Blogs from Pakistan, Asia - page 33

Pakistan Railway gives discounts to foreigners and students !!!! To get the discount you got to go to the train station area and take a left turn towards the Railway reservation office. Half way between the reservation office and the train station you get the accounting office also known as the DS office. The people there are extremely friendly. All foreigners get a 25% discount. All students get a 50% discount. So if you are planning to travel that “ISIC” (International Students Identify Card) is a useful thing to have. They will ask you to get a photo copy of the following: Passport details page Pakistani visa Student identification card With this they will fill a concession form and you got to go to the railway reservation and ge your ticket. I have not heard of ... read more

Galib & I have been accepted to do volunteer work through United Pakistan. Check out their website at http://www.unitedpakistan.org. We arrive leave for Karachi on March 1st, will spend some time with family there and then continue on to Islamabad. We will explore Islamabad with Galib's mom, Bai, and then we will take a van to the relief camp, which is about 2 hours north of Islamabad. We get to travel on the Karakoram Highway, which connects Pakistan to China. When you reach China, you know you've gone too far!!! Last year, Galib & I decided that when he finished his Master's Degree, we would look into relief work, wherever it was needed. We feel very passionately about helping others and we know it will be a rewarding experience for both of us. Excerpt from the ... read more

Further up the KKH, Sost is the last town in Pakistan. From here you can buy a ticket to Tashkurgan, the first town in China. The price is rediculous high (about 23$) compared to other Pakistani Bus fees (usually 5-10$). But the Bus goes back empty to leave the people going the other way to the Chinese company (that charges even more). Because it was late in season already, not so many people were gathering at the Pakistani coustoms. So the company decided to send two jeeps instead of the bus. Later, when we saw the road conditions on the Chinese side we were quite happy about that. I have strong doubts a bus would have made it at all. I have the feeling, the officials at the different coustoms in Sost, at the border, and ... read more

On my third day in Karimabad I got up more quickly than usual. It was at around eigth in the morning. I was still lieing in my nice and warm bed and pearing out of the window to the snowy white mountains. The bed started shaking. My first thought was that the bed might be a bit unstable as they tend to be in cheap guest houses. But then I realized that the whole room was shaking. Mh, maybe the whole guest house is a bit unstable and a truck has just passed? When the shaking finally got stronger, about 5-10cm amplitude, 2-3Hz I could not denie it any longer: earthquake! In five seconds I was out of the bed, in my shoes and coat and out of the building. Outside everything was shaking. In front ... read more

In the center of Punjab, near the border to India is Lohore. I stayed here for a couple of days to recover from the many hours on bus and train. Lahore is less dusty than the south of Pakistan but it's still very hot, 30 degree Celsius day and night. A thing you clearly notice here is the english and in general the western influence. Many people speak english, the youth plays cricket, and Lahore features a McDonald's, something unthinkable in Iran (it's even hard to find a original Coke TM there...). Many buildings are also connected to the time of the english West India. For example the 'Wonder House', a museum where they - among other stuff - show things from the colonial times, and Zam Zama, a very big cannon in front of the ... read more