so this is Pakistan...
Pakistan almost came off our list of places to visit. Especially since it seemed that India might declare war on Pakistan after the Mumbai attacks. In the end, we did go but on a much shorter trip. And we were so happy we did.
We entered Pakistan rather uneventfully at that infamous border crossing near Amritsar and got a cab to downtown Lahore.
We stayed at this extremely friendly, social hostel in Lahore. The main downside was that nearly everyone there was sick, and since we were all sharing washrooms, it seemed rather inevitable that the bugs get around. And indeed, we both had a few bad days and a general malaise that lasted a couple of weeks.
The hostel was cramped and dark and crowded but had a decent rooftop common area where various residents and travellers would converge day and night to share stories, repair bicycles, make tea and take advantage of the wireless service.
After a couple of days we even started getting used to the scheduled blackouts that would happen between 7 and 8 pm and then 9 to 10 pm most evenings.
Coming from India, we immediately noticed a change in the urban not-so-wildlife. Cows were off the streets and back on the menus. Also a lot less stray dogs around, but suddenly prowling cats, a rare sight in India, were much more common. We wondered if cats don't do so well on the primarily vegetarian Indian diet.
Walking around town, it seemed that most locals we passed would do this sort of double-take when they realized we were foreigners and then say hello or wave or, at the very least, stare. Yes, people stared constantly in India as well, but in Pakistan stares were more startled and curious than creepy.
It could be that foreigners are a rare sight these days. Other than the people staying at our hostel, we sure didn’t see many other tourists, even at the main tourist sites.
The first real shock of Pakistan was that most locals on the street just wanted to connect with us and weren’t after our money. Really. Coming from India, we responded very cautiously at first. But eventually it became clear that a lot of people just wanted to welcome us to their country, shake hands and say, "Hello. What country are you from?" or "Can I help you find something?"
People in general were thrilled to learn that we were Canadians, many reporting a cousin in Toronto or somewhere in the US. They were all too happy to point us in the right direction, or more commonly, physically walk us to the place we were looking for.
We even got a free rickshaw ride. No kidding! It was only a few blocks, we were happily walking, but the driver, who spoke virtually no English, would not take no for an answer. You could have knocked either one of us over with a feather. Rickshaw drivers are notoriously hard bargainers in India—they don't give up anything for nothing.
Much like cities in India, the streets and sites of Lahore are teeming with groups of young men hanging around alternately goofing around and playing with their mobile phones. Matt was cornered by one particularly gregarious young man who insisted Matt take his photo as he ran ten feet up a sloped wall, launched himself off and jumped to the ground (see photo). Can’t drink and can’t hang out with girls, gotta do something with all that youthful energy!
so this is Pakistan...
