Blogs from Pakistan, Asia - page 13

It was wonderful spending almost 2 weeks with Mary, Joe, and little Samuel!! We hung out at home, went to restaurants, Pakistan National Museum, a day at the beach wıth a British famıly, had street food (mmmm), went to the community to see Mary's work, Waldo saw a bit of another NGO. Compared wıth the cıtıes ın India, Karachi seemed a bit more organized, clean, and generally less chaotic. Waldo and I managed to get around on rıckshaws, goıng to the Cathedral, shoppıng areas, and the Masoleum (where the foundıng father of Pakıstan ıs burıed). Whenever I took a rıckshaw by myself though, I seemed to get a drıver who SAID he knew where he was goıng but he DEFINITELY dıd not. We had to stop multıple tımes to fınd someone who spoke englısh so I ... read more

There are only 2 ways to cross the India-Pakistan border: walk across in the north at the Wagha border or take the train across the south. We heard about the Thar Express (train that crosses border once a week) from a CSer but could not find hardly any information on it online or at train stations in India. Finally, in Jodhpur (where the train departs from) we found the nearly abandoned station that is only in use for the special Thar express. From the time we arrived at the train station in Jodhpur at 10 pm to the time we arrived at the station in Karachi about 5 am, we'd spent nearly 31 hours waiting, going through security checkpoints, sleeping, chatting, eating local food and our mangled peanut butter sandwiches, trying to sleep more - it ... read more

Last week I had the dubious pleasure of visiting Lahore, the commercial and cultural centre of Pakistan. The pleasure was dubious since Pakistan is enjoying a wave of radical Islamist attacks in its urban centres..but a pleasure it was nonetheless. There are only two flights a week from Delhi to Lahore, both on Pakistan International Airlines whose pilots I am told are all ex-airforce. This became apparent as we entered into some alarming low banking turns about 500 feet over the suburbs of Lahore. Myself and Perenia CEO David Tow were met by a warm and gracious SMEC employee named Anwar who accompanied us throughout our stay. David is an old hand in South Asia and has visited Pakistan "about 15 times". Engineers, it seems, have no fear. One of the guys I met in the ... read more

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

(voor Nederlands, scroll naar beneden) For a lot of people, the muslim republic of Pakistan equals suicide attacks on big hotels, Taliban, military coups, nuclear arms race with nature enemy India, corruption and poverty. The few who dare to take off their western glasses, discover a hidden gem (we counted 12 foreign tourists in 4 weeks time!). Pakistanis are among the friendliest and most hospitable people in the world, on which we can only agree. Northern Pakistan is home to 12 of the 30 highest peaks in the world, including five 8000m peaks (including K2 - 8611m) and over fifty 7000'ers. Most of these peaks are located in the Karakorum mountain range, according to specialists the most beautiful and wildest mountain range in the world. Here stand some of the most glaciated mountains outside the polar ... read more