Pakistan II

After I survived(barely) the journey through the desert, we got to quetta in the middle of the night. THank god I was with this pakistanese guy. THe bus stopped in an alley full of taxis (most of taxis here are rickshaws, a moto bike with 3 wheels). He told us it was not safe to stay in quetta as it had occured a few assassinations in the last week ( i came to realise that this is normal stuff in pakistan. Everyone is killing each other, due to etnic and religious tensions. Normally tourists are not harmed, but you know, once in a while, some japanese is caught in the middle!:)

So, after a 16 hours bus ride through the desert, we caught a 24 hour train (sleeping wagon!i deserve some confort once in a while!) to Lahore, the true capital of Pakistan. Islamabad is like the Political capital. All the government, embassies and bomb attacks are there!)so..nothing interesting to see.

So, once in Lahore, I came to a reality I havent seen before. I've seen poverty and dirtyness in many places, but only here I've seen misery. And this is nothing compared with India they say. Central Lahore is just one big pile of polution, rickshaw taxis, horses and donkeys pulling wagons, cars, trucks, fruit sellers, barbers cutting hair in every second corner, piles of garbage everywhere, electric whires all the time over your head.

It's the beggining of the 3rd world. Iran is Europe compared with this!

Would I advise people to come?Absolutely! Once you get used to all this poverty and dirty, you will be able to apreciate the culture.

People are really nice. And anyone that has a little bit of education speak english, what is great for talking with locals. Food is great (if u can forget all known concepts of higyene to mankind!). Spicy and tasty! ANd cheap! Average meal costs 1 euro.(if you eat where all pakistan people eat! I havent been it restaurant for turists!)

Lahore has also some nice monuments, some mosques, palaces..But the highlight of Pakistan is definetly the North, where you have all the Mountains. The second highest mountain in the world, and more dificult to climb than the Everest is here, the so called K2.

Unfortunatly 2 reasons stop me of getting to know more of this great country. THe first one is the weather. Most of the nice places for trekkin are full of snow now. May is the start of the season to visit North Pakistan. THe other reason is security. Swat valley, the switzerland of Asia like its known, is a stage of military operations agains religious extremists (taliban u can say so). other areas, like the tribal areas, on the border to pakistan are also no go zones for tourists or for everyone that wants to stay out of troubles.

Having said this, I recomend people to come to this great country. Maybe wait a while till this internal insurgents are put under control, so you can see more parts of the country. If not, you can always come and visit the Northern Areas and enjoy great trekking scenarios.

I will upload some photos and videos but internet here is as primitive as the brain of a taliban. So, I will wait till India!