“Pakistan🇵🇰~We Are in the Kashmir Region”
“What a Year this Day Has Been!”
We started out strong, driving from Abbottabad to Muzzafarabad. Not far out of Muzzafarabad, heading to Neelum Valley, we were stopped by the police and Daryl was interviewed. But, we were allowed to continue. Unbeknownst to us, a Pakistani man from the checkpoint, later spent a lot of time catching up with us, after news of the rain conflict surfaced. He was on his motorcycle for a long ways from the police checkpoint. By the time we reached the dam along the Neelum River, this man and our driver had a chance to speak.
Unbeknownst to any of us, bombings and fire fights had just broken out between India and Pakistan in Kashmir; in the Neelum Valley, where we were at! There has been no serious issue between the two countries in this area for 13 years, but today was the day, that changed. Civilians, including young children fell victim to the conflict, as well as a Pakistani Doctor. The local on the motorcycle told us that he felt responsible for us, as guests in his country, so he was following us to offer assistance as a guard. He wanted to encourage us to go no further for several days, till the fighting settled down.
We definitely did not want to continue on and heeded this strangers advice. So much, in fact, that we turned around and headed back to Muzzafarabad, got a room thanked our driver, which ended our agreement with him, and he left back to Abbottabad.
Kashmir is not what we thought it would be at all. Nothing to do with the conflict, but more about our surroundings. While the Neelum Valley is pretty, the town to stay in is not. Perhaps in the spring when the mountains are green and the Neelum River has more water flowing, it would be better looking. For now, the air quality is not good, and the nearby burning and firefight is not helping the haze, which is bad, without that going on.
There is a contradiction that this Valley was named after a precious stone called Neelum. Neelum Valley is located in the Kashmir Region and to the North and Northeast of Muzaffarabad. Snowstorm covered mountain, which are over 13,000 feet higher than sea level, it contains about 370 large and small villages. The valley has thick forests, streams and rivers. The Valley is dipped in most amazing beauty and attracts lots of tourists from within the country and other foreign countries as well.
The district of Neelum Valley starts around 27 miles from Muzaffarabad. The area is also famous for its mineral mines, where the minerals are being transported to other cities in Pakistan.
here is also LOC (LINE OF CONTROL) where relatives can cross the bridge and can meet their relatives on the other side of the bridge twice a month.
This land also has many local fruits which are of great taste including Apples, Apricots, Walnuts and Plums which are famous. A large number of tourists visit it in summers. The whole Valley offers fascinating and beautiful scenery. There is also a mountain called “Sarwali,” which at 20,754.59 feet above sea level, is one of the highest mountains in Azad Kashmir.
The Valley include lush green forests and high altitude lakes makes the surrounding quite enticing. The snow capped mountains and the fast flowing Neelum River has some people believing they are in a part of Switzerland. The river is also famous for its fishing and it has Trout fish in abundance.
We are feeling like we have gone as far North as we can in Pakistan. We are glad for all we have gotten to see, but, just as I was concerned about, here we sit in a room where the power has gone off and no generator. It’s very cold and no heat. The internet does not work well, nor does our 4G. We feel a bit stuck in a town that is not for us.
We shall hatch a plan tomorrow, and figure out our next move. Hire another driver and go back south, somewhere? For now, we are weary and looking forward to sleep. The roads we traveled today were really rough. As far the crow flies, the miles are not great, but the roads and turn the 20 miles to Muzzfarabad into three hours. 20 more miles got us into Neelum Valley, for another four hours. Daryl was in the front, I was in the back for seven long hours.
Good night from Pakistan 🇵🇰
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About Us
Hello and Welcome to our Travel Blog Website, We enjoy writing about our experiences and taking photos of our adventuring along the way. Our names are: Daryl and Pen, but Daryl calls me “Bunny.” We met, quite randomly, whilst both… Read More