Once you have had enough of Karimabad, you can travel one hour north, and find yourself on the Karakorum Highway leading up to China. This part of Hunza is in fact known as Gojal valley.
The first sight you will see is Attabad Lake. The lake was just formed back in 2010, when a massive landslide buried a 20 km stretch of the Karakoram Highway. You can find boats along the lake, that shuttle people and cars across.


Once you have left Attabad, you will find yourself in Upper Hunza, where the dialect is closer to Wakhi, spoken also in Xinjiang. The first main city you will reach is Gulmit, which is a historic town. It's not as developed as Karimabad, but you will be able to find some small stores here. Beyond Gulmit, you will pass Shishket, which has a small lake there as well. Continue onwards towards Passu, where you will get to see Passu glacier. There's not much there to do, except stare at gigantic mountain ranges that are barren and desert looking, but magnificent.


The last town before you can pass the checkpost to China is Sost. It isn't really populated, but is an important place on the highway for all passenger and cargo transport ; the Pakistani imigration and customs departments are based here.


There aren't many activities throughout the Gojal part of Hunza, so you can instead spend around 1-2 days wandering around the villages.

Another place I visited to document its history as part of the Mughal Gardens was Shalimar Gardens. These gardens are located near the renowned University of Engineering and Technology, just along the Grand Trunk or GT Road. These gardens were in fact influenced by the Shalimar Gardens in Srinagar, in India. The latter were built by the Mughal Emperor Jehangir, and they too have a similar architecture, with gardens linked through a channel. Jehangir's son, Shah Jahan was responsible for the Pakistan-side Shalimar Gardens. At this time, the Mughal Empire was at its zenith.

A while back, I had organized a trip to Wazir Khan Mosque, and as you walk from Delhi Gate to the mosque, you are bound to encounter the Sunehri Masjid, which was built after the Wazir Khan, at a time when the Mughal empire was facing decline.

The mosque was in fact constructed during the time of Muhammad Shah, one of the last Mughal emperors, and designe by the then, Deputy Governor of Lahore. Following that, it was converted to a gurdwara when Punjab was under Sikh rule. It was not until the 1820s when someone from the Fakir family (Fakir Azizuddin) convinced Ranjit Singh to transfer ownership back to the Muslim community.

To reach the mosque, you have to climb some stairs to see the mosque. The idea of this was to have the mosque elevated by 11 feet, from the bazaar, and to collect rent from the shops. Once you have climbed the stairs, you may find the gate locked.

Just ask around the storekeepers, and the main guy who is the guard there will be summoned. If you show him your ID card, and tell him your a tourist, he will open up the lock for you and let you in. Kind enough and he will even take a picture of you!



Once you climb the staircase in front of the mosque, you will see that it opens up to a small courtyard. There was some construction work being done there, but if you can get past that, you will be stunned by the beauty of the mosque. It's sad not much has been written about it though! There is an ablution tank in the centre of this courtyard. The prayer chambers are at the front, and I believe there are 7 in total. 4 minarets can also be seen!

After some email exchanges, I along with my friends finally got permission to visit the Asif Jan Haveli on a bright and clear Saturday. The haveli is now The Government College Fatima Jinnah, but is not open to visitors.

Walking from Delhi gate (one of the thirteen gates of the walled city) and by-passing the famous Masjid Wazir Khan, we reached the Haveli. It was all wired and barricaded but we managed to get in easily. The main entrance archway had a huge wooden door giving the sensation of a fort. Given that is 42 kanals, it may well have been one.



This Haveli dates back to the period of Mughal Emperor Jahangir when Asif Jah Khan was appointed as Governor of Lahore by Jahangir in 1625. He was the father of Queen Mumtaz Mahal, who was the wife of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. There are various references in history about the construction of this Haveli, some of them relate to Asif Jan while others make mentions of Dhayan Singh and Khushkhal Singh. Most of the remaining architecture that is part of the college that stands now, is Asif Jah haveli. When we asked around, the people in the school traced its history to Asif Jah, with no such mention of Dhayan Singh.

When you enter the haveli, it opens up to three courtyards. The buildings have arched hallways, stairs leading outside, and a number of passageways. There is one passageway, that leads to a tunnel that goes all the way to the Lahore Fort. The architecture of the building reflects a mix of Mughal and Sikh influence. Blue lotus flower petals are painted on most of the pillars, while the balconies resemble the architecture of Lahore Fort and other buildings of that era.

We were told by the Principal that they are working on a book that relates the history of this Haveli. It would be undoubtedly a great contribution to learn about this haveli, whose past has yet to be studied or penned down.

In more recent months, I have been fortunate to enjoy breakfast with Mr. Babar Ali at Naqsh, an art school and gallery for unconventional artists. Attached to the school is the gallery where the artwork is displayed. The interesting thing about Naqsh is the school itself, which reflects the foundations aims. Like many other institutions committed to education, service and learning, Naqsh too has been founded by Babar Ali in his ancestral home.


For a period, the grand Mubarak Haveli remained empty for a few years and then changed ownership. With the coming of the British, the Mubarak Haveli was taken over and handed over to Nawab Ali Raza Qizilbash. The Nawab, out of respect to the original owners, rebuilt the haveli and converted a major portion of the haveli into an Imam Bargah.

The diversity at the school is striking. With a monthly fee of PKR 1000, the school caters especially to the less privileged of Lahore and neighboring areas, as well as to non-traditional artists, who have no formal training in painting or art.

The story of the haveli begins with the three brothers by the name of Mir Bahadur Ali, Mir Nadir Ali and Mir Bahar Ali. When Bahadar Ali’s wife gave birth to a son, the ‘haveli’ was named Mubarak Haveli. The family branched off into two major components, the Fakir family (one of the oldest in Lahore) and the Syed family. The Fakir family built their own havelis near the Mubarak Haveli, one of which stands even today and is known as the Fakirkhana in Bazaar Hakeeman. The Syeds owned the properties from both sides of the right edge of Tehsil Bazaar right up to the entrance of Mubarak Haveli. While the Fakir family, because their influence in the Lahore Darbar remained in power,it was seen that the Syeds had to flee.

It was a few years, and owners later, that Syed Maratab Ali, who happened to be an ancestor of the original Syed ownersm decided to acquire the entire property of his mother’s family. His own wife’s name was also Mubarak Begum. Later on, Syed Maratab Ali’s son, Syed Babar Ali, bought this entire place, and built a School of Calligraphy, now Naqsh.

Naqsh was established in 2003, by Babar Ali, in the buildings attached to the Mubarik Haveli, which were the family’s ancestral home. The Mubarik Haveli, in fact, has been labelled as the oldest, and finest of havelis, just off Bazaar Hakeeman inside Bhati Gate.

Since having  graduated, I have had perhaps ten friends from overseas visit me or come to do research in my native Lahore. Of course, I took them to the usual places to indulge in the food and culture, but it took me a while to show them old and even perhaps the not-so-nice parts of Lahore. There was an element of fear since I was putting them in some peril (or myself!). But then, as we all say in Pakistan, "sab ki likhi hui hai" and eventually I decided to take them to some of the older and slightly dilapidated parts of Lahore, beyond the historical places to the business centers, bazaars and awami (for the locals) places.



 I decided to take them to Shah Alami, since one of them wanted to buy something. When it comes to Shah Alami, I take my mother, the Queen of Shah Alami (a title rightfully bestowed by my cousins).My mom is very good at bargains. Maybe all South Asians are. But she is relentless. When she had to buy bulk items, mostly for her business, she would take me to Shah Alami market, which was a city in itself. Shah Alami Market is one of the oldest markets in Lahore. When Lahore was simply old Lahore, it used to be the vehicular approach into the walled city. It was again rebuilt and developed under the 'Punjab Development of Damaged Areas Act, 1952' by the Lahore Improvement Trust to compensate for the loss of building stock due to Partition Riots.

Within the market are NUMEROUS sub-markets. An analogy would be the Grand Bazaar, expect Shah Alami is a hundred times larger, uglier and cheaper. But hey, that is real Pakistan. It also has some shady items you can buy, so do not buy any medicines, tonics, herbs or food items. It is however, excellent for costumes, antiques, second hand Disney and Apple products, Chinese smuggled good, sketchy tonics, historical remnants that might be worth a fortune but are being sold at almost-free prices.

Within Shah Alami, you will come upon a place called 'Suha Bazaar' which means 'gold market'. It is almost like a gold consignment market where you can get second-hand gold. Around the gold market is Kasaira Bazaar where pots, pans and utensils are sold. This was always an exciting place for me for some odd reason because I would love looking at the display of brass utensils. You will also come across some craftsmen working away on pieces of metal.

Anyways, they also have an excellent music store where they sell local drums and dhols and sitars. Some are antique-ish and ridiculously inexpensive (a sitar for $10).