Road trip: Day 4 Monday: 5.12.2011 ( Keenjhar Lake Thatta to Karachi)

All the photographs in the blog have been taken by Bilal Hameed.

Finally we were to head towards Karachi today. However before setting out we had also planned to visit the famous Makli tombs in Thatta which were on the way. We left the motel at around 9 am.

One of the largest necropolises in the world, with a diameter of approximately 8 kilometers, Makli Hill is supposed to be the burial place of some 125,000 local rulers, Sufi saints and others. Legends abound about its inception, but it is generally believed that the cemetery grew around the shrine of the fourteenth-century Sufi, Hamad Jamali. The tombs and gravestones spread over the cemetery are material documents marking the social and political history of Sind.

Imperial mausoleums are divided into two major groups, those from the Samma (1352–1520) and Tarkhan (1556–1592) periods. The tomb of the Samma king, Jam Nizamuddin II (reigned 1461–1509), is an impressive square structure built of sandstone and decorated with floral and geometric medallions. Similar to this is the mausoleum of Isa Khan Tarkhan II (d. 1651), a two-story stone building with majestic cupolas and balconies. Today, Makli Hill is a United Nations World Heritage Site that is visited by both pilgrims and tourists, but in need of conservation and maintenance.

Once we were at the place Bilal also told us about a documentary that he had seen on TV. According to that documentary this place was haunted as there were spirits lurking around the place in the shape of humans. Visitors saw them, met them and also took photos with them. But afterwards nothing could be seen in the photos. Hmmmmm..........hocus pocus or fertile imaginations..... well whatever the case was we did not take any pictures with any of the people we saw there...  ;D



Oh my gosh! Bilal is missing from this pic...   ;D

  

After spending about 40 or so minutes at Makli hill we finally headed towards Karachi.  The plan was to dump our luggage in the guest house, pick up Bilal’s Friends, Manzoor aka Mooni, and go for a drive on the Makran coastal highway.

The aim was to reach Defense Phase 5 in Karachi, where our guest house was. Bilal had taken over the driving today because he was familiar with the roads in Karachi; He had lived in Karachi for a few years previously.

We finally managed to reach the guest house at around 1 pm. At a glance the place was clean, spacious and well maintained. It was also a cost effective choice. After hurriedly checking in we went to pick up Manzoor who lived nearby. Manzoor and Bilal are very old friends; their friendship go back around 15-16 years. Over the course of next 4 days Manzoor became our very valuable and trusted friend and guide in Karachi.

He sat behind the wheel and we made our way towards the makran coastal highway.

So we were now heading towards the famous coastal highway. The excitement of entering Baluchistan was high; 4 of us, with the exception of Samina, had never visited that province before.  Manzoor was being a very diligent guide and kept on pointing to noteworthy landmarks on the way.

The mood in the car was jovial and ragging was on. All morning Balouch had been going on and on about his 12 years of friendship with Bilal and how old and precious their association was. As soon as Manzoor got in the car I started highlighting the fact that Manzoor's association was even older than Balouch's, much to his chargain. Anyways it made the journey fun and interesting....  :)

Initially the coastal highway seemed like one never ending road with rocky hills on one side and mostly sandy terrain on the other side. There was no hint of sea anywhere. This went on for about 2 hours of our journey. During this initial 2 hours there came an off-road path leading to the mud volcanoes. That was also about 1 hour drive further into the sandy terrain. We wanted to see it but decided to do that on our way back.

On the way we also crossed a river called Hungol river. And there is a Hungol national park as well in the vicinity. Apparently the river also has crocodiles but we didnt see any. Maybe it was not the right time of the day.





Hungol river, Baluchistan

 After about 2.5 hours or so we reached the first sandy beach of the coastal highway at a place called Kund Malir. The water was a clear cobalt blue and the beach was pristine clean with untouched sandy dunes. The beach was mostly empty with just a handful of people around.



Footprints on the sands of time





Getting our "foot" act together

 Just half an hour further drive from this place is another famous spot of the highway i.e. princess of hope. Manzoor suggested that we also take that in since we had driven so far out.

However the issue was that we were running low on diesel in our car. The coastal highway is a long beautiful drive but unfortunately there are no petrol pumps on the way at all. The only fuel you are able to find there is what has been smuggled from Iran and that too from road side vendors and not a proper authorised station.

The guys were hesitant to use that fuel lest it caused any engine problem with our vehicle: we had to drive back to Islamabad in the same car...  :)

So we decided to head back as sun was also about to set and it would be unwise to get stuck on the coastal highway at night time where there is hardly any traffic.

Lessons learnt were that we should have dedicated one whole day for coastal highway, should have carried extra fuel and if possible should also have had a second car in the convoy; lest one breaks down the other one will be around to fetch help. It would have been great to drive further down as that was when the highway had started to drive right next to the coast line.

We were disappointed as we did miss out on seeing the princess of hope, mud volcanoes (we did not stop on our way back as it was getting dark) and hungol national park.


So again after a very full day we reached our guest house, Manzoor dropped us off. And after a dinner of Karachi biryani all of us hit the sack. Usman again worked till late.....

We were also mulling over the idea of dedicating all day wednesday to coastal highway again and see more of it... hmmm...let's see if that happens....


Missed opportunities of the day: Mud volcanoes, princess of hope and hungol national park...    :(

Road trip: Day 3 Sunday: 4.12.2011 ( Khairpur to Keenjhar Lake Thatta via Sehwan Sharif and Rani kot)

All the photographs in this story have been taken by Bilal Hameed

This was going to be an exciting day for us as we had planned to veer off our N5 route and visit the shrine of Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar ( R.A) in Sehwan Sharif and then off to visit the largest fort in the world, Ranikot fort. It was a surprise to us as well that Pakistan was host to the largest fort in the world. These important tourist information are never advertised publically and only through internet research that we found out this interesting trivia. Our final destination for today was PTDC motels on Keenjhar lake in Thatta, Sindh.

First leg of today’s journey: Khairpur to Sehwan sharif

We all woke up at 5 am or so ( it took a lot of prodding for me and Usman to wake up that early ;) ) with a fresh zeal and energy to face the day. The night’s rest had done wonders for our energy level and excitement was high to visit these places. After a hasty cup of tea at the guest house we set out for Sehwan sharif. Balouch was really looking forward to visiting the shrine as he really wanted to do the dhamal (ecstacy dance) there.



Samina and I looking nice and fresh early in the morning




Bilal with the very sweet caretaker of Khairpur guest house




Bilal trying on the colours of Sindh. Looking like quite a wadera ( fuedal lord)!




Capturing the enchanting sunrise of Sindh on our second morning



Since our energy level had come up to full bar now so the conversation and joking round began once again in the car. Samina was persistently asking about breakfast, Bilal was persistently rejecting the possible roadside places for whatever reasons.  Finally common sense prevailed and Usman stopped at one roadside chai( tea) stop for breakfast.  There sitting on charpoys ( four legged local knitted beds) we had our usual staple breakfast of parathas ( flat bread), omelettes and chaanas ( chick peas)with hot piping tea. Green tea for me as I don’t drink the regular milk tea at all.

Along with breakfast we also indulged in some photography with both Samina and Usman posing. Balouch also tried to strike a pose but somehow it didn’t come across as right...  J

This was day 3 and Balouch was mega concerned about the rising fuel cost with each kilometer. He kept on nagging everyone about it. Usman was philosophical about it, I didn’t care at all, Bilal and Samina were also chilled out about it. But Balouch never gave up his tirade against the fuel mileage...  J

Finally we reached Sehwan Sharif at around mid morning ( 11 am or so). Much to Balouch’s disappointment dhamal was not being performed at the shrine due to Muharram those days. As soon as we got out of the car we were bombarded with a hoard of beggars at the shrine. This was cumbersome and distracting as we had to really rush through the area to go inside the shrine. Coming back outside was also the same problem with the same army of beggars waiting for you. Lesson learnt was that it would have been better to park the car couple of streets away from the shrine and walked to the place. Another tip is for females not to carry big purses. Our 4 wheel Prado and the big bags  invited unnecessary attention to our group.  



Entrance to Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar  (R.A) shrine in Sehwan Sharif, Sindh

  

Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar was a Sufi saint, poet, philosopher and a Qalandar. He was born in 1177 in Marvand Afghanistan.  His real name was Usman Marondi. During his travel, in Multan Lal Shahbaz met Bahauddin Zachariah Multani of the Suhurwardiya order, Baba Farid Ganjshakar of Chishtiya order, and Makhdoom Jahanian Surkh Bukhari. The attachment was so cordial and spiritual that their friendship became legendary. They were known as Chahar Yar (four friends). According to some historians, the four friends visited various parts of Sindh and Punjab, in present day Pakistan.

 There are many legends associated with Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar. He had lived for 97 years. One of them is that he was decreed through divine order to reach Sehwan Sharif as that was to be his last resting place after his death. When he came to the area where his shrine is now, it used to be the red light area of the city at that time. This and his other stories can be found in the Urdu book “ Allah kay  wali” ( friends of Allah) by Muhammed Asif. There is a whole section dedicated to Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar. I had carried that book with me for reference on this trip as I knew we would be visiting various shrines along the way.

The shrine was teeming with people as it was also 8^th Muharram. A lot of devotees were present and paying homage to the saint through various methods.  After offering fateha and our respects we visited other graves inside the shrine.

The visit lasted for hardly half an hour as a Muharram procession was also expected to start anytime and we did not want to get stuck in the milieu. Here we also found out that seemingly chul buli (vivacious) Samina also has a deep spiritual side to her. She told us how she looks for a “sign” every time she visits a shrine of a saint. By sign she meant some indication that her visit was accepted by the saint and had his seal of approval. To the uninitiated this would seem a bit ludicrous as how can a dead person give his seal of approval. But to those who know the ways of sufism this will be understandable. Apparently she had also gotten her  approval “sign” in Sehwan Sharif as well. This was the first time that I had heard about this concept and found it very interesting. 

From here we set off for Ranikot Fort.

2^nd leg of today’s journey: From Sehwan to Ranikot Fort.

Now we were on our way to Ranikot. The scenery changed and became hauntingly beautiful after a few miles outside of Sehwan city.  With rocky hills and barren terrain it looked alluringly desolate.  We were now on the Indus highway , N55, and it was a really beautiful ride. On the way there was a small patch which was exceptionally beautiful. We stopped the car and everyone started taking pictures. But unfortunately in our excitement we took pictures of ourselves at that place and no one remembered to capture the landscape itself...  narcissism at play!!  J



A village on the way from sehwan to Ranikot

Very surprisingly up until now the road condition all the way from Islamabad had been excellent. Apart from a very few rough patches the road has been smooth throughout.  It also helped to have a 4-wheel drive vehicle which made going off-road easy when required. 

Right after Sann on N55 we had to take a right turn and get on a single road heading towards the hills where the fort was based after 30 kms. It was a narrow isolated road with no visible traffic at all. Right before taking the turn we asked a man if we were heading in the right direction. The guy looked kind of suspicious so we got a bit spooked about getting on that road. Nonetheless we still took the turn. However after going a few kms , the road and the place overall looked very desolate and isolated. Our mobile signals had also died out as we were in a no coverage area. Just a few kms further we saw 2 local men with their camels. Bilal and Balouch approached them and decided to take one of them along as a local guide.



View on the isolated road heading towards Ranikot fort



RaniKot ,The Great Wall of Sindh is the world's largest fort with a circumference of about 26 km or 16 miles.Since 1993, it has been on the list of tentative UNESCO World Heritage Sites. It is reputed to be the largest unexplored fort in the world. The purpose of its construction and the reason for the choice of its location are still unknown.



Road signage: Merikot - 5 Km, Ranikot - 0 Km

 



Balouch and Bilal: 12 years of freindship!



We stayed around the place for about an hour or so. There was a Sindhi family present as well who were picnicking at the spot. Apart from them there were 2 groups of boys who had also come to see the place.

3^rd and final leg of today’s journey ( Ranikot to Keenjhar lake Thatta)

Finally we headed towards our final destination of the day i.e. PTDC motels on Keenjhar Lake, Thatta. It was roughly about 3 hours or so drive from Ranikot. We remained on N55 till Keenjhar lake.



Enroute to Keenjhar Lake from Ranikot





Overtook some heavy duty traffic on the way...  :)

Kalri Lake (Urdu) commonly called as Keenjhar Lake (Sindhi) is located in Thatta, Sindh, Pakistan.

Kalri Lake is the largest freshwater lake in Pakistan. It plays a substantial ecological role in the functioning of the Indus River basin. It is extremely important for a wide variety of breeding, passage and wintering water birds. The mid-winter water bird counts of the late 1980s averaged 140,000 birds per winter.



Keenjhar Lake, Thatta



PTDC resort was crowded with guests as a lot of people had driven from Karachi and nearby areas, taking advantage of the long weekend ( Saturday and Sunday are weekends in Pakistan and Monday and Tuesday were also off that week due to Ashura). The motel was on hundred percent occupancy when we checked in late afternoon.  We got one of the complete double storey unit which had a spacious living room, bathroom and one bedroom on the upper floor. Extra mattresses were ordered.



PTDC motels, Keenjhar Lake, Thatta





While the boys were checking in Samina and I decided to take a swing back into childhood

 After check-in the first order of the day was a refreshing cup of tea. After that was done we decided to take a boat ride on the lake before sunset.

The Sindhi legend of Noori Jam Tamachi took place around the lake, and to this day there is a shrine in the middle of the lake marking Noori's grave. Everyday hundreds of devotees visit the shrine. We also decided to pay a visit to this shrine.



Our boat ride on the lake




Usman, Balouch, Samina, I and our trusted boat captain. Bilal behind the camera...



Noori Jam Tamachi (Sindhi) is a famous tale of Prince Jam Tamachi's falling in love with the charming fisher maid Nuri. Nuri makes Jam happy with her perfect surrender and obedience which causes him to raise her above all the other queens.

Noor Jam Tamachi also appears in Shah Jo Risalo ( epic poem) of Sindhi Sufi poet Hazrat Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai and forms part of seven popular folk romances from Sindh. The other six tales are Umar Marui, Sohni Mehar, Sassui Punhun, Momal Rano, Sorath Rai Diyach and Lilan Chanesar commonly known as Seven heroines (Sindhi ) of Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai.

This legend has been retold countless times, and is often used as metaphor for divine love by Sufis. By this anecdote, Hazrat Shah Abdul Latif shows that humility is the great thing and the means to rise in the favor of the Creator.



Noori's grave in the middle of the lake



The boat ride took around an hour. The lake was so huge that we were not able to see the other side of the lake even from the shrine. The shrine itself was 20-25 minutes ride from the shore.



Sunset on the lake




Sunset on the lake




PTDC motel Keenjhar lake at night




Enjoying a dinner of fish, dal (lentil) and rice.



After dinner we indulged in 2 games of Luddoo. Now luddoo is a fiercely competitive game for our group because we play for money. Each player contributes Rs.50; winner takes Rs.150 and the second winner gets Rs. 50. There are a total of 4 players in this game.

I won the first game much to Balouch’s disappointment. He was really trying hard to win that one. Second game was won by Samina.

It was quite a rewarding day as we had managed to see quite a few places within a span of 15 hours or so. Tomorrow we will finally head towards Karachi, our destination for the next 4 days.