Blogs from Lahore, Pakistan, Asia - page 2

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 subcontinent ... read more

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

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

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

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