Blogs from Pakistan, Asia - page 20

MONDAY 2nd June. At 17:00 we left Amritsar for Wagha to observe the Ceremony of the Border Closure. Just before the Indian and Pakistani Armies conduct this amazing spectacle of national pride, the squads of soldiers parade up and down with much posturing and silly-walks, whilst the audiences on both sides shout encouragement. On the Indian side, the Sergeant Major shouts "Hindustan," and the audiencece replies with some other undeciphered shout. The opposing Pakistan SM shouts "Pakistan," and similarly gets a retort from the crowd. This goes on for ages! Both the Indian and Pakistan flags are lowered at the same rate, and finally are lowered in harmony. Before this ceremony, at least on the Indian side, is dancing performed enthusiastically by ladies in saris, and children on the road leading to the border. It seems ... read more

Thursday 5 June Ventured out in my salwar-kameez. Certainly a lot cooler but it is still hot - in the 40'sC. Visited a few more bazaars. The roads were very busy as some routes were closed for some reason, possibly visiting VIP's other than us! I'm just going for a dip in the pool but I will try to get to the business centre later to upload some photos. It started to rain shortly after I got to the pool so I uploaded some photos - see next blog. We went out to a local Suni Moslem Shrine which was very busy because Thursday is their Holy Day. They were singing/chanting Suni songs and there were a lot of beggars as people tend to give more on the Holy Day. We felt like we were in ... read more

Pakistan Zindabad (Long live Pakistan) we all chanted as the Pakistani border guards marched back and forth swinging their feet up to touch their hats and then stamping them down with a loud slap on the pavement, all the while glaring at their Indian counterparts on the other side of the border gate. These guys are picked for their height and strength and look very intimidating marching around purposefully with AK's slung over their shoulders. After watching the "show" from both sides of the border I have to say that I felt prouder to cheer from the Pakistani side! The atmosphere surrounding the ceremony made me think of sporting events in Australia with rival fans cheering as they made their way to the stadium. Arriving at the border in our mini van we piled out to ... read more

A dream to travel extensively through wonders of mighty Karakorm Highway (known as eighth wonder of world) comes true in the month of May through Rest & Recreation package from office and finally able to move up north to the giants of the Karakorm Range. To say that this mighty road and Pakistan's three different huge mountain ranges meeting place; the Karakorum, Hindu Kush and Himalaya region giving a picturesque would be an understatement. Its really one of the highest places on earth and many of the world's largest glaciers adorn the peaks. The Himalayan harshest winds through a seemingly never ending gorge where the mighty river Indus, sometimes gently flows or rushes through narrow gabs between towering rock formations, always nearby, sometimes level with the road, sometimes almost hidden in deep ravines of mighty ... read more

Seagulls and bare midriffs. I’ve made many mistakes in my life. The latest one was based on the assumption that the weather in Holland and England would be mild since the temperature was going up in Pakistan. That proved to be a wrong assumption. When in September 2006 we started our trip towards the East in the revamped Land Rover, we left behind our “European” camper, the Renault master we had bought the year before. It was a good car although underpowered with too little ground clearance to risk roads in underdeveloped countries. We left it in a garage in Holland to be sold. After almost 16 months, it was still there, gathering rust and, with a month time before I could hope to get in China over the Khunjerab pass, which is closed in winter, ... read more