Into the mountains

I’ve always had a craving for being close to nature, and what better way to experience that than being right between the snowy mountains, lush forests and homes which reminisce 18th century. There’s a charm in seeing how simple life really is when all you see is people making do with very little and still sporting a smile on their faces, not that I am against all wonders of the 21st century but I’ve always had unusual nostalgic feeling as if my soul was destined for planet earth a few hundred years back.

So with that little intro let’s dive straight into a week full of snow, crazy cold, trekking, lush greens, fresh air and wildness (there were cheetahs and snow leopards which we gladly only saw in the notice boards).

Our journey started from Karachi, my hometown, with an early morning flight at 6am to Islamabad International Airport. Our flight duration was 1:45 minutes and amazingly we flew right on schedule. Right away from the airport our tour guide was waiting to receive us and we drove straight to Malam Jabba Ski Resort which was arduous tiring refreshing and stomach wrangling 4 hours+ drive through the beautiful motorway, the valleys of swat to finally spiraling our way to the top to reach our destination Pearl Continental Hotel. Taking steep turns with almost non existent borders around the corners, it was one exciting ride to the top. 

While in our way we came across an archaelogical site, with a buddha carved out in the side of a mountain. It was quite a steep stairway to reach to the top where there was a mysterious cave (it’d have been super scary if we went there in night) but other than a few spooky spiders we were back and enroute to our first destination.

“Malam Jabba (also Maalam Jabba, Urdu: مالم جبہ) is a Hill Station and ski resort in the Hindu Kush mountain range nearly 40 km from Saidu Sharif in Swat Valley, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan. It is 314 km from Islamabad”

Pearl Continental Hotel – Malam Jabba

Photo Credit – PC Management

The first thing I saw when we got to our destination was the mountain and it looked so big. It completely dwarfed everything else in sight, and I couldn’t help but feel a sense of wonder as we drove closer towards it.

As we steadily made our way up the mountain, the car would make these sharp turns that left me feeling like my stomach would come unhinged at any moment. But thankfully they didn’t last too long and soon enough we pulled into this beautiful hotel where we were able to check-in before going right back to sleep for the whole night without worrying about anything else. The next day, when I woke up to the views I realized the journey was well worth it and I’d have taken a hundred times over.

The first thing I saw when we got to our destination was the mountain and it looked so big. It completely dwarfed everything else in sight, and I couldn’t help but feel a sense of wonder as we drove closer towards it.

As we steadily made our way up the mountain, the car would make these sharp turns that left me feeling like my stomach would come unhinged at any moment. But thankfully they didn’t last too long and soon enough we pulled into this beautiful hotel where we were able to check-in before going right back to sleep for the whole night without worrying about anything else. The next day, when I woke up to the views I realized the journey was well worth it and I’d have taken a hundred times over.

We made our way to the ski resort (not that we know how to do it but who cannot ignore riding the chairlift on a snowy landscape) and ther was a zip line from half way across the ski slope right to the top of the PC Hotel. Now if you are wondering whether or not took the zipline well, I wished I was able to but sadly there was a weight limit and I was way over it wearing everything in my luggage to ward of the cold.

“Cold never bothered me anyway…” couldn’t be more far from the truth as it sent chills down the spine every time I breathed, although the temperatures were pretty normal but not for someone who is used scortching heat of urban city like Karachi.

After trekking what felt like a lifetime of walking and slipping, we ended up on the mountain’s green side. I couldn’t help but just sit there and absorb the nature’s vastness. While sun set and we are almost so high up into mountains that if we didn’t took our way back while there was still sunlight we’d have been lost into the darkness.

Now for comedic relief not that you’d need any but I insist. Here’s a plug for my favorite assistant Jarvis (Artificial Intelligent Writer). I fed the earlier paragraph to generate a creative prompt and these are two paragraphs which it generated.

“It’s getting dark.” I said. “We should probably head back now.”
She looked at me and nodded in agreement. We couldn’t see anything other than the ground, trees, and each other which made it difficult to know where we were going without a flashlight or something.
The mountain was so tall that when we were lost in its ‘blackness,’ there would have been no way to tell north from south and east from west. It’s not like our cell phones had any signal up here anyways- they always went straight to voicemail whenever you tried making a call or text message on them. “This is going to be hard,” my friend murmured as she pulled out her phone again

We were all so exhausted after the hike to the top of this mountain. We stare at each other for a second before we just started laughing, because our faces are illuminated by this beautiful sunset and we thought that it was just perfect. But as time went on, the light seemed to fade more and more until finally it’s night-time. When I looked up, I saw these eerie shadows in the sky and they felt like they were closing in on me. And then there was a man who had been following us on his own jog – he stopped when he reached us: “You guys should start heading back now.”

Now you may be asking what is an AI Creative Writer to do with my journey, well that’s what you get when you read up a blog of a polymath marketeer. I’ve yet to become an affiliate but I just love it so much I had to share the wonders of it with the world. 

Getting back to our groove we drove our way down from Malam Jabba straight towards Kalaam, where it was -freaking 9°C I know I know, it’s not too cold for yall machos but for me it felt as if I can feel my bones dancing 😂

We were fumbling our way to find a good place to stay and any hotel / guest house we inquired had water frozen in their pipes hence NO tap water WHAAT?
Gladly we found one right across the river, located at the end of Kalam Gaman bridge. Which had water which was still next to freezing but still in liquid state 🌊 huge blessing of course. 

Kalam is a place that can be described in so many ways. The beauty of it all is indescribable and the pictures say more than I could ever put into words!

Since I suck making any decent drone video myself although I did recorded tons from my trashy mobile cam, I’d include a few from awesome folks at Tour Da Swat who capture the essence of swat/kalam’s beauty.

We went in a time where it already snowed and right when we left Kalam, it snowed again for a whole week so we were kinda lucky and unlucky at the same time.

Lucky because we were able to see both sides, snowy landscape and lush greens, unlucky because obviously we missed out snow flakes which to be honest who doensn’t love 🌨️

Below is another great compilation of all the awesome places in Kalam by Fabulous Pakistan, we couldn’t get to Mahodand Lake because the roads were completely blocked due to land sliding and heavy snowfall.

Alright so lets go ahead in our journey, after two days well spent into the forests and mountains of Kalam we went to our last stop Nathia Gali / Ayubia – It’s one long journey from peak to another. 

By the way here’s a fun wiki fact

Pakistan is home to 108 peaks above 7,000 metres. There is no count of the peaks above 5,000 and 4,000 m. Five of the 14 highest independent peaks in the world (the eight-thousanders) are in Pakistan (four of which lie in the surroundings of Concordia; the confluence of Baltoro Glacier and Godwin Austen Glacier). Most of the highest peaks in Pakistan lie in the Karakoram mountain range (which lies almost entirely in the Gilgit–Baltistan region of Pakistan, and is considered to be a part of the greater Himalayan range) but some peaks above 7,000 m are included in the Himalayan and Hindu Kush ranges. Moreover, Pakistan is home to over 7,000 glaciers, more than anywhere except the polar regions.

The very first sight we gazed upon was this magnificent Saint Matthews Church in Nathia Gali.

Interesting fact about it – source

For over a 100 years, St. Matthew’s church has been maintained by the same Muslim family

That right there is the sign of religious harmony we should be seeking. 

Here’s an amazing real life fantasy drone video by Ali Ahmed 

With every journey there’s an start and there’s an end, I wished I could just move in the snowy valleys forever but life back was calling. After spending two days in Nathia Gali we drove straight to Islamabad airport from there and flew straight to Karachi the city of lights (pun intended because even though that’s the name, we face severe load shedding).

Now it’d not be my blog if I didn’t imparted a lesson or two. So here’s a few things I learned in a week of escape.

Stay minimal in your luggage

Breathe in the nature and let go of your worldly worries

If you bring your stress with you, you’d just not be in the right mindset to enjoy and bask in the nature’s glory. Leave your worldly worries behind and be prepared to step outside of your comfort zone, so that you can really enjoy.

Remember traveling is an investment into yourself

Too often I hear people saying it’s expensive to travel, well you don’t have to fly across the country but never ever underestimate the power of traveling, and how it effects you.

Saint Augustine said it best

“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.”

Pack your meds – you’d need them in -10°C

I am not the fittest person around, though I really am motivated to get in shape but well having medical supplies for the most common problems is just mandatory when you are traveling to a different place. I had to rely on cough syrup one too many times to survive the cold 😰