The night before we hardly slept because we were so excited. The journey usually took about five hours as long as the road had not been washed away by rains or landslides, and the Flying Coach left early in the morning. We struggled to Mingora bus station, our bags laden with gifts for our family – embroidered shawls and boxes of rose and pistachio sweets as well as medicine they could not get in the village. Some people took sacks of sugar and flour, and most of the baggage was tied to the top of the bus in a towering pile. Then we crammed in, fighting over the window seats even though the panes were so encrusted with dirt it was hard to see out of them. The sides of Swat buses are painted with scenes of bright pink and yellow flowers, neon-orange tigers and snowy mountains. My brothers liked it if we got one with F-16 fighter jets or nuclear missiles, though my father said if our politicians hadn’t spent so much money on building an atomic bomb we might have had enough for schools.

出发的前一晚，我们都会兴奋得几乎睡不着觉。这段路途，如果道路没有被大水冲毁或被山崩掩埋，搭车大概需要五个小时。飞行巴士一大早就上路了。我们一路困难地挪动，来到明戈拉的车站。大小包裹里塞满给亲戚的礼物--刺绣披肩、一盒盒的玫瑰、甜的开心果，和他们在村里买不到的药品。有些人甚至搬来一袋袋的面粉和糖。大多数的行李都绑在车顶上，堆得像一座小山。然后，我们挤进车里，想尽办法抢占靠窗的位置--虽然那些玻璃覆满灰尘，难以看到外面。斯瓦特的公交车侧面漆着亮粉红色和黄色的花朵，荧光橘的老虎和覆盖着白雪的高山图样。我的弟弟们特别喜欢搭乘画着F16战斗机和核弹的公交车。但每当此时，父亲就会说，如果政客们少花点钱制造原子弹，就有更多的钱拨给学校了。

We drove out of the bazaar, past the grinning red mouth signs for dentists, the carts stacked with wooden cages crammed with beady-eyed white chickens with scarlet beaks, and jewellery stores with windows full of gold wedding bangles. The last few shops as we headed north out of Mingora were wooden shacks that seemed to lean on each other, in front of which were piles of reconditioned tyres for the bad roads ahead. Then we were on the main road built by the last wali, which follows the wide Swat River on the left and hugs the cliffs to the right with their emerald mines. Overlooking the river were tourist restaurants with big glass windows we had never been to. On the road we passed dusty-faced children bent double with huge bundles of grass on their backs and men leading flocks of shaggy goats that wandered hither and thither.

我们驶离市场，经过牙医广告牌那张大大的嘴巴；经过装满鸡笼的推车，笼里挤满了白鸡，有小小的眼睛和鲜红的鸡冠；经过橱窗里摆满结婚用的黄金手镯的珠宝店。在我们往北方要驶离明戈拉的路上，最后几间店是木造的棚屋，歪歪斜斜地倚靠在一起，前面堆着修补过的旧轮胎，是为前方路况很差的道路做准备的。接下来，我们就开上最后一任瓦利修的公路了。沿路右面是宽阔的斯瓦特河，左面则是富含翡翠矿脉的峭壁。沿着河边，是一间间为观光客而开的餐厅，有着明亮的大玻璃窗--我们从未光顾过其中任何一间。路上，我们还会看见扛着一大捆草，驼着背、灰头土脸的孩子，还有牧羊人，赶着一群脏兮兮又爱脱队的山羊。