Blogs from Pakistan, Asia
April 15th 2012
Arriving in Islamabad airport, finally I am here, after a difficult visa process, sending my passport back to Brazil, and a decision to take a flight from Urumqi because I wouldn't like to wait 15 days more to get the bus by Karaokorum highway, even I knowing I will lost a beautiful scene on the road. I got a host from Rawalpindi, near to Islamabad, his name is Suleman, so I called him when I was out of airport, he would come to pick me up, I hadn't a local number that time, there were a lot taxi drivers offering to take you to the place, so I refused the service saying I have a friend coming, and he offered me his phone to use, I thought that was kind, but in the end he asked ... read more
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
March 3rd 2011
I actually saw the airing of Nat Geo, Don’t tell my mother: Delhi, the other day here in Pakistan and chuckled to myself. How fitting now, as I walk over the border from India into Pakistan, little brother in tow, mother intentionally uninformed. I would venture to say that given current geopolitics and furthermore the ongoing ex-Blackwater CIA-spy Raymond Davis case currently in Lahore, Pakistan is probably in the top 3 most dangerous countries for Americans to travel to. Well… surprise, Mom! Postcard is in the mail – get excited! … Lahore, the capital of the Pakistani state Punjab which holds more than half the country’s population, is also known as Pakistan’s cultural capital and as a city of poets. Sitting just 30km from the Wagah border and historically set along strategic trade routes between the ... read more
February 14th 2011
Attending Hadi's Wedding with Chris and Seb.... including Trip to Lahore and Islamabad... read more
January 27th 2011
The Road to Peshawar On my way to Peshawar, on the Pakistani side of the Afghanistan border, I was very fortunate to sit next to a very nice man who I ended up having some very interesting conversations with. He kept telling me that it is his duty to warn me about the dangers of Peshawar for Americans and Europeans- due to the US government's support of India in the Kashmir dispute and their backing of Israel. He explained to me that Lahore is very safe but in Peshawar people are much more conservative and take religion very seriously. "Militant groups exist and they lust for American bloodshed. If you insist on visiting Peshawar I will pray to Allah for your safety because I think you are a very nice person," he said with an intense ... 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
nagar valley pictures photos nagar gems nagar valle minerals nagar valley gems pakistan gems nagar gilgit gems
Published: December 23rd 2010Asia » Pakistan » Northern Areas » Nagar Valley » Summayar
December 23rd 2010
join the ultimate beauty of nagar valley gilgit pakistan: zahid summayari... read more
September 25th 2010
It's the faces that say it all. Bewilderment at what happened through an unstoppable force of nature measured by some cynicism that we who pass by in our 4X4 Lexus off-roader will actually do something to help. They are probably right. Altho' my current client has distributed tents and other commodities it remains to be seen whether the Government of Pakistan and the international aid agencies will do more than do the minimum. Pakistan is so mistrusted that the international community has dragged its feet more than usual. These people have lost everything to a flood of Biblical proportions and it is almost beyond imagination what it must have been like to watch the water slowly rise. This wasn't a dramatic, disaster-movie destruction, but a slow, inexorable, creeping up of water that destroyed fields and crops ... 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
August 6th 2010
Day 27 Karachi to Hyderabad (Fri 30th July) So a few of us decided to get up early today to utilise the gym at the hotel. LJ, being a personal trainer, had extracted promises from us the night before to meet there at 0630. I blame the alcohol! We spent an interesting hour in the gym and all promptly decide that exercise was inherently evil and to be avoided at all costs in the future!! It was a refreshing start to the day though and we finally left our hotel in Karachi at 0830. Our first stop today was at the Makli Graveyard, which spans about 600 years and 8km, with some very important tombs in it. The place was amazing and I would have liked to have spent a bit longer there to have a ... read more
