Pakistan: In Search of Gandhara
🏛 Bir Mound Exploring these ancient ruins where only fragments remain - cows and sheep grazing 🐄🐑, kids playing hide-and-seek among the walls 🏃♂️. Hard to believe this is actually a UNESCO World Heritage site! Once influenced by Persian and Greek cultures, now only Mauryan Empire remnants survive. 🍽️ Ramadan Dining Had surprisingly delicious "tourist special" meals during Ramadan - maybe because I had zero expectations 😋. A Japanese senior tour group was so quiet, making our chatter seem extra loud! 🕌 Jaulian Monastery Ruins Built by the Kushans, destroyed by White Huns. More Buddha statues survived here 🏛️ - most now in museums. Seeing Gandharan art in-situ (not just as museum pieces) felt magical - these grouped statues actually tell stories together! 🌼 Pipplan Monastery Tiny site with only some stupa bases remaining. Yet spring flowers still bloom through cracks in the stones 🌸, and local kids play cricket using the ruins as their pitch 🏏. Felt strangely comforting seeing life thriving amidst ancient history. #GandharaTrail #PakistanArchaeology #BuddhistHeritage #OffTheBeatenPath#taxila#Pakistan#trip diary#travel guide
