Swat is in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan is located in the northern of Pakistan. Swat is one of the most beautiful places in Pakistan looks like a green valley and also called Swat valley. Majority of people in Swat are Pathan (Khan), they are also very popular for their hospitality and they wear Pakistani national dress shalwar kameez. There are many kinds of fruit that grow here like Peach, Pear, Damsons and Persimmon. Dry fruits like walnuts and almond also are also found in plenty and famous as souvenirs. The taste and flavour of honey are also remarkable and it’s completely natural.
Persimmon (Amlok)
Persimmon is a fruit (called Amlok in Urdu) that is found all over the place in Swat Valley. Persimmon trees are all around swat there hardly any place where you won’t find any. The highest producing country of persimmon is China. The most common and popular food in swat is Chicken Karahi it is one of the most favourite dishes of the locals.
Swat Museum
Swat has a museum which is called Swat Museum, it has very historical artefacts some of them are thousands of years old. There are some Buddha Statue and some of the artefacts of their religion; one thing that is most noticeable is the footprint which is 3 times bigger than the size of an average human, it is said that the Buddhist had firm belief that these are the footprints of Buddha and model of temple made of rock. There is also some clothes and accessories of Swat customs. Swat is a wonderful place for tourism; most of the people go to Mingora first because they can get transportation there easily. Most of the people in Mingora use transportation for earning.
White Palace
There is a historical place called White Palace which is entirely made of marble and there was a time when it was called Swati Taj Mahal. It was made in 1940 by the first king of Swat Mian Gul Abdul Wadood also known as Badshah Sahib, now White Palace serves as a hotel and you can also buy native or traditionally cloths, purses and many other things which are made by hands. You will see beautiful Green Mountain and canal all the way and enjoy every turn every corner of the road.
Swat Customs & Living
Moving towards Bahrain from Mingora there Khowaza Khela, Fatah Pur and Madeen located between them. During this travel I saw most of the houses are made of wood because of the risk of land sliding on mountains this is the reason why people prefer to live in affordable wooden houses. The people in these areas have to get by without gas access due to which they need to gather woods in order to burn them for fulfilling their needs.
The people have got a fairly simple living standard and also like to have pet animals like goats, sheep, cows etc and utilize the milk of these animals produce. There is also a very famous hotel (Continental Hotel) in Bahrain and it won’t be fair if I don’t mention the mouth wateringly yummy Chapli Kabab which is the speciality of this area. Those tourists visiting there don’t eat Chapli Kabab, they did nothing.
Kalam
Kalam is located 32 km from Bahrain it is 2000 meters above from the sea level, it is a beautifully stunning place with pleasant weather to visit and there are mountains and pinaceae trees everywhere in this area. There is a place called Mall Road where tourists can buy souvenirs.
Mahodan Lake & Curing Water Spring (Chashma-e-Shifa)
Chashma-e-Shifa in located between Kalam and Mohdan Lake and the interesting thing about Chashma-e-Shifa is that people who live there have firm belief in the treatment of many diseases by having the water of it. Mahodan Lake is located 34 kilometres from Kalam and it is 2800 meter s above from the sea level. The water of this lake is as blue as sea’s water, as clean as sea’s. Mahodan is also called Switzerland of Swat and the tourists visiting this beautiful place, must enjoy camping, boating, horse riding and mountain hiking.
Martin Wynn
