About to leave Pakistan

I have been in Pakistan for almost two weeks now, based at the house of my uncle Rick and aunt Jackie in Islamabad. I think everyone I spoke to thought I was crazy to come here because of its dangerous reputation but these two weeks have led me to think of this country as extremely welcoming and friendly. People here are quick to say "hello" and "welcome to Pakistan" when they see you on the street, shopkeepers might invite you in for a cup of tea and generally people are proud to be Pakistani and they want you to have a good experience here in their country. I have not left yet, so I hope I don't meet any extremists on my way out, but so far I would say this country is a very enjoyable place to visit, especially as there are hardly any tourists around.

Islamabad is a little bit different from the rest of Pakistan, having been built more recently as the administrative capital, so there are lots of trees here, and it looks a little bit like Le Vesinet does from the St Germain terrass: very green. However ten minutes away you have Rawalpindi which is alot more chaotic, noisy and you get a taste of how crazy the trafic is here with rickshaws and small cars all over the place. You stop being surprised by people driving up the street the wrong way. We visited the main bazar which is a collection of thin streets with stalls selling all sorts of things from food to tvs which are impressive. It is strange getting used to all the men wearing Shalwakameezes and the few women that are out in burkas. What is really nice is that people do not hassle you to buy stuff as I expect they will in India, it is all very relaxed and while people do try to get your attention, they remain very courteous.

I also visited Peschawar which is alot closer to the Afghan border (43km). The city there is very old, going back to 3BC, and it is there that buddhism orginated from although not many traces are left today, except for the museum. The atmosphere of Peschawar is definitely very different due to its proximity with Afghanistan and the famous Kyber Pass. Whereas the old city has some beautiful old buildings from when it was a key trading post on the old silk road and a pleasant atmosphere, the outskirts were very different. There are big refugee camps made up of mud houses which house thousands of people who have fled from the decades of fighting in Afghanistan. Further outside the city, you get to the Smugglers Market where you can buy absolutely anything and which is on the border with the tribal area.

Pakistan is made up of different regions, and Federally Adminitered Tribal Areas are part of those. However, law is defined by the tribes and not by the central government, part of the reason why Osama has not yet been found in the South Waziristan FATA. Our driver took us 100m into the tribal area and the atmosphere there was completely different with people holding AK-47s, plenty of gun shops, not to mention huge parking lots full of cars from Afghanistan available at discount prices! There was not the same welcoming smile you get in other parts of the country and I was glad to get back into the centre of Peshawar! A big thank you to Imran Shah for being such a welcoming host!

Kids playing cricket in Peschawar

Nearer to Islamabad I visited the town of Taxila with Rick and Jackie. Its an archeological site with relics from the buddhists who used to live here, and also a Greek temple. It is incredible to think that the Greeks made it out this far.

Pepsi is absolutely everywhere here in Taxilia, as elsewhere in Pakistan where Coca Cola is a rarity.

The next destination was Naran in the foothills of the Himalayas. Its a long journey to get there, which requires a jeep over some rough patches of road. Balakot, one of the towns where you had to stop on the way, was one of the places worse hit by the earthquake last October. Thousands of people died there and it was a sombering feeling to see tents and ruins everywhere. The tourist office there was destroyed and the man who received told how he had been rescued from the rubble. Our jeep driver to Naran was not so lucky, having lost two young boys. The road on from Naran had been completely devastated with landslides all along the journey leaving only small sections of the original road exposed.

We did make it to Naran though where I got to experience my first earthquake. Jackie and I were sitting to read in the hotel reception when all of a sudden everything was shaking and there was a loud noise. We ran outside panicking only to find all the hotel workers laughing at us "No problem, no problem, it normal..."

Jackie and I cooling off from our trekking underneath a glacier!

From Naran we made it up to Naran Lake (it does have an Urdu name I can't quite remember!) which was breathtaking. Naran is a beautiful place and it was so isolated with no electricity, no mobile phones, no internet. Some families stay there over the winter despite the 4 - 5 metres of snow. They stay in their houses, partly built into the ground, and just drink tea and eat their stock of food for 3 months until they can come out again.

We also did some other hiking before another nerve wrecking journey back to Islamabad! Our bus actually knocked another bus off the road! I heard a big noise turned to my left and saw out the window another coach on its side against the bank of the road! Crazy! And our bus did not even stop.

One of the highlights of the roads here in Pakistan are the trucks. Every single one is intricately decorated like the photos show. It makes driving such a different experience as you are always trying to pick out what the different drawings are...

Finally the food! Generally it is really good... Since I beat my uncle Rick at tennis he's been feeding me less, so I've lost a bit of weight... We had lots of fresh trout from the glacier rivers in Naran, and otherwise the food is not too dissimilar from what you get in England. There is Naan bread to die for here as it tastes so good! Despite the good taste my stomach is still adapting... but hopefully this will get me ready for India!

A local school in a poor urban area...

Trekking in the Margalla Hills with Islamabad in the background