Road Trip Across Sindh & South Punjab (December 2014) - [KTG]

[Xoofi]

We thought to take help of GPS in finding a fast food restaurant but couldn't find any.. so started road mastery and got onto the same city-highway link road as GPS was showing several restaurants there. Surprisingly all of those were Karhai and BBQ type of restaurants. Finally after getting dis-heart we decided to stop at Cafe Sajawal to eat whatever is in our fate.. but the hotel owner was very good person and he guided us to a fast food restaurant which was surprisingly less than half kilometer from our hotel (but on different side). So we thanked him and moved to the fast food restaurant.

Soon we reached there. This restaurant had a unique name.. "Hot Chicks". At first glance I thought we have reached some wrong place but it was the correct one.. It was quite a big restaurant and modernly built.. we were really hungry as we had skipped lunch.. so we ordered zinger burgers + chicken pieces and sat in upper hall waiting for food.

Adeel & Danish pointing towards hot chicks

Waiting for food.

Hall

[cursedd]

Awesome Thread. Really Enjoyed it!

[Xoofi]

They took too much time in serving food. What kind of fast food it was which was taking that much long Finally the wait was over and we were served our dinner. But we can say that it was worth the wait.. The taste was superb and their chicken pieces were as good as famous chain.

We had a sumptuous dinner there and then came out of hotel. It was too cold there, we warmed our hands for a bit at bonfire created by security guard of the restaurant and then headed towards hotel..

P.s. All the photography during eating is Adeel's ( @aks_e_ahmed ) as I was busy in eating

[Xoofi]

Awesome Thread. Really Enjoyed it!

Thanks a lot bro Only a little is remaining

[Xoofi]

After reaching hotel, we all slept one by one as we had to wake up early next morning.

Next morning I woke up around 6:45 AM and then started to wake everyone up one by one Its always tough to get out of warm blankets especially in winter season. Everyone got fresh one by one.. and we checkout the hotel by 7:30 AM

Mansoor sleeping sound

The double bed.

Taala shuda TV

[Xoofi]

As soon as we stepped out of hotel, dense fog greeted us.. This was the very first day throughout our trip when we were encountering fog. Anyway, we started our journey slow and steady. @mdani (Danish) was on the steering and was driving very carefully. Soon we got on highway, where we were going by following the brake lights of front car after maintaining a safe distance.

[Xoofi]

Soon we entered Sindh by crossing the Punjab-Sindh border at Kot Sabzal. We decided to stop for breakfast so that fog might ease by then. So we stopped at a random road side hotel for breakfast at Ubuaru.

As we parked our car, the hotel owner chacha gave us a room which was surprisingly very warm while it was too chilly and cold outside. We then went inside his big kitchen to check what was available..

Here a funny thing happened, me and Adeel took out our cameras to take the pictures of kitchen but the hotel owner confused us as some media people and said.. bhai aap log media se to nahi ho.. aap log hamaray bhai ho And we were like,, nahi chahca fikar mat karo, we are not going to hurt your business

[Xoofi]

Soon the wait was over and breakfast was served. The parathas were excellent and so was the daal and the chanay. We had a great breakfast followed by hot karak tea in this warm room..

Waiting for food

Finally served

[Xoofi]

After breakfast was done, we started our journey again. It was 9:15 AM and fog was still there. So we went slow and steady..

After breakfast, fog still there..

Trusted partner throughout the trip..

This is also sugarcane transportation method..

[Xoofi]

At Daharki, the fog has subsided a lot and the visibility was very good. We were for the very first time in our journey intercepted by policemen at Daharki checkpost. They stopped us.. checked our papers.. and finally found a flaw as usual... isharo wali copy (Highway code book).

He told that you will be fined 1700 Rs Meanwhile Danish phoned some of his father's friend who is also in high rank police department. That uncle got us out of trouble for just 100 Rs chai pani and we continued.

By 11:15 AM, we had reached Rohri bypass where we stopped for a refuel. We decided to take the Mehran Highway again instead of National Highway due to road conditions..

Whole time I was calculating how much I could win

[Xoofi]

From Khairpur, we got onto Mehran Highway, once again GPS helped us while navigating through the city. As we were travelling on Mehran Highway, we passed through Kot Diji Fort which is visible from road. Adeel ( @aks_e_ahmed ) was not with us while going so he missed the chance to visit it. He tried to capture few pictures from moving car though

Now we were relaxed going and stopped using GPS as thought this is straight road now.. it was a mistake.. At kumb, we had to take a left road but we continued straight, soon we hit a road which was totally jammed by heavy traffic and the boards said Ranipur Riyasat. I immediately turned the GPS on and found that we have again reached National Highway at Ranipur Riyasat and the road was in bad shape.

Instead of continuing on National Highway, we took a u-turn and reached back to Kumb to travel on Mehran Highway. Luckily it was just a waste of 20 kms or so..

The Kumb-Ranipur road under construction

[Xoofi]

After getting back on Mehran Highway, we were stopped by traffic police at a checkpost near Jhango Wassan. He first said, tum to fancy number plate use kartay ho And we were like..bhai ye kahan se fancy nazar aa rahi hai.. Origianl to abhi issue hee nahi hui.. Then his next objection was.. Acha isharo wali copy nahi hai.. challan ho ga

Meanwhile Mani stepped out of car and just told his full name while shaking hands. As he was a Syed, the traffic police guy immediately returned us everything and asked to go.. and just give anything from own's will. So we gave him 100 and moved. In interior Sindh, people really respect Syeds.

We then had a small fresh up break near Daur (2:45 PM) and continued towards Nawabshah.

Fresh up break before Daur

[Xoofi]

As Nawabshah was approaching, we all were hungry. Danish offered us lunch but in fact it had to come out from his friend's pocket in Nawabshah

We soon reached his friend's ZONG franchise in Nawabshah. His friend's name was Mukhtiar Bhai. While they both were talking, I immediately scanned the surrounding and this area seemed familiar to me. I saw the fire brigade building and immediately recognized.. oh gosh there is my friend's courier franchise in front of fire brigade building. I went to the franchise and my friend Shabbir bhai (with whom I went to 2013 Gilgit-Baltistan trip) [ Here is the thread URL ] was there. He was stunned to see me. We had a brief talk with him. He came back from Kund Malir, Pasni, Astola Island and Gwadar trip couple days back. In fact if I had not planned this Sindh/Punjab trip then I would have joined the Balochistan trip with Shabbir bhai especially for Astola Island. He invited us on tea after lunch.. and we then moved with Mukhtiar bhai for lunch..

After a tummy filling lunch, we all said thanks and goodbye to Mukhtiar bhai and left Nawabshah. Said sorry to Shabbir bhai for tea as we were short on time. Our next stop was Hyderabad city to drop Danish.

Me with Shabbir bhai in front of his courier franchise in Nawabshah.

No halka hath

Group photo with Mukhtiar bhai

[Xoofi]

Nawabshah to Hyderabad journey was event less except for the talks related to whole tour.. the jokes that happened throughout the trip.. and other memories we wrote for ever when we could recall anytime when ever we meet

We reached Hyderabad at around 7 PM and dropped Danish near his office and then continued the journey towards Karachi..

Saying goodbye to Danish at Hyderabad

[cursedd]

Thanks a lot bro Only a little is remaining

Acha abi aur rehta ha, wese konsa aesa moment ha jo capture nai kia?

[Xoofi]

We got last refill just near Jamshoro and continued the journey towards Karachi. Once again the journey was event less except the chit chat and finance calculations. We reached Karachi (Mansoor's place) at 9:45 PM. My bike was parked there so took it.. left Adeel at Labor camp and reached my house by 10:30 and that was the end of the trip..

In this trip, we all chose the places which are normally overlooked by travellers. We gave them 6 days. And Alhamdulillah all the members were really like minded and in whole 6 day trip we never had any difference or bad mouthing. And also the weather was totally in our favor.. InshaALLAH I would love to travel again with same fellows as I really enjoyed travelling with them.

Last refill at Jamshoro

Finally reached Mansoor's home

---- FINISHED ----

[Xoofi]

Acha abi aur rehta ha, wese konsa aesa moment ha jo capture nai kia?

Bus hogya pura.. ziada se ziada capture karnay ki koshish kee hai

[aks_e_ahmed]

Wah larky cha gaya wonderful thread osm trip really enjoy each and every moment of it (y)
Few pics not visible kindly check
Post # 268, 269, 262

[versitian]

[/QUOTE]
yaar ye pic tu send kr day mjhay.

[versitian]

Akhir kaar the long awaited thread come to an end.

Superb story writing and photography as always. i also would like to travel with the same travel mates. Thanks to you for making this trip more memorable with lots of enjoyable moments. free stays, free meals. etc

i would also like to thank @mdani for his wonderful company through out the trip. he is really a gentleman indeed.

In the end thanks to adeel @sheikh al ahmed for his joining in bahawalpur and due to his jolly nature our trip got added 4 stars.:D(char chand lag gye)