Pakistan- The land of the honest.

Pakistan- The land of the honest.

So there we were, in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and it was Ramazan, the blazing heat of the Punjab burning down on us and despite all this I could not help but he ecstatic. I had finally made it to Pakistan, a place that had taken a ton of planning, a painful visa process and a lot of courage to just make the trip.

We went through customs on the Pakistani side and they then ushered us to a small restaurant to eat out of view of the regular Pakistanis. In Islam, travellers are allowed to abstain from the fast. We sat down and began to have our tea, and I saw a woman with some cookies and I said, where can I buy these cookies. She then proceeded to give them to us and said, “you are a guest of Pakistan, enjoy!”. I could not believe it, after being in India, where all I was to most people was a dollar, here I was treated not only as a person again, but as an honoured guest. I had always heard of the incredible hospitality of Pakistani’s, and this small gesture was only the beginning.

We went to the border ceremony, front row centre. The Pakistanis beside us bought us flags to cheer on their country, while in India this was unlikely to ever happen, it is more likely that they would sell you the flag for 10 times the price and laugh about it with their friends later on. And Hindu’s say they believe in Karma, lol, right, I think they could take a lesson from their Pakistani cousins across the border.

We looked for a bus, and rather than be led astray to some taxi stand of some guys cousin, pretending to help us, as is the case usually in India, we were directed right to the bus into Lahore. We arrived in the Lahore, broke the fast with a date given to us by the bus driver as the sun set across the Punjab plain, it was an amazing welcoming to Pakistan and the start of what I knew would be an great adventure.

I toured Lahore, taking in the fort, the grand mosque, the markets of the old town and eating a whole ton of meat, it was a delicious change from India. We saw the break down of Pakistan’s religious make up in Lahore, seeing Sikh temples and Christians churches along side mosques, quite a surprise considering the western medias impressions of Pakistan, but Lahore is said to be one of its most liberal cities. Lahore was a great starting spot for the trip, the hostel we stayed at had many travellers from China, Japan, Korea and Germany that gave us a few good pointers on how to move around the country.

I parted ways with Jiffy and made my way to Islamabad to sort out some VISAS. I had to get my Iran Visa and Chinese VISA in order to make my way to Afghanistan. So Islamabad proved to be a solid stop, I applied for the Chinese VISA, as the Iran embassy was one of the biggest bullshit affairs I have ever seen, but hey I didn’t expect it to be a straight forward affair, details will follow shortly. The Chinese embassy was something of a comedy. Pakistani’s like their Indian cousins have no concept of a line up, they stand around the cubicle, five or six at a time, and will interrupt often while trying to apply for a visa. The Chinese on the other hand are some of the most organized people on earth, so this clash of culture was entertaining to watch. Chinese YELLING at Pakistani’s, GET IN LINE! WAIT YOUR TURN, ENGLISH ONLY! I was laughing the entire time, mostly inside and despite all the Pakistani’s applications never seeming to be correct, I applied, submitted my passport, spoke to the lady for all of one minute and she told me to come back Monday and pick up my VISA. I guess dealing with a Canadian was a bit of a breeze compared to the latter clientele.

I took advantage of the weekend and flew down to Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city and one of the craziest and fastest growing cities in the world.

I had a german guy in Lahore tell me that 99% of tourists to Pakistan do not visit Karachi, so needless to say, with that I just had to check it out. I proved to be a fantastic adventure. I met an American girl named Megan at the Jinnah mosoleum and she introduced me to her friends in Karachi, most of whom had studied in the USA and all knew fantastic English and understood the social customs of a the west, a true luxury in Pakistan.

 One girl, Khaula proved to be most interesting, her work in documentary film making got me very interested in Pakistan and her knowledge of the history of Karachi and her people the Mohajirs, the muslims that migrated from India during partition was most interesting. I learned a heck of a lot with these young and modern Pakistanis. Khaula introduced me to her friend Salar, who gave me an inside look into a very different lifestyle in Pakistan. The consumption of alcohol and partying with ladies is almost unheard of in this country, at least publically. Salar showed me it is very alive in the private homes of the countries young elite, many of whom could care less for these forced religious restrictions that many of them told me are a recent phenomena. The rise of extreme and conservative Islamic behaviour in this country is apparently a recent affair, as my Pakistani friends said when their parents were our age they danced the night away at clubs, listened to the latest western music hits and the beer flowed freely across many parts of the country.

Karachi proved to be an adventurous weekend and an insight into the cauldron of culture that makes up this very diverse Islamic state.

I flew back to Islamabad, picked up my Chinese visa and proceeded to the Iran embassy, round two with the diplomatic Pakistani jerks that work at the front desk. Despite having all my documents in order, the man insisted I need finger prints. Now I have travelled to over 90 countries and had visa applications to some of the worlds most remote and or isolated nations, and NEVER have I had to go get my finger prints done. And no Pakistani applying needed this, I think they just wanted to make things difficult for me. So needless to say a trip to the police station is never an easy one in a country like Pakistan, But after a few bribes and a bit of persistence I managed to get the prints done, return to the embassy, submit my application and pick up my VISA they next day!

HORRAY, WE ARE OFF TO IRAN!

 After this I decided it was I needed a break from Ramazan, the most painful time to travel in an Islamic country. And unlike many of the gulf states, with massive expat populations or the middle east/ north African arab states with significant christian minorities, there is literally no avenue to find food. I had to eat dried fruit in my room just to make it through the day and with this I decided having to put up with this in Afghanistan and Iran would be just a hellish month. The most logical next step was to go to CHINA! Where Ramazan means nothing to the Han Chinese.

I thus made my way to the north of Pakistan. Taking a bus, which mid way through I found out to be a very dangerous risk. This bus was full of Shiite muslims, and are often targeted by sunni extremists or Taliban on the road from Islamabad to Gilgit. We had to form a convoy with several other busses to stay safe on the road, but after 22 hours we finally made it to Gilgit. I travelled onward to Hunza, and relaxed for a couple days in one of the most beautiful valleys in the world.

  After recharging the batteries, I made my way from Hunza to Sost on the Chinese border and spent the night there before making the trip to Kashgar.

The Karakoram Highway, an amazing feat of engineering has been flooded between Hunza and Sost, due to landslides, a 35 KM lake has formed of crystal blue water, which makes the adventure to Kashgar a few days longer, but amazing more beautiful.

Along the way I met a cool American chap who was on his way to China also, and as we discovered at customs very few tourists come this way and the guy said that I was only the 3rd Canadian to cross the border this year and the American was the first from his country.

 The Khunjerbad pass is the highest international border crossing on earth, standing at almost 5000 metres above sea level. A breathe taking landscape and an incredible journey it was. And if I thought the Chinese embassy was intense and orderly with the Pakistanis, the border was ten times worse.

The border guard, who I nick named captain Insano, was strict! He and his team checked everything, from our movies, to our wallets, camera and every shirt, sock and shoe in our bags. But when he asked me and the American if we were muslims, and we said no, he said “GOOD!” and then laxed off and went after the Pakistanis, who needless to say were bringing way more goods.

During Ramazan, one cannot drink water, smoke or do anything in public, as it is offensive to those that are fasting. The Chinese could care less about this, and openly smoke, drank and ate in front of the Pakistanis. As I will inform in my latter writings about western china, the Han Chinese, are doing everything in their power to squash islam in their country, as china is not a big fan of organized religion.

After that torturous ordeal at the border we finally made it through and onwards to Kashgar!

Welcome to CHINA! And one of the key stops on the silk road!

Cheers,

William Delaney