Day 7


	DynaButtons

		Swat Valley

		A wonderful drive up the Swat Valley. The ground here is very fertile and the flood plain is covered in crops, mainly maize and rice. there are also many fruit trees, although all we could see were sharan fruits. The river level was very low and it frequently split into several courses so that many eyelets were formed. Where the water was shallow men were digging for sand and loading it onto donkeys which were standing knee deep in the water.


		People were fishing for trout and we saw several signs for smoked and cooked trout. Honey is also produced here and it was on sale in all the bazaars. We parked in Madyan and walked through the bazaar and then went up the side of a mountain in the coach and had tea sitting on the verandah of a hotel overlooking the Swat River. Fabulous! On the way back we stopped off and crossed the river by a 4 seater bosun’s chair which ferries the locals back and forth across the river. It looked none too stable, but got the several hundred yards there and back again OK. Although when the river is in full flood I’m sure its a different matter.


Our carriage awaits

	Just before Saidu Sharif we did some shopping in the M? bazaar. I bought 1/2 kg of Green Tea which was rather more than I wanted, but the seller did not seem to understand that I wanted less!


	Waiting for a ride