Arrival in Murree

My two travelling companions,
Sisters Neelam and Humaira, were
delightful company on the six hour
journey from Lahore to Murree.

It was a trip I was dreading.  Many of you will know that I suffer from travel sickness ... on planes and trains I'm fine but when it comes to buses and cars, if I'm not at the wheel, it's total misery!

The bus we were booked on was cancelled for some unknown reason so getting three seats on another was a challenge.  You can see from the photo on the right that we managed to travel "Gold Class", the luxury bus.

We travelled with the Korean, Daewoo Express Bus Company, known for its punctuality and regularity.  Punctuality is not a priority with many Pakistanis.  It's got on-board videos and audio; newspapers and magazines are available and each bus has a hostess providing water, soft drinks and light refreshments.  The seats on our bus were very roomy and comfortable.

The bus took us to Rawalpindi where we were met by the van from the convent.  Between the three of us we had quite a lot of luggage so having two men to care for us was great.  I had no trouble on that leg but we still had two hours to go on winding roads!  Believe it or not I survived that last leg too. 

The secret?  Gravinate! 
The night before the journey Sr Marie-Cecile had given me tablets with strict instructions to take a half tablet one hour and fifteen minutes before the start of the trip then four hours later I was to take the other half.  I'll never travel by bus or car again without following those instructions.  I hope you can get Gravinate in NZ.

Can you imagine being on the Rimutaka Hill Road for more than a hour ... well, the bends were tighter and more frequent on the climb to Murree. 
The driver had been given strict instructions not to drive in his usual flamboyant way as he had delicate cargo on board.  He certainly showed restraint for which I was very grateful.

Murree is a hill station and is a few kilometres further along the road from CJM.   It is an exurb of Islamabad, approx 60 kms northeast of Islamabad.  It's the summer capital of the Punjab Province.

We are on the foothills of the Himalayas and about 2,300 metres above sea level. 
I'm told that it has cool summers, temperatures between the low to mid 20's, it has frequent fog ... and rain, and it has very cold and snowy winters.

I'll post some photos later.  It's a beautiful day today.