“Pakistan 🇵🇰 ~We Are Experiencing the Epitome of Off-the-Beaten-Path Travel in Abbottabad”
After a second day of traveling the difficult and steep mountain roads, being tossed from side to side, plus hiking in the Forest on trails, we are taking the day off to give our bodies time to rest, and catch up on photos and writing.
We have been making ourselves at home, here at the Alaf Laila Guesthouse. I could not have picked a better place, also mentioning, Abbottabad being centrally located for so many outlying adventures in this region. The food here is very tasty, and the staff, kind and helpful in getting us lined up with drivers and such. More guests have arrived at the house and they are all friendly locals. Daryl has been chatting it up and is having a ball. One person helped him with a computer glitch last night, and another offered him (us) a house to stay in (for no cost) and said he could help us find a car to use. We so appreciate the gesture! It would be nice, but we only have 30 days in Pakistan, and the time goes so fast, we just have to keep moving. We are feeling very comfortable and safe, since arriving in Pakistan. The people are amazing and love to visit and interested to know, we are from America, and California, no less. Pakistan has not been heavily influenced by western ways. We do see cell phones, but not so many. We do see some soda pop and chips in the stores, but not an over abundance. People are tall and thin, especially the men. Woman are not as tall, but they maintain healthy weights.
On this tour day; day two with our friendly and capable driver, named Life, after escaping the traffic and dusty Abbottabad city (road work is causing issues) we enjoyed the freedom of the beautiful mountains, once again. The grade is steep and the going slow, when climbing. The roads have washed-out spots in them, so its always challenging to keep the RPM’s up to prevent the car from stalling, and dodge the potholes at the same time. Coming back down….hold on, it’s a scary ride! 😳 We had such a fun day, and saw more beauty, and did some cool things!
The Governor House was commissioned in the early 20th century by the British. The famous British era contractor was contracted to build the building in a traditional Greco-Roman design prevalent in other grand British buildings across India.
The rent prices are steep, and anyone wishing to spend the night at the historic governor house in Nathia Gali will have to pay Rs.40,000 ($253) for a room. The eight rooms will cost the public RS320,000 per night. ($2,022)
Oh yes we did! Ha! We jumped out of a perfect good plane ✈️ before, too. (parachuting) I’m the adrenaline junkie, and I’m so happy I have a husband who joins in with me in my crazy! Beware, though, there are many cable cars like this, all over Pakistan which cross rivers. What you need to mindful of is overweight. I gauged this by the number of seats in the car. If there is room for eight, then I would not ride if the operators crammed more bodies in. This would be dangerous, because there have been know overloaded cables and people dying from the fall or drowning.
At one time, there was a bridge that was safe to cross the canyon, with donkey power, but the bridge is no longer safe. About 20 years ago, somebody installed this basket, to get the villagers back and forth to the city, so they could get to the market.
Different species of trees dotting lush slopes of the adjoining hills and the cold waters of springs that flow down to this point makes it a major draw for the locals. Natural springs feed the rivers, which swell as the snow in the hilly ranges of Murree and neighboring areas begins to melt. This small town, a 15 minutes drive from the garrison city is also known as the gateway to Galyat.
They are also protected, so pretty safe from becoming a meal. These would be, I have to say, furrier than any other monkey I have seen in the world of this same kind. It does get very cold in these higher elevations, and the only reason we saw any along our driving at all, was because we traveled to the sunny side of the mountain.
Originally, the park stood at an area of 857 acre, but in 1998 it was expanded to cover an area of 1685 acre and it has continued to be added to.
The total population of Ayubia and surrounding villages as per a 1996 census is 18,097 people living in 2,311 households.
It is worth mentioning that the same track, to this location, leads to Mukshpuri, which is the second highest peak of the locality, enabling hikers and trekkers to view Azad and Jammu Kashmir, Murree hills and Malika Parbat. The landscape of Lalazar boasts of thick natural forests. The mystifying call of birds and a meandering track along the hill to the Mukshpur, leave long-lasting imprints on the minds of the visitor.
On my trek, I went up about 8,500 feet above sea level. It was a beautiful hike.
Ayubia’s average elevation is 8,000 feet above sea level. Ayubia was named after Muhammad Ayub Khan (1958–1969), second President of Pakistan.
A remarkable discovery was made while digging a pit for a plantation in Ayubia National Park in Galyat, when a 100-year-old British-era tunnel was found from out of a trash mound.
The historic “Moto Tunnel” built in 1891 was buried, hidden and forgotten, till now. It has been restored to its original glory by the Ministry of Climate Change.
The restoration would now reduce the travel distance for the pedestrians living in the mountainous region.
The 240-feet long tunnel is made of stones and mud with walking tracks on its both sides, and has a height of six feet and a width of four feet. Built beneath the road, the tunnel primarily aimed at resolving the water issue of the surrounding areas; therefore it contained a pipeline to transfer water from Dhonga Gali to Murree.
However, it remained under a pile of garbage for decades before it was discovered, renovated, and restored to its former glory.
The “Moto Tunnel” links Ayubia with Donga Galli thus shortening the distance between Nathia Gali and Murree; two mountainous resort towns north of the Capital Islamabad.
by 6+ miles.
The historical and archeological tourist site is located in the picturesque and biodiversity-rich Ayubia National Park and is home to 256 species of birds, 33 species of mammals and 104 kinds of plants.
A century ago, the 250-feet long tunnel was connected with two valleys in Ayubia and Murree. The Ministry of Climate Change and KP’s wildlife department jointly renovated and restored the tunnel to its original glory. The “Moto Tunnel” is a cultural and heritage icon.
Today, we rest up. In addition, we have turned in all our clothes for laundering. I only have one tradition dress for being out in public, while in Pakistan, so I will be staying out of view for the day, till we get our clothes back in the morning. My day will not be entirely lazy, as I have to figure out our next move; how to get to Kashmir. The information I glean, always directs me to India, where the Kashmir region is shared with Pakistan. It is too far to go for a day trip, or we would have done so already. But will there be a place to stay, once we get to that region? The concern with a paid driver and car, is being dropped off and not really having lodging that is really available, as it is pretty remote from what I understand. Also, for leaving, to go further north, we need to find a car and driver with a rack on top, for our luggage. The cars are so tiny, here, fitting them inside, as they have no trunk, is impossible.
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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
Another interesting read. The monkey looks like it is from the movie ‘Planet of the Apes’
Ha! they totally do! It took awhile to warm up to the rawness of this region, but we are there, and loving it! culture shock happens, even for us….some things are just unreal