DAY 94 - TAXILA
94) THURSDAY,
29 SEPTEMBER 1977 : 265KMS. - TAXILA
Getting up early, about 8.00 am for departure from JALALABAD to visit ancient temple ( 2-7 B.E.) in HADDA. It was ancient Buddhist pilgrimage center between 2-7 B.E. and was said that the Lord Buddha had come to visit here as well. A major Buddhist art unearthed here were Buddhist images of ancient Gandhara period.
Getting up early, about 8.00 am for departure from JALALABAD to visit ancient temple ( 2-7 B.E.) in HADDA. It was ancient Buddhist pilgrimage center between 2-7 B.E. and was said that the Lord Buddha had come to visit here as well. A major Buddhist art unearthed here were Buddhist images of ancient Gandhara period.
 |
| JALALABAD road - Photo : wikipedia.org / Bing images search |
Gandhara Buddha images/statues are influenced by Greek art combined with Buddhist art . They are the first images built up as person since the Buddhist art had not been previously influenced by the Greeks until Alexander the Great’s invasion of Asia. Earlier usual Buddhist symbol was often characterized by a Thammachak (a wheel of Karma).
 |
| Gandhara buddha 1st -2nd C - Photo : wikipedia,org / Google images search |
We drove straight to the border TORKHAM in a short period of time. No trouble in
crossing the border but we had to wait a little longer on the side of PAKISTAN
as it was lunch break. There were Pakistanis and Afghans walking across the
border uninterruptedly. This border crossing was very busy but not so many tourists
from Europe anyway. I saw trucks with beautiful painting designs and flashy
colored body, not much different from plumage costumes of Chinese opera !
 |
| Border crossing at TORKHAM - Photo : Gusthed (Bo Kage Carison) / Flickriver (Google) |
After passing customs check on PAKISTAN side, we continued driving across
the KHYBER PASS, an old 1,030 meters
high mountain pass since ancient times from Asia to Europe. The route was full
of tortuous paths and from now we had to drive on the left which is different
from driving on the right in Europe.
 |
| http://munichtomadras1977.blogspot.com |
I had to remind Tilo to keep left all the
time because in other countries we passed earlier, driving was on the right the
same as in Germany where we came from and it just started to change here. However, along the road
side now and then there were big warning signs for drivers written to always
keep to the LEFT....
 |
| KHYBER Pass - Photo : trekearth.com / Bing images seasrch |
We passed over the KHYBER PASS
and arrived in PESHAWAR, where we stopped to fill the
tank before continuing to TAXILA until
dark around 7.00 p.m. to stop overnight.
 |
| TAXILA - Photo : the south-asian.com / Bing images seasrch |
