Trip to Chitral
This piece is about our recent trip to Chitral.
It had been a couple of years since we travelled as a family. The main reason being that our toddler was too young to make it worth travelling anywhere while he was under three.
Our earlier plan was to travel to Iran which is a beautiful country. However, due to the ongoing tensions between Iran and Israel we changed our plans and hence made alternative travel plans. Here’s what we did in the last one week.
On the 21st of April 2024, we flew out from Karachi to Islamabad and from Islamabad, we took a direct road trip to Chitral. We left home at 5 am and reached our destination at 9 pm. It was a long day and my wife and kid were troopers. The road to Chitral is very bumpy, especially the last 3–4 hour journey.
We reached Chitral valley and stayed at a village called Ayun which is about 20 km from Chitral. Here we stayed at Villa Ayun.
After dinner that night, we hit the bed after a long day and immediately fell asleep.
The next morning, we decided to hike to the village and figure out our next plans. We came across a man named Ehtisham, who would be our driver for the next 3–4 days. Wonderful man, hospitable, kind and gentlemanly.
On the first day in Ayun, we decided to go to Chitral city. On the way, we stopped over at a Trout Farm in a village called Jughoor. This was a wonderful experience. My wife and I loved the trout and our son loved playing around in the village and with the guard dogs of the trout farm owner. We had a terrific couple of hours at this place. After this lunch sojourn, we went onwards to Chitral City. A quick look at it and we realized that there’s not much to do there so we decided to go further north of the city to a place called the Markhor View point.
I was skeptical of our chances of viewing markhors, this is because they are shy animals and rarely come close to where human settlements are at. This view point was only 20–30 minutes from the city. The view point was across the river. We were told that they come down to the river in the evening to get their fill of water. Lo and behold, at 5 pm, at the Markhor view point, we saw a herd of markhors, elegantly walking down the mountain side. There were the bulls and the mares and their calfs too. It was an amazing sight to witness these beautiful animals so up and close. I sat watching them for over 45 minutes mesmerised by their beauty and the rarity of this sight. Markhors are endangered animals and they live in high mountainous altitutdes in some of the harshest terrains. Truly a magnificent creature.
This experience built up an appetite for us and we closed the day with dinner at a place called Fokker Restaurant. It’s built at the site of a crash landed fokker which makes for an interesting dining experience. The dinner was delicious. We had our first experience of local cuisine. A dish called Ghalmandi. It’s organic butter and cheese stuff between a roti. Very similar to Shilpindouk consumed by Wakhi people. I love it’s flavour. The organic produce just delightfully tastes in your mouth. After a scrumptious dinner, we retired for the day
On Day 2 in Chitral, we decided to visit the Kalash Valley. A journey of about 1–1.5 hours. A bumpy ride but a beautiful drive. We drove to a Kalash Village and experienced a historical culture.
I must say, the Kalashi people are very beautiful. I personally really enjoy watching faces and seeing how the faces of different ethnicities vary. I could comfortably say that the facial features of the Kalashi people are truly unique. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if there is truth to the folklore of these villagers being direct descendants of the Macedonian Army. The faces of men looked like the Greek statues we have grown up reading about in History books.
At the Kalash Valley, we went to the Kalash museum, saw their customs. Interestingly, the museums upper floors are used as a local school. We were incidentally there at the time when it was recess. The children were dressed in traditional ware and we asked from the teachers a little bit about the Kalasha language. It’s truly unique, unlike any other language I have heard before in our region.
Followed by our trip to the museum, we were hosted by a local family to tea and lunch at their guesthouse and home. This was the same guesthouse that the president musharraf had stayed at a couple of times. Alot of development work in this region was done during Musharraf’s time so amongst the older folk he is still quite popular here despite all the other damages he caused to the rest of Pakistan. But nevermind, I digress
After tea, we made a trip to the Kalasha Graveyard. The Kalash people lay their dead in an open coffin so this makes for a unique experience when you visit the graveyard since you could see remnants of ancient bones in the coffins inside the graveyard. This experiences gives you a sense of appreciation for how old of a culture you’re witnessing.
With that, we made our trip back on Day 2 to our hotel.
At this point we decided to shorten our stay in Chitral by a day because the roads were super bumpy and our three year old was craving the comforts of a city. We request a change in our booking which the hotel was kind enough to accomodate. The next day would be our last full day in Chitral.
On Day 3, we decided to explore the Chitral city and buy gifts and souveniers. We first went to the Shahi Killa in the city. The Killa is interesting but a bit run down and in disrepair. After the trip to the Killa we went to the market where the wife boughts shawls and mulberries for the various different people we intend to give our gifts to.
Day 4 was a journey back from Chitral to Islamabad. Left at 6 am and reached Islamabad at 5 pm. Long journey but we were excited about the comforts of the city.
In Islamabad, I always stay at an Airbnb in f7, its central, its cosy and its very Islamabadi. Totally gives you the Islamabad vibe.
After resting for the evening. On Day 5 I had planned out lots of activities for my little one.
We kickstarted the morning with a coffee at Roberts Coffee in Kohsar. Delicious coffee and breakfast. This was followed by a trip to the Natural History Museum and the Lok Virsa. The Natural History museum was full of fossils and replicas of animals. An absolutely recommended trip for families with young kids or even for older science/history geeks.
At Lok Virsa, my wife bought two painting which we are excited to put up at some point.
Since this was Friday, I dropped the family at the guesthouse and I planned to offer prayers at the Faisal Masjid. Thoroughly enjoyed this experience of praying in this beautiful, picturesque mosque. The mosque is huge and just the experience of praying with so many other people has a charm of its own. At this point would also like to thank a dear friend, Jawad bhai, who had been generous enough to lend us his car and driver which made undertaking all of these activities so easy.
After prayers, I a few acumen fellows for coffee. One of our friends had recently lost a parent so the mood of the gathering was somewhat sombre. I am so glad I got to meet him.
In the evening, we went out as a family to Jasmine Garden, which is beautful and full of roses and Jasmines. My son had a ball there. This was followed by a trip to the Pakistan Monument where we got our photo for the trip thanks for the photographers who are present there.
Dinner was at a friends place in D12. The dinner was delicious and the weather was amazing. Light rain, cold enough for one to wear an extra layer. Islamabad being Islamabad.
Our last day in Islamabad was also a packed one. We started our day with Coffee and Breakfast at Cafe Noir, again in Kohsar. Delicious. Islamabad cafe game is quite strong I must say.
My son loves trains, so we took him to the Railway Museum in Golra Railway Station. We took trips into the trains and the look on my sons face when he witnessed the first real train come into the station with its horns blaring was a sight to behold.
In the evening, we were guests for a barbecue dinner at Jawad bhais place in Chak Shahzad Farms. On the way there we went for a short boating trip in Rawal Lake and a brief trip into LakeView park. We have earmarked Lakeview park for a proper exploration next time we are in Islamabad.
Dinner at Jawad bhais place was delicious. Him and his wife are wonderful hosts and it was so nice to catch up with many other friends who I had not seen in a while. Conversation would meander across many different topics from wars, to business to sports to life updates.
The next day was our flight back home so we got to our Guest House after dinner and packed our bags for the way back home.
The journey back home was uneventful and smooth. Just how you hope your flights ought to be. It was nice to see Karachi again. Even though we were only away for a week but it felt like it had been much longer. Thank you God for blessing us with the resources to undertake these experiences
