کیلاش کے لوگ
Please Jump to
Murree and Surrounding areas and Valley’s
Swat Valley is a few hour drives from Islamabad and offers some of the best agriculture in Pakistan. Driving through there you can notice fields of every fruit or vegetable you can imagine because of the climate. As i did not fly into Kalash or Chitral, I took the drive from Islamabad which was probably a smart idea with the landscape
If you have a place to visit in Pakistan, it should be the Kalash Valley (although on the road there you will close your eyes more times than a roller coaster). This is why:
Kalash Valley is one of those once in a lifetime experiences that you will not get in any other place in the world. The Kalash people are an Indo-Aryan community residing in the Kalash valley on the border of Afghanistan. Their worship has forms of animism but also elements of Pre-Hindu beliefs which make them unique not only in this part of the world, but any part of the world. They are said to be descendants of the armies of Alexander the Great which swept through this area in the 320’s BC, as well as the Ghandari people mentioned in Indic Religions. But there is no evidence to know if these claims are accurate. The people of Nuristan in Afghanistan once had the same culture, however most of them have probably converted to Islam over the years. Their folklore has elements of Ancient Greece inscribed but very close to Vedic mythology (which has a few degrees of separation. While I can sit here at write about commonalities about their religion to other religions, the easiest way to understand it is just going here. Wikipedia. I got some of my info from here, but also talking to some of the elders and people around there. Their temples are what you would see in a mythology movie along with their cemeteries, very simple, but ornate in their own way!
The Houses here are built much like they have been for many years and I found the architecture to be completely brilliant. Most are made of wood, perched on hills somewhat like terrace farming with stones from the local environment, some probably decades if not centuries old. However as outside influence comes in, things are changing.
The People
When going here I have always seen pictures of the people. I have thought that they all look like this dressed very ornately for tourism, but I was wrong. It seems that from an early age, a lot of the women when leaving the house are dressed in these beautiful outfits for every day life- working, walking, going to school. I was amazed at some of the outfits which are all handmade. I was also amazed at how friendly everyone was despite their apparent lack of tourism except for their yearly festivals (which I plan to get to one day)!!!
After leaving the Kalash valley which I could have spent weeks in, I went up and down Chitral Valley which is the biggest town in the region and the capital of the region. It was extremely beautiful and we took the road all the way through winding mountains to some hot springs and then a night in Chitral City with trips through the market and a nice place on the river!!! The trout and food in this area is amazing!!! Accompany that with the fresh produce and some other side dishes and you will have an amazing meal with an area not to be missed.
