Sneak Preview of Sialkot – The city of Iqbal

The city of Sialkot is located in Punjab under the Sialkot district. In terms of population, it ranks on the twelfth amongst other cities in Pakistan. It has an ancient history attached to it. Sialkot was founded by Raja Sul and was later rebuilt by Raja Salivahian who also constructed a fort in the city. This is how the city was coined its name, Sialkot which means ‘Fort of Sia’.

Sialkot is a very cultured city with diverse residents in terms of values and ethnicities. The overall city, however, represents the pure Punjabi culture. Sialkot is known for the manufacturing and export of items such as surgical and musical instruments, sports goods, leather goods and textile goods. The land is very fertile and rich in crops such as wheat, rice, barley and sugarcane.

Jovago’s top 3

IqbalManzil
Sialkot is the birth city of Pakistan’s one and only national poet, Allama Mohammad Iqbal, giving the city the perfect association with Pakistan’s history. Iqbal’s house (known as IqbalManzil) is located in Kashmiri Mohalla, Sialkot. It was bought by Iqbal’s grandfather in 1861 and is still present. It has been converted into a museum for tourists to visit. Thus, it is a must-go site in Sialkot.

Clock Tower
We have all heard about Sialkot’s famous clock tower.  It stands in the middle of Saddar Bazaar and holds the busy streets together. It is more than a hundred years old monument, that has its own significance. Though it has been renovated the real structure stands up to this date.

Tomb of Imam Ali-ul-Haq
Imam Ali-ul-Haq dates back to the 13thcentury, he successfully converted thousands of local population of Sialkot to Islam. He got martyred in a clash against Raja of Sialkot at that time and has a mausoleum built over his grave. Whoever visits Sialkot, definitely pays a visit to Imam Sahib’s shrine. His service to humanity will always keep him alive amongst Muslims and Pakistanis.

Tips

Restaurants
Some of the famous Sialkoti dishes include Tandoori Chicken, Bhuna Ghost, Nihari, KeemaNaan and SarsonkaSaag. You will easily find these dishes in almost every Pakistani restaurant. According to the visitors, the top restaurants that are a must-try are Malik restaurant and Frangoz café.

Shopping
Sialkot is an industrial city with an increasing population and therefore increasing needs. Sialkot has the best quality items that are exported throughout the world. Some famous markets include Duran shopping mall, V mall and Clover mall. Other famous stores are Ihsan sports and Multi trading house.

Hotels
Jovago Pakistan has a variety of lavish as well as affordable guesthouses and hotels in Sialkot such as Hotel One, Javson Hotel and Royal guest house. You will find the best prices and deals on Jovago’s website.

Reasons to Celebrate December

If you don’t have enough reasons to celebrate in December already, here are a few reasons this month is merrier than the rest!

For starters, Christmas is only a few days away! On the 25th of December, Christians from all over the world celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.The festivities carry on for Muslims also as they nationally rejoice and remember Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s birthday.

Mohammad Ali Jinnah is also known as Quaid-e-Azam that translates to ‘Great Leader’. He was the founder and first Governor General of Pakistan. Ever since 1957, Mohammad Ali Jinnah has been printed on the Pakistani currency, formally known as the Pakistani Rupee. Famous quotes of Mohammad Ali Jinnah that have remained an inspiration to all are, ‘No nation can rise to the height of glory unless your women are side by side with you.’

‘No struggle can ever succeed without women participating side by side with men.’

‘With faith, discipline and selfless devotion to duty, there is nothing worthwhile that you cannot achieve.’

As the year comes to an end, his words of wisdom are words to live by and cherish. End this year by celebrating your family, friends, loved ones and all that you are thankful for!

Daring Delicacies of the World

 

Fried Tarantula
This crawly crispy treat is a popular dish in Cambodia, seasoned with salt, pepper and chili.

Surstromming

A traditional Swedish cuisine that contains Baltic Sea herring that is fermented for at least six months.

Maghaz
Maghaz is also known as Brain Masala, and is a Pakistani savory dish consisting of cow or sheep brains.

CasuMarzu
A traditional Sardinian sheep milk cheese, notable for containing live insect larvae especially maggots.

Kiviak
This Greenland delicacy consists of whole auks being stuffed into a seal and secured. The Kiviak ferments over a course of seven months, and is then enjoyed.

Haggis
A famous Scottish dish cooked inside a sheep’s stomach, containing the sheep’s seasoned and minced heart, liver and lungs.

Travel and explore more delicacies that are even more daring!

Warid Launches an amazing 7-Day Offer

Warid Telecom has launched a new and exciting 7 Day Offer for all prepaid customers giving them the liberty to stay connected to their loved ones all week long in just Rs. 99 inclusive of tax. With the main highlight of this offer customers can make calls to other networks with 70 minutes. Not only this, but they will also be given 700 Warid minutes, 700 SMS and 700MBs of Lightning Tez LTE Internet which can be used for Whatsapp, Facebook and Twitter. All they need to do isdial *99*7# to avail this offer.

Warid Telecom has always excelled in providing its customers with an affordable package to suit their needs. With the launch of this new 7-Day Offer customers will be able to meet all their calling needs, access Warid’s high-speed LTE network and enjoy seamless texting. Warid has always ensured that consumers have the best options available and have the greatest customer experience possible.

Jovago Incorporated into Google’s Travel Platform

Pakistan’s N°1 Hotel Booking website, Jovago.com has been featured on the Google Travel Platform

December 2015: Jovago.com, the leading online hotel booking website, has now been incorporated into renowned Google Hotels Ads. This collaboration aims to make hotel searches and reservations easy for travelers across Pakistan. The new service will be beneficial for all Google users, as they can get access to all travel and reservation deals through the Jovago.com platform anywhere and at any time.

“Google is the world’s most renowned search engine and we are lucky to be a part of this platform. Our collaboration with this platform is a great chance to promote travel and tourism in Pakistan” said Nadine Malik, Managing Director of Jovago Pakistan.

Following the launch of its mobile application, Jovago’s incorporation on the Google platform will further improve the user experience for customers, enabling them to click on a wide range of hotel listings directly from the search engine and giving them access to Jovago platform. This effort will improve both the hotel and e-commerce industries in Pakistan.

About Jovago

Jovago.com is an online hotel booking service with offices in Lagos (Nigeria), Nairobi (Kenya), Dakar (Senegal) founded by Africa Internet Group and has MTN and Millicom as investors. Jovago.com, Africa’s No.1 booking portal, facilitates the booking process for its users to provide them with the best hotel booking experience with fast, transparent and easy-to-use services. Jovago.com has over 20,000 local hotel listings across Africa and over 200,000 hotels around the world.

Specific characteristics of Pakistan

If you’re a Pakistani, there must be so many things coming in your mind already after looking at the title. Naturally, we can totally relate to it because we know that we can find the most unique things in our country and nowhere else. Often put in the negative limelight, it’s important to highlight and appreciate specific characteristics of Pakistan that put a smile on our faces. Jovago has come up with a short but hilarious list of a few things that are sure to make us smile:

Rickshaws with mysterious quotes painted

If you don’t own any kind of transport, we have some exceptional ride for you, Rickshaws. Rickshaws are a must-try if you’re living in or visiting Pakistan. It’s a small vehicle that can only fit 3 people, but we as Pakistanis have solutions for everything, families that are bigger than 3 persons also manage to fit in one small rickshaw somehow. The best part, however, is the enigmatic and facetious poetry and quotes we get to read behind every rickshaw.

Pakistan has also kept updating rickshaws by coming up with new designs, bigger and spacious models to an extent that the first ever Wi-Fi supported rickshaws were launched. Can you believe it? Have you ever had this facility in any other conveyance? No! But only Pakistan is home to these three-passenger, bolus-shaped public transport with Wi-Fi facility.

Local canals as swimming poolsThough it sounds strange, but it is a common tradition that can be seen in summers where men take public baths together in proximate canals. We have heard of animals taking a good water bath in the rivers or canals, but in Pakistan, we can see the similar scenes, but involving humans.

It is one of oldest customs which has now become essential for people because there is often a scarcity of water supply to various areas along with sweltering hot weather that forces them to swim in local canals. These canals act as a source of surplus water to our people.

Walls used for advertising
We observe walls around the cities decorated, painted and protected in the rest of the world while in Pakistan, you will never find an empty and clean wall. Walls around the cities in Pakistan are simply used for advertising each and every kind of product and/or service. These include medical assistance, matrimonial ads, house fumigation services, weight loss/gain remedial treatments and unlimited amount of random phone numbers.

These are just some of the unusually interesting things that can only be found in Pakistan. Of course we have the best food, the most hospitable people, unlimited talent and not to forget, a Nobel peace prize holder and winner of an Oscar award (both being females) and hospitable guest houses and hotels.

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Kaghan and Naran in 4 days: Travel Guide

For those of you who have the opportunity to visit the gorgeous Kaghan valley and Naran,these are the spots you must visit to ensure the most pleasurable trip.Kaghan valley is at its best to visit July through September and for the best rates as hotels such as Hotel de Manchi and Parhena Cottages visit Jovago.com .

Day 1:

1.Lake Saif-ul-Muluk
This is the region’s main attraction (located 10km from Naran) and can be reached by jeep, a horse-ride or an 8km hike up a trail for those who wish.At a height of 10500 feet from sea level, surrounded by snow-clad mountains and crowned by the Malika Parbat summit,Saif-ul-Muluk is best to visit in June.

2.Trekking 
Lake saif-ul-Muluk is also a famous trekking location due to the crystal waters and picturesque views and it would be worth the wait to stay and watch the sunset there.

3.Shopping
The evenings and nights in Kaghan can be spent exploring the shopping districts all over the valley and buying handicraft products conducive to the region such as woolen shawls, rugs,and handmade jewelry and souvenirs.Products here are distinctive and reasonably price,it is a unique shopping experience.

Day 2:
1. Shogran
Shogran(34 km from Balakot) is a green plateau in the Kaghan valley about 8000 feet above sea level famous for its view. The ideal season to visit Shogran is summer, like the rest of the valley, since it is most accessible then.

2. Kawai Village
On the way to Shogran if you set out early you could enjoy a meal at the famous village Kawai situated at a waterfall.

3. Sari Payee
Shogran connects to many beautiful places like Sari Payee(to which you can trek for 2 hours or take a jeep) and even from the lush lawns of the Forest Rest House at Shogran Sari Payee Lake is visible if you do not wish to trek.

Day 3:
1. Lulusar Lake and Dudipatsar lakeand Lulusar Dudipatsar National Park
Most people visiting this region do not venture beyond the Saif-ul-Muluk lake, but there a number of other lakes to see such as the Dudipatsar lake called the White Lake,though it melts from July to September.Another beautiful lake is the largest lake Lulusar which mirrors surrounding mountains. At the site of these two a national park exists in which you can stroll while enjoying the view.

2. Babusar top-highest point in the valley
The Babusar pass and top are 125km from Shogran and travel time is just under two hours,and the drive is extremely beautiful.You can stop on the way to visit the two beautiful lakes and national park.

3. Noori top and Neelum valley
Those who want to drive further can visit Noori top(only 26km from Babusar)and Neelum valley in Kashmir encountering valleys, gorges, glaciers and streams on the way.

Day 4:
1. Lalazar
Lalazar (about a 1 and a half hour drive from Naran) is a picturesque plateau at a 3200m elevation. It is the habitat of thick forests of pine and fir and wild flowers. Due to its beauty it is a popular camping spot. On a clear day “Falak Sonia” peak associated with famous fairytales can be seen.

2. Kunhar River
The mountain roads leading up to Lalazar have the Kunhar river on one side,famous for its hydro power generation.Kunhar river flows through the center of the Kaghan valley and it is possible to raft here.

3. Trout fishing
The Kunhar River is famous for brown trout and Rainbow trout, although a fishing permit is needed to fish which can be received at the Fisheries department in Naran.

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