Day 1, 11aug 2014 Rawalpindi to Balakot
Day 2,12 aug 2014 Balakot to Shogran
Day 3, 13 Aug 2014 Shogran to naran
Day 4, 14 aug 2014 Naran to lulusar then back to Naran
Day 5, 15 Aug 2014 surfing in local market and area in Naran
Day 6, 16 Aug 2014 Naran to Balakot
Day 7, 17 aug 2014 Balakot to Rawalpindi
Car: Honda city 2010 manual (Petrol)
Persons: me, my wife and two kids ( age 6 and 3)
Restriction: jeep travelling due to Appendice operation
Petrol filled up in : Mansehra,Balakot,naran
Petrol pump: Lot of petrol pump in Abbotabad, Mansehra
** * * * * * * * * * * * *Balakot:3 (shell,caltex,Pso)
** * * * * * * * * * * * *Balakot to naran: 1 unknown
** * * * * * * * * * * * *Naran: 1 PSO (fill up only 1000 rupees petrol)
Area. * * * * * * * *Bank. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *ATM
Balakot. * * * *UBL,Allied,bank al islamic. * * * * * * * * * * * *Yes
Shogran. * * * * * * Nil. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *Nil
Naran. * * * * * * * *Bank al islamic. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Yes
Medical store: yes in balakot and Naran
Precaution: if you are travelling with kids must take few medicine and child pampers,no matter if child is old enough, my son got diarreha sort of thing with fever in last day
Important fact:before leaving home i checked my car's tyre pressure and kept it on 29, but leaving *naran when i checked tyre pressure it was 39, i told to guy that u might have problem in your gauge, he insisted that gauge is ok, in addition he also told me that almost all car showed high pressure when reached to naran, i couldnt understand the reason at that time because pressure get high with temperature, but in naran it was quite low temp then why its showing more pressure, later on i realised that when in pindi checked the car it was empty, and in naran when i checked it,my family were sitting in,plus luggage,which cause to increase the pressure, so keep it mind this fact, now i dont know pressure to be checked when car is loaded or empty,for this reason please consult to expert.
Day 1 (11 Aug 2014): *We wanted to go toward gilgit site but as PTI and PAT jalsa was onward plus shortage of petrol and sealing of petrol pump we changed our plan to naran site, i filled up my car's tank and also took one extra cane of 20 ltrs of petrol, before leaving i searched almost all petrol stations on net from pindi to balakot and confirmed petrol storage by calling them, i was very scared before leaving house as those days situation was not good at all, i was travelling with my family specially kids so was very worried that if i dont get petrol and stuck some where then what would happen,but staying whole week was also not good idea, any way i took Allah's name and left house, luckily i got shell pump on peshawar road rawalpindi and filled up my car's tank, guy also filled up extra cane, though it was not allowed that time for security reason secondly just one night before i visited near by petrol pump but came back with out filling tank by seeing long queue.
We left rawalpindi at 10:00am and reached mansehra around 01:30pm, took lunch at food hut,filled up tank,then left for Balakot we reached there in one hr. started searching good hotel but found PTDC motel much better then any otherSo stayed there, its was my first long drive plus searching hotel took lot of time, so we decided to stay in balakot, though it was not recomended by senior PW to filled up tank from balakot but as i didnt want to take risk so filled up tank again in balakot.Here i would like to add one thing which i didnt find in any post that havilian to naran road is two way means single road.
distance from pindi to balakot:176 km (driving time 4-6hrs depending on traffic)
Ptdc Room tarrif:2700 but with 10%discount we got it in 2430
Wifi: Yes
Room: good (best in balakot)
Secure car parking : Yes
Service :very good
Tv: yes with many pakistan channels
Food: ok
Genereator:yes
Hotwater: yes but in morning time
Fan: yes
Car cleaning: Yes (i used to give 100 rupees)
Security: police post is just infront of motel
Other info:
Pine hotel offered 2000 room rent with bargaining
River side hotel: 1500
I have seen many other hotels near river side as recommended by seniors but frankly speaking those all were not good, plus they were charging*almost*same amount, for guys its ok to stay in cheap hotel with less facilities but if you are travelling with family then my suggestion would be to stay in PTDC motel.
In night stay i collected *informatin about Shogran, they said any petrol driven car can reach there,depend if driver is expert.
Day 2 (12 Aug 2014): we left balakot ptdc motel at 11:00am and reached shogran at 12:30pm, balakot to kaghan road is much better then road from pindi to balakot.
I was very scared to go to shogran as locals told me road is not metaled, plus quite narrow, i also found same but once you started climbing you feel its not that difficult, you need to turn off car AC, dont try to drive car in big gear, try to climb in first gear, when you see any vehicle coming down, control your speed or park your car on safe side so you will not have to reverse, normally car which comes from up give you space so your car momentum not disturb, if you are a car lover then dont go to shogran as on many places car touch from bottom, but not so hard its same as car normally touches when we go from high level speed breaker in city.road is mixture of rough patches and semi metaled*
Befor leaving ballakot i collected information about hotel in shogran, list of good hotels are
Pine park
Lalazar
Afaq hotel
Lahore hotel
First i went to pine park hotel as its one of the best hotel there, he offered me standard room rent 7500, after bargain come down to 5000 which was also very high so i went to check other hotel,then went to afaq hotel he start from 3000 and then finally came down to 1500,guy also offered me cottage in same price but room was quite dark and bed was quite uncomfortable so i went to Lalazar hotel, it was quite good hotel with max facility, plus good car parking, he started with 3500 and finally came down to 2000, if any one with family want to stay in good family/budget hotel he must stay here.
My family enjoyed all near by areas,there in evening time you could walk in cloud as it norammy come down, couldnt go to siri paye due to jeep resriction
distance from balakot to kiwai to shogran : 24 +8 km (driving time 90 min*depending on traffic)
Lalazar Room tarrif:2000
Wifi: no
Room: very good
Secure car parking : Yes
Service : good
Tv: yes with many pakistan channels
Food: ok
Genereator:yes
Car cleaning: Yes (i used to give 100 rupees)
Balcony: yes with good view
Hotwater: yes but in morning time
Fan: No ( always cold or comfortable weather)
Emergency light were also available which can turn on with tv remote.
Day 3 (13 Aug 2014): left shogran for naran around 11:00am, reached naran at 01:30am, going down from shogran was also not easy task, i kept my car in first gear all the time to minimize load on car brake plus to limit the speed,do not try to save fuel by nutralizing the gear, as life is more important then any thing else, from pindi to naran and back to pindi mostly you haveto drive your car in lower gear, i am also a fuel consious person when drive car, all the time control my foot to minimize fuel consumption but on this tour i didnt pay attention to fuel economy but still at the end of day i got 12.5 km/l.
As we were much satisfied by ptdc motel balakot so with out wasting our time we directly went to ptdc naran, i was quite disappointed by seeing its condition, though they covered quite big area but not well maintained, as i wanted to stay with out wasting time so i was fully prepared for any kind of tarrif, though i shocked when he offered standard room for 5050, even then i was ready to take this room, when he showed me room there was no tv, room was like a barrick, i wanted to keep updated myself for current situation for going back so tv was must, secondly when i asked for extra pillows the person who showed me room very rudely replied these are the pillow which you can see, i rephrased my req but again he replied same,when i came back to receiption and asked for tv, he said better you take another room which has tv, and he offered me that room for 7 thousand+, i told him in taunting way, you mean i have to give 2500 for tv, which i can buy if stay for three days, he replied yes,by seeing that sort of behaviour i left ptdc motel and start searching of other hotels,here i would also like to mention about car parking of ptdc, which was also not good and as i love to keep my car clean all the time which was not possible there due to sand blowing with air, i went to jheel (lake) road and first hotel which attracted me was sayyam hotel, and lot of good cars were parking in their parking area,guy on receiption offered me room for 7500, i cud feel the hotel atmosphere by its launch and floor, which was excellent,finally with lot of coversation with manager and talking with him in pashtu i got a very good room in 3000 rupees, but i dont think that my pashtu played important role in reducing the tarrif but situation did, as it was 13 aug and on 14 imran and tuq jalsa was planned so most of people stayed at home due to uncertain situation,other wise it was peak season for them. Sayyam hotel was not less then 3/4 star hotel, room was excellent,service was marvoulous, hotel produce their electricity by water turbine so no elect problem, plus they have generator for back up
First day in naran we visited river side, we were not sure where to go for better view of river, so we went entering point to naran, where my family enjoyed river cold water by putting their feet in it but frankly speaking i didnt like the spot, as many jeep drivers, local transporters, and some not decent people were watching us, later on we found much better area for enjoying with family, its 1-2 km away from my hotel on julkhad road, lot of decent people with their family were there.
distance from shogran to Naran:66 km (driving time 2.5 hours*depending on traffic)
Room tarrif: 3000
Wifi: Yes
Room: best
Secure car parking : Yes
Service :excellent
Tv: yes with many pakistani/ indian channels
Food: good
Turbine: yes
Genereator:yes
Hotwater: yes all the time
Fan: no ( cold weather)
Car cleaning: Yes (i used to give 100 rupees)
Security: FC post just infront of hotel
Day 4 ( 14 aug 2014): we planned to go to jalkhad/lake lulusar, left hotel around 10am, road was quite good, mostly carpeted, few patches were not good where you have to drive car on quite rough surfaces but good thing was major road repair and contruction work was going on, i was scared first because of my car as city has low ground clearance,but i safely managed and reached to lulusar with out damaging my car, on few places my car touched ground but its very normal, as same thing i experienced many times while driving in the city, when i reached to jalkhad i found nothing new there it was same like naran so didnt stayed there and directly reached to lulusar lake which was worth to see, we stayed there for some time, took snaps and then return back to our hotel,during this passage i found many children running with my car asking for money, and if area is where you have to reduce car speed you will face bunch of children stuck with your car and some time hitting car windows, which definately you will not like, but normally you encounter with such children after jalkhad and on very few places,even if you like to take some snaps these children gather near your car,by travelling till lulusar i found its also not difficult to travel till babusar top and to chilas in august, road was quite clear to travel till chilas, this is what i collected information from local, but what actually problem is there i dont know about it, if you have plan to chilas via naran road please consult with expert PW.
Most important thing do not travel in evening toward or from babusar as area is not safe any more,there are people who stop your car in the middle to snatch valuable from you,i think these snatcher were doing same thing before as what other children of the area are doing now,means asking for money,we as a genrous people used to give them money,and made them to get easy money,and now as its not possible for them to ask so they started snatching and looting people.
Any way come back to point, if you are only travelling to lulusar from naran and ladies are with you, please keep in mind that you will hardly find any toilet on the way.lalazar visit was also in my plan *but local jeep driver told me big No,he said there isnt any thing new which you would like, plus road is quite dangerous.
Distance from naran to lulusar lake: 50 km ( driving time 2.5 hours)
Day 5: ( 15 aug 2014): we stayed in naran took my family to local market where my wife purchased some bed sheet, shawl,also asked dry fruit price but were quite expensive,for shopping i took simple formula what ever they says divide it by two and then agree on 60% ,means if they are asking 1000 rupees for any thing it means cost is 500 rupees, even in 600 its not bad. I also tried trout fish which is very famous, what printed on menu was 3500/kg but after bargain he gave me in 2500, (imagine you also have to bargain in dhabba restaurent) which i think still quite high actuall price was some where 1500-2000, and i will not recommend to any one to taste trout fish, i didnt like it all, as i spent my all life in karachi, tasted sea food, so trout fish does not stand any where, simply wastage of money in bold words, in naran remember one more thing that they only gives 1000 rupees petrol, they will not full your tank untill you dont have good connection, your hotel manager might help you getting more petrol.
Day 6: (16 aug 2014) : left naran for balakot,we left hotel at 11:00am and reached balakot at 01:30, stayed in ptdc motel,i didnt want to take risk by long driving because of apendice operation, so was staying on many places one who doesnt have any medical condition can drive in one go, and to save hotel and food expenses.
That day we explore balakot bazazar which is quite small, we bought dry fruits from there, i bought almond,pista,cashew nut, and pine nut, shop keeper put every thing in plastic shopper and give it me, i didnt check from there to my house but when i reached to home and checked 2 kg pine nut were missing,it cud be incident that i forgot pine nut there in his shop or he delibrately remove it while i was busy in watching other thing but it cost me 3500 rupees loss.so please be careful dont do such mistake which i did.
Distance from naran to Balakot: 84 km driving time 2.5hours
Day 7( 17 Aug 2014 ): left for pindi, reached pindi in 4.5 hours,if you want to travel to balakot or back try to cross that area in early morning time as its single road, and because of transporters,local area transport, and tourist this road become very slow, you can easily save upto three hour if you travel just after dawn.
Picture 1: Balakot valley
