Lahore to Murree

At 5:30 am, we left Lahore for Murree on the 28^th of September. Since it was the start of our trip, there were mixed emotions, the thrill of the adventure and the burden of going on motorbike from Lahore to Islamabad. There are two routes to reach Islamabad from Lahore. One is known as the GT (Grand Trunk) Road and the other is an engineering monument known as the Motorway. GT road is the old route and crosses between almost all the cities on the way whereas the Motorway is a much quieter road that has only designated stops. The distance is also a factor. Motorway is around 100 kilometers more that the GT Road. Since motorbikes are not allowed on the Motorway, we had to take the much hectic GT Road – the N5.

No sooner had we reached the outskirts of Lahore, we got our first hurdle of the tour. The back tyre of the bike got punctured but fortunate for us, we were on the GT Road where tyre shops and petrol pumps are in abundance. After the puncture fix we moved on for another 10 kilometers or so when the same puncture blew up again. This time we decided to replace the tyre tube altogether. We did this near Gujranwala. On reaching Chan Da Qilla, we decided to take the by-pass off Gujranwala as traveling through the city during school and office timing would mean a lot of traffic and chaos. So we moved on to the calm bypass of Gujranwala crossing some newly built housing schemes and the University of the Punjab (Gujranwala Campus). As we reached the Wazirabad Road and Sialkot Bypass interjection we turned left on the Wazirabad Road crossing Ghakhar to the Wazirabad Bypass Toll Point. Just as we crossed the Toll Point, we took our first stop of the tour for breakfast cum lunch at Akbar Resort, a fantastic motel on the Chenab River. Our breakfast included eggs, chapatti and tea with bread and jam. After breakfast we rested for an hour just to enjoy the pleasant atmosphere of the motel and think of the incredible adventure that lay ahead.

After a heavy brunch and rest we started our bikes towards our destination taking another bypass, this time of Gujrat crossing Lalamusa, Kharian, Sarai Alamgir and Jhelum. We stopped at Gujar Khan for the most expensive cold drink of the tour. Yes, one regular Coca Cola for 25 Rupees. Of course there was some resistance on our end to not get cheated of our appearance as tourists but the shopkeeper was adamant that we pay him 25 and not the standard rate which we eventually did. Before entering Islamabad, we had a small stop at Rawat for a hot and delicious tea at a hotel frequented by truck drivers. There is a common understanding that these kind of “Truck Hotels” offer the best tea and food. With tea to relax us, we moved over to Islamabad, refueled our motorbike tanks and got on the Kashmir Highway to take us to Murree. Instead of taking the old Kashmir Highway to Murree from the Shalkheter Market roundabout, we turned right to take the newly built Murree Motorway and what a driving experience it was for us to be on the hills laden with such a magnificent road. As we were on the road, we thought of the wonderful experience we would have on these roads till Khunjerab. We reached Murree by around 6pm and were told by the TDCP that our stay had been arraigned at the Forest Department Rest House which is located just above the Ghikagali Chowk.

The immediate change in temperature began to show on us as we fell the chills and wished to reach the rest house as soon as possible. We were warmly welcomed by the FDRH staff with a very hot cup of tea and warm water to take bath and refresh ourselves. After some relaxation and discussion on the trip done so far, we moved out to Ghikagali Chowk for dinner and had our first of the many Chicken Biryani’s.

After dinner and a small walk back to the rest house, we just fell on our beds to have a sound sleep.