Last days in Pakistan

Hello again.

So the last three days in Pakistan were equally lazy. We did however manage to do lots of stuff!

Friday we went on a day trip along a scenic road to a hill station like 1,5 hour drive from Islamabad. This was our first visit outside the cities, and the air was cool (16 degrees celsius) it was windy and the view was spectacular. We went to a café called Gloria Beans and had coffee and cake. BTW, in Pakistan they drink western-style coffee, not arabic as I had thought before coming here. This is us at that hillstation. 

After fika, August went to the bathroom while me and Wahaj went to sit in the car (it was cold!!!). I am telling Wahaj a story, when he suddenly cuts me off: “I just realised this is the first time August is on his own!”. It was but I said I’m sure he is fine, the bathroom is right there!

After like 5 min August comes back laughing: He had been aproached by a Pakistani who introduced himself: “Hi! I’m Elite Commando”. He offered to buy food and was extremly nice but August was a bit chocked at first, ofc. We found out from Wahaj later that these commandoes were know to be non-corrupt police officers and that the guy had told August so, to show that he was reliable.

Saturday

The following day we went to the Monument of Pakistan, a site celebrating the history of Pakistan. It had a beautiful view of Islamabad, and we got there at Sunset. Wahaj and his friend Zizu accompanied us there and Wahaj told us that this time he’d stay back so we could interact with the locals. Entry into the Monument of Pakistan cost 20 PKR för Wahaj and Zizu and 250 PKR for us 😛

So Wahaj stayed back and after 1 minute, a man approached us and asked if we could be in a photo with his kids. It ended up being him and like 10 other pakistani people, adults aswell as kids! The first guy who originally asked us, asked us what we thought of Pakistan. People are so happy when we say that we like it. They are all concerned about the image the media shows, this guy as well as the Elite Commando guy.  I assure you, we have not seen any terrorists.

When we were starting to be overwhelmed by flashing cameras, Wahaj took a photo, and saved us 😛 We can communicate a little in German, which helps in such situations.

We are rockstars in Pakistan 😉

Here is me and August infront of the Monument, it represents 4 different regions of Pakistan, but according to Zizu there are more than four. I didnt quite understand what the deal was with that, but some political disagreements I assume.

In pakistan, all you can do for fun is to eat. So we went eating after this, and we love talking to Wahaj’s friends. It feels just like hanging out with our friends at home! People are always people 🙂

Sunday

So, on Sunday we went to Lahore in the morning. It was a four hour drive, and Wahaj’s brother Mustafa came with us. We got pulled over for speeding, half way there. The highway police shook both Wahaj’s and Mustafas hand, before fining them 700 PKR. We didn’t understand everything, but we all laughed when the police warned us about another camera ahead :P. The pakistani people have humor. I like that about them!

Reaching Lahore, we were hungry and tired, but we went straight to the must-see place in Lahore; Lahore fort or Shahi Qila and Badshahi Mosque. The oldest part of the fort is about 1000 years old, but have been won and lost by many peoples through out the ages. The brittish bombed parts of in during the war, which is extremely sad. Today it is destroyed by littering and scribbling by the public. It’s sad to see.

Anyway, in Lahore people were even less used to foreigners so we flet a little exposed. luckily we had a guide which dispered the corwds. If you go there, any guide will do right, so don’t go with the first official guide, the unofficial are way cheaper ;). After the fort we were dirty andy even more hungry, and tired from the crowd, so we went to look at the mosque and then left. This is us celebrating surviving the hectic tourism:

We ate delicious food at a place called “The pantry” before going to our hosts; Foha’s (our friend with the big house) parents. They were Amazing! They had a parrot which we had alot of fun with ^^. In these houses we have visited, every room has its own bathroom, and the bathroom in our room was as big as our living room. It even had its own terrace! A BATHROOM TERRACE! This is us with our hosts, notice the little parrot on his arm:

We went to bed early because we had to be at the busstation at 4:30 AM on the next day. Despite our room being amazing and having a bed big enough to host a western-style family, we did not sleep well. It felt sad levaing Pakistan and Wahaj and all the people we so briefly met and made a connection with. If any of you come to Sweden, we invite you to stay with us!! We went to the Pakistani Tourist Development Corporation, we were a little late, and Wahaj was very worried about us. But thanks to the lovely people, we made it.

Thank you all for our amzing experience in Pakistan.

Stay tuned for How to get from Lahore to India.