Kass Valley, Swat
Part 2 - Realization
Kass Valley : Ascent | Realization | Conclusion

Return to Mango Grove | Table of Contents
Swat Valley : Main - Mingora | Udegram | Udegram Chai

Here is our driver and the ticket-taker on the bus. They are parked at the top of their route, at the path to Kass Valley.

When I get off the bus, everyone seems a bit surprised to see an American just hanging out with some of the young men. They smile and welcome me, I feel like some visiting honoree with their invitations for chai. I take the offer of a couple of the guys I rode with, and we set out for their valley after one last picture [below].

We start hiking away from the bus, into the hills. We round around the ridge, coming into a lovely terraced valley with a large stream running down the center. They happily announce that we this is home and we start hiking along the terraces in.

At about 3:30, after nearly an hour of hiking, I start asking about the bus. Given the narrow dirt road, I'm hoping it will be going back before too long. I wonder when we will have tea and I can finally get back to all my stuff, money, and hotel room in Mingora. I only have a few rolls of film, my now empty water bottle, a notebook and a map.

Eventually we arrive at someone's verandah, where we all come to drink tea with some of the male heads of the households. They are nice, smiling and welcoming. No one speaks English, even the Urdu is a bit thick for me. After a few cups of tea, a young man with good English skills shows up.

He quickly explains, `You have done a bad thing'. I get a little concerned as the old men start getting loud with him, and he is asking a thousand questions of me. They eventually get into a long debate, followed by a few minutes of silence - the older men all visually examining me up and down.

Eventually they all get up, and he tells me to come with them. As we walk to his grandfather's house, he explains that it was decided that I should stay there.

`Stay there?' I ask, `but isn't the bus going back soon?'

He laughs, explaining that the bus comes up in the afternoon, goes down in the morning every day. `You have done a bad thing, those men you rode with are bad men.'

Eventually, we get to a large housing complex, where there are a number of young and old men hanging out. I am introduced, and they proceed to examine everything I have and ask endless questions. Eventually food shows up, and I gratefully eat some bread and stew.

I am told I will stay with the single young men of the household that night, `for protection'.

The head of the household shows up, and I am profuse with my thanks. He is a really nice joking man, who tells lots of funny stories I can only partly grasp. He invites me to come hunting in the hills the next morning with him and his friends. I can only say no, as my flight to the states is leaving in 3 days.

As the sun sets, he gives me one main piece of advice, mostly in english. He shows me where I'll sleep, and explains that I am not to go to the bathroom there. `Not in house, no!'. Then he walks outside and steps off the porch - explaining that `everywhere is bathroom' with a huge laugh.

I start giggling, as does everyone else, as he repeats `everywhere is bathroom, everywhere is bathroom'. I wonder where he ever heard that, and just laugh at the outrageousness.

Continued on Part 3 - Conclusion

Kass Valley : Ascent | Realization | Conclusion

Return to Mango Grove | Table of Contents
Swat Valley : Main - Mingora | Udegram | Udegram Chai