Kass Valley, Swat
Part 1- Going Up
Kass Valley : Ascent | Realization | Conclusion

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Swat Valley : Main - Mingora | Udegram | Udegram Chai

After returning from a morning trip to Udegram, I decided to take a bus ride further north up Swat Valley. I rode on top of the bus, to enjoy the windblown view [secretly, to get further away from seeing the road's edge out the window]. There were some young men, a variety of boxes, sacks, bicycles, and bizarre machinery, on top of the bus inside the somewhat enclosed area. While I would highly recommend the experience, you never are really sure where the bus is going. Some guys say this, the others that ... my Urdu is running short. So I just ride the bus, as everyone assures me that the bus will come back down.

We move east off the river, heading for the hills along the side of the valley. After a few miles, we cross a river by a ford - the bus just making it over the water.

We ride down a dirt road, passing houses and terraced fields covering the whole slope. We started curving back and forth slowly ascending into the hills. Everywhere is a garden, and a house with a view.

Swat is very beautiful - partly due to the lush green everywhere which results from the higher rainfall here. When the monsoon comes across the subcontinent, it is trapped between here and Kashmir - slowly releasing waters so it can cross the high peaks of the Karakoram Range to the north.

View of the last power pole going up the hill. My fellow riders pointed it out excitedly, and I felt for a moment that my Urdu was good.

I had a lot of laughs hanging out with the guys on top of the bus. The whole experience was intoxicating, windy, and scenic as hell. They all were happy to bring me up into the hills, and it was the best afternoon ride I could have imagined.

As we round the hill each time, the view gets better and better. The valley vista is amazing on turns, the hills which look rugged from afar are densely populated and farmed on close view.

Eventually, the bus wound around the final curve to where the road ended. The bus driver turned the bus around and parked it.

I got off the bus, happy to be in these gorgeous surroundings.

Continued on Realization - Part 2 Kass Valley

Conclusion - Part 3 Kass Valley