South Asia Trip (Sept - Dec 2002)

Week #2 Update

Hope all of you got my previous email about my first week on this trip. If not, let me know and I'll resend it. For those of you that replied with a personal message, thanks a lot; gives me that homey feeling when I hear from you guys. Not that I am home sick, but it is nice to get a personal email, hint hint to the rest of you.

I'll continue from last week's email in which I mentioned a possible trip to N. Pakistan. Well, I am back in Karachi. I just got back today morning by train from Lahore.

My cousin Khurrum and I flew last Thursday to Islamabad (1 hour flight) and stayed at a Guest House (motel) for three nights. The first evening and night there we walked around the city, which is only 40 yrs old (designed and built in 1960) so it is well laid out, no traffic jams and not crowded. Went to a funky restaurant called Pappa Salli's. Went on to another funky place called Café Grind and had a mango lassi.

The next day we hired a taxi guy, Sajeed, and he took us to a nearby archeological site in a town called taxila. It is considered an early Buddhist settlement and very old. So we saw that, the taxila museum that holds all the artifacts found at the numerous sites. Had lunch at a local street kiosk; I had the best moongh daal and naan ever in my life. Islamabad and Lahore are in the province of Punjab in Pakistan so everyone is Punjabi Muslim and speak Urdu or Punjabi so we were able to converse in Urdu with everyone. Later on that evening we went shopping in Saddar market which is Islamabad's twin city, Rawalpindi. Pindi (as everyone calls it) is much older than Islamabad so very crowded, jammed, polluted, noisy etc. But the shopping was amazing, I bought a pair of track pants-cargo style so many pockets and they become shorts and a casual short sleeved top for $20. After shopping for an hour we went to two view points in Islamabad: West View Point and Daman-e-Koh where all of Islamabad and parts of pindi can be seen. Sort of like Burnaby Mountain in Vancouver but with more street stalls and hawkers selling all kinds of snacks. That night we went to a western style mall called Hot Shots where we bowled and played video games.

The next day, Sajeed Bhai (the taxi driver moved from driver to friend) brought along a friend, Nisar Bhai, and the four of us left at 10 AM for the hills where there are numerous hill stations for picnics and family getaways (just like whistler). We drove to Bhurban, Patriata, Murree and the Pakistan - Kashmir border which is defined by the Neelum River.

Bhurban's main attraction is a 5 star Pearl Continental hotel. We walked around in the garden and spent 90 minutes there while sajeed and nisar waited in the parking lot.

Neelum river is nice and you can wade in its tributary and look across at Azad Kashmir (i.e. free Kashmir, as opposed to Jammu Kashmir which is the area that the world is in conflict over)

Patriata has a chair lift to take you up to the highest peak in the area. A young boy took us on a 20 minute walking tour around the peak. We could see Bhurban, Murree, Azad Kashmir and Jammu Kashmir from there. The peak is more than 2000 meters altitude. The kid then asked us for money and was not to pleased when I gave him 40 Rs (which is enough). Continued on the next char lift to the next peak and on the way back we got to see the sunset up high on a chair lift.

Murree is the largest town in these mountains and has a famous market called Mall Road. I bought myself an authentic Kashmiri gent's shawl for $25 so I can use it on the train allover India. The man we bought it from was an old Kashmiri man who offered us Kawa (Kashmiri green tea) as we bargained him down from 1200 Rs to 900 Rs!

After that we drove back to Islamabad and arrived at the guest house at 11PM. Had a bite to eat while we waited the awkward moment of bargaining the price for the day. Sajeed started at 7000 Rs and Khurrum started at 2000. while the two of them argued and refused to budge, nisar and I decided on 3500 as a fair price. The whole day was like a road trip with my friends as sajeed and nisar got along well with us and we enjoyed an awesome meal at the truck stop and listened to Hindi songs the whole trip, joked around, shopped etc.

I cannot effectively describe the good time I had, the scenery I saw, the people I saw and met so I'll end this paragraph and let the attached pics speak for themselves.

On Sunday we took an air conditioned bus with radio and TV to Lahore (4 hr ride for $5) where we stayed with khurrum's friend Rashad. The first night there we hung around with some friends and chilled out listening to music at rashad's place. We were 5 in all with some of rashad's friends. We went for food at 1 AM and had chicken thika, lamb chops, faluda and naan. My mouth still waters at the thought of those lamb chops.

On Monday Khurrum and I walked through the old city of Lahore, which has a wall and 12 gates round it with the famous Lahore fort and Badshahi mosque that was built by the Mughal emperors that ruled India for 200 years from 15th to 17th century. The city is so old and the buildings built with Mughal architecture (such as the Taj Mahal). Ate some interesting street food and took a walking tour around the fort and mosque. Took a lot of pictures and have attached a few. Then we took a tanga (horse driver carriage) to emperor Jehangir and Empress Noorjehan's tomb, which is considered the 2nd best and largest tomb next to the Taj Mahal. That night we ate at a restaurant in Hira Mandhi (red light district during Mughal times) built in an old Mughal building in the old city just behind the fort. The building was once a brothel/dance studio where mujras (classical dancing where money is flogged at the women, like you see in Hindi films) were conducted. We had a view of the fort and mosque while we dined. After dinner we went to see a mujra. Spent 2000 RS ($54) on two mujras that lasted 15 minutes each.

On Wednesday we just chilled out, woke up late and caught the 6PM train to Karachi. Sleeper train with bunks but all open with no compartment or doors; so it was a very communal sort of train carriage. Met these two young guys Kashif and Nasir and we got to playing cards and talking. Slept from 3 AM to 9AM and arrived into Karachi at 10AM.

Well, I am done rambling now. I am going to sleep now as the sleep on the train was not the best. The lights were on all night and except for between 2AM and 6 AM, railway employees kept walking by selling water, soda, snacks, dinner, breakfast and of course chai. I have drank more chai in the last week than I have in a year in Canada. I have removed my earrings and plan on getting rid of the goatee so I can blend into the crowd.

Enjoy the pictures and forgive the long email. I have sent the pics at lower resolution so they might not be that clear.

Till next week,

Sameer.