After filling up the petrol tank from a nearby petrol station we began travelling to Islamabad, travelling a few kilometers we entered the most progress and well-developed city of Pakistan the Islamabad. The wide roads surrounded by lots of trees make this city more fascinating and attractive. Moving around on these wonderful roads we reached Rawal lake. Rawal Lake which covers an area of 8.8 km? is an artificial reservoir that provides the water needs for the cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. The primary water source of Rawal Lake is River Korang along with some other little streams coming from Margalla Hills.
Rawal Park, adjacent to Rawal Lake is also an excellent spot for a picnic and lots of people visit this place daily especially in the evening during hot summertime. We have been to Rawal Lake and Park many times, thus we have no plan to stop here at this time, so from Rawal Lake, we went travelling on Muree Road toward the famous Banigala. Banigala is a beautiful residential area in Islamabad at the foot of Margala Hills but is more famous in Pakistan because of the presence of residential palace of Imran Khan, an ex-cricketer and a prominent political leader. Reaching Banigala before Bhara Kahu we took a left turn and started travelling on a paved but narrow road going up on the Margalla Hills, called Shahdara Road. This route also goes to one of the largest Universities of Pakistan ?Quaid-e-Azam University?. Along the side of this road is Quaid-e-Azam University Botanical Research Garden and the staff residential colony, there were many University Buses going to and coming back from University providing a nice travelling service to the pupils and staff of the University.
Situated along the road and subsequently traversing the University there is also National Institute of Psychology and National Centre for Physics. This route travels up along the hills with green plains on both sides of the road, this forms the journey toward Shahdara itself beautiful. In some places the route is narrow with a mountain on one side and the water stream on the other side, each vehicle has to pass over these narrow places one by one.*
Covering nearly half way from Banigala, we stop at a local eatery to buy some bread (Nan) for our lunch and then went on our journey once more. After travelling for nearly an hour and a half from Rawalpindi (Shalay Valley) we stop at a very beautiful place, this is a lush green valley surrounded by mountains on both sides and cold water stream flowing in between.
