Khewra Salt Mines

 

This past Saturday we took a roadtrip to the Khewra Salt Mines, just over 2 hours away from Islamabad. The morning got off to a bad start, with our alarm clock not going off and waking up 30 minutes before we had to be out the door, and then discovering the truck had a flat tire, but we had a great day nonetheless.

The drive to Khewra was very scenic, lots of mountains and hills, and roads that twisted so often that the speed limit was 30km/hour. 

One thing that I hate about this country is that foreigners are charged so much more than locals. And the Salt Mines were no exception. 120 rupees if you were Pakistani, 1000 rupees if you were foreign. I can understand a slight price difference, but that's huge! What a rip off. 

Then of course I see some white people so I just had to say hello! Turns out they were from some the States, and with the accent, a southern one. I get so excited when I see white people, it's ridiculous.

So we spent the next hour or so taking a train into the mines, which was slightly terrifying. It was a bumpy ride and I think we all had sore backs afterward. But it was an interesting tour, and I'm glad we went. Apparently the mines had been discovered some 300 years before Christ by some explorer, who I can't remember the name of. 

A mosque built out of bricks of salt

Apparently if you lick one wall, you'll be blessed with luck, the other with love. So the boys all licked the walls. Beyond disgusting if you ask me. Who knows who else licked those walls? And what diseases they carried? Yuck.

Once the tour was finished, we did a quick wander through the village to purchase some salt statue souvenirs. I picked up an elephant and a camel made out of salt. Very cute! 

 This was the British family who we went with, although in separate vehicles

And then we headed back to Islamabad. By this point, everyone was hungry, and I was absolutely starving as I hadn't had a single bite to eat at all that day. So we ditched the Brits and headed to The Monal Restaurant, which is atop the Margalla Hills. It was quite the drive to get through, more sharp, steep turns and I thought we may just tumble off the mountain. Scary business driving in this country. 

The white building on top is The Monal

The food was mediocre, it seems like ordering American food in Pakistan is not the best idea. I'm going to stick to middle eastern food from now on, I think. But I'm definitely glad that we went as the view was amazing, and we got to see Macaques :) 

Saidpur Village

Just another rainy day here in Islamabad. I guess that's to be expected, as it is monsoon season. However, I'm still trying to figure out why it's called monsoon season. It doesn't seem any different from our spring back home. Just normal rainy days, the occasional thunderstorm. Although two years ago there was a massive flood, so maybe that's why?

Anyway, all is well on this side of the world. I know some of my family members heard in the news about an incident that happened a few days ago, some 80km from here, with some crazy militants. But I assure you, I am okay, and safely protected here in the Diplomatic Enclave. So much so that I feel almost as though I am in a zoo, surrounded by walls, bars, constantina wire, security guards, machine guns, and then more walls and wire.

The other weekend we went on a 4 hour tour of Islamabad, even though we didn't get to see the whole thing. But we ended up in a little place called Saidpur Village. It was nestled at the base of the Margalla Hills, on the northern outskirts of Isbad. It was a, dare I say it, cute little village, although obviously very poor. There were some nice restaurants as it is a tourist attraction I suppose, and I hope to go back one day very soon for some good eats.

click on photos to make them bigger ;)