0 Comments
With no exaggeration at all, this was surprisingly the best tour I ever had in my lifetime. Pakistan is indeed blessed with some of the most incredible tourist attractions in the world. This was a long awaited trip that my university friends and I planned to Gilgit as we were catching up at Bundu Khan restaurant in Lahore. I met them after being away for one year in United Kingdom for Masters and wanted to pile as much memories as I can with them. Sitting at Bundu Khan at 7:00 PM on a Friday evening, we googled best tour package with Al-Ahad tours & Travels for 10 days. We were a group of six friends with savings of 60,000 PKR to spend. There were 20 fellow travelers in this package including a tourist guide who was committing to guide us through the entire journey. Everyone was wearing sneakers and backpacks that were full of snacks, water bottles, first aid kits and what not! Vroom! The wagon got all geared up and the adventure to northern areas of Pakistan began. After 2h 33 mins the wagon stopped at Bhera for everyone to freshen up and grab meals for rest of the journey. We took selfies and updated our snap-chats and Instagram to share exciting moments with others. After a long journey of 15 hours, we finally reached our destination. We ran to our rooms booked at Serena Hotel, Gilgit. Next day we headed off to Hunza valley which is one of the top tourist attraction in Gilgit, Baltistan. While we were on the bus, our tourist guide breathlessly exclaimed, "you will see that, Hunza is heaven on earth!". Well, it seemed a bit exaggerated. I had seen pictures of the valley but of course everything is Photoshop nowadays. Woah! As we landed on the site, it was indeed a out of the world. The jaw-dropping landscape of Hunza valley and breathtaking calm waters make you believe that Gilgit is certainly a reflection of Jannat(Heaven). Gushing water in the midst of snow wrapped mountain peaks. Incredible! Another personal favorite and one of the most incredible tourist sites that we encountered was Altit fort which is an ancient monument. We hired a wagon and after 2 hours 11 mins we reached this cultural tour site. As magical as it was, it was no surprise to see foreign tourists clicking photos of artifacts lying in the chambers of the fort. However, it was a sheer moment of disappointment when we came across heaps of garbage and plastic bags hanging on trees amidst valley of Hunza. BAM! And the bubble of heaven was popped just like that by the brutal pin of irresponsible tourist behavior. Our tour guide mournfully responded," Ye kachra bhi logon ki taraf sy laanat hai is jannat mai", which means that 'This garbage is the curse of tourists to this heaven on earth'. I was disgruntled with fellow tourists to pollute the innocence of nature. It was my first trip to northern areas of Pakistan and it was extremely hard to digest the sheer audacity of visitors. It was our last day in Gilgit and as I sat back in the wagon, I silently stared out the window wondering the scary future that these places may behold if humans continue to litter around in complete disregard of climate change. It is ruining the natural habitat of wildlife, destroying lush vegetation and snatching away the future of planet earth and creatures that inhabit it, including humans. Aah!!!! I wanted to scream out the window to lighten my heavy heart and posted the last click of my day with the caption, "Alas! Gilgit is melting beauty". After 2 hours of regretful sighing, I managed to wrap up my emotions and started scrolling through hundreds of amazing memories captured in my camera. While scrolling I came across all the places we visited including Hunza valley, Altit fort, Baltit fort, Deosai national park, Karkoram highway and Attabad fort. And I pondered that if anyone had to visit Gilgit on a low budget then Hunza valley and Altit fort are the two best tourist spots that every tourist must experience. Below are the pictures of my favorite spots that I recommend are a must visit for you! |
ArchivesCategories |