Blogs from Pakistan, Asia - page 28

We finally left the hotel 10 days after arriving in Multan, recovered from the harrowing experience with the police and buoyed by our success at managing to cycle the section we had been forced to miss. The police had, however, left a nasty surprise with the hotel staff who physically tried to prevent us from leaving the hotel. Apparently they had instruction to call the police should we leave, in order to ensure we had an escort again!!. We phoned the police ourselves to report that the hotel staff were holding us hostage, but they just laughed at us. We then bullshitted the hotel staff that he police had told us to go to the police station and take the escort from there. They couldn’t argue with this so let us go, and we got out ... read more

Hello All! I have a lot to catch you up on! It is really October 10th and I am back in Kisumu, having arrived last night from my Dubai and Pakistan travels. Today I am weary! I have even had a nap! My head and heart are full and my pockets are a little emptier. Yes I enjoyed some market and souk therapy while both in Pakistan and Dubai. My favorite new toy is a combination phone, camera and walkman. My goal was to replace my Ipod which died on me a month or so ago! And for just a little bit more in the Dubai souk who could resist the latest combination gadget from Sony!!!! I guess you can't take the love of gadgets out of the girl!!!! I also have brought some amazing treasures ... read more

Islamabad is the capital city of Pakistan and is a 90 minute airplane ride north of Karachi. It is a new city and was conceived and designed as the capital in the 1960's. Before this the capital was Karachi. Karachi remains the business and commercial center. Interesting to note that "abad" means settlement or gathering place. Many towns and villages in Paksitan end with abad! I had the opportunity to explore Islamabad on the afternoon of the 28th. A guide and driver from the hotel were provided. Islamabad is a very green city with many parks. Quite the contrast to Karachi. The Faisal Mosque is a distinctive landmark and I had the opportunity to offer a prayer barefoot in the women's section. To my surprise the marble floors were hot in the sunshine -- I always ... read more

Saturday September 23rd Another though ride ahead of us, but at least it would be the last before India. Technically it should be 11 hours to Peshawar but we'd been told this was about as optimistic as a "welcomed with roses" statement coming from georgie before the Iraq war. It started badly as they told Samuel it was full. He hadn't bought his ticket the day before so he was out of luck. It seemed a lot of people were missing and after a ride around town he went back to the station and picked Samuel as well as a few chitralis. There were still a bunch of seat missing in front but we figured it was for women who would join on the way. Sylvain and I were close to the front and luckily our ... read more

Sunday September 17th The bus to Gilgit was at 6:30 so Jason, Samuel and I got up way too early again, had some Corn Flakes, checked-out and got in. The minibus was starting from the hotel so we got the best spots, but then again that doesn't mean much. It filled up pretty fast and soon enough we were squished, 4 per row. Samuel dropped seemingly in the middle of nowhere, I'm not too sure where exactly. He said he was gonna do some trek so he hopped off in some village. As we neared Gilgit military presence increased. Soon enough we started seeing sandbangs and military post at every few hundreds meters. It felt like we were entering Sarajevo in the 1990s. Why all this? Well Gilgit has had some trouble recently. Why? Half the ... read more