway. On the way we stopped for a while at Toba tek singh for refueling. From here I bought some cakes and juices. Biscuits were already available. We ate cakes, biscuits and drink juices after that we did not require breakfast.
We made one stop at Islamabd motorway for only few minutes. Our next stop was M2 Bhera rest area, here we stopped for lunch and rest for some time to refresh ourselves.
After launch it was 02:30 PM. Again now we were on M2 motor way after some 15 minutesâ drive we used interchange to exit from motorway and after passing through under pass we were on Khewra road. It is an average road with some bumpy patches; I used to drive like these roads in my home town/village so no terrible for us. After some 30 minutesâ drive we reached at Khewra. Excess road towards salt mine were in very bad condition. The good thing was that, repair work was in progress. It was difficult to drive car like swift till mines parking but I took some risk and drove my car till parking area.
Purchased entry passes of train. We wait for some time for train, as it returned from mine, visitors seated and it dropped us inside mine. There was guide with train visitors to provide us a guided tour of mine. This was our first experience to visit salt mine. Really, it was impressive to see such a huge mine of salt. Temperature inside mine was quite relaxing; I was feeling freshness in my breath. Salty air is healthy for lungs. Salt mine is well ventilated and guide told us environment of salt mine is a natural cure for Asthma patients. There is a small hospital setup inside mine for asthma patientâs treatment.
One of my sons bought salt lamp. After visiting we returned outside on same electric train. At around 05:00 PM we left khewra for Islamabad. I already booked Larib-inn hotel through my friend. It is located on Rothas road G-9 Islamabad. As we left motorway to go towards Kashmir highway, there was bad traffic jam on way due to construction work on road. We reached at our Hotel at around 21:30 PM.
Hotel from outside was looking good. I approached to reception and inform them of my room reservation. They show me rooms in hotel basement which were very smelly, I rejected these. First they told me that only basement rooms are vacant and ground floor rooms are full. When I informed my friend regarding the room situation, He gave me a cell number of hotel employee who resolved the room issue and rooms were given to us on ground floor, which were quite good. We booked rooms for two nights but these rooms were given to us for one night only. Hotel receptionist told us that these rooms are already booked for tomorrow, therefore if I want He can shift us to a nearby guest house which also operated by them. I said him we will see it tomorrow. Our one hour was wasted in hotel lobby due to above problem.
After shifting into room, we got refresh ourselves. Now it was around 23:00 PM and when we went to hotel restaurant for dinner, it was being closed.
Now we decided to go to savour foods Jinnah Avenue but it was too much over crowded. Children were demanding some fast food so we went to nearby chinking fast food outlet. We order a family deal, which included burgers and broasst. Taste was good, we all liked food. After taking food we went back to our hotel and slept well.
Hotel Laraib-inn room charge was Rs: 2800/= per room with one free mattress.
