Recalling thrills of sudden visit to northern areas

By Zara Waqas

Today was a pretty normal day, until an unexpected thing happened. A travel brochure about the northern areas of Pakistan reached me somehow which immediately caught my imagination. 

The northern areas of our country, as you know guys, are known to be a paradise on earth. Tourists from all over the world love to visit these places which are very popular because of their natural beauty and elegance. 

Immediately, I rushed to my dad and convinced him to take us there right away. To my surprise, he agreed! In excitement, I ran upstairs to convey this breaking news to my mom and sister, both of whom also became thrilled. 

Together, we started packing. It was nothing short of a piece of cake for us. My mother started counting all the items she had packed for the trip. I was like cut to the chase. Finally, we began our journey from our home in Lahore, which was going to be a long one. 

I was unable to control my happiness and joy. To be honest, I was about to just fall asleep. Eventually, I slept as the car kept running. When I was woken up, we were at our first stop, Chakri, where we ate some food before resuming the drive. 

At around 7 pm, we reached our hotel in Batakundi. I could hear the passing river which was relentless as the pounding waves created noise. The stars were shimmering across the sky. Batakundi, as many of you may be knowing, is located in Mansehra District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. 

While traveling towards Babusar, it is the first town after Naran. It is situated along the Karakoram Highway and is a stop for jeeps. As people often stay at hotels in Batakundi when they are planning their trip across Babusar Top, we also found one. 

There are many hotels and restaurants in the Batakundi which is the last town in Kaghan Valley that stays open all year. The Batakundi Waterfall is very famous. We went to the Moon Restaurant where the food was sumptuous. 

After taking dinner, we proceeded to the Babusar Top which was freezing cold. I was shivering to the bone. It felt as cold as ice. But the view was to die for! It was like a delicate flower blooming or something like a caterpillar transforming into a butterfly. 

Done with freshening up, we dashed to Jalkhad. The view there was picturesque. It was breathtaking. The next couple of days went like fast cool breeze as I could not notice time flying by. Eventually it was time to start our return journey to home. After all, home is where the heart is. It was an amazing trip. It felt great to take a break from routine life to relax and get refreshed. My sister and I fell asleep on the way back home. 

We stopped over for having dinner at a restaurant where the food was delicious which refilled my energy. The Belgian Grand Prix Formula One was taking place at 6 pm which I gladly watched on my I-pad. My favourite driver, Lewis Hamilton, won the race which made me happier. When we finally reached home, later at night, I went to my room, changed and dosed off to sleep. 

I have fond memories of our visit to the northern areas which had actually taken place more than three months during my summer vacations. Needless to say, I would like to go there again.