Hello Pakistan

Flying out from China

The Airbus A380 departed at midnight on its 8h30 minute journey from Beijing to Dubai. It’s one ugly aeroplane but it is so comfortable … even though it was fully packed, the very wide economy seats didn’t feel cramped and it was super quiet.

Strangely we had a full supper (described as a light meal) and a breakfast for a relatively short flight; with about 3h30 between meals! Normally ex Singapore or KL bound for Dubai (slightly shorter leg at similar times), I find the one meal and a snack and overkill already. With an 2359 departure and 0400 arrival (local time), one could do with nothing at all.

Continuing to Karachi

The transit in Dubai appeared lengthy and crowded but it did only take 30 minutes for me to clear everything and head to the Marhaba Lounge in Terminal 1 (not knowing there’s one in Terminal 3). I thought I’d try this in preference to the authority’s First Class lounge. Wrong choice as it didn’t have a shower, the meals didn’t look as good (I was too full to eat anyway) and generally a bit run down.

I met up with Marie at the departure for our short 2h flight to Karachi. The breakfast on board was to die for; a chicken curry, a chickpea curry and a potato curry topped with two pieces of fried puris. It was so so delicious I complimented the crew member but asked what would happen to people who didn’t like spice for breakfast. He explained that on their short flights, they don’t offer a choice but will try to find something else if necessary, eg. make up a salad from Business Class remains or give away a crew meal. Slack … I know airlines that serve a choice of hot meals on flights as short as 1h20 with time to spare.

Arriving in Karachi

As we descended over Karachi, everything looked dry and dusty. The airport was quite nice and immigration and customs very efficient with minimal queueing or waiting. My Maestro ATM card didn’t work at the Barclays ATM or the local ones … so everything is on Marie for now. I could have tried my Plus card but it comes with hefty international fees while my Maestro gives free international withdrawals.

Generally people seem more hassle free here compared to its neighbour … Marie accepted luggage assistance from the man who took us from the taxi counter to the taxi, not knowing he was a porter. As we didn’t have any small change, he accepted the loss (free porterage) without much of a quibble.

I spotted my first decorated truck soon after leaving the airport, followed my plenty of decorated buses. I only took one photo as there will be plenty of opportunities in our 3 week stay. Through the window of the taxi, some locals seem quite friendly waving to me as we drove past. I hope it is a good sign of things to come.

We got a room immediately at the Crown Inn hotel in Saddar; but it was a double and we had to wait several hours before being switched to a twin. Marie read the paper and told me that there had been riots in Lao (Laos) due to extended power supply issues which led to locals venting their anger on public property. She had concerns about our travel plans and I didn’t see the relevance of this. I only realised next day that she meant our next stop Lahore (pronounced with a silent “h”, a la Francaise).

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Venturing Out

After a lazy afternoon we plucked up our courage to orientate around the block. Even on my fifth visit to India, I still found each first day a bit daunting so Pakistan should be no different. Without a map showing our location, we walked around in different directions and noted landmarks like the court, neighbouring hotels and St Andrew’s Church … through a process of triangulation we worked out where we were on our computer afterwards.

Outside the Sindh High Court, Marie starting to take some photos of the surroundings (but not specifically the courthouse).  The policeman came over to introduce himself and we had some casual conversation before he directed us towards our destination.  I think this was the courteous way to stop her from photographing without an actual telling off.  Seems to be a very nice introduction to Pakistan officialdom.

We had another pleasant experience on the streets when Marie wanted to buy some limes. With only larger notes as we hadn’t made any other purchase, the street vendor declined payment when he had no change.

After dinner at the hotel, I decided to go solo to an ATM in the hope of getting money. International ATMs are hard (impossible?) to find in the Saddar area. This one nearby which I found on Google turned out to be turned off!

But the night-walk of Karachi was an experience. The traffic was mad; the colourful buses seemed even more exotic at night as some were also decorated with lights and then adorned with passengers on the roof top (even within the city). The night food markets had also come to life with whole BBQ chickens, kebabs and much more.