Blogs from Pakistan, Asia - page 2

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

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

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

It was three hours drive from the Punjab capital, Lahore and we reached the Village 113/7R near Chichawatni city. It was a wonderful after noon on the day of annual URS of Pir Murad ali shah in a village near chichawatni. the day started with the change of cover at the Mazar and then an unending series of cultural activities started. there were different kind of stalls, shaping up in a small Bazar having all kind of things to buy. the most interesting part was the dance of horses, who did exceptional well in maintaining their dance rhythm on drum beats. these horses were well trained with years of practice behind them. these horses are very famous and are of high value. the whole show lasted for a couple of hours and people gave alot of ... read more

Welcome indeed! I'm a world traveller, mainly on business in the field of economic and rural development, principally in Asia, but other places too. I get to go to exotic places (like here in the Balochistan province of Pakistan) and someone else usually pays! I've visited more than 50 countries over the 30 years I've been in this game, so I thought that some of my experience could be useful to other people as I trek around, sometimes in 5 star hotels and business class, sometimes in a village via a donkey cart. If you are interested in my work as a development professional, check out my site at FoodWorks I'm also a physical fitness fanatic and those things are at Fitness A full business profile is on the networking site at: url=http://hk.linkedin.com/i... read more