Pakistan

After two cancellations and reschedules, our flight's destination in Pakistan was confirmed as Lahore - a 5 hour drive away from our intended destination of Islamabad. We accepted the inconvenience, and after an uneventful flight, fast taxi ride, and police road checkpoints, we arrived at our hotel in Lahore at 3am. We managed a short but restful sleep and had breakfast at our hotel - oily paratha and omelette, which we soon learnt was the staple of breakfasts at each of our Pakistani hotels. 

Pakistan in January is cold! After 5 months of wonderfully warm weather, our small backpacks of clothing were no longer suited for the journey. Warm jackets and hats were now on our shopping list. That morning we sorted the practicalities of a local mobile sim card, and attempted to withdraw cash, only to find that no ATMs would accept our cards. Luckily we had exchanged our remaining Omani Riyals for Pakistani Rupees before leaving Oman. With our limited cash, in a nearly entirely cash centred society, we managed to book bus tickets to Islamabad. We had to sit apart from each other on the bus, as there was complex seat allocation shuffling required to ensure no men and women who were strangers sat next to one another. The bus journey was otherwise smooth and we arrived in Islamabad tired but safe. We found our hotel, only to discover our booking had been cancelled, but luckily the room was still available - and had AC heating and hot water! A blessing in 5 degree weather. 

After a long night's sleep we headed into Islamabad city to explore the sights and find warm clothes. Taxis became our go-to form of transport, with a 30 minute journey costing approximately £2. Each of our taxis were mini Suzuki vehicles, usually with many scrapes, dents, rattles, and of course no rear seat belts. We headed first to the Pakistan Monument, an impressive structure built in the early 2000s consisting of four large petals that represent the four main cultures of Pakistan (Punjab, Baloch, Sindhi, and Pakhtun). Sadly we couldn't learn any more than this as we didn't have enough cash to buy the museum entrance ticket! We went in search of an ATM and coffee and found both in a local mall. After a Cinnabon, lunch, and an increase in our available funds we went in search of street markets to purchase some warmer clothing. We successfully bought two warm jackets and hats, at discount prices. As a local political demonstration started to make noise we jumped in a taxi to go and see the Faisal Mosque in the northern part of the city. We met a friendly local named Farouk who kindly showed us around the mosque, managing to get us in for a visit in-between prayer times. The beautiful and uniquely designed mosque was built in the 1980s as a gift from the king of Saudi Arabia. 

The next morning, rather than take a local bus to our destination of Murree, only 90 minutes away, we decided to try a taxi. We had a messy start when our first driver dropped us off at the side of a random road 10 minutes after picking us up after realising where we were trying to go. Luckily though we managed to find another friendly taxi driver who got us swiftly to Murree, earning himself a good tip in the process! Murree is a hill station, originally built by the British Raj in the mid-1800s, which was for a short while the local governmental summer headquarters. Now it is a popular weekend holiday destination for many Pakistanis. Our hotel was charming, and had a very friendly receptionist. Sadly the room was very cold (6C at night, 11C during the day) but came with a small gas heater, which provided masses of heat, provided you sat right in front of it. It did however slowly heat the room over the course of the following 3 days. We spent the next few days either huddled in blankets, bed, and in front of the gas fire, or strolling around the streets in the cold sunshine looking over somewhat hazy hillside views, whilst regularly being hassled by touts to buy their produce, have a photo shoot, or take a ride in a miniature trolley pushed uphill by an old man. Despite the cold and the over-crowded tourism we enjoyed the opportunity to entirely relax from travelling and catch up with friends on video calls, plan our next few weeks of further travelling, and take a break from the hard life of travel! We tried many local restaurants, and discovered an excellent one run by a friendly man and staff that served very good channa masala and aloo paratha - we ate there at least 3 times. 

After a day of travel we arrived in foggy and smoggy Lahore, a chaotic city with the highest air pollution index in the world, but with a charm that Islamabad seemed to be missing. Our new hotel was a substantial upgrade from our previous Pakistani hotels, with good customer service, a clean and warm room, and a shower that delivered hot water at a somewhat reliable pressure and temperature. We decided to take a break from the three Pakistani dishes that Jem could eat (dhal mash, mixed veg, and channa masala) and opted for a highly rated Thai restaurant named “Tofu”, that was full of locals when we arrived - a good sign! It was in fact a misleading name, as they did not serve Tofu, and everything apart from one dish (called Tofu Special) had chicken or beef. Our Thai Tofu Special (without any Tofu) was unfortunately a gloopy dish that was quite unsatisfying. The next day, we went for a luxurious brunch of waffles, a chocolate muffin, and excellent coffees, at a Canadian chain cafe. Jem started applying for jobs and Sam continued to plan the following weeks of adventure. We then took a taxi to Wazeer Khan Mosque (our sweet taxi driver bought us samosas on the way!), which was covered in an intricate design. We walked through an incredibly busy market, which was full of vendors selling clothes, motorbikes swerving between pedestrians and crowds of people. The following morning we went for another delightful coffee in the same cafe, and in the afternoon went to watch the Wagha border crossing ceremony. It was a very striking and enjoyable marching competition between the border guards on the Pakistani side and those on the Indian side. Amid beating drums and a chanting crowd, the guards showed off with synchronised marching, high kicks and salutes. It was really fun to watch, and added a lot of excitement for our border crossing the following day - where we would enter our long awaited final destination of India!