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.