SERENE HILL TOWN OF RAJOURI IN J&K.

People mostly correlates RAJOURI as a military territory & it hardly appears in any ones travel itenary to Jammu & Kashmir. But its totally a myth.Its some 90kms+ from Jammu city. After Jammu city limit ,we entered Akhnoor city & took the bypass lane towards Sunderbani..Skipping out Akhnoor ,who we visitd earlier. As we took the bypass ,after few kms we crossed over the HARAPPAN SITE of AMBARAN at AKHNOOR bes-

ides the river Chenab. Its very pretty....The above pic' is of R. Chenab at ambaran.

     On the way to Rajouri , there are 2 more beautiful places of tourist interest ,one is BHAMLA & other is SUNDERBANI. After crossing Akhnoor city , the hill drive begins after few more kms.............. & its truly untouched beauty....

 As we continued our drive from akhnoor towards Bhamla.

                                       At Bhamla..................
We continued across hill mountains & lovely coniferous trees adorning the hills add to the beauty of the region.....alongside the chill of the hills..... The drive upto BHAMLA is just awesome, can try out Paneer pakoras & hot cup of tea alongside the road & carryback home, some lovely homemade Khoyas from the stalls there;
   As we drove ahead ,we reached Sunderbani, which is also a beautiful small hill town on the way to Rajouri.

  Beautiful sunset from the hills of Rajouri....................

         Enjoying a hot cup of soup by a stream at Sunderbani.................

          At Sunderbani , by the stream........................

                Posing for the lens over a broken bridge at Sunderbani.....

       Myself, by the stream at Sunderbani.............in Rajouri (J&K).

                     Beautiful Sunset at Rajouri............................
After crossing Sunderbani ,which is also in Rajouri ,we drove another half & hour ahead & saw a small flowing stream.... instead only driving off ,we thought to stop & walk down the hills upto the stream.... It turned out to be a great idea indeed!!!!! There's a broken bridge over the stream...& we all opted for an afternoon picnic ,with freshly made hot cup of soup.Just a great way of enjoying a winter afternoon in the hills....................As it was almost sunset time at Rajouri, we had to start back for Jammu city. I could capture few lovely frames of the sunset from the hills of Rajouri. We started from Jammu city around 12pm & reached back by 5:30pm................ & well enjoyed trip to Rajouri thus came to an end. Hope to explore Punj in J&K next time.

My First visit to the Indo-Pak border at RS pura in J&K.

My the name INDO-PAK Border ,might excite some people & some others will bore a feeling of fear at heart..... This is my story , which might portray a different perspective about the place & others can make their visit & experience the pride of being there once in their lifetime.
     RS pura ,well known as Ranbirsingh pura is a area well known world wide for its Basmati rice yield is some 7/8Kms drive away from Jammu (satwari) airport on the opposite direction of the city limit.
   It was a winter sunday afternoon ,that I & my husband ,after fnishing our lunch was wondering what to do...as all markets & recreational places are closed in Jammu city on Sundays & we were feeling very bored. I logged onto the net ,but couldn't find much info. about RS pura... soon, I came across a blog posted by DC of RS pura about some wetlands in the area ,were Migratory birds makes it home for the winter season. I soon got that idea,to see the migratory birds & if possible will see the borders,as earlier our friends told that its 10kms from Jammu city....
     We started our drive around 2:30pm ...though not very well maintained but okay driving thru'  the Siakot road upto the crossing of SUCHETGARH & ABDULIAN. I just missed the direction of Suchetgarh & drove off towards Abdulian village ,the last on  Indian soil. The villages were so-o serene..I just loved the drive, But unfortunately couldn't find migratory birds as they come only in Jan-Feb months ( as informed by BSF people)... Then we turned back towards SUCHETGARH.... By the time we reached there, we found its not 10ms from Jammu city instead 37kms to be precise. SUCHETGARH post is now open for public but No display of parade takes place like Wagha border.Once at the post, the BSF people asked my husband to deposit his Army ID card & give his mobile nos..... need to sign on the entry register & only mobiles are allowed inside. We walked in & then the big border gates to be crossed inside in few batches each time....I was so-o excited, that's the PAK-soil, so-o near but still far off..... we were allowed to walk up to the knee height bobbed wire limit...another 50 mts there a bar(like railway phatak) & then the Pakistani post. There's a Banyan tree ,which seems to be a common property of both the countries.... I felt, so much pride to be standing there & salute my motherland INDIA & the brave soldiers who had been guiding there Day & Night to give each of the citizens a good night sleep. Maybe ,I cannot express my feeling in words ,while I stood there ....except only can say, I WAS SO-O Proud to be an INDIAN standing there & offcourse, lucky to get a chance to be there.....

 Suchetgarh post..................the line of divide between two beautiful country.

 Myself, at Suchetgarh post ,in RS pura in J&K.

 The Banyan tree...... a common property of both India & Pakistan.

 The Sialkot road ..........................................From Jammu city to RS pura.

 The Basmati fields of RS pura......................J&K.

While on our return back, we stopped at a mills to carry along a big bag of 10kg basmati rice...its also available in larger quantity,but since we just wanted to get a taste of it...Its quite less priced & too good variety....

Just had a lovely experience of RS pura.... & hope to get there once the migratory birds flies in;Definitely ,I'll recommend SUCHETGARH visit, to all ,who might be visiting JAMMU city to make their way to Vaishnodevi temple.... Pls. dear friends ,Do come down to RSpura-Suchetgarh to experience the pride to be an INDIAN at heart & salute ur respect to all those soldiers guarding our motherland at such hostile condition...... Roads are just safe & nothing to fear about...... Just enjoy the thrill of going round Jammu & Kashmir.