The Last Day

We checked out of the PC Bhurban Hotel on Tuesday noon. Azhar arranged for a private driver for the day that would take us into Rawalpindi and Islamabad and see us to the airport.

Azhar had me dress in local attire so as to blend more with the locals. He had a great concern for my safety and risk of kidnapping. I must say that I was quite striking as a northern, Pakistani, tribe's man, don't you think? We drove into Rawalpindi to the Park Hotel which is owned and operated by family friends of Azhar's. We were given a room to refresh and to store our luggage. Of course we had to stay for tea.

Next we were off to the bank which was the main reason for coming to Islamabad. The branch manager remembered Azhar from 10 years ago. Of course we had to have tea and biscuits. The receptionist asked Azhar if we were the Pakistani Secret Service. Didn't I say that I was striking? Azhar did not answer, let's keep the mystery.

I needed to do some banking also from an ATM so I went outside and around the corner to the ATM. Unfortunately the ATM at that bank did not have the N.A. networks so no luck for me. Azhar was a little worried that I went out on my own but I was invisible in my local garb.

Next we were off to see a relative. This meant that we had to stop at the bakery to get something for the host. Then off to see family. The first stop was to see Azhar's aunt and cousins. The girl in the top row, second from the left is getting married on the weekend. Unfortunately we did not have enough prior warning of the date, otherwise we would be attending the event. Of course we had to have tea and sweats.

Off we went again to see another cousin and to have supper with the family. This meant that we had to stop at the bakery again.Unfortunately I did not get the whole family picture.

We had a good visit with Azhar's cousin, her 2 daughters, her husband and her father. The husband, in the picture, is completing his PhD and is presenting a paper in Vancouver on integrating wireless technologies. We thought that he was going to be on the same flight as us that evening but his Canadian VISA had not been completed. We had a glorious supper, lots of variety, colour and tastes. The hostest is a great cook.

It was around 10:00 PM when we left for our next cousin. This meant that we had to stop at the bakery again. We had another good visit with tea and sweats. Our final stop was with another cousin. This final visit was in front of his house in the dark as there was a rolling blackout. No tea involved this time.

It was very late by now and time to head back to the Park Hotel. At the hotel we quickly changed into our western clothes and headed off to the airport. Our objective of not staying in any one place too long was accomplished and I was not kidnapped. What a relief for Azhar.

The flight to Dubai and on to Toronto was uneventful. I did a little reading, watched 3 movies, had 3 short naps and eat 3 meals. Azhar found 3 empty seats and slept most of the trip.

On arrival at Toronto I had just stepped up to the immigration/customs officer when my phone rang. Of course I answered it by reflex. It was Samira, Azhar's wife. The officer gave me a mean look and suggested that I move aside while I took my call. I hung up on Samira and faced the officer. He said, "what were you thinking? Are you stupid answering the phone in front of me? Was it that important?" I immediately fell into my most humble stance and agreed that yes, I must be stupid. I was waiting for the full 3rd degree. Well he let me go and didn't even give me the dreaded code that would have both of my suitcases dumped out and searched.

Happily we left the airport, home at last.

Well we are back to Canada safe and sound. What a great experience. We hope you enjoyed our notes and observations. We appreciate the comments some of you had provided. It helped motivate us to contribute to the blog when we knew we had an audience.

If you have a moment please add a comment and tell us how you enjoyed our adventure.

Salaam.... Ralph Gault

Picture Albums for Thailand and Pakistan

I have uploaded all of my pictures from our trip. I separated the pictures into 2 albums on Picasa.

For the Thailand pictures go to http://picasaweb.google.com/rdgault/Thailand#

For the Pakistan pictures go to http://picasaweb.google.com/rdgault/Pakistan#

We hope you enjoy the pictures and videos.

Health Watch

Monday morning, our last full day in the hills. Last night was cold. We had planned to work in the gym this morning so I called Ralph. He picked up the phone and his voice sounded terrible. Ralph had caught a stomach flu and had a low grade fever. Was it the cappuccino we had last night I thought. I always pack a pharmacy when I leave on vacation so I took out my Tylenol, thermometer, gravol and went to see him. He looked very sick, so I dispensed my drugs and we agreed I would work out and have the breakfast buffet and see him latter. I went to the Male Only gym across from the Female Only gym just a few doors down from the Business Center. I was happily surprised to find the gym has all the latest equipment. I worked out for 45 minutes and then had a 45 minute massage that turned into a 1 1/2 hour massage at a cost of 950 Rupees or roughly 13 dollars. I think I will go back tonight. I had buffet breakfast alone and made sure I did not intake any carbs. I asked the chef to make some fresh chicken broth and went to check on Ralph. A bottle of coke almost empty was on his night stand - I'm not sure if that was a good idea? He was shivering so we ordered him 2 extra blankets, he drank some soup and I left him to sleep.

I walked out of the hotel and down the lane where a line of cabs awaited, I negotiated 600 rupees for a trip to the main town of Murree and back. The windy roads and lush greenery were magnificent. I went into Murree and went to the Unsani Restaurant (recommended by staff at our Hotel) for some fried fish (I should not be eating fried anything). It was the best fish I had ever eaten, I would have told the staff but the lack of attentiveness made it easy for me to stay quite. I walked down Mall Rd (the main street in Murree). Small shops and small restaurants adorned the sides of the street. I picked up a traditional hat for Ralph to complete his local attire for our trip to Rawalpindi tomorrow (walking with a white boy in Rawalpindi not so safe). I got a call from my dad's friend and we have arranged a car for the all day trip to Rawalpindi/Airport tomorrow for 5000 Rupees ($80). I drove back to our Hotel and picked up a handful of very sweet grapes on the way.

Ralph was feeling better now and joined me outside for a sit in the sun. We went to the cafe so I could finish my cigar and both had fresh grape juice. Very sweet - don't know or want to know what made it creamy. Ralph went back to his room with hiccups - not a good sign. We ordered more soup for him to be ready at 8pm for our supper. Ralph went back to sleep and I came down to blog. Feeling tired myself I may take a nap now and await Sir Ralph to wake.

Passport - ahh what Passport?

We packed up quickly and left the PC Lahore hotel on Saturday noon. It was hard saying good bye to such a top notch hotel; I can’t wait to get back. We rented a driver (Shabir) and car for 8,000 rupees ($115) for our 6 hour trip to the PC Bhurban hotel at 8000 feet overlooking the Kashmir Valley. The new six lane Motorway was smooth and the trip rather uneventful, other than the 2 speeding tickets. We arrived at 7:30pm to check in.

The young man behind the counter asked for my passport. No problem and I went into my bag. And it is when the shock hit me – I did not empty out the room safe in Lahore!!!! My passport, credit card, money lay now in someone else’s room. Quickly I asked the staff to call Lahore PC. Lahore staff told me that they would empty the content and could courier it, however since tomorrow would be a holiday it would not go out till Monday and may – MAY arrive Tuesday (the day we depart). Should I stress leaving it there and would I enjoy the holidays thinking about what could possibly go wrong. Anxiety filled me up and I called the driver back (good thing I had his cell number). He would take me back and bring me here AGAIN for another 8,000. Ralph stayed behind so at least one of us would enjoy the evening. We left at 8pm and took turns driving while one slept and arrived at Lahore at 2:30am. I was back in PC Lahore as I wished. This all felt as if I was in a dream. I got my things from the Duty Manager and off we went back towards the capital Islamabad and then to the PC Bhurban. It was now 18 hours of constant driving and we were approaching Islamabad, now the drive was getting exhausting! It was now 7am and we had 2 hours up the mountain to go when we got pulled over by the police.

Pulled Over! What else could go wrong ? One officer (Mazher) left his superior sitting in the police car and came over to my driver Shabir and asked for the paper work for the new 2008 Toyota Corolla we were driving. What a surprise - the paper work was INVALID and NOT up-to-date!!! He was going to seize the car. Ohhh when was I arriving to relax in PC Bhurban now – would I need to find a cab? Then Officer Mazher turned to me and asked me if I was renting the vehicle, not knowing I honestly answered ‘Yes!’. Shabir gave me look that sunk my heart. The officer asked for the rental agreement. What Agreement? Now I was going to be ticketed for 500 rupees, money I did not have. I may have to go to holding the officer said if I don’t pay on the spot. Holding where and for how long, when was I going to PC Bhurban now. We tried pleading our case that we were on a trade mission. He started walking to his boss to write up the ticket. I got 100 rupees from Shabir and with the 20 rupees in my pocket I walked over the officers in the car. I told the lead officer that we had a 9:30am breakfast meeting with the Minister in PC Bhurbon ( a few white lies ). I offered the bundle of small bills to officer Mazher as a down payment on the fine, he did not count them thank God and hurrying he advised his boss to let us go. Mazher counted it with disgust and handed it to his boss saying it’s only 120. The boss now frustrated gave me my paperwork back and said ok we will not ticket or seize the vehicle, but it seemed as if the wanted compensation. He then said its not enough - take this money back as well! This was good I thought. Latter Shabir explained Pakistani / Indian culture: what the officer was saying was that the amount was an insult and I in shame should offer more to win his favor. Not knowing the custom I grabbed the money asked his full name and advised him that the Minister would be hearing about this 0and started to walk towards Shabir. Shabir recounted that the officers did not know what just took place – they were looking dumbfounded. The 120 was enough for breakfast and even that was taken way. They started to argue about the mismanagement of that transaction. Thank God some good luck! We arrived in Bhurban at 9:30 – I met Ralph at the buffet Breakfast and went to see my room. I have a corner unit with huge corner windows overlooking the valley.

Up all night and now its time to see the sights, I'm going to sleep well tonight. From 38 degrees in Karachi and 32 in Lahore it’s cool up here and a good thing a packed a light jacket.

Cultural Observations

There are a number of things that have caught my eye usually because they are different from Canada. For example, going through airport security I am patted down not scanned with a hand held device. There is still the metal detector doorway frame. The women are not patted down in public. They go into a screened box where there is a security women who closes the curtain and I assume, pats them down.

Motorcycle Helmets:
Helmets are optional and very, very few riders wear them. In Karachi there are 3,000,000 cars and 9,000,000 motorcycles. The population of Karachi is around 20,000,000. The population of Lahore is around 10,000,000. It is not uncommon to see 3 riders on a motorcycle and I have seen 4, all without helmets. I saw a family of 4 on a motorcycle without helmets. The father was driving with the wife riding side saddle on the back, a young child infront of the father and a very young child on the handle bars. And they were in 7 lane traffic where every vehicle appears to have the right of way. Scary.

Vehicles:
It is common to see cars, busses, motorcycles, bicycles, donkey carts and horse carriages on the road at the same time. I passed a donkey cart in the middle lane of a 6 lane roadway with cars travelling at 80 km/hr.

Buses:



Buses are privately owned. To run a bus you get a vehicle and apply for a route. The buses demonstrate their owners pride of ownership through the paint jobs. It is almost like the cable cars in San Francisco, that is you just jump on and hang on, inside, on the side or on the top. There is a ticket guy at each end of the bus who checks for tickets. I don't know how they check on the passengers riding on top of the bus.

Animals:
In downtown Karachi and Lahore I have seen cows wandering across the street. In Karachi I passed through a Hindu community where the cows are allowed to roam free. In other neighbourhoods the cows are allowed to graze freely. The water buffulo are too big and are keep of road. More than once we had to slow down to pass cows in 3 lane traffic.

What about goats you ask? Well there are a lot of those wandering the streets also. I didn't see too many cats or dogs, surprisingly.


Schools:
There is no public school system. If you want your child educated then you have to send them to private. That means that the majority of people in Pakistan do not know how to read and write. This also means that you cannot hand a written address to the common man on the street and ask for directions. Most if not all educated Pakistanis can speak English as they study that in school and watch English TV.

Changing of the Guard

About 45 minutes west of Lahore is the border between Pakistan and India. For those that do not know, Pakistan was created by severing a western section of India in 1947. Pakistan was created as an Islam state and all muslims from over India migrated to Pakistan and all Hindus left. There have been wars fought between India and Pakistan, the latest being around 1962 and maybe in the 70s (I can't know everything).

At the border crossing there is a nightly ritual of lowering the flags on both sides of the border. There are viewing stands set up on both sides of the border where each side tries to out cheer the opposition. This is a picture looking over to the Indians from the Pakistan side of the border.





This is a picture of the Pakistan cheering sections. Note that there are viewing stands on both sides of the road. Men and women in Pakistan do not sit together. Note that all the people in the stands are men. The VIPs and foreigners can be mixed and get a front row seat. You will note that the Indian side have co-ed seating and play loud rock music while the Pakistani side plays traditional music and chants Islam cheers.

The Pakistani honor guard march down into the centre of the roadway between the viewing stands. There is a lot of marching up to the gates with a lot of pomp and show with heavy stomping feet. This is to intimidate the opposition and to challenge. This goes on a few times then the gates are opened. Now the guards from both sides march up to the gate and stomp their feet and give each other the evil eye.






Check out the videos.

Oxygen mask may drop at any time?

Our flight to Lahore, Pakistan started out normally with a ride to the airport. We took a bit of a detour because road blocks were set up on the airport road with security checks. Apparently someone important was coming or going. We made good time by taking an alternate route and only went through security entering the airport.

We were early so we sat down in the outside lobby ( I don't know how else to describe it as the outside wall was missing to allow the breeze to keep the area cool. ) We got a drink and lit our cigars. Very relaxing with a view on McDonald's across the street. Security was ever present, walking around, carrying serious rifles. Azhar spoke to them and we got a photo shoot going with the guards and McDonalds in the background. (The photo is back lit and the white van stopped in front of McDonald's. Trust me, there is a McDonald's there.) The senior guard asked me how I liked Pakistan.
I don't believe he thought that foreigners could like his country but I agreed that Pakistan was wonderful, so far.

Well, through check-in where Azhar had to pay C$12 because of overweight bags. I of course was okay. Anyway, on to the air plain.

The flights time to Lahore from Karachi is 1 hour 16 minutes. We were flying at 38,000 feet about 45 minutes out of Karachi when this announcement came over the PA system.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are experiencing a rapid decompression in the airplane, please distinguish any cigarettes and return to your seats and fasten your seat belt. The oxygen masks may drop at any moment, Please place them on your face and tighten...." You probably know the rest of the message but the first part was new to me!

There were a few surprised faces around me as we waited for the "action". You know? The nose of the plane heading perilously towards earth at a harrowing speed with the deafening roar of straining jet turbines. Well, nothing happened. We just continued on our way with no change in altitude and no further comments over the PA.

We arrived unscathed in Lahore. Got our bags and made our way to the hotel shuttle van.

While we were checking in at the hotel a flight crew arrived and were also checking in. Azhar asked the pilot if he was on the Karachi to Lahore route. He was and continued interrogation by Azhar resulted in the following information.

The announcement heard was a recorded message that was initiated mistakenly.