Muddleheaded’s Weblog

I remember we started over as a one day excursion to Murree, a hill station about 2.5 hours drive from city of Rawalpindi. The autumn was yet to set, so when we reached there we didn’t find any fun because the temperature was still relatively higher than it is used to be in winter. In desperation we thought of coming back to Islamabad instead of wasting time in Murree. Suddenly, out of nowhere we decided to move further and what could be further? The only nearest visiting place was Kohala near the bridge over the river Jehlum. The idea was to visit some water sight. But we extended our plan and planned out for Muzaffarabad City. Immediately, we set out for our then destination.

The road to Kohala is too twisted and the bus twined up and down the slope while we were sitting there watching outside the windows. But unfortunately the journey didn’t turn out to be so enchanting because my accomplice had been too damn nauseated and I had to look after him. But till the time he was fine, I had a lot of good scenery out there and I wondered why I never travelled to this place earlier. Being so close to Murree we are so used to visiting Murree but we never come this far. Though there is no particular picnic spot all the way to Kohala Bridge but the road is covered with a dense forest of Pine trees and other shrubs along side. It is evident that it is relatively less intruded by human beings yet. We were travelling down the hill now. After half the route to Kohala the road proceeds further north and down the hill and the travelling becomes easier.

Muzaffarabad road crosses river Jehlum at right angle through Kohala Bridge and then proceeds just parallel to the river up the way to the city. Just after we have crossed the river we came across a very old pass which was constructed by cutting a tunnel through the hill. It is so narrow that at a time only one vehicle can pass through it, so we had to wait as well. I have come to know from a friend that now the government has built another road for the incoming traffic, so the things are bit better for the travelers. We didn’t find much of the greenery on the route after the Kohala Bridge. The road enters Muzaffarabad through yet another bridge on river Jehlum called Domel Bridge. It’s the same place where river Neelum and Jehlum confluence together.

The Domel Bridge

It was already late afternoon when we reached the city. We roamed around here and there to watch for some places to visit but in vain. Muzaffarabad city is nothing but a little better than Raja Bazaar of Rawalpindi except that it has plenty of wooden suspended bridges crossing here and there over both the rivers. Yes there is one thing must to see: The Muzaffarabad Fort.

The forte was built somewhere in 1600 by Chaks and later on completed by Sultan Muzaffar Khan, the founder of Muzaffarabad in 1646. It is neglected and taken care of in different eras by different rulers including Mughals, Durranis and Dogra rulers. But one thing is eminent from its structure that it must have served very efficiently against many offensives. It is surrounded on three sides by the river Neelum. It presents a nice entity for the people who love archeology.

The Outside Wall of the Fort Facing the River

All in all, the city is full of dirt and litter and does not contain any parks or a proper place to sit around for a while except one so called park where people go for jogging stuff and it is built by army. It is right on the road to the state house up the hill. We met the Swan there on the northern bridge on river Neelum. She was standing there among people in a crowd, 4.5 feet tall and wearing white fluffy feathery hood. By SWAN I really mean the bird Swan, so don’t get confused. She was having fun there, taking everything from people she could to eat. She was looking so funny as she was trying to eat even people clothes behind there back. It was nice to see a Swan so mingled with people. She is considered sacred by the locals but I guess she was the nicest thing that happened to us in Muzaffarabad. The most disappointing factor for us in Muzaffarabad was temperature I guess. It was the same as we had in Islamabad although the whole city spreads right on the mountains.

The dark was falling, so we came back to the bus stand to buy tickets back to Rawalpindi. As we were talking to each other about our “not so fun filled” journey, a local guy asked us “Which places did you visit here?” We narrated ALL of the places we saw. He told us that there is nothing here in the city to see. The tourists who come to Muzaffarabad don’t come here to see this city but they opt for the valleys further in to the mountains. We were still not satisfied by our excursion so we asked him a series of questions and in reply, he told us about the two valleys which are very easy to access. The first one was Neelum Valley and the other one was Leepa Valley. We got all the information from him we could and thought over the pros and cons of venturing there. But we really have to decide where to go: Neelum or Leepa? I had heard about Neelum earlier so ultimately we decided to stay in the city for the night and restart our journey early next morning for Neelum Valley. The night was cold.

Next late morning we set out for the Valley. We had little information about the place and we were scared too. The Valley is cut in to two halves by river Neelum,  on one side is the Indian held Kashmir and  on the other is the state of Azad Kashmir. Arbitrarily, river Neelum was the cease fire line those days.

Continued…