Zainab Nadeem

The most Memorable journey The summer before my sophomore year in the university, my family decided to take a trip to northern areas which unexpectedly turned out to be totally out of the world. I never imagined that we were about to make some indelible memories, memories which can never be forgotten. Sometimes the road you travel doesn’t lead to a destination you hoped for but of you look back and smile then it is worth it and this trip was one of the most adventurous and catchy events of my life. So, it was a bright Monday morning, the sky seemed to be the light shade of blue and there was a slight breeze of air. Like a normal day my dad was getting ready to leave for office but before leaving he gave us an astonishing news. We were going on a trip to northern areas although I was scared of heights but I still managed to go because it seemed to be really exciting and ultimately also turned out to be one. We had to leave a week later on Saturday according to the schedule but there was a slight change in plan due to the weather conditions. The weather had become worse. The beautiful cocktail-blue shade was beginning to darken into gravel-grey. Large pillows of cloud were forming, blotting out the old-gold color of the sun. It rained for almost a day and a half and we waited till then and finally on Monday morning the sky was crystal clear again with the sun blazing like before. The wait was finally over and we had to leave first thing in the morning. We were already done with packing our stuff earlier. Me and my sister couldn’t sleep because of excitement and kept on talking about the trip all night and didn’t realise that it was 5 in the morning. So, I got out of bed, took a shower, changed my clothes and prepared the breakfast, we had to leave at 10 a.m. because it was a 12 hour drive to Gilgit. We had already missed our fight due to the thunderstorms and rains earlier this week. It was 9.30 a.m. we loaded our bags in the car and left. Because me and my sister hadn’t slept all night so I started to feel dizzy and didn’t realise when I fell asleep and started dreaming. Lying back in my seat I was weaving a web of memories which we were about to make and didn’t realise how swiftly the time past by and when I woke up we were half way there. When I gained consciousness I peeked out of the window. I couldn’t believe my eyes, everything around me seemed like a paradise. We were in the valley of Chilas. The dove-white mountains soared in the sky with the babbling and burbling turquoise blue river enhancing the beauty of the place. My dad had already booked two rooms for us in the nearby hotel where we stayed for one night. My dad needed some rest because he had been driving all day so we has=d dinner and my parents went off to sleep and me and my sister went out discovering that place. The sky and night never seemed so wonderful. The eerie darkness of that night can never escape my memory. The silver glow of the moon captured my attention and I kept on staring at it for a long time. The stars seemed to make warped shapes against the darkness of the sky. We came back to our room around 2 a.m. and went off to sleep. The next morning we had to go to Gilgit where we had to stay for 2 days. We began our journey at 12 a.m. As we travelled further towards the valley everything seemed more alluring. The craggy mountains covered with fang-white ice were loomed all around us. We were travelling alongside the river. It was scary just imaging that we were on a really narrow road with gem- blue River splashing constantly. After a long travel of 6 hours we were finally on our destination. Tired and exhausted we directly went to our rooms booked and went to sleep. In the evening that day we went outside for sightseeing. The place seemed to be a piece of Paradise which God made on Earth. People from all around the world came to visit Gilgit. We went shopping, got some of their traditional stuff and went to a hotel for dinner. After we were done with shopping we went back to the hotel. The next day we planned to go to Hunza valley, which turned out to be even more beautiful. The mountain tops were covered with pearl-white snow and the lush green scenery which enhanced the beauty of that place even more. The weather in the valley was colder than the other places we had been too, the winters seemed to be the weather of that place all year. The winter sky is a widow’s sky, bedarkened and weeping. The clouds are churlish and kraken-cruel but fortunately there was no rain. We went for a long drive admiring that place and came back to our hotel in Gilgit the same night. It had been 4 days in since we began our journey and like it’s said that every story comes to an end this also had an end. On the fifth day we had to come back although no one felt like leaving such a heavenly place. In the morning the next day we packed our things and kept them in the car. Although we were upset but we had made such memories which could never be forgotten. We made some memories which makes me smile even today which is why I love that trip. Memories are something which we cannot buy but only make with experiences, adventures and important people in life. Our life is a story written by God and this trip had been the best chapter of my entire life which can never be erased from my mind.