Bumper to bumper traffic on the snaky slopes of Murree took way more time for us to reach our destination than we thought. However, that didn't keep us from throwing our luggage in our hotel rooms and racing back and forth the entire length of Mall Road till our legs refused to move further.

On the fabric of lush green meadows, nature has bejewelled the mountains of Murree with walnut, pine, oak and maple trees. Hovering clouds play hide and seek with the peaks, veiling and revealing the beauty of the valley. With the weather notoriously unpredictable, a day was more than enough for our scrutiny of the Mall Road, Kashmir point and Pindi point in Murree.

Our next destination was Nathia Gali, which is about 34 kilometres from Murree and the route gets trickier by the mile. As we passed Ayubia on our way to Nathia Gali, we ran into the cajoling crowds of Ayubia's iconic monkeys; said to be very friendly and harmless until you try to get one of them onboard with you.

As tourists enter Nathia Gali, the beautiful St Mathew's Church welcomes them with all its grandiosity. With the Miranjani Mountain in the backdrop, the building of the church flaunts the divine green hills of Kashmir all around it. Entirely built with cedar wood, the nearly-a-century-old church is a leftover of the British India Government.

After taking all that we could from Nathia Gali, our last excursion was for Patriata which is about 25 kilometres from Murree. There is no etymological dispute regarding Patriata's name. However, a denizen of Patriata unfolded the mystery behind the name of this magnificent place on my behest. Once upon a time, according to him, a group of engineers came to this place for a survey. One of them saw an old lady and asked about the name of the place. The poor woman was carrying a bowl of flour on her head, she thought that the engineer was asking about her bowl, so she replied in her native language, “Puttar, aata” and hence the engineer assumed her reply as the name of the place.

Patriata's chairlifts and cable-cars are paramount among all the jaunting rides in the vicinity. Its altitude is more than 9,000 feet above sea level. The visual range onboard a chairlift is rather clear, however, after boarding a cable car, you will find yourself surrounded by large puffy white clouds. Ternary hanging bogies tardily pave the way in the midst of the cloudy congregation and take you to the utmost altitude of the area; the Patriata ridge. All recreational facilities are available there -- food, shopping, horse rides etc. This resort replenishes tired tourists to descend to their commencing point.

But mind you, if you're making a trip to the cloudy heaven during the winter, then maybe you're safe but if its summertime and half the nation happens to be there with you, you are in for some serious tests of patience. In the summer holidays, you not only need an entire day to visit Patriata, but also the patience of a hundred humble and patient men to stand in the great-wall-of-china-like queue, waiting for your turn on the chairlifts. We stood for more than six hours in perhaps the longest queue of my life, to enjoy a 40-minute ride, 10 of which were spent onboard a chairlift, 10 on cable car and collectively 20 minutes for the return to base station.

Notwithstanding the subtle difficulties, the scenic beauty, hospitality of the locals and the memories of well-spent time are estimable. Then again, the pleasure of the ride is worth queueing up for hours. The hospitality further pay-offs the delay in serving and beyond everything, the vivid feeling of being in that heaven makes everything tedious seem mundane.