Leaving Karachi
With a windowless room in Karachi, I woke up around 0800 instead of my usual 0500! I had less than an hour to check-out and get to the airport. Marie and I made our separate ways to the airport.
At check-in Emirates requested that I pay a top-up to the departure tax; I had bought my ticket many months ago and the government had increased the fee. They’re quite good at picking this up as it happened to me out of Bangkok as well.
But they’re not entirely foolproof as Marie who had bought her ticket a few days later escaped scot-free. It wasn’t much money but it was the inconvenience as I had finished all my Rupees; they sent a porter out to change some money on my behalf so I could pay it (that to them was easier than processing it on credit card).
Parting chat
I went to the Diners Lounge after and she was there using the internet; I don’t think she qualified with a French Visa Gold but they gave her the benefit of the doubt. She came to talk to me and it was quite civil. What a turnaround.
We talked exchanged stories from our separate travels. She said that shortly after we parted at Rawalpindi’s bus station, she took the cheap bus to Peshawar (like I did). There was this mad woman that kept talking to her and at one point squeezed her breasts. Upon arrival at Peshawar she passed out and fell, breaking her iPhone and losing all her photos. Someone helped her and got her to a hotel later and due to her condition, they gave her a discount. She passed out at the hotel too.
Since she had supposedly lost all her photos, I offered to send her a CD of mine. [Edit: I later realised it was considerable cost to post it, but I kept my word.] On the way to the gate, she felt faint again and nearly collapsed. I told her she had to fake the best of health or risk getting offloaded.
Thoughts on Pakistan
It shocked me that during the short lunchtime flight, my two Pakistani neighbours downed 3 beers each. It became quite apparent that Pakistanis do drink despite the restrictions placed by their religions! I didn’t pick that up in my 3+ week stay in the country!
Transit in Dubai during the mid-afternoon was a breeze. I don’t recall it being so quick, easy and queueless. I’m normally seem to strike the flight connection bedlam in the wee hours of the morning.
With an 11h transit, I settled into the Civil Aviation First Class Lounge (courtesy of a complimentary credit card I obtained many years ago) for plenty of sparkling Perrier water, meals, snacks and an eventual shower. I used that time productively to catch up with bills, tasks and also upload some photos and blogs. It also gave me time to think about my time in Pakistan.
Likes
- People are extremely friendly, helpful and hospitable. Be prepared for people inviting you to take photos of them. But there’ll be people who want to take photos of you too.
- Honest pricing is the norm; a few rip-offs do happen but they are the exception. Compare that to other countries where the opposite is true.
- As a result of the above, I found it to be a relatively easy country to travel in.
Dislikes (or rather annoyances that one should try to manage)
- The perceived security situation means that I’m not covered by travel insurance.
- There’s probably a rather narrow time slot that’s ideal for visiting Pakistan. In summer, it is too hot in the lowlands and quite nice in the highlands. In winter parts of the country will be nice but others will be frigid or covered in snow.
- While the quality of food is very good in the cities, in the smaller scenic spots (where foreign tourism has fallen flat) good food is hard to get. It gets rather monotonous as guesthouse and restaurants don’t carry much fresh ingredients like chicken or meat. Often they’ll only do vegetables and if you’re unlucky it will be all potatoes! And when you do get meat, it may be tough and stringy.
- Power supply (and hence air-con) is erratic; not the end of the world but you must remember to charge your camera battery before it goes flat as you could get caught out easily!
Surprises
- Pakistanis like Bollywood movies more than their own.
- Surprisingly little English is spoken or understood on the street.
- Pakistani English is less accented than the international call centres that you might be used to, located in a neighbouring country.
- Pricing is more honest than in most developing countries.
Achievements
- The trip was executed successfully to an outline plan, with changes to order and timing as necessary. Rather different from China where there is so much bookable online that I had everything planned and booked; all I had to do was land in China and execute the plan.
- I’m starting to get used to the Urdu font or style of writing and can slowly read street addresses (if give nthe context as a helping hand). Previously I could only read nicely printed material in standard Arabic font. It’s a handy skill to have as some signs aren’t written in the Latin alphabet.
I think Pakistan will be a country that I’ll come back to. I’d like to add Skardu, Chitral and a polo festival. Fingers crossed; not sure how I’m going to fit everything into one lifetime.