Pakistan “Lahore”
Our destination is the Indian border. We are not leaving Pakistan, as we just arrived here. We have been to India, twice. What we will see is the a flag ceremony, with all its pageantry. Along the way is a show, of day-in and day-out of Pakistan at its finest. The trucks are painted bright colors, they can be seen under the faded dirt encrusted exterior.
The overloaded Tuk Tuks are filled to the brim with ladies in their brightly colored clothes and the men in black or light pastel over shirts and matching pants. The fabric is thin and is said to be comfortable. I tried to get one, but they were too small for me. As a local wanting to take a picture with me said; you are very big.
The scooters are family-filled, and four aboard is the common family outing for this Sunday drive. The ladies ride on the back of the motor bike in side saddle style, with the youngest holding on tight to Mom. Their Sandals dangle off their toes, hanging on by a nail.
One area of buildings have good clay scraped up and made into bricks. Smokestacks belch black smoke, fired with water buffalo, cow dung, and some plastic garbage for flavor. The heat cures the thousands of bricks that line the yards. Many of the buildings in this area have this familiar brick as the structural bones. The exoskeleton of choice.
It is market day and the fruit and BBQ corn filled carts, many pulled by donkeys, have the masses lined up. The fruit, stacked high and brightly colored, add order to the daily chaos and the dingy surroundings. Smoke rises from the nut carts and food stalls. Carp lay in a row as the fish mongers cut them into filets. The flies learn fast to land on the guts and forget about the whole fish. One day to live, can you imagine the learning curve.
We get to the border and traffic is backed up. We step out to wait in line for the opening. I take a picture of a kid who stares at my camera, he smiles at the results. That opened the door for everyone to take a picture with Bunny and me. Our driver comes and saves us, so we sit back in the car and wait. Soon a Ranger tells us that the ceremony is canceled. With our bottom lips pouting, we head back to our hotel. First, we stop at KFC for some familiar food. I ordered 20 piece/ drumsticks and was shocked as each drumstick cost $1.20!
About the money. The ATM charges $3.00 to get $12.00. That is the maximum we can get at a time. $400.00 is the maximum withdrawal per day from our bank in the states. It would take an hour to get that much money. There is only one bank that we can get money from and nobody takes credit cards from outside of Pakistan. We are frustrated to say the least.
We will try to see the ceremony another day.
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Hello and Welcome to our Travel Blog Website, We enjoy writing about our experiences and taking photos of our adventuring along the way. Our names are: Daryl and Pen, but Daryl calls me “Bunny.” We met, quite randomly, whilst both… Read More
what is your language, please. I will try to translate
A good day one , except for missing out on the ceremony
We feel the same. I just posted a FB post about the situation. We will not be seeing it, even though we were willing to try again. Its definitely closed to the public due to COVID. WHY after nine month a day before we arrived to see it, we will never know. Not gonna lie, its. huge disappointment…kind of like Abu Simbel. Just bad luck sometimes.
It is a big disappointment. I wonder if they are worried about a second wave.. enjoy your time there xx
I forgot to reply about the second wave thought. Im not sure, because it is still so hot, here. If it was their winter time, I would suspect, but that’s not a concern, yet. It impossible to get answers.I tried.
Yes, the disappointment is lingering, but I must get over it. I really get frustrated about what covid19 has done to our world, and it’s people. But, we are enjoying g our time here and are so glad we get to see other interesting thing, and enjoy the company of our friend.