**Kashmir Trip**
Hello ๐ everyone,
So it is a story of our four days excursion to the Kashmir valley. We were five friends and we decided that we will visit Kashmir after our exams are over. It was just three months back, in August 2021, we planned to visit the Kashmir valley as we almost graduated. I planned the whole and noted it down with myself in the notes section of the phone. We planned four days trip.
(Screenshot of the notes in which i noted down the whole plan)
**First Day**
Let's start from the night before we left for the trip. A day before our plan, we booked a Jeep (It was a Mitsubishi Jeep 4 x 4). We rented it on 4000 Pakistani rupees per day. The fuel was from our side. The driver came to our place, he stayed the night. On the very first day, It was around 5 AM in the morning when we started our trip towards Kashmir valley.
(Photo that i took in Abbottabad before we left for the trip, It was around 5 AM)
Our goal of the day was to reach Arang Kel (which is a beautiful place). It was around 12 hours away from the point we started our journey. Although it was really tough for all of us especially for the driver, still we keep on moving. We had our first stop in the Muzaffarabad City (The Capital of Kashmir). We had our breakfast in the Capital. After the breakfast, we started our journey again.
(Breakfast in Muzaffarabad)
For the lunch we stopped at Sharda which was almost 5 hours away from the Arang Kel. We had our lunch, our jeep started again. It was around 6 PM when we reached the Kel (Which is a base camp to the Arang Kel). In Kel we waited for the chair lift (which is the only way to reach Arang Kel). We almost waited for around 2.5 hours.
(We took selfie while waiting for our turn)
(People waiting for their turns)
(Photo of Chairlift at Kel)
Finally, when it was our turn, we reached the Arnag Kel base and then started trekking towards the top of the Arang Kel. The total trek was around 45 minutes. We did it, we reached our destination. We had our dinner in Arnag Kel. It was the hardest achievement of the day to travel for almost 12 hours and then wait for the lift and then trek for almost an hour but in the end it was all worth it and we did it.
(Dinner at Arang Kel)
**Second Day**
Our only aim was to reach the Arang Kel in the night and wake up there the next and experience it's early morning. Literally, I got amazed to witness the most beautiful morning of my life.
(Early Morning view of Arang Kel)
We roam around there in Arnag Kel for almost 4 hours and took lots of pictures. We had our breakfast there as well.
(It was someoneโs wedding in Arang Kel)
We were strictly following our plan so we started our journey towards the next destination of our trip. It was the last village of the Kashmir which is named Taobat. It was around 6 hours from our position. We had our lunch in the Kel and then we head towards the Toabat village. The plan was same to reach there in the night and had our morning experience of that place and fortunately, we reached there on time. It was one of the best road trips that I have ever had. The road trip was full of scenic views. We sit on the top of the Jeep. The road was under construction so we face a little problem.
(Scenic views and photo of us while travelling to Taobat)
We reached Taobat and searched for the hotel room and we got the most beautiful room which had the best view from the window. There was a sea on the one side of the hotel which was visible from the window and there was a village full of local people's houses on the other side.
(view from window)
We had our lunch, we had the best trout fish ever with soya beans. Unfortunately, I was unable to capture it because there was no light in the town. It rained that night and Oh my God, that was the best night I have ever experienced.
**Day Three**
When I woke in the morning at around 5:30 AM, it was really cold. I stand up and witnessed the most beautiful view of the village from the window, I suddenly freeze the moment through my mobile. I woke up all my friend and asked them to get so that we can visit around the village and have some pictures. I along with one of my friend, we went down the river side in the early and I witnessed literally a paradise. The clouds were down, the sky look dope and the sound of the river amazed me in every angle. We captured bunch of photos, made some videos and then planned to visit the upper side of the village (which was around 10 minutes of drive from the lower village). Before that, we had our breakfast, the hotel was on the side of the river. What is more amazing then this, to have a good breakfast along the river side.? It was wonderful.
(Taobat Photos)
After breakfast, we started our journey towards the upper side, it was the last village of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir. It was in fact, LOC (line of Control) the Pakistan-India border. We really enjoyed the place.
(Upper Taobat (Last village of Pakistani Kashmir))
After this, we started our journey towards our final destination, It was Ratti gali lake. We reached Ratti gali starting point in the night, stayed there in a hotel.
**Day Four**
Ah! It was the day, it was the last day and it was the most beautiful location. We woke up early in the morning as usual. We had our breakfast. It was one of the dangerous roads to the lake. The total road was around 18 Kilometer, 2 of which was a hiking. It was the most rugged road I have ever travelled on.
(Road towards Ratti Gali Lake)
We finally reach Ratti Gali Lake basecamp. From the basecamp, the lake was around at 2 KM hiking.
We did the hiking and uff! this was the place I wanted to visit. We were there for almost 4 hours. We had tea with boiled eggs. We listened to some music and just looked into the majestic lake. It was total magic.
After this, we started our journey back towards our home. We reached in the midnight and slept for almost 10 hours that night.
I hope you would have liked the story.