Story-tellers Bazaar

Wednesday, December 21. I engaged a local tour agency to take us for a day trip to Peshawar. I managed to get a day leave from college. That morning we started our trip very early and by 8 am we were already out of Islamabad. The traffic was rather smooth with little traffic as we were on the opposite. After about 45 minutes, we stopped at a small village to have a look at an old site. We proceed and arrived our destination after about 2 hours and 40 minutes. Firstly, we visited the museum. It was rather an interesting museum, as most of the collections were dedicated to the Buddhist relics that were discovered in abundance from an excavation in the area. Later we went to the bazaar, popularly known as the Story-Tellers bazaar. It got its name from the time when traders stopped at this place to exchange stories and passed information about their trips. The bazaar was indeed very vibrant and there are so many shoplots and traders, engaged in all sort of trading like clothing, household goods, jeweler, spices and foodstuffs. We stopped at one of the tea house (an old establishment) to sample the local hot green tea. We were skeptical at first as the surrounding is rather unsanitary. Nonetheless, we brave ourselves to have a go and alhamdulillah, we came out ok. We also stopped by at one of the shop selling semi-precious stones. We managed to get a few strands of these stones.
Later at noon, we went for lunch at a restaurant that served local delights such as Briyani and kebabs. It was definitely one of the best lunch we had. The food was superb and the mutton was very fresh and tender. Yummy!!!
Before we departed back home, we detoured to what was commonly known as `the smugglers bazaar'. A bit out of town but it was worth the visit as this place is a heaven for bargain hunters looking anything from electronics to household goods. We arrived in Islamabad at 7 pm.