Pakistan - Update # 3

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Hi everyone,
it’s been almost 3 weeks since I’ve arrived to Kashmir. And the longer I’m here, the more I like it… The country, the people, the culture, the food, the challenge, the whole experience…
My Achievements by now:
* Learning to eat with my hand without getting souses to run down all the way to my elbow
* Remembering to switch on the Hot water Gazer before I go to sleep (this one was easy, I've learned through the pain of having a cold shower for few morning in a row)
* To talk with my hands and body when trying to explain things (Though here I’m finding a lot of people who do speak very good English)
* Have learned few words in Urdu (though my try to say “how are you?”, still receives confused looks and no answer… But I’m working on it… :-)
* After waking up with the call for the first prayer to turn around on to my good ear and fall asleep again.
* Managed to find probably the worst tailor in the whole bazaar…
See, I was advised that before going to the Valley I should get myself some traditional clothes. So following that advice about one and a half weeks ago I persuaded Nahida (one of the colleagues in the foundation) to accompany me to the bazaar for some shopping. Of course, because of my height (most of the women here are up to my shoulder) there was nothing ready made that I could buy. So, we’ve bought material and took it to the tailor to be tailor-made. I thought youppyyyyy, I’ll get something that really fits… The guy measured me couple of times & told us to come back in 3 days. Well, 3 days later my “Pants Odyssey “ has started… To cut a long story short - it took him next 4 times of measuring and fitting against my existing pants to get it about 40%!r(MISSING)ight… I will be able to wear them as an emergency case this time, but most likely once I get down to Muzaffarabad again, I’ll be looking for another tailor…

Today is a Saturday. So, we decided to explore the only tourist attraction in Muzaffarabad - it’s Red Fort. I wasn’t aware of it, but during 2005 Earthquake it has sustained very severe damage. And as a result of it no visitors are usually allowed inside anymore. So, we were very lucky to have come across a very kind watchman, who took us around the fort and told us bits and pieces of it’s history…

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Photos

Earthquake Epicenter?
The epicenter of the 2005 Kashmir Earthquake was here in Muzaffarabad. And aparently it was just about the area that is visible in this picture (see the grey shaded mountain side?)