Explore With Sarim

Rahim Yar Khan → Islamabad · 19 October 2026 · 6:06 AM The Mountains Grow Closer: Morning Mist on the Hills on the Way to Islamabad from Rahim Yar Khan Layer upon layer of mist-wrapped ridges, green fields rushing past the window, and the feeling that the whole night of driving was worth it for this one view. Two minutes. That is all that separates yesterday’s first sight of the mountains from this photograph — two minutes on the clock, and a whole world of difference on the road. At 6:04 in the morning the hills appeared on the horizon like a rumour, pale and far away. By 6:06 they had grown closer, clearer and greener, layer upon layer of them wrapped in morning mist, and the journey from Rahim Yar Khan to Islamabad had entered its most beautiful part. This is the photograph of that moment: the mountains growing closer, the mist still hanging in the valleys, and the green fields of the Punjab rushing past the window in the foreground. Layer up...

Rahim Yar Khan to Islamabad • Morning • 19 October 2026, 6:04 am First Sight of the Mountains When Coming from the Bhera Side: The Hills That Welcome You to Islamabad After a whole night of flat plains and dark motorway, the land lifts — and the capital is suddenly close. Plains: behind us  |  Hills: ahead  |  Islamabad: no longer far There is a moment on every long road journey when the landscape changes its mind. For hours the land has been flat — field after field, town after town, the motorway running straight and level through the dark. Then, without any warning, the horizon stops being a line and starts being a shape. Ridges rise out of the morning mist, one behind another, blue-grey and soft at the edges, and the whole feeling of the journey changes in a single glance. On the morning of 19 October 2026, just after six o’clock, coming from the Bhera side on the road from Rahim Yar Khan to Islamabad, that moment arrived for ...

Rahim Yar Khan → Islamabad · Morning Journey · 19 October 2026 Leaving Bhera Rest Area Towards Islamabad from Rahim Yar Khan and Crossing the Jhelum River on Motorway M2 Back on the road in the first grey light of the morning. The M2 carries us on towards Islamabad — and over the great Jhelum River, with the early fog still hanging over the water and the fields. It was about half past five in the morning when we left the Bhera rest area and joined the M2 Motorway again. The night was behind us now — the level crossing, the freight train, the one o'clock fuel stop, the bus overtaken on the M4, the River Ravi crossed under the moon. A whole night of driving lay in the mirror, and ahead of us, in the first grey light of the day, lay the final stretch of the road journey: the motorway running on toward Islamabad, a great river to cross, and then, at last, the hills. Watch the Morning Drive Watch the drive from the Bhera rest area across the Jhelum River on Motorway M2 in th...

Rahim Yar Khan → Islamabad · Night Journey · 19 October 2026 Back on the M4 at 2 AM: Overtaking a Bus in the Dark and Crossing the River Ravi on the Night Road to Islamabad Rest over, journey resumed. The fuel stop is behind us, the motorway is ahead of us, and somewhere in the dark between the two lies a long bridge over the River Ravi. It was about two in the morning when we pulled out of the fuel station and back onto the M4 Motorway. The break had done its work: fuel in the tank, fresh air in our lungs, legs stretched, eyes rested. Ahead of us lay the long night drive toward Islamabad — flat Punjab fields on both sides, an empty motorway under our headlights, and, before the night was much older, two small moments that would stay with us for the rest of the journey. First, a bus to overtake in the dark. Then, the great River Ravi, crossed on its long bridge under the moon. Watch the Night Drive Watch the overtake and the River Ravi crossing — the bus in the dark, t...

Rahim Yar Khan to Islamabad • Night One • 19 October 2026, 1:00 am 1 AM Fuel Stop on the Motorway: Fuel, Fresh Air and a Quiet Break on the Night Road to Islamabad One o’clock in the morning, a lit forecourt in the dark, and the whole long road ahead of us. Tank: refilled  |  Driver: rested  |  Next chapter: the M4, the Ravi, and dawn There is a moment on every long night journey when the road itself tells you to stop. It is not a sign or a warning light. It is a quiet feeling: the engine has been humming for hours, the headlights have been cutting the same dark ribbon of motorway, and the people inside the vehicle need exactly three things — fuel, fresh air, and a short break. At one o’clock in the morning on 19 October 2026, on the motorway north from Rahim Yar Khan towards Islamabad, we took that break. This is the story of that stop: a quiet petrol pump glowing in the night, a shop with its lights on, and a few unhurried minutes that made the rest of the...