Day 1, Surprises: Trek to Rush Lake, Nagar valley, Kashmir Pakistan Aasim Naseem, July 21, 2012March 21, 2024 Finally, it is Sunday, 8th of July 2k12; The day when we are going to leave our homes for a trek; At first we’ll reach Rawalpindi and then to Hunza via NATCO bus service;04:30h. I Left home to reach Bilal Daweo terminal; The streets are deserted and silent; a few dogs are roaming here and there and start barking at me; Might be they are thinking of me as a bagger due to my big rucksacks at my back; Though I’m in neat appearance and clothing, believe me; cry:04:30h – 05:00h. Need some money as pocket cash; Try one ATM but it is out of cash; Went to next one, the door is locked – great; Reach next market and approach to another ATM, again out of cash; Run to another one and found that Meezan Bank’s link is down; Damnn; Surprises has started; Well after a long run, I got an ATM in functional condition and amazingly Meezan’s link was also working (I was hopeless though)05:00h. Reached Bilal Daewo terminal; Get cancellation of one ticket from Lahore to Rawalpindi as one of our trek mates isn’t able to join us; Sitting on the bench and start waiting for Rizwan Yousaf and Asadullah;05:40h. Rizwan Yousaf arrived at the terminal with Asadullah; We found that they had left their camp mattress at home (next surprise) 😀06:00h. Bus is slowly leaving the terminal; Travel for trek has started; (:07:15h. Bus has stopped for some unknown reason; the Driver is looking for something (don’t know what) We restarted our journey after 15 min;08:30h – 09:30h. There is heavy rain on M2 motorway; The weather in Lahore was hot and humid but looking at heaving raindrops against the window is a good surprise;10:00h. We are at Rawalpindi – Pir Wadhai bus terminal; Our rucksacks in pieces of luggage area has become wet due to heavy rain on motorway – sad; The worm jacket is also wet inside Rizwan Yousaf‘s rucksack; Another bad surprise;10:15h. Next news, the departure of the NATCO bus from Rawalpindi to Hunza has been switched from Pir Wadhai terminal to the NATCO bus terminal (at 15 15-minute drive for a taxi) Another surprise, and for sure a bad one; Now have to arrange cab and load all luggage over it; Just an extra exercise;11:00h – 11:30h. Shezbad Iqbal (butt sb.) joined us at NATCO terminal; cheers; (:At NATCO terminal Rawalpindi with Shehzad Butt.12:15h – 12:45h. Asad is trying to find a gas cartridge and camp mattress from a nearby market; Got a mattress only;14:00h. Start journey from Rawalpindi to Hunza; (: But no footrests with seats; 🙁18:15h. Traffic jam near Qalandarabad; 2+ hours has been wasted due to speed like turtle; 😐20:30h – 21:30h. We are at Mansehra; Looking for a good hotel for dinner and getting fresh;22:00h – 23:45h. Crossing different areas like Chatter Plan, Battagram and Thalkot; Buss is running fast on the zigzag road of Karakoram Highway (KKH) sheltered by huge rocky mountains;00:30h. We have reached Besham and the Bus is stopped at the fuel station; We get refreshed by having some juices and a little walk at the filling station;It is the end of Day 1, full of surprises; The Bus is running fast and many other passengers have slept (or trying to sleep like me) Driver is playing a playlist of his favourite local songs and we are bound to listen to them; (:Aasim NaseemI’m an engineer by profession, a blogger and a photojournalist by hobby. Seasonal writer at LAFZ Media UK. I write on different topics and things around us. Contact me at +971.56.126.8842 or Aasim.Naseem@outlook.com Odysseys & Artistry Saunterer Soul BattagramBilal daweoChatter PlanDay 1 trek to rush lakeHunzaKarakoram Highway (KKH)MansehraNagar valleyQalandarabadRawalpindiRush lakeThalkotTrek to Rush Lake
You’ll have them soon; I’ve uploaded them over my picasa web album; Need captions over some pics from my colleague, for better understanding of place and mountains; I’ll share in public in a day or two inshaAllah;Reply
nice one Aasim, very details trip and encouraging me to go n visit these places first rather rooming around in Europe 🙂Reply