Birthday, Salwar Kamiz and many more adventures in Punjab!

Asalam Aleykum!

Back again!
The last two weeks after our crazy weekend in Lahore have been full of relaxing, exciting, exhausting and interesting moments.

First important date was my birthday which i tried to celebrate like I was at home...you can imagine ;-). I got great support from Argentina, Croatia, Germany and Poland...but anyway it was a new experience for me to party such a day in a more or less non-party city!

Second, we made an interesting trip to Rohtas Fort. The fort built in 1541 by Schah Sher Khan Suri is a complex of more than 4 kilometers exceeding massive city walls. It was never conquered!
One tip: If anybody of you has ever the possibility to visit this place, use the late afternoon time otherwise you are cooking away...or maybe come there in winter ;-).

Fruthermore we visited a really nice furniture store in Islamabad with authentique pieces of Pakistanian living culture...i just say: Exrteme! Very beautiful furniture and highest quality for low money and each piece is unique!

Since we liked last time Lahore so much we went last weekend again to the city which never sleeps. This time i had to go there for a business trip but it was worthy, less heat, due to rain the previous days, made the journey really pleasant. Although all of us got some problems with the throat because it was pretty much windy we really enjoyed that weekend much more than the last one. Besides we stayed this time in another room of the guest house and i think not even one five star hotel in Lahore can top this place, (but decide later in the gallery)! This time we also experienced a ride with a rickshaw! This is a real adventure, quite dangerous but very effective since you can pass any street you want. And although this vehicle is so small four adults and one child, plus driver, were fitting inside, without any problem...i think one more adult and three more kids would be the maximum ;-)!
So the weekend was more or less a success...

What else happened?

Short facts:
+ Well, i bought a Salwar Kamiz. I am not explaining what it is, check the photos!
+ The riots and turmoil settled down a little bit. Since two weeks it is quite peaceful again in Pakistan.
+ Maybe one more interesting thing. I told you about that "Red Mosque" in Islamabad, or at least showed you some photos...well, it is located quite in the middle of the city and two weeks ago four policemen patroling around this area were kidnapped by some of the 6.000 students which are going there to school, (you must know it is a mosque and a religious school). The goal was to get some inprisoned brothers free! As far as i heard two policemen were exchanged with two prisoners and the day after in the early morning hours special forces, including police, army and intelligence agency where covering the whole area...result? Nobody knows, you didn´t hear anything about success or no success...just one thing is clear, the Red Mosque is still active in its living way, what brings me to the conclusion that it was maybe solved in a diplomatic way and those people are still processing their daily live...hm!
+ Other news...since more than one week i think half of the population of children in Islamabad are ill. Some virus spread around...also Ameli is affected. So we also made now our first exprience with the "best" hospital in town. Well, they are competent but they are also pretty much expensive! So if you want to get cured in Pakistan you need a big fat wallet!
+ Our mountain journey was cancelled since we found out that it is suggested not to go with children under two years in areas over 2.500m, because of high risk of mountain sickness. Well, the northern area of Pakistan starts more or less at this altitude...so we had to change our plans and i will have to explore the mountains by myself to find finally Yeti!
Short facts...end!

However the girls will soon leave Pakistan, (in two weeks), and myself will still enjoy this beautiful country till the 12th of July and then i am going to come back to good old Europe to get one month later again into the plane and make another trip to Paki...
Yes, once here involved in work they bound you somehow ;-).

So far, i wish you still a nice time and hope to see lots of you as soon as possible in good old Europe!

Allah Hafiz!
JF

Check out the latest photos...Click here.

Nightmare in Lahore!

Hello friendz, families and all the other curious guys around the www!

As i wrote last time we were going to visit amazing Lahore. But!
Maybe it wasn´t the best decision to drive to a six million people city while at the same time cancelled chief justice was on the same way! The guy who was fired by President Musharraf because of whatever...came to a city full of frenetic fans who wanted to show that justice is still blind and should stay over everything. Well, at least on that weekend problably x thousands of people were on the streets fighting for the right of law and order. Besides it had around 45 degrees and our driver, (who told us he knows Lahore well), wasn´t really aware about that situation. However, it was an exciting weekend until Saturdays evening time when we tried to escape from the city centre and...normal way from centre to our guesthouse is about good one hour...that time it took us 4 hours!!! It was a state of emergency in the city. Half of the streets were closed because of demonstrators and we were right in the middle! We were pretty much happy to reach at ten in the evening our accomodation. Lahore the city which never sleeps, especially this night! Next day we hurried up to leave the city and went back to Islamabad. And since demonstrations are very popular, this weekend all the main cities were again full of crowd because the politcal parties decided to hold speeches and rally around. Consequence: 18 deaths in Karachi! Thanks God Islamabad was very peaceful but no wonder if every ten minutes some military, heavy armed helicopter was flying over our heads...well, where Musharraf is appearing it is mostly quite secure! So we used the time and visited Sunday market in Islamabad, well check it out, there are some really nice photos again online...
...for the next weekend is a longer trip planned to the Northern Areas of Pakistan. Since we decided not to go to India because of price explosions we will explore the big mountains...the really big ones! So right now there is not much more to say just...Yeti, we´re coming!
Greetz,
jochen

Latest Photolink here...

Stay cool in Paki!

Buenos Dias!
Well, most of the people will now think i am slowly getting completely crazy because of that spanish introduction but since we learned to know some guys from the Argentinian Embassy we try to improve our Espanol. Furthermore now after nearly one month of vegetating in Pakistan it is getting really hot. Slowly they are preparing big ice cubes which will soon land in the swimming pools.
Our new favourite place is the UN Club...well quite clear, since it is one of the less islands in Islamabad where you can cool down with your family. And, i think it will get even more popular since it is JUST spring in Pakistan!!! They say that this is still nothing! When it´s scratching 50 degrees, then Pakis start to complain...?!? However, let´s wait how it´s going on.
Next exciting surprise is that i will have to prolong my stay in this beautiful country, due to delays, till end of July, yes one month longer! This means 50 degrees plus...Aaaaahhh!
Right at the moment we are looking forward to our preparations for the India trip! Yes, indeed we wanna try flying to Delhi and make a trip to Agra, (Taj Mahal), Jaipur, (also known as Pink City), and back to Delhi. If the Indian Embassy is giving us Visas...Hindustan...we´re coming!
But before, we will visit the most exiting city of Pakistan...Lahore! City of Lollywood, Pakistanian´s answer to Hollywood and Bollywood! We are excited and looking forward escaping from Islamabad.
So, see you next time on jkf76´s blog for impressions! Hasta la vista!!!!

Here is the photo link -> photos!