Sent in April 2004 from Lahore, Pakistan.
Hello, we arrived in Lahore on April 6 at 2 am, reached our rooms by 4, and
began to explore our environment later in the day. It was very hot outside.
We stayed at the campus of Lahore University, in a relatively luxurious setting.
So far, I have seen only the better parts of Pakistan, which makes me worry
about the rest, but I am determined to enjoy all.
Day 1 - We went exploring the old parts of Lahore! Unbelievable! We became
phenomena in the streets, instead of us enjoying the sites, we became like
walking exhibits. It seems Pakistanis are not used to having tourists
strolling on their streets; sometime they approached us for joint photos.
Women looked really pretty in their colorful traditional dresses, and men's
clothes were nice too. In downtown Lahore the air is very polluted and smells
unpleasant. We got used to it eventually, though wondering if we would be
permeated with the same odor.
We visited the Forte of Lahore and the Badshahi Mosque, both of beautiful
architecture and trimming. The latter is one of the largest mosques in the
world, a huge site that took almost all day to roam. At 6 we went to dine at
Couco's, a place overlooking the whole site. It is an art and furniture
store, rather than a restaurant; they order food from all the neighboring
shops and deliver it in trays tied to ropes, raising them to where we were
dining at the top terrace with the magnificent view. After sunset they turned
on the decorative lights, turning the entire street to a piece of art. We
were so taken with the ambiance that none of us wanted to leave. We decided
to walk in the old part of Lahore for a while, though it was polluted,
congested, hectic, and chaotic. People seemed amazed to see us in these
parts, not to mention women walking in modern outfits--trousers and
T-shirt--late at the night, as if wondering “where are these people from?”
At 11 pm we returned to the campus. Tomorrow is a free day for us to tour the
city before the workshop starts, so we will visit some of the beautiful sites
and bazaars. Some people said it is OK for me to sight-see alone, but others
recommended that I have someone with me. But judging from our stroll today,
I feel I will enjoy the tour more in the company of others, so will ask
someone in the group to come with me.
On Day 2 We wanted to see the souq and bazaars of Old Town Lahore. We hired a
taxi for 12 rupees per kilometer and 100 Rupees for each hour the driver
would be with us (US$= 57 Rupees). The trip organizers had advised us to take
a taxi and keep the driver with us because it might be difficult to find
another one to return, that it would be convenient to have him available to
continue to different parts of the city. This turned out better cause the
driver helped us, bargained for us, and, indeed, he was convenient to have
around.
We visited the Anarkli market in Old Town, a traditional, congested semi-poor
market place, similar to any such market in Jordan, Hong Kong, etc. Then we
went to a more sophisticated place called the Liberty market, where I bought
a nice Pakistani fabric--which I am going to have tailored either as a
traditional Pakistani dress (shirt, shirwal and shawl) or just as a regular
suit. And I bought several nice shawls as gifts.
Day 3 - First day of workshop, and for sure we spent the whole day listening
to paper presentations, had several coffee breaks and a lunch break. It
lasted to 5pm, enriching but exhausting too. At night, we had dinner at the
food village--we were warned against traditional food stalls on the street.
I indulged in spicy food I thought I would never enjoy but did. After
yesterday's dinner, which I ordered extra spicy just to try, now I am used to
eating so, which makes me worry that food back home will taste plain after
this. Meanwhile, I noticed that when we go some place we spend 3/4 the time
on the road, in unbelievable heat, traffic and winding roads. Nevertheless,
I am still enjoying the place and happy that I am discovering the mysteries
of this part of the world. I want to see a few arts and crafts shops. I
might do this in the coming three days either alone or with company, as
recommended. And I might hang out with some of the students who live on
campus.
Day 4 - I filmed one of the workshop sessions on video, mostly because I was
bored. Although there were some interesting papers and thoughts, I don't like
the idea of listening to people talking monotonously for hours, not sure if
something interesting will come out of all this. It was difficult to keep my
eyes open, mind awake, except with a cup of coffee, and there are limits of
coffee one can consume in a day. I decided I am glad that I am not studious
like them. This was all for the morning session; now I will go and read a
book that I brought with me for the project I am working on in Amman. So for
a change I will be like the people around me who study life, rather than live
and enjoy it, but I am also glad there are such people, for they allow my
kind to have the space to roam about.
After lunch, we had a discussion session which I filmed. At 4 pm we left to
visit again the old part of Lahore. One of the Pakistani participants' father
volunteered to guide us. OH, MY !!! so this is Lahore! We went thru narrow,
winding, dirty, and smelly streets that are barely wide enough for
pedestrians, yet there were motorcycles, bicycles, and horses with carriages
on it too.
I had a good doze of fumes blown directly to my face from one of those old
scooters they have here. It got stuck in my throat and I could not clear it.
We visited the old Mosque there. Even though it is older and less maintained
than the Badshahi Mosque we had visited earlier, the interior was much more
beautiful, the surrounding buildings creating a beautiful cluster with their
multiple floors and terraces as if climbing above the mosque saha (open yard)
wall. I climbed up the steeply spiraling narrow steps to the minaret to
observe the city from above; not many in my group joined me. I am glad I did
this because the air was a bit fresher and it helped me to clear my throat,
and the beautiful view from above was a bonus. Then we explored more of the
old city, walking in narrow streets with shops on both sides, all kinds of
shops: spices, utensils, accessories, clothes, fabric, what have you. Of
course everybody stared at us, which happens in our streets too, yet these
poor people seemed to us more mannerly than many of the more educated and
well-to-do who gawked, perhaps they were amazed to see us in these parts.
The Pakistani people impressed me as decent, respectful, friendly, and
educated.
After the tour we went to have dinner in the famous "food street" in Anarkli
nearby, which is a closed street from both ends and is only for pedestrians.
Tables are placed in the middle of the street, both sides lined with all
types of shops preparing various kinds of food. The elevations of the second
floors above the shops are highly decorated and lighted in an attempt to
beautify the street; they do not seem to serve any other function, though
they add much to the ambiance at night. Even though we were told to avoid
street food, we had our dinner, observed and were observed. On the way back,
the clutch of the bus broke, and the poor driver went underneath to fix it.
He came out covered with oil, but these people are really resourceful. He ran
to a car shop (not so near), got the broken part fixed, and raced back to
install it himself. Meanwhile, we stayed in the bus, some of us exchanging
jokes, others indulging in serious debates, as if this is all there is to
life. Eh!
Day 5 - Saturday, I decided not to attend any sessions, to relax instead,
also because I was not feeling well. In the afternoon, we had another outing
to the Liberty market. Then the University of Lahore (LUMS: Lahore University
of Management Science) arranged for us a barbecue dinner at the lawn in front
of the dining hall, it was nice and weather was suitable.
Day 6 was our last day in Lahore. We joined another group of people (5 of us)
and rented 2 taxis to explore the remaining parts of Lahore, among us an
Indian woman, a Pakistani guy, a Turkish woman, an Iranian woman, one taxi
for the whole day for 1200 rupees + gasoline, and the other per kilometer and
hour, cause the Indian and Pakistani wanted to leave at noon. We visited the
tomb of Jehangir's, meaning the conqueror of the world, and the tomb of his
wife Noor Jehan. The tombs are in the outskirts of Lahore, so we enjoyed the
Pakistani landscape, architecture, and scenes.
The architecture is beautiful; the shrines are built from red sandstone with
colorful decorations, and they are restoring many of the old carvings. And as
with other sites we visited, people gather around us wanting to take photos
with us, chat with us. We spent almost the whole morning going from one
shrine to another under the hot sun. Then we departed from the other group
and headed to some craft shops; I bought a pitched material for hanging on
the wall and found out that the one I bought a couple of days ago from
Liberty market was a robbery, that they charged us triple the price here. It
was difficult to find any craft shop open on Sunday, cause the weekend in
Pakistan is now Saturday and Sunday, not Thursday and Friday. They told us
that the prime minister Musharaf changed this because he didn't want the
Muslim and Western weekends combine to 4 days.
The traffic here is unbelievable; one spends most of one's time on the road.
Nevertheless we had several stops to take photos. Then we went to the food
village, which is a group of restaurants built according to the village
architecture which to me looked like Mexican architecture. We had our buffet
lunch at Minzos restaurant, the food so so, but at reasonable prices--meat is
very cheep in this country, at least for us. After Lunch we went to Lahore
Museum. Although I normally avoid museums, I am glad we went to this one. Of
course the first 15 minutes we were like celebrities, signing our name for
everyone there. I don't know why but they all gathered around us and asked
for our names to be written on whatever, even tissue paper. The museum is a
beautiful place, the exhibits are very nice, diverse, and informative; the
paintings may have been the best. I got some post cards from the museum shop
because I couldn't find any anywhere else. On our way back to LUMS, where we
are staying, we stopped at a bookstore, which appealed especially to the
scholars among us. They bought almost the entire store. All in all, this was
a wonderful day. We covered a lot of territory and the company was very nice.
Tonight I will pack, wait for the taxi. We are leaving for the airport at 11
pm; our flight is at 2 am. Then it is bye bye Lahore and hello Dubai.
Rawan