Natural beauty of Pakistan and diverse tourist destinations are famous all over the world. The northern part of the country is a favorite destination for Pakistani and foreign tourists. The scenic views of the northern and eastern parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province are very attractive.
If you haven't read the previous chapters of my journey, here are the links.
5 Days Road Trip to Northern Pakistan | Part 1
An Incomplete Quest - part 2
Sukkur-Multan Motorway (M-5) | NHA
Wild Cannabis and Engineering Marvel of Pakistan | Part 4
The Land of Hospitality | Part 5
Despite being Pakistani, we came to North Pakistan for the first time. We had also heard the name of Naran Kaghan, two famous and well-known tourist places of Pakistan. Both local and foreign vloggers seem to capture these places in a fascinating way. Before today we used to think Naran Kaghan as the name of one place whereas it is two different places. Interestingly, while visiting these places from across the country, Kaghan Valley comes first and Naran comes later. Now the question came to our mind that why people say Naran Kaghan and why not Kaghan Naran.
After a long journey we reached Shangla. And having come so far, we did not want to go without seeing Naran Kaghan. So we consulted drivers and local friends and decided that we will now leave for Naran. Once again passing through beautiful valleys, we were heading towards Naran via Balakot. After driving for about four and a half hours, we had lunch at Green Valley Restaurant, Mansehra. Everyone working in the restaurant was polite. And the food was delicious.
After 2 hours rest, we continued our journey. Actually, these valleys are much more beautiful than what we saw in the pictures and clips. We stopped at different places and took pictures.
The road was not very steep but if driven carefully the road was suitable.
People were eating different dishes by setting up beds and chairs on the waterfall from the mountains. The name of this place is Kawai and here the fish are caught from the pond and cooked right in front of you. But the price of fish is quite high. Well, we ate fish as well as took pictures of this unique place.
If you are traveling to Naran, you can't miss this place on Kawai. It was 19.00 pm. Now in the dark the same mountains were feeling scary. We tried to stay as much as possible in the nearest hotel to Naran so that it would not take much time to reach Naran in the morning. Kaghan Valley was passed. And after driving few miles, @saif-ul-wahab and @shrazi felt the need to go to the toilet, so we stopped the car near a hotel and asked for permission to use the toilet. But we were surprised to see that no one, be it a hotel or a restaurant, was willing to help without selling anything. It was very sad to see this but we also understood what we have to do now. After driving a little further we came across a hotel, this time instead of asking for a direct toilet, we used the toilet as an excuse to buy a cold drink. It was 9 pm and we were all tired. The hotel also had internet facility and had a beautiful view along the river. We decided to spend the night in this hotel. We had dinner sitting on the lawn by the river. After dinner, we walked on the lawn and then everyone went to sleep in their rooms.
The scene in the morning was very interesting. It can be seen in these pictures.
Because we got up early in the morning, the kitchen of the hotel was not open. We decided to drive towards our destination Naran and planned to have breakfast on the way. The road to Naran is very bad and a dam is also being constructed there. After crossing the dam we had breakfast at a kiosk beside a waterfall.
And during breakfast my sixth sense started to stop me from continuing this journey. We had a lot of fun in this long journey, so there were no regrets. I consulted @shrazi and asked him not to travel further towards Naran. Respecting my decision, Shiraz informed Pappa the situation and so we turned our vehicles back and headed towards Islamabad.
We reached Islamabad at 5 pm. Babaji arranged for us to stay in his Astana (house).
The driver and our family went to their rooms to sleep. It is not possible for me to come to Islamabad and not go to Bari Imaam tomb. We booked a ride through the InDrive app and reached Bari Imaam.
We have always seen our parents feeding the hungry people here at this place and after my marriage me and my wife fed at this place. And keeping the same tradition, my son @saif-ul-wahab shared the food with his own hands.
And then we visited the Faisal Mosque.
At 10 o'clock at night we returned to Astana. And at twelve o'clock at night we resumed our journey.
Taking short breaks at various places, we reached Multan in the morning. Had breakfast at Wasib restaurant.
and at 12 pm we reached our home in Karachi.I will write about the expenses of this trip in my next blog.
It had been two weeks since we left Naran when a video on Facebook blew my mind. The very next day after we left Naran, the roads were cut off due to landslides and rains and a lot of damage was done.
Restauranta built by water had been washed away with water and stones. Batel bridge was also washed away. Luckily I listened to my sixth sense and decided to go back in time.Disclaimer
As I mentioned in my intro, from the last 2 decades I have been active on social media, google mapping and reviews, youtube and thatsup. I will share my own past interesting content from these channels, but all my upcoming content I will share on hive.blog first.