Crown Plaza Islamabad

... Total time: 15 min. Slowly making our way to the Chinese customs...the road leading us through snowy mountains! What a beautiful sight! Again we by-pass a huge queue of trucks and are allowed to enter Chinese area. At first it seems we can drive through without stopping, but finally one smart Chinese guy makes us stop. Now the circus starts...passports are taken with no sign of further activity. Luckily for us, our guide-for-China-to-be turns up shortly after and starts arranging ...

... next stop was about 6km ahead dunga gali. another hill station from there we took tea break and further to mukspuri. that was amazingly beautifull carpetted with wild daisy till horizon. mukspuri is situated at an elevation of 8500ft above sea level.

Khanuspur is a village about 80 km from the capital city of Pakistan, Islamabad. A perfact place to stay a few days in peace with nature. Exclusively beautifull and silent. Altitude is about 7000ft above sea level and in winters harsh snows block its all ways. I normally on weekend when find time reach khanuspur to have a beautifull weekend. In this trip i along with my one friend on motor bike reached khanuspur, and besides HEC rest hose we camped.

Arrived Rawalpindi's Pir Wadhai bus station at arond 7.45am. It was drizzling earlier on and it was just gloomy for the whole day. Followed LP's recommendation to Simara Hotel in Sitara Market but the hotel was fulled. Probably I was too early and everyone was still sleeping. Remembered Nemat told me about Blue Sky Hotel in Sitara Market too so I went there. Single room without aircon is Rs500 but with aircon is Rs1200! Of couse I took the one without aircon. Took a shower and ...

... and ordered lunch and spent the whole morning drinking chai (tea) and watching TV in the hotel's dining area. As I was sitting there for too long many people (pakistani) sat down to talk to me. They said I'm the first Malaysian tourist they saw this year. The jeep driver of the hotel (actually Madina hotel is the HQ of Madina Tour) offered to bring me to Garga Buddha. From what he ...

... agent which would take 2 weeks to get, but that information was not correct; US citizens do not need an LOI. Tuesday morning we went to the Uzbek embassy where we found out the visas section is only open Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so another day lost. Wednesday morning we went again to the Uzbek embassy and finally got to submit our applications for visas, but even though we ask for express service we won't get our visas until Monday morning.

... Not untypical of sub-continental cities. And not quite on the scale of  the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka. But enough to have left Mr R bed-bound for  2 of the 12 days we've been here so far - coughing up his lungs like a  50-a-day smoker and scratching his eyes. The relative merits of chest remedies  is a hot topic of conversation among the England fans. We are now in Islamabad hoping to escape into the hills in search of  some fresh air, before the chaos and ...

... ueberbevoelkerten Staedte ohne Kanalisation so ueber hat wie ich....eine saubere gruene stadt mit weiten alleen (leider ohne billige hotels), schoenen Haeusern und ohne Dreck. Islamabad wird seit den 60ern gebaut; ohne Hast und wahrscheinlich auch ohne Geld ;) besonderes zu sehen (ausser der Moschee) gibts hier net, und die schaue ich mir nacher an. Ach ja, Freitag ist bei den Moslems der heilige Bettag (oder Bet-tag?) so wie bei den Hindus samstag ...

Islamabad-Pakistan by: Muhammad SulemanIslamabad, the capital of Pakistan, is located against the backdrop of Margalla Hills at the northern edge of Potohar Plateau. In contrast to its twin city Rawalpindi, it is lush green, spacious and peaceful. Islamabad is a city of wide, tree-lined streets, large houses, elegant public buildings and well-organized bazaars. Traffic jams and crowds are rare, and narrow lanes ...

Islamabad, Pindi, Taxila, Lahore and Murree. Staying with friend's family members everywhere except Murree, where we stayed on an army base (I had to keep quiet and pretend to be Pakistani on the base). Wonderful people, and a very social time, but I do not know how it would be to travel as a tourist/traveller. I was not with other foreigners and did not stay in hotels. I would recommend that women get many Chalwar-quameez made at the tailor, as soon as you ...