Road trip from Islamabad to Karachi and back - Day 1: 2nd Dec 2011 ( Islamabad to Bahawalpur)

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

Main Cast:

Usman: Main driver, male model of the trip, shopaholic maniac, baniya (accountant) and the stabilising factor

Samina: female model of the trip, second shopaholic and darling of the trip

Balouch: Main navigator and the worrier of the trip

Bilal: Photographer, second driver and self appointed leader of the trip

Atifa: Me, myself and I

Guest Appearance:

Khawaja Manzoor: trusted friend and guide in Karachi

Khizar: Snorkelling instructor @divers reef Karachi

Noreen: Friend in Karachi

Yasmeen Lari: Friend in Khairpur

Man in blue: local guide in Ranikot

Behind the Scenes:

Athar: Monitoring our location on Google Latitude in Islamabad 

Sadia: "protocol officer"  :)

Day 1 Friday: 2.12.2011 ( Islamabad to Bahawalpur)

The journey started at 7:30 pm. As usual our loyal “protocol officer” Sadia was there to see us off. The 4500 km or so round road trip to Karachi from Islamabad and back was an exciting, daring and seemingly ludicrous  venture that the five of us ( myself, Bilal, Samina, Usman & Balouch) were undertaking.  Most of the people who were told about this trip had misgivings about it.

“ Sindh and Punjab are not safe to travel at night”, “ haalat theekh nahin hain ( the time is not right..)”, “Ashura days ( 9^th and 10^th Muharram of Islamic calendar) are just around the corner. There will be processions on roads. Security hazard” so on and so forth were the advices that we got from various sides. None encouraging.

Nonetheless we meticulously planned our trip using Google map extensively. I even installed Google map on my Nokia E7 and activated my Latitude account.  We had asked a friend, Athar, in Islamabad to track us on his Latitude from security point of view. The Telenor connection ,that I had, worked excellently throughout the trip everywhere. The only disappointing thing was  the battery life of Nokia E7; it never lasted the whole day if I had the latitude on constantly. Hardly gave 14-15 hours max.

After much search and at the last moment we got hold of a 1998  8 seated Prado for this trip. The last seat at the back was made into a makeshift bed for whoever wanted to lie down and sleep. Despite the fact that the vehicle did not give good fuel mileage, around 7 km per litre ( yes you read it right 7kms per litre!! Much to Balouch’s horror J ), we still opted for it, keeping in mind the comfort factor in this long journey. The second option a 5 seated Toyota Vigo, which although gave double the fuel mileage ( 15km per litre) and looked like a lean mean machine on the road, would have rattled our every bone on this long journey.

Our trusted ride for the journey......

We were not being reckless by going on this trip; just plain adventurous. And we were also mindful of the security situation and planned our trip accordingly. The primary reason we left at 7:30 in the evening was because we wanted to travel in Punjab during the night and hit Sindh during daylight. It was the first time all five of us were visiting Sindh like this and did not want to take any undue chances. We started off with the Motorway M2 to Lahore and from there we got onto N5 which is a busy highway even at night with constant patrolling from the Motorway police. We made it a point  not to take any link roads or side roads during the night travel. It made our journey a bit longer but security was paramount. Usman and Bilal were the main drivers who took turns behind the wheel. Both Samina and I volunteered on many occasions but men are men everywhere....   :P And Balouch was our main navigator on the front passenger seat. Balouch is from D. G. Khan so he knew the way till Bahawalpur very well.

All night, our first one on the road, everyone took short or long naps except for Balouch, who was like an owl keeping an eye on the road lest the driver veers off it!! Usman and Bilal took turns driving: 7:30 pm – 12:30 am was Usman’s turn and from 12:30 am till 6 am was Bilal’s turn.

The journey started off with our usual brand of fun: pulling each other’s leg and usurping each other. Both Samina and myself were likened to “marasees (bad singers)”, “koomar (potter)” and “farzana raja ( a PPP  politician, by far the worst name calling J  )” by Balouch. Now don’t ask why we were branded with these seemingly illogical and irrelevant names. They are more like inside jokes which probably will not sound funny to an outsider....  J

On this leg of the journey it was revealed to my companions that my paternal grandfather belonged to Mian Channu, a small city/village on the way from Lahore to Multan. He had settled there after migrating from India in 1947. I blurted this fact out when I first saw the sign board for Mian Channu: I have never visited the place and so got a bit excited about it. They all had thought that I was an “original” Islamabadi with Punjabi parents. Rather I call myself that as Islamabad is the only place I have lived in Pakistan. I do have family elsewhere but Islamabad is what I call home. Needless to say the ragging also started on this point as well.....  J

After a dinner stop at Bhera ( on the motorway) and morning prayer stop in the outskirts of Multan we reached Bahawalpur at around 8 in the morning. 

Dinner at Bhera, Motorway M2

Change of drivers at midnight. Usman enjoying a cup of chai ( tea) on a roadside chai shop just off Lahore. Here Bilal took over the driving. Notice Usman’s red eyes...  J he immediately hit the sack ( the backseat) afterwards.

Roadside Chai (tea) shop/restaurant just off Lahore on N5

First misty morning of the trip somewhere between Multan and Bahawalpur

Cotton fields and misty morning made a very romantic setting for Usman to pose in...  :)

One thing was for sure that this trip was not for the faint hearted. Only true travel junkies can sustain the exhaustion of such a long road trip.