A visit to Skardu

Since childhood I dreamed of visiting the beautiful city of Skardu in the northern area. I planned it many times but the plans failed to materialize for one reason or another. Then it just so happened that the trip to Skardu was planned and implemented on a very short notice when neither of us guessed.

I would meet my lifelong friend Riz at his office in Islamabad to say goodbye to him when he returned to the US after spending a very successful time as CEO of USF. I arrived at Riz’s house on Tuesday 3rd Jul 2019 at 14:30 by bus from Lahore after traversing the picturesque foothills of the Salt Range. Riz was kind enough to send his driver over to me and asked me to go to his residence for lunch. I told him I wanted to visit a friend to get my luggage back, so Riz suggested dropping me off at his house first and coming on the subway at night. I agreed. After meeting my friend, I collected my luggage and arrived at Riz’s residence by subway at 8:30 p.m., where they told me that Riz had been waiting for me since 1930. He received me with the usual fervor of crescent school days and we had an excellent dinner. I later told him that I had to visit PTCL headquarters tomorrow, Wednesday July 31, 2019. Out of the blue, during our dinner conversation, Riz told me that one of his friends visited Northern Areas and they are amazing. Riz said that he had some time on those days and we can both visit Skardu from Thursday. via sat. that is, from August 1 to 3, 2019. It filled me with joy because it was like a dream come true. I immediately accepted the proposal. The next morning, after a lot of rain from the night until around 09:00, his driver dropped me off at the PTCL headquarters, where I visited several of my old friends and colleagues and had lunch with them.

Day 1

We left Riz place early at 0900 as the flight was leaving at 1045 and we reached Islamabad new airport at 0945. We took the boarding pass and reached the lounge at 1010 am. We boarded the plane at 10:25, which took off at exactly 10:50. The scenery, after a few minutes of flight, was exotic and impressive as we flew over high snow covered mountains. The captain spotted us the snowy peak of K2, then after a few minutes we made a sharp right turn to land at Skardu airport and then the plane began to lose altitude sharply. Actually, flying at 8700m for just 40 minutes of flight is too much. The plane took around 2-3 laps around the town of Skardu and then could only land on the runway. The view below was amazing with the Indus, the sand, the houses and some trees… Anyway, when we landed, as soon as we got out of the plane, we were both captivated by the surroundings of the Skardu airport. Just ignoring the bus that was there to pick us up, Riz and I started taking pictures of beautiful mountains on all sides. Then, we took the second bus round and then left the airport where a person was there to pick us up at our hotel. We reached our hotel in a few minutes as the hotel was quite close to the airport. We took some time to freshen up and immediately hit the road to the Deosai plains, which turned out to be a 3 hour drive. We start around 1:00 PM and arrive in Deosai at 4:00 PM. It was very cold in Deosai. The plains are the highest in the world after Tibet and are situated at an elevation of 14,000 feet, about 6,000 feet above the city of Skardu. We took out our light jackets but it was still very cold. It was also raining and that added to the cold. When we looked around, it seemed as if we had arrived in a fairy land. There were gently rolling green hills all around them, flowers and puffy clouds that touched the hills. We drank there for a good while and then started following the road back to Skardu around 1600. On our return journey, we came across the wonderful Sadpara lake with its turquoise water and high speed wind blowing around it which I still remember. We then pass the Skardu hydroelectric power station which supplies electricity to the town of Skardu. After going through several streams where Riz stopped the jeep each time to wash his face with the cool, icy water that he liked so much; we reached Skardu town and had a very nice chikan boneless handi (chicken boneless) dinner at one of the local restaurants which was one of the best I ate till date.

Day 2

The second day was on August 2, 2019. The sky was clear as usual in Skardu as Skardu is outside of the influence of the monsoon. Since we were very tired the day before, we decided to try the complimentary breakfast at our hotel. Breakfast was fine. After breakfast it was already 10:30. Now, before wasting any more time, we set off for the upper part of Lake Kachura. It has a magnificent view and the road that leads to it is full of streams, waterfalls and lakes. We took a lot of pictures on some of the bridges built over these mountain rivers. When we got to the top of Lake Kachura, we rested for a few minutes and then waded through the icy water courtesy of Riz (Riz already liked wading and being reluctant, he pushed me into the water). It was an experience that cannot be put into words. Later we had a delicious lunch of fresh trout. By the way I ate trout for the first time in my life. It was fresh from the waters and it was delicious. After spending an hour or two at this place, we set off for the lower Kachura Lake, which is nearby at a distance of half an hour. We parked our jeep in the parking area and walked for about 10 minutes to reach the lower Kachura lake, which we found just as beautiful as the first but with facilities for boating, swimming, etc. We took a motor boat and asked the boatman to go slowly in order to better enjoy the scenery around the lake. We had gone about half the distance when Riz asked the boatman to stop and drop us off near a clump of trees. As we got out of the boat and started up the tree lined mountain, it was a lovely experience. Although the climb was quite steep, the fragrance spread by the local herbs and the lake scene from the mountain made the walking experience one to remember. About an hour of ascent and descent we called the boatman who picked us up at the place of the walk and returned us to the point of navigation. We had a trout lunch on our return trip which was delicious as always.

Our next trip was to the Shangri-La location, which took us about 15 minutes to reach. It is a beautiful artificial landscape created to be enjoyed by the family. It has residential apartments and good restaurants. It has a lake around which the hotels and restaurants are located, it is especially beautiful but somewhat damaged by human intervention and pollution. We stay there for about 2 hours and then we go back to our hotel to get some rest. Since we were tired of the core, we decided to have dinner at the hotel.

Day 3

As we had a flight back to Islamabad at 12:45, in order to reach Skardu airport at least an hour earlier at 11:45, we had to get up and start our journey quite early if we wanted to see the beautiful Shigar Valley in detail. . Shigar Valley is a beautiful valley at a distance of 80 km or an hour and a half by road from our hotel in Skardu. We started at 07.30 in the morning and around 08.15 we were passing through the COLD DESERT area of ​​Skardu. It is very interesting that although this area of ​​Pakistan is famous for its cool weather in summer, it is so dry and there is so little rainfall that parts of it have become virtual deserts. The sand dunes were like the Cholistan desert of the Punjab or the Thar desert of Sind. The only difference is that this one was cold. After half an hour or so we reached a place on a bridge where it was written that it was the entrance to Shigar. After crossing it and turning around, we come to a place called Shigar viewpoint from where you can see the entire Shigar valley. From a distance, the valley appears to be an oasis in the desert. After this point the road gently descends and as we enter the beautiful Shigar Valley, we first pass the beautiful 17th century mosque built by one of the Shigar Valley Rajas and then the winding road leads us to the famous Shigar Fort. , once a fortress of a Raja of Shigar. It was renovated by Agha Khan III and is now taken over by a five star hotel company and is being run as a commercial hotel. As the fort opens at 10:00 and it was only 09:30, we were not able to see the fort in detail and upon request were allowed to take a general view of the fort. It was nice with beautiful rooms made for royalty. After a while, we went outside and had a good breakfast in a beautiful spot on a rushing stream overlooking the Fort. It was already 10:00 am so we decided to head back to our hotel near Skardu airport. On the way back, near the City, I stopped for ice cream, my weak spot, and Riz had a milkshake with falooda. Then we go directly to the hotel, take the luggage and arrive at the airport at exactly 11:45. After checking in and boarding etc. we are on the plane which took off at 12:55. Up in the clouds, after a while, we could see the peak of Nangaparbat. After passing over Mansehra, Abbotabad and Havelian, the Aircraft began its descent. What a descent it was. Actually, flying at 8700 meters in a 40 minute flight is too much. It took the captain about 10 minutes and 2-3 laps around the Islamabad airport to finally land on the runway. It was now 1440 and Riz’s driver was already waiting to take us directly to our homes in Lahore. Thanks to Riz for the courtesy of him.

Without a doubt, my trip to the northern city of Skardu was the best trip I have ever had in my entire life.