User:Rao Ahmad
Rao Ahmad is a passionate traveler, a mountaineer and a motorcyclist. He has traveled to every nook and corner of Pakistan on his motorcycle. In 2016 he traveled a distance of 15000 kilometers on his motorcycle in 34 days which is an unofficial national record. Here is what he says about national tour in his own words
"Pakistan belongs to one of the least known but oldest civilization to grace this very Planet. Its cities Lahore one of the most ancient to which Milton alludes in Paradise Lost, Peshawar called the Piccadilly of Central Asia, Quetta with its cobblestoned pavements resembles London, Karachi one of the biggest cosmopolitan centre in whose comparison Gotham might lose its shimmer. Stories are abound to every brick that you touch such is the surrealistic aura of this land. The country with four seasons, dozens of rivers, five of the highest peaks of world, largest number of glaciers, one sea, with such cultural diversity none could possibly dream of. This has fascinated me from the very moment I started to fantasize, the dream of going through this land of my ancestors, through its lush green orchards, to its endless deserts, from sea-level to an altitude of thousands of meters, in its springs to its frozen lakes, dance in its meadows, revel in its jungles, mingle with its people, speak Punjabi in Lahore, Seraiki in Multan, Balochi in Quetta,Bihaari in Karachi, Sindhi in Shikarpur, Pushto in Peshawar, Hindko in Gilgit and ah the difference to me.So, I decided once and for all to give it a chance and I started saving for an entire year, lived hand to mouth for 365 days saved enough to last me for a month on the move, got my gear ready,a bike a riding suit, first aid box, digger for my feet, a helmet and here I went on the most ambitious thing I ever did in my entire life.I waded through the snake like streets of Punjab, the zigzagging roads of Khyber and Gilgit Baltistan, the roads kissing the Jehlum and Neelum River in Kashmir, the parched concrete of Sindh, the dusty and rocky landscape of Balochistan. My bike was my only companion, earth was my house, sky was the roof, stars my watchmen, moon my guardian angel, blazing sun changed positions In gut wrenching, blood curdling climes of Baltu glacier it was the subject of my supplications, in sweat inducing temperatures of Sindh the sun was my bête noir.It was a month and fifteen days they were my odyssey like the one made by Odysseus when he returned home to Greece from Troy, my bike my El Companion carried me through highs and lows, rough and smooth, scruff and gruff, I had lived my dream on a bike unlike others I lived not just existed, I made my dreams come true, I defied the stereotypes which declared Pakistan unsafe for travel, I showed with my travel to the entire world that Pakistan is a safe country for tourists and tourism, the minor incidents thrown in now and then must not and can not hold this country a hostage for long, I have lighted a candle and its light shall pierce the darkness and illuminate the entire country.