Swat Valley & Kalash Valley (Chilam Joshi festival) trip - May 2014

Road Trips / Vacations / Hiking / Trekking

2014

Tags: #<Tag:0x00000009857a38>

Wanderlust (Wanderlust) 2014-05-28 10:43:05 +0500 #41

I was waiting for this thread Sufian. Your time at Chitral must be awesome though I doubt about Swat. Last March I returned from Swat the very next day...may be my eyes were looking for Swat of 1990s.

arfanmahmood1 (arfanmahmood1) 2014-05-28 11:00:31 +0500 #42

My comments are same as others :). I am waiting for your thread and another fast and furious thread

aks_e_ahmed (aks_e_ahmed) 2014-05-28 12:24:19 +0500 #43

Finally end of waiting nice details and osm pics of zabardast trip mubarkan

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Xoofi (Xoofi) 2014-05-28 13:00:41 +0500 #44

Around 4:30 we were off Motorway through Rashkai interchange and reached Mardan. I didn't know much about Mardan other than that the famous cricketer, Younis Khan, belongs from here. Mardan was an awesome city, well built roads, well built infrastructure, stores of famous brands. There were many schools, colleges and universities. We didn't take the bypass but instead traveled through the city (as the bypass was very long shown on map). Here are a couple of pictures of Mardan city..

Xoofi (Xoofi) 2014-05-28 13:10:37 +0500 #45

As soon as we were leaving the limits of Mardan, we spotted many roadside vendors of Strawberries. Seeing the bright red strawberries, we couldn't control our taste buds and had to brake to purchase some.

Like all Pakistanis, we also insisted to try one before buying. The vendor's kid took a strawberry out of his basket but as soon as he wanted to give it to us, his father interrupted him and said.. Ruko, ye nahi, ye dosra wala try karo.. We smiled because we knew very well that the father is old player..

The strawberries were sweet. Literally the word sweet is perfect, there was no sour taste at all. We immediately bought 2 kg strawberries out of which 1 kg was consumed right away standing at the stall

Besides the strawberry stalls, there runs an old railway line which is probably now abandoned. As soon as I saw a railway line, my love for Railway woke up and tried to take this artistic photo (although didn't turn out to be as good as we see on internet ).

After a brief stay at strawberry stalls, we moved again...

Xoofi (Xoofi) 2014-05-28 13:22:46 +0500 #46

We crossed Takht Bhai, Shergarh (horrible because road was under construction and traffic was jammed) and then reached Dargai. There was a big Army checkpost at Dargai. It took almost 15 minutes to get through the long queue of cars.

Ahead of Dargai, suddenly the road takes swirl around the mountain to reach its height (known as Malakand Pass). Other side lies Batkhela. It was almost evening now but still the visibility was good. We soon reached Batkhela and then Chakdara from where one road leads to Dir and Chitral, while the other takes you to Swat.

Traffic jam at Shergarh

Vendor of Sehra..

Malakand Pass

Xoofi (Xoofi) 2014-05-28 13:25:59 +0500 #47

Thanks a lot Sir. Really nice to see your reply. I enjoyed both at Swat and Chitral. I am sorry for your recent experience at Swat but you may call it good luck or a bad luck that I had not seen the Swat in 1990s. So for me, it was a unique experience as well May be we might be able to know your 90s experience sometime in your flashbacks in some future thread

Xoofi (Xoofi) 2014-05-28 13:27:33 +0500 #48

Thanks brother. InshaALLAH speed 3G balkay 4G kee koshish hai

Thanks Aks.. Tu narrations to parhta nahi.. pics hee dekh lena.. wese agar time milay to zaroor read karna narrations. I'm writing these with a lot of "mehnat"

ism1 (ism1) 2014-05-28 15:06:25 +0500 #49

hum hyn na janu tamam narrations read karne k liye, tension makka waa

Xoofi (Xoofi) 2014-05-28 15:43:21 +0500 #50

Nawazish..

usmanshafqat (usmanshafqat) 2014-05-28 18:02:20 +0500 #51

fit pictures... aanay do aur tasveerain

mansoormajeed (mansoormajeed) 2014-05-28 19:36:56 +0500 #52

Going great Bro.... Enjoying it ....

amusama (amusama) 2014-05-28 23:40:19 +0500 #53

Aoa
Masha Allah again thrilling tour
You r the fastest and furthermost very good and descriptive narrator
Always enjoy reading yr thread

ALLAH Hafiz

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versitian (versitian) 2014-05-29 02:59:46 +0500 #54

lagta hai sufian bhai ko nazar lag gaii hai..

abhi tak thread ki opening post par "THREAD COMPLETED" ka board nhi laga..

mtmoghul (mtmoghul) 2014-05-29 04:14:09 +0500 #55

Zabar10 trip, Amazing pictures.
Also your narrations are very interesting, that i am reading all these....
A big thumps up..!!

naveed479 (naveed479) 2014-05-29 04:23:57 +0500 #56

Very nice trip with good narration as usual,always inspired from ur way of expression.Thanx

Xoofi (Xoofi) 2014-05-29 06:03:36 +0500 #57

Now it was getting a bit darker after getting on to Bahrain road from Chakdara. Soon we hit this spot which is apparently known as Shamozo Bridge (looked up later on Google). This beautiful monument and a beautifully built Shamozo bridge invites you to stop to have a look. We relaxed there for a few minutes, ate some snacks (nimco in that case).

Meanwhile I was thinking to stay at Mingora but Bashir told us that he has a friend in Bahrain and he has already arranged a hotel for us there. So we must continue to Bahrain. Google maps showed a long long route.. we were also a bit tired but all agreed to continue..

Beautiful monument near the bridge

Shamozo Bridge

Locals trying their luck in River Swat.

Xoofi (Xoofi) 2014-05-29 06:16:53 +0500 #58

After that it was pitch dark. Different towns were coming and going. Some people in car were plunging to sleep. An army or police checkpost would come after every 20 minutes or so. We chose Mingora bypass, crossed Charbagh and decided to have a tea at next town which arrives.

The next town that arrived was Khwazakhela. It was now 9 PM when Khwazakhela came. We got off the car and entered a hotel. Ordered some tea and it arrived. A big layer of "Malai" was floating on tea's surface but I don't like "Malai" on tea so asked the guy to bring a spoon so that I could remove it. Then, Waqas, told me that this is not "Malai".. take a sip and you won't regret.

So I took a sip and yes I definitely wasn't disappointed. It was coconut (Copra). I was drinking such tea for the first time. Trying local food and drinks (halal) are always my priority so this gave me a real good experience. The bill for 5 special tea was only 100 Rupees. Couldn't get any better than that.

After stopping for hardly 20 minutes at this tea dhaba.. we got fresh and continued towards Bahrain..

Khwazakhela hotel for tea

Special coconut tea at Khwazakhela.

shahidutz (shahidutz) 2014-05-29 06:24:46 +0500 #59

Mashah Allah Thread is going very well so curious to know more about those places.

Xoofi (Xoofi) 2014-05-29 06:34:39 +0500 #60

Finally we reached Bahrain at 10 PM. Bashir's friend also came at Bahrain and led us to the hotel. It was Grace Hotel almost at the end of Bahrain town. We got a big room with 4 single beds and 1 mattress. After getting fresh, we immediately proceeded for dinner (in a different hotel, named Sangam Hotel). Our host was also accompanying for the dinner. The dinner was "Namkeen Dumba Karhai". Sounds delicious just by the name of it.

I ate so much that day. Although I don't like Goat or Sheep meat at all but that day.. all the phattay were chakday After dinner, our host went to his home and we retired to our hotel.. Next day plan was to visit Kalam of course. Our host told us its not wise to take our car there so we should hire a taxi in morning. Keeping in mind, we all went to sleep quickly.

That's the end of DAY 2...