Salam to all fellow Pakwheelers.
I visit the Travel and Tours section a lot and read up amazing traveling stories of fellow pakwheelers. Earlier this month I got the chance to travel to Quetta from Lahore for official business and it was a fantastic trip. I was able to visit Ziarat and that truly was the cherry on the top for me. I was a bit skeptical before departing for Quetta but after spending a week there I can surely say that people of Balochistan are the most hospitable and friendly people in Pakistan and we should visit their land more often and explore their culture and admire the breathtaking and amazing landscape present there.
My Journey started at the Allam Iqbal international airport.
The forecast for Quetta was clearly indicating that it was going to be a chilly week.
I was flying on a SereneAir Boeing 737-800. SereneAir has been operating domestically for the past 2 years and the flight duration was 1 hour and 20 mins. Due to overcast conditions I was expecting to see plenty of clouds and I wasn't disappointed at all !!
We landed at Quetta International Airport and the temperature outside was 7 C. It was also very chilly due to windy conditions.
First task was to check into a hotel. I wanted to be close to the city heart and so checked into Hotel Qasr-e-Naz which is on Jinnah road. The room charges were 2500 Rs and the hotel was ok. The room had the usual tv, fridge, ac but the most important thing was that they had running hot water 24/7 which of course was a necessity considering the cold weather.
I explored the city for a couple of days and went to places like Prince Market, Meezan Chawk, Al-Naseeb dry fruit (highly recommended), Dawood shopping center. Also had the chance to visit BUITEMS which is a multidisciplinary university on the Quetta bypass. I was highly impressed by the University infrastructure and programs.
Close to BUITEMS is a very good restaurant named " Takatu Nights ". The food was excellent and the atmosphere was amazing.
Another amazing place is the Dubai restaurant in Kuchlaq. Their specialty is mutton joints.
Next on the list was trip to Ziarat and this was the best part of the whole journey. We departed on the Kuchlaq- Zhob highway or N50 and then took a right turn on the Ziarat road. The road is ok with few patches where its a bit bumpy but overall its very drive-able and I noticed that there were a lot people who had come from Karachi and heading to Ziarat on their private cars.
Upon reaching Ziarat, snow was awaiting us and the temperature was around 0 C. The chilly winds made it even colder but its an amazing place.
and obviously the trip would have been incomplete without having a pitstop at the Quaid's Residency ...
I came back to Lahore on the 5th of Feb but will definitely be heading back again and next time it shall be a road trip. Pakistan has amazing landscape and it is my dua that May Allah SWT keep this land of ours safe and give us prosperity. Ameen
