Blogs from Lahore, Pakistan, Asia
December 30th 2011
It seems a long time ago since I last posted a blog entry; about my poor broken bike. Probably because it has been a long time! I’d like to say it was because I’ve been too busy, what with this world adventure travelling, but Tanja might disagree and say it’s because I’m lazy.Anyway, a lot to write about. Leaving Iran After getting the bike going again we waited in Kerman for Damon to arrive. Being a ‘local’ of sorts – he lives in Sydney but was born in New Zealand – he immediately became known as ‘Day-mo’. Although he has complained a little about this. But, hey if he doesn’t want to be Australian then he probably shouldn’t have become a citizen and got himself a passport. Damo it is. After Damo arri... read more
January 16th 2011
Pakistan Zindabad!! Long live Pakistan!! The first words I learned in Urdu upon crossing the border at Wagah. "Asallam alaikum and welcome to Pakistan! You are a very brave man. You aren't scared?" a smiling man greeted me as I walked my first few steps on Pakistani soil. "I'm here right? Not scared, just excited to be here" I replied back. I was ready for whatever Pakistan had in store for me, which ended up being more exciting experiences than I could ever imagine. The bus dropped me off somewhere in Lahore's noisy, chaotic downtown after asking several locals and finally finding sometime that could speak a bit of English help translate, I had a cab driver drop me off at Regale Chowk, where unknowingly I would spend the next ten days. Although I had no ... read more
PAKISTAN - FLOODS - AVARI HOTEL LAHORE OFFERS A REFUGE
Published: September 17th 2010Asia » Pakistan » Lahore
September 16th 2010
Well, out of the frying pan of Afghanistan and into, I suppose, the swamp of Pakistan. Pretty damp here in a lot of places. I've arrived to help a client develop a plan for the recovery and reconstruction of the worst affected areas in lower Punjab and most of Sindh down to the coast in the Indus River Delta. As you all know, I'm sure, the Indus flooded, impacting an estimated 20 million people and destroying much of the rural economy. I arrived in Islamabad on the 1st September, then quickly left for the main city of the Punjab, Lahore, and then on to Karachi before returning to Lahore and back again to I'bad. It's been a breathtaking trip of meetings and writing late into the night draft upon draft of a workable plan for intervening ... read more
April 27th 2010
Thursday 22 April We left the Bloom Star hotel, Quetta at 0745 hours on this day, with another police escort, to take us towards Sukkar. The day’s driving has been one of the most memorable for several reasons. Firstly, we were taken through the famous Bollan Pass, where nomads and camel caravans still pass to reach Quetta and onwards into Afghanistan. The scenery was stunning and while running nearly parallel with our journey through some very twisty road, the railroad route passed over many viaducts and through tunnels that the British had built in the 1800s to provide a secure passage for British troops to conduct potential operations against any Russian incursion thus threatening the British Empire’s territory of India. The pass and road also connects the districts of Balochistan and Sindh, where we are as ... read more
January 20th 2010
Dear Friends, no, we did not disappear in Pakistan, got kidnapped or was subject of any criminal activities, it's an OK country. After our lovely week with Renate in ISB, we moved out of the capital to explore some more countryside. Rawalpindi, ISB's twin city is the travel hub, so we caught our train to Lahore from there. Rawalpindi is worth a mention here. Even though it is damn close to ISB, it is so much different. Pindi (as the locals call it) is not pre-planned by grids/sectors, but more like a HUGE bazaar, messy, crowdy, etc. Somehow we have the feeling that we like chaos more than ultimate order... But we only spent one night there, so just enough to check out the bazaar and have a greet evening on our small balcony to view ... read more
September 25th 2009
If Pakistani Government and the People of Pakistan Respect the Law and every body get there right can Pakistan come out of the Problem which Pakistan is having today?... read more
June 23rd 2009
Pakistan; Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Multan, Lahore Day 25- Karachi, Pakistan With the intention of avoiding the Afghanistan border we flew from Iran to Pakistan. Taking 2,5hours from Tehran to Karachi we were greeted into a warm but colourful country. Thankfully we were allowed to remove our headscarfs, it was only in religious places we needed to put them back on again. We were given police escorts throughout our stay in Pakistan, which felt slightly unnerving at the beginning but we quickly got accustomed to it… now I know what it feels like to be a celeb… After meeting our local tour guide Amjad we were given a tour of Karachi and saw the guard change at Quaid-e-Azam's Mausoleum, we later got an opportunity to dip our feet in the sea at Clifton Beach and have a ... read more
June 9th 2009
Blog How time flies! {When you’re having fun!} Can’t believe that we will back in England in under 2 months time! We have very mixed feelings about it---so happy to be seeing family and friends again sooner than expected ,and enjoying the delights of alcohol and a wider variety of food via pubs and Tescos!! But frustrated that we may not get all the tasks completed we had hoped to achieve, no new volunteers will be taking over from us and sad to leave some good new friends and sad to move away from our colonial guestroom on the farm which is a peaceful rural idyll. Things that will be missed---the screech of peacocks The call to prayer from 3 mosques at 4 in the morning Dahl! Living in just one room ... read more
December 14th 2008
Just to say thanks for the real Christmas cards!!! You cannot know how wonderful it is to get real mail! But dont stop the electronic messages we have finally got the internett sorted and it is good!! Longer message in a few days!! Love Jane and Geoff... read more
December 10th 2008
Eid Celebrations! As I am sure most of you know there are two Eid celebrations, the one after the fasting month of Ramazan and the one to remember the sacrifice that Abraham made. This Eid was the second type and the sacrifice of an animal is the main focus! For the last week or so the numbers of goats and sheep around have increased and many of them had pretty necklaces or decorations on them. We also saw camels! I am told that a male goat or sheep is for 1 family, a cow will do for 7 families and a camel covers 14 families! On Eid eve we saw sheep and goats being transported to their destinations in cars, rickshaws and, funniest of all, slung across motor bikes between the usual 3 or 4 other ... read more
