Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Unique Mountains, Valleys and Glaciers
Northern areas of Pakistan, spread over 72,496 sq.Km. are as fascinating as its southern region. Amidst towering snow-clad peaks with heights varying from 1000 m to over 8000 meter, the valleys of Gilgit, Hunza and Skardu recall Shangri-La. The cultural patterns in this region are as interesting as its topography.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Some facts about the city of Lahore in Pakistan
Elevation Area
213 metres above sea level500 kms (approximately)
Local languages
Punjabi, Urdu, English are widely spoken
Best time to visit
Between the months of October March
Climate
Warm in summer and cold in winter
Type of Clothing
Tropical in summer and woolen in winter
History of Lahore
Lahore has been the capital of Punjab for nearly 1,000 years. Besides being the Mughal show-window, Lahore is the cultural, academic and intellectual centre of Pakistan. For 200 years, beginning from about 1525 AD, Lahore remained a thriving cultural centre of the great Mughal Empire, when the city was beautified with palaces, gardens, monuments and mosques. During the British regime, many monuments sprang up in Lahore which blended beautifully with the Mughal, Gothic and Victorian styles of architecture.Legend has it that the city was founded by two sons of Rama about 4,000 years ago. Reminiscence of its hoary past are the remains of a subterranean temple (attributed to Rama, the legendary hero of Ramayana) found in the northern part of the Royal Fort. Historically, it has been proved that Lahore is about 2,000 years old. Hieun-tsang, the famous Chinese Pilgrim, has given a vivid description of Lahore city, which he visited in the early 7th century AD. Abu Rehan Al-Biruni, in his Tarikh-e-Hind, at the time of Mahmud Gazni's invasion, also mentioned Lahore in detail. Lying on the main trade and invasion route through South Asia, Lahore has been ruled, built and plundered by a number of dynasties and hordes. From 1021 to 1186, it was governed by Mehmud of Ghazni and the Ghaznavid dynasty, then by Muhammad of Ghor and finally by the various Sultans of Delhi. However, it touched the zenith of its glory during the rule of the great Mughals (1524-1752), who were fond of art, architecture and culture and gave Lahore some of its finest monuments that are extant today.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
a breif overwiew of the Northern Areas of Pakistan
The Northern Area is the most spectacular and fascinating region of Pakistan. It is here that the world's three famous mountain ranges meet - the Himalayas, the Karakorams and the Hindukush. The whole Northern Pakistan has come to be known as a paradise for mountaineers, climbers, trekkers, hikers and anglers of the most famous “Trout fish”.In the northern regions of Pakistan, at a stone's throw from the Amu Darya, is” Bam-e-Dunya” (the roof of the world). This was the name given to the great Pamir plateau, apex of six of the mightiest mountain ranges of the world.The historic Karakoram pass 5,575 metres, an ancient trading route between Kashmir and Xinjiang, gives its name to the range west of it that forms the watershed between the Indus and the Central Asian deserts. The eastern boundary of the Karakoram is the upper Shyok River from where it extends over 322 km. westwards to the Karumbar river and the Hindukush range. To the north the Shaksgam tributary of the Yarkand River and south by the Indus bound the Karakoram. Here, the Nanga Parbat 8,126 metres massif is the western anchor of the great Himalayan range which stretches in an arc 24,124 km. east to Burma, a boundary and barrier, "the razor's edge" which for centuries has determined the destiny of the Indian sub-continent.Such is the setting of Karakoram Range, this remnant of a primeval ice age, "the third pole," with extensive glacier systems and the greatest concentration of lofty mountains in the world. Some of the largest glaciers outside sub-polar regions flow in the Karakorams. For its sheer mountain grandeur and breath-taking panorama of beauty, few places can match the superb landscape through which the Karakoram Highway snakes. A fantastic and unforgettable spectacle is the passage of the Highway along the Baltura glacier, rated among the worlds seventh largest.The Khunjerab Pass, which the Highway crosses, and the nearby Mintaka Pass lie astride the fabulous ancient Silk Route that led from Europe to Asia and over which history's most famous tourists once travelled. These include the Venetian trader Marco Polo after who has been made the wild Marco Polo sheep in the thirteenth century, the Chinese Monk Fe Hien in the fourth century and the Arab historian, Al-Beruni in the eleventh century.The Siachin glacier is 75 km, the Hispar, (52 km) joints the Biafo at the Hispar La 5,154 metres to form an ice corridor, 116 km. long.The Batura too is 58 km. in length. But the most outstanding of these rivers of ice is the Baltoro (62 km). This mighty glacier fed by some 30 tributaries constitutes a surface area of 1,219 sq. km. Of the fourteen over 8,000 m peaks on earth, four occupy an amphitheatre at the head of Baltoro. There are K-2 (8,611) second only to Everest, Broad Peak (8,047 metres) Gasherbrum-I (8,068 metres), Gasherbrum-II (8,035 metres).Seen from a distance, the Baltoro appears smooth and beautiful but in fact it is a chaotic tumbling mass of rock and ice, troughs and hillocks and the debris of centuries. It is a unique remote corner of earth. For here, in a frozen wilderness a crag, cornices and crevasses, raise towering spires of granite, great snowy peaks with fluted icy ridges and pinnacles that pierce the sky.In the Lesser Karakorams there are equally great peaks such as Rakaposhi (7,788 metres), the dominant giant in Hunza valley. Its north face is fantastic precipice - 5,791 metres of plunging snow and ice.There are scores of over 7,000 m peaks in the Karakoram Range and hundreds of nameless summits below 6,000 metres, mere points on the map. The shapes, forms, sizes, colours provide tremendous contrast, which defy description. K-2, the undisputed monarch of the sky, Broad Peak, massive and ugly, Muztagh Tower, deceptively, sheer. Gasherbrum-II, the "Egyptian Pyramid" that even Cheops would have preferred for a tomb, Chogolisa, the "Bride Peak", in whose eternal embrace lies Hermann Buhi, the first man to climb Nanga Parbat. The Cathedrals of the Baltoro with their great knife-edge ridges, the sky cleaving monoliths of the Trango Towers and most beautiful of all - the Peak of Perfection - Paiyu, (6,600 metres) first climbed by a Pakistani expedition in 1977.The Hindukush is also a mountain vastness containing hundreds of peaks, many above 7,000 metres including a Trichmir 7,705 metre that is the highest point of the range.
about Pakistan
Pakistan is uniquely Situated in the heart of the South Asian sub-continent, it is a country with its own history and cultural heritage, fascinating in its own right. Pakistan was the site for one of the world's earliest human settlements, the great prehistoric Indus Valley Civilization, the crucible of ancient empires, religions and cultures.
The land of Pakistan ranges from lofty mountains in the north, the Karakoram and the Himalayas, through dissected plateaus to the rich alluvial plains of the Punjab. Then follows desolate barrenness of Baluchistan and the hot, dry deserts of Sindh blending into miles and miles of golden beaches of Makran coast. Come and Explore the Treasures of Pakistan with us. A visitor to Pakistan is more than a tourist - to us he is an honored guest.
The land of Pakistan ranges from lofty mountains in the north, the Karakoram and the Himalayas, through dissected plateaus to the rich alluvial plains of the Punjab. Then follows desolate barrenness of Baluchistan and the hot, dry deserts of Sindh blending into miles and miles of golden beaches of Makran coast. Come and Explore the Treasures of Pakistan with us. A visitor to Pakistan is more than a tourist - to us he is an honored guest.
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