Photo post: Mukshpuri

Last weekend we took a trip out into the Murree Hills and did a lovely walk up a 9000ft hill called Mukshpuri, passing through a wildlife park on the way down (separate post on that coming shortly).



















As you can see, the road up is fairly impressive on the way up there; from above it looks something like this.



















On the drive there we met a sizeable troupe of these fellows.

























Looking down from the side of the valley.



















Some of the local ladies collecting fuel. Etiquette reduces my National Geographic-wannabe shots to covert behind-a-tree-once-they-aren't-looking operations.

























There are a startling number of lightning-struck trees, but that's understandable given the standard of lightning storms in this part of the world...














(click on pics for larger versions...)

At the top we emerge from the trees onto this plateau or alpine meadow - it almost doesn't feel like the top of a mountain somehow. This is the quietest place we have been, night or day, since we arrived - no bustling bazaars, no truck horns, no shouty loudspeakers... aah.



















Some big mountains are just about visible to the north-west. We're told that on a clear day you can see all the way to Nanga Parbat - maybe that's it, who knows?



















We stop at an open air barbecue restaurant on the way home, where we have possibly the best curry so far (a ginger chicken dish with soft fresh naan - spicy without being too hot to taste the ingredients!). Here is one of the views from our table. It's amazing where people manage to build their houses. And it gives us some understanding of why so many of pregnant patients at the hospital don't make it to their antenatal appointments!



















Some alternative transport - I'm not sure I like the look of that commute, even though it would probably cut an hour off the journey from one side of the valley to the other.

Photo post: a walk and a look at the local scenery

(click to see bigger versions)

Last week we had our first proper outing in the local area, and it was nice to see a bit of what surrounds where we live. We took a suzuki (taxi) up out of the village with a couple of our colleagues, then walked a few miles back down to another point on the KKH to catch another home again.

Here is a brilliant little cable car, apparently made from the top half of a suzuki suspended from a couple of cables on little wheels. We didn't have time to stop and have a go unfortunately - hopefully next time.

I generally associate cable cars with tourist attractions or ski resorts, but this is a perfectly serious everyday method of transport.

A view over part of one of the villages.

Jenny with two of our hospital colleagues. This is a typical inter-village road. Some of the main ones are tarmac-ed, others are just gravel. The landscape is very hilly, with deep sheer valleys cutting through everything, so the roads are never direct. Hence the cable car above.

The other day I went to visit one of the workshop employees houses - the hospital puts some funds into helping its employees with their house repairs/improvements now and again, so we went to see what could be done at this guy's. The journey there was quite an adventure, involving a suzuki ride (other vehicles are too big to fit) along a riverbed complete with flowing stream, tracks tilting at crazy angles above steep valleys, and a memorable uphill section which required a run-up, followed by most of us hopping out, pushing, then walking up to catch up with our driver. The chap and his family live in 3 rooms perched on the edge of a valley, one breeze-block, the other two mud-brick, with bits of old corrugated iron sheeting for a roof - quite an eye-opener.

Looking out across the main valley - the hospital is somewhere down behind and to the left of the ridge with the village on it.

My photo-stitching program (Hugin) produces some fairly excellent results, but the power lines seem to have defeated it!

Lollipop tree.

Blue pansies (the blue part's on the inside of their wings - perhaps a photo another day!). There were lots of amazing (but fast-moving) butterflies which I entirely failed to get anywhere near with the camera, and it was only when we got back to the hospital that I got the ones in the previous post.

Corn is one of the main crops, grown in fields, and wherever there's a free patch of ground. The locals will often stop to greet you and chat, but are a bit bemused by the concept of walking for pleasure or to enjoy the scenery!

Stairway to heaven? Buildings are built wherever there's a moderately flat piece of ground. Often the land is owned by absentee landlords from whom the local people rent their plots.

Looking down one of the valleys back towards the KKH.

10-foot grass.