More Sharda

After the morning trek I had digested my breakfast and came back to my room. Then I started up a conversation with a local who told me about the rich history of the place. I was thoroughly impressed with his knowledge and the wonderful historical perspective with which I saw that place then. I will put in more info about the place soon.

Sharda

After breakfast I took a walk around Sharda and just took in the beauty of the whole valley. At some points I could not take pictures because of security reasons (there being sensitive military installations).

Back to Sharda

We did not stay for long at Kel. We left about a half hour before dusk. By the time we got to Sharda it was night and time for dinner.


The jeep got stuck in the mud. So we had to improvise and try all sorts or rolling and rocking and pushing and pulling and shoving and digging. We finally did get out though.



You can find one of these anywhere and anytime in Pakistan. No matter what the terrain. This dude was so impatient that he wouldn't stop to let us pass and that's how we got stuck in the mud.

My cousin's got his fingers in his ears because the bus' (we call it a dhol) engine kept misfiring like anything. In the dead silence and depth of the valley it sounded like a canon going off.



All the stops that we made were because of this dude. So I finally took the snap I had been wanting to. When you gotta go, you gotta go - but not as much as this guy!

Kel

Kel could have been a city or town. But it's more like an army camp. There's this big base you can't go into or take pictures of. The only place we could take pictures was on a small dirt road.


So this is all I can show you people of Kel. Both pictures are opposite each other.

Sharda

Sharda was an amazingly beautiful place. But we had to leave for Kel and I didn't have much time to explore it at this time. So i saved the pictures for the return part.


The jeep crossing the bridge that led us to our Guest House



The bridge looked flimsy so we all got off and crossed the bridge on foot. It turned out that the bridge wasn't so flimsy after all.

Road to Sharda

From muzaffarabad we left for Sharda. Sharda (as I later learned) was a great city in the old times. A center for learning and trade. It had around 5000 families living there and even had a university. This comes as a surprise because if the society was so advanced, it is sad to note it's small size and primitive way of living now.


We had travelled only a few kms from Muzaffarabad and got a flat tyre. I took this while the driver went and got the tyre fixed.



A 100 feet from Indian territory. All that part is part of the Indian held Kashmir. I thought it must be impossible to have such an intermingled border. It would be too porous. But then there were Indian chauki's to prove that it indeed was Indian held land.



Just a few kms before Sharda. Notice the change in the scenery and the weather. I found it to be amazingly beautiful. A must see place.

AKTD: Muzaffarabad

AKTD (Azad Kashmir Tourism Department) has a guest house right next to the banks of the river that meanders it's way through this city.

It is located right next to an old Qila. The wall of the old Qila is visible behind the trees in the first picture



The river right next to the AKTD Guest House