SURVIVING IN UNEXPECTED HEAVY RAINSTORM IN GALIYAT S04 EP. 15 | KASHMIR MOTORCYCLE TOUR
Assalam Alekum and Good Morning Everyone from Bahria Town. Actually I'm not sure if this place is in Islamabad or Rawalpindi or even beyond. Although, Islamabad is used with the complete address of Bahria Town, but it is in fact in Rawalpindi. Or may be beyond.
As you all know that my motorcycle was out of order for the last couple of days. Glory be to Allah, the motorcycle has been fixed now, although I haven't taken a ride yet. Once again, we are sure to enjoy the remaining days of the tour. I have been thinking about exploring the Galiyat region for quite some time. Although I have lived in Islamabad for 5 years or so and visited the area before.
Yet I didn't explore the whole area the way it deserves to be explored. Also I have been receiving a lot of requests to visit this area. So that's what we are gonna do now. I'm gonna start by visiting Khanaspur today. After exploring it, we'll spend the night there, wherever I find a suitable place.
I'll not be alone for next few days and will be accompanied by Haris. He's from Bahawalpur and I'm sure you must remember him from some of my previous vlogs. He'll travel on his GSA1200. And mine is GS 310. Lets see if we will be able to catch up with him.
We may request him to go a bit slow for us. Because we have enough time to properly explore the area. We'll take a short break for breakfast in some time. It's 7 in the morning and hopefully there won't be much traffic.
So lets start by the name of Allah and hope to have a great day ahead. Bismillah ... In the name of Allah I hope the motorcycle will start without any trouble now. It does.
My motorcycle looks rather tiny standing beside yours. Thanks very much Hassan. Allah Hafiz. Bismillah ... In the name of Allah * Prayer for the journey * How expensive is Hi-Octane as compared to the normal fuel? What's the price of normal fuel? Rs 120 per liter. So it's Rs 23 more than the normal fuel. That's quite a difference. Almost 20% more expensive.
Anyways, I just hope that it's gonna be actually better in quality. We better check the air pressure in tires from here. I rarely do that before.
Thanks man. Let's go. The air pressure in my front wheel was quite low, so it's good that we got that checked. I didn't realize that actually.
Normally I do that with my own pump whenever needed. Let's go via the Express way. Ok. I have been asked many times about the fuel capacity of my tank. And that how many kilometers can be covered with one full tank. It has a capacity of around 11 liters. And on average I can cover about 300 km with that.
But in case of a hilly area, it's just a few kilometers less. It's range is from 300 to 350 km. We can keep an eye on that as we have just got the tank filled. Right now the meter is showing that it can cover 273 km.
But as we move, the sensors will have a better idea about the fuel amount and this value will go up. Gonna be around 300 km. By a very safe estimate, I can say that it can go for 30 km per liter. That's quite a good average. Not bad in any way. Lower Topa is 41 km from here and that's where we are gonna stop for breakfast.
Let's see what we can get for the breakfast. Even if we don't find anything, we can always go to McDonald's. Been quite some time since we last visited McDonald's.
A Capital Theme Park is being built here. There has been an immense increase in construction all around. Every now and then you see a resort or a restaurant or a hotel. And if not that, you will definitely see a village.
Can we get through this lane ...? I don't understand that if I can leave from here, what's the point in closing the track back there. Okay. So they didn't want us to go from the other lane. They have sent Haris back. I have experienced this once before. I was trying to get through the middle lane of the toll plaza. And I was also sent back.
I don't know. I don't see any point in not letting the motorcycles use that lane. Even if someone has gotten there by mistake, better let him through. Do you see that cow sitting comfortably on the express way. And it has blocked the whole lane.
It's beyond me. The cow must be worth Rs 250 thousand. But the owner has carelessly let it sit on such high speed road. Such circumstances makes you drive really cautiously on such roads. The road, however, is great.
The hens are on the way to Murree where they will probably get slaughtered. And people will enjoy the chicken karrahi and other delicious chicken meals. The whole Margalla region was properly explored under the British rule. They built resorts here so that people from hot lower Punjab could spend the summer here.
So it got really popular during that period. It lost its popularity after the British left. It was in the 1960s that this region had another boom. And people started visiting and living in this area once again. From then on, its popularity kept increasing.
Today, Pakistan has a much bigger tourism industry. Besides, people have built their summer houses here. They visit the area, spend a few days and enjoy the weather. This region touches the boundaries of both Punjab and KPK. And as we reach Muzaffarabad, that marks the start of Kashmir region.
I think Kashmir start right after Kohala bridge. That doesn't lie in the Maragalla region as it's only before the Kohala bridge. I think we have reached Lower Topa. Haris is a little ahead of me so we have to see where is he gonna make a stop.
We'll have to keep an eye out for him. Don't wanna lose him here. Otherwise, we may have to get back to find him. Our mutual communication is not working for some reason. I guess that must be because of his low battery. Even now, we can see some amazing views towards our left. Someone is waving at me from there and that's McDonald's I guess.
That means we are gonna have our breakfast at McDonald's. They have good coffee though. From where can I get there .. Must be from here. Can't see anyone here. Oops ... why on earth would I get down to the first gear now ...
Lets park it here. Let me grab my cell phone and camera bag. That's the most important stuff. The rest of the luggage can stay here with the motorcycle.
Don't forget the key ... Assalam Alekum Do you want to check the bag? No, just tell us if you are vaccinated. Yes, I'm vaccinated. Please show us your vaccination card. Card or any other proof. Yeah I have the confirmation message. As a matter of fact, I was vaccinated abroad, so I do have a card.
Lets me show you the card .... There it is. You can have a look. Ok. Delicious. That must be a liter of coffee for sure. It's a large coffee. Leaving from McDonald's now.
The breakfast was great and I also liked their outdoor seating. But I feel that I had a little too much of coffee. I ordered for a large cappuccino, the way I order in Europe. Didn't know that it was gonna be this much.
And that large mug of coffee is sort of making me uncomfortable even now. Anyways ... After this sort of breakfast, I don't think we are gonna need a lunch today. We are quite close to Murree Cant. Actually I was thinking about flying the drone here. But we can't do that here as it is cantonment area.
And I think Lower Topa Air base is also nearby. So it's just a No No for drone. So we are gonna head straight to Khanaspur now. We will fly our drone and capture some footage later if we see some nice scenes. Google tells me that it's gonna take 1 hour and 10 minutes to cover the remaining 28 km.
I hope the next part of our ride is gonna be fun. Do you see these barbed wires ... That's because it's cantonment area. Actually I wanted to fly the drone because I was unaware.
Haris told me that it's Air base area so we need to be careful. I'm sharing this in order to tell you that you also need to be careful in this area. Because it's normal that when we visit some area, we may not be aware about its sensitivity that is if it's a No Fly Zone or not. Where have we reached now ...? I couldn't see any name on the boards.
We plan to visit Ayubia first. It's almost 20 km from here. And then there's Donga Gali. I have no idea why all of these areas have Gali (street) as a part of their names. I haven't seen that in any other place.
It's only here in the Margalla region .... Names like ... Donga Gali .. Changla Gali ... If anyone of you happens to know, kindly let me know in the comments section. We are about to enter KPK province. "Welcome to Khyber Pakhtun Khwa" Left the Punjab area behind us. Such places make you feel like one must live in Islamabad.
Especially those who love riding motorcycles. Merely an hour away from such great places where you can enjoy riding your motorcycle. You can visit on weekends ... or even in the afternoon after getting free from work. Leave Islamabad in the afternoon, get here in an hour, ride for a few hours and then back before 9.
That's the benefit of living in Islamabad. A minor landslide. The rocks are still on the road. I saw that at couple other places but overall it's not a landsliding area. Just some stones rolling down the hill at few points.
That's Ayubia National Park. It has gotten more cloudy gradually. Back there it was sunny but here's it's quite cloudy. Looks like it's gonna rain soon. It can start raining here anytime.
Not only raincoat but you also need to keep some warm clothes with you. So that as soon as it starts raining, you have the protective gear ready. I also followed this precaution and put those clothes right near the top of my bag.
Because I don't want the rain to cause any delays. Where are we now? Are we in Ayubia already? There's no sign board here. Even the map is not showing any info about this place. Could be a small town.
Changla Gali. O we are in Changla Gali. I think that was a Police Station back there where I read this. We are at the Cheetah point.
Do they have some cheetahs in this area? That's quite possible actually. Do you feel like feeding some monkeys? What? Do you feel like feeding some monkeys here? O no bro. The monkeys here are quite wicked. They snatch things from you and run away.
You can't trust them so lets keep going. People here stop for ... O my ... Look at that ... A monkey almost hit a kid. So now we are at Ayubia and that's where the path to Khanaspur is. Time to leave Nathia Gali road now.
There's also a chair lift in Ayubia. We can either ride the Ayubia chair lift on our way back from Khanaspur. Or we could do it tomorrow. For now, lets keep going towards Khanaspur.
Just another 5 kilometers or so from the Nathia Gali road. No doubt this scenery is amazing. It's covered on both sides in the previous section. But over here, the right side is open so it offers a grand view of the whole area.
Haris and me are enjoying our ride with almost no traffic on the road. The joy of riding on such a great road with no other vehicle on road .... If we talk about the scenery, then I can say that it's the most scenic part of today. I'm not sure if you can see that in GoPro. Because we are traveling on the left side.
And it's a bit difficult to capture the right side from this angle. That's Ayubia for you, guys. And that's the small bazaar of Ayubia. I think we need to go downhill, along this road. Out of all the bazaars that I saw today, Ayubia bazaar is the biggest. University of Buner ... Wow ... People come from such far off places to visit here.
These houses are really beautiful. I think these are privately owned properties. Ever since we reached Ayubia, we are going downhill.
Apparently, Khanaspur is at a smaller altitude as compared to Ayubia. "Welcome to Khanaspur" It's a rather peaceful place. Khanaspur is a part of Abbottabad district.
I didn't know that before. Just read that here. I thought it was part of some other district. They even have a National Bank in a small town like this one. I initially thought these were some tourist resorts. Despite being a small village, there are many facilities easily available here.
There aren't many tourists today. One of those buildings is the Youth Hostel. It was written there. They even have a campus of University of Punjab, here. Wow. And it looks like a really old building.
The construction style also tells that. This looks like a great place. Let's try to share this view with you all. The view of Khanaspur and the whole valley down there. Assalam Alekum Amazing Instead of going on, lets sit here for a while and enjoy this view. Looks like you have sent him away ... As soon as we have gotten here, it has started to rain.
Let's get back to the village and look for some shed. I have a feeling that it's gonna rain hard. The clouds are telling the story.
Before we get stuck here, let's get to some place safe. Looks like Haris has found some connection here. It was still a light drizzle when we got here. I think we were lucky to get here in time. Otherwise, even our protective water proof gear won't be able to save us into trouble. And then we would have to find a shelter anyway.
Although the bags are good enough to take care of the stuff inside. I don't remember such heavy rainfall in any of my tours. It's been 45 minutes or so ...
And if it continues to rain like this, we may have to stay in Khanaspur for the night. We'll get some hotel here. Thanks to Haris that he found this garage where we can take shelter.
Even our motorcycles are safe here. And we are standing here waiting for the rain to go away. Let's wait here until the rain stops. It's quite cold here, though. Finally the rain has stopped after pouring for more than 2 hours. We are back on the road and it is really cold now. I'm literally shivering with cold.
We are looking for some hotel where we can place our stuff. Let me tell you a bit about Khanaspur. Some of the buildings here are really old. The British had a complete control in this area. This was their cantonment and they had their barracks here.
Haris, we need to get here. It's on this road. Let's keep going along this road. As I was telling you, those buildings down there were barracks and there's a church there as well. All these places date back to the British period. They really liked the weather of this place.
Much like the English weather. You will find many British buildings in this area. It's a very neat and well maintained area. However, more and more construction is taking place here and a lot of trees have been cut.
All this new construction is actually diminishing the beauty of this area. I think that's the hotel that we were looking for. That's a great view.
We can leave the motorcycles here. Assalam Alekum Where's the reception? Well, Rs 3000 have been finalized as rent. That's our room. Master bed.
No single bed rooms were available. That's a small kitchen here. A small washroom ... that's just okay .. .not very clean though. We are told that they have hot water here. It's really cold here.
The best thing about this place is the view. Just check it out. The sun has come out again so we can see the whole valley as well as the mountains from here.
Great. Hope you liked this vlog. In that case, kindly go ahead and hit the LIKE button. Please SUBSCRIBE if you are not already a subscriber.
Before finishing the vlog, let's meet Haris. He also makes vlogs and he has recently made his own channel. He is making some really good videos. Haris Nisar .... Life on Wheels ... It would be great if you can find some time out and visit his channel. Thank you so much for watching. See you in the next one. Allah Hafiz
2021-12-10 05:28
