The writer and his daughter during their tour of Pakistan. — Photos: DATUK DR TAN CHEE KHUAN
Earlier this year, my daughter and I went to Pakistan where we were especially fascinated by the spring blossoms in the Hunza Valley.
When we first arrived in Lahore, we were met by our guide, Sami, who looks Caucasian with his blonde hair and fair skin. He thinks it is probably because he has some Macedonian blood.
Sami brought us to visit a fort and several Moghul palaces. They look kind of similar to the Taj Mahal in India as they were built by the same emperor, Shah Jahan, for his wife, Mumtaz Mahal. Then, we went by bus to Swat Valley. The journey took many hours, and we even passed through Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan.
We saw some magnificent snow-capped mountains which reminded me of the Swiss Alps. We stopped every now and then to take pictures of the scenery, and later visited the ancient Buddhist monastery Takht-I-Bahi, a Unesco World Heritage Site. It was built more than 2,000 years ago as a Buddhist monastery complex with numerous stupas and monastic cells for meditation. We had to climb about 300 steps to see the remains of this ancient wonder.
In Chilas, the entry point to the northern areas of Pakistan, we enjoyed majestic views of the Hindu Kush, Karakoram and the Himalayas. We travelled on the Karakoram Highway, too, said to be the most spectacular road in the world. This 900km-long road was completed in 1978 after 20 years of construction by Chinese and Pakistani workers to link the two countries. It has many tunnels along the way, as well as the infamous Khunjerab Pass, the world’s highest pass. This highway has beautiful views of gorges, glaciers, lakes, rivers, and mountains.
The altitude was about 4,733m above sea level, so those who feel that they would be prone to altitude sickness were advised to start taking diamox tablets a day earlier.
The next day, we drove to Gilgit-Baltistan to see the Three Mountain Ranges, and then continued on to Hunza. We visited the Baltic Fort which was built by former rulers of Hunza some 900 years ago, as well as the Altic Fort. These forts depict the glorious military traditions of the former kingdom of Hunza, which was a dominant power in the region.
Later, we had lunch under some apricot trees at Sami’s sister’s house.
We also went to Nagar Valley and Upper Hunza to admire the gorgeous spring flowers, the cherry, apricot and apple blossoms.
Beautiful spring blossoms set against a backdrop of snow-capped mountains.
The next day, our journey back to Lahore began. We again drove to the Khunjerab Pass, to check out the world’s highest paved border crossing linked to China’s Xinjiang region. We walked a short distance to the border but as it was very cold, I decided to turn back and stay in the warm bus. As I was walking back, I was delighted to see a pussy willow plant, which reminded me of Chinese New Year, when we would buy some to decorate the house.
At Gilgit we stopped to visit the Kargha Buddha, an archaeological site with a carved Buddha on the side of the cliff. We also went shopping for some dried fruit (dried apricot and mulberry were especially popular), nuts and souvenirs at the Gilgit bazaar. We stayed the night at the town.
The next morning, we took a flight to Islamabad and managed to see a few more places of interest, before taking off for our flight to Bangkok, Thailand where we had a pretty long layover.
This was a really tiring trip, but the places my daughter and I visited made the travel all worthwhile, especially after seeing the beautiful snow-capped mountains and fascinating spring blossoms.
The views expressed are entirely the reader’s own.
Lunch under the apricot trees in Hunza Valley.
