“Pakistan 🇵🇰 ~The Ancient Walled-City and Bazaar of Lahore and on to Islamabad”
If you ever come to Lahore, in Pakistan, do not miss a chance to take in a “walk-through” of the ancient walled city; inside, as well as the nearby outside. Whatching what everyday life looks like for the locals, in this former capital city, should not be missed! It’s chaotic, dusty, old, busy, crowded, hot, noisy, colorful, aroma-filled, and so interesting!
This day was our last full day in Lahore, so we had worked in a few other necessary stops, like the bus station to buy our “onward” tickets. Earlier we had stopped at the camera repair place to have my Nikon looked at. I never mentioned this, but a while back, while visiting Bulgaria, and walking around another old city; this time along the Black Sea, a young boy came barreling down the “pedestrian only” walking area on a bicycle, and slammed right into me. I couldn’t believe it. One minute I’m walking upright, and the next, I’m picking myself up off the ground and helping the little boy up. He kept saying how sorry he was and he was embarrassed. We would both live to see another day, save some bumps and bruises, but what did take the hit in the “crash” was my Nikon camera. Not my camera! 😩 At first I noticed a chunk was missing from the rim of my camera lens, but the glass was not broken. (Very grateful)! Soon, I noticed the lens wiggled loosely, instead of being tight, when attached to my camera body. I was unable to focus anymore, as the motor in the AFS makes terrible noises and no longer gives me sharp photos. I had to trash so many good photo ops! 😟 Ejaz found us the camera district and we found somebody who kind of put a band-aid on for now, by tightening screws. He told us the AFS can be fixed, but he would need a few days. We were leaving, so could not get the repair right then. We paid for his work and diagnosis (a thousand rupees/ about six dollars) and made a plan to stay at our next stop a few days to get my camera fixed. We are in Islamabad, at the next stop, and we got a room across from the local mall. We are in a good place to find a camera repair shop, again. Fingers crossed it will only take a few days for the repair. We have places to go and things to see!
Falooda is an Indian version of a cold dessert made with noodles. Some say its origin were strictly created for royalty. Eventually this all changed. Many assert that falooda, as we know it today, came from Irani when they sailed to India. Certainly faloodeh is a quintessentially Persian drink….Regardless of where the dessert came from,
traditionally, it is made by mixing rose syrup, vermicelli, and sweet basil seeds with milk, often served with ice cream.
Back to our time in Lahore….. I’m going to let the photos speak for themselves, when it comes to the Walled City and Bazaar. We are so glad we did this. We were tired, and dirty, after leaving the Fort, so we got a Tuk Tuk to get a ride back to the car. We sat on the outward seat on the back, so we could see the people coming at us from all over. I got some good videos. People waved, but they also came in very close on their motorbikes. I think they wanted to see who those strange looking people were, on the Tuk Tuk. 😁
Wazir Khan acquired a large tract of land in Lahore bounded by the Delhi Gate to the east and the Lahore Fort to the west. He founded the mosque that now bears his name on the site of the tomb of Syed Muhammed Ishaq (also known as Miran Badshah), a saint who had migrated from Iran in the 13th century. Wazir Khan also established a bathhouse (Shahi Hammam) and other commercial establishments along the road to the mosque whose income was intended to ensure maintenance of the mosque into perpetuity. Although the bathhouse did not provide as much income as intended, the Bazaar to the east of the mosque was quite successful and remains a flourishing market even to the present day.
By the time we got back to our room for the night, we were filled up on all things Lahore. People are very nice here, and some locals speak a little English. Food is too spicy for us, but fortunately there is Chinese food around. Corn chowder soup to the rescue! We won’t starve!
Packed up and checked out of our guesthouse around 9:15AM, Ejaz was there to pick us up and take us to the bus station for our 10AM bus. We arrived in plenty of time, only to learn at 10AM, our bus had been cancelled. We waited till 11AM and got on. Ejaz had to get going a d we all said our goodbyes, which is the hard part. Ejaz was a wonderful host and went out of his way for us, to show us a good time.
A big shout-out to Ejaz!
It was a very long day, but we made it to Islamabad by 5PM, after six hours. The bus stopped prior to what would be our actual stop, but we did not know it, since nobody told us a thing. (This is not unusual, as we have been in this spot a lot of times on busses and trains). As always the kindness of strangers help us to fill in the blanks. It was recommended we stayed on the bus for the second stop in Islamabad, so we did. We also got to speak with a very nice young gal named Mariam, who was also on the bus. I think there were only four people left, after the first stop. The bus pulled into a maintenance bay, and we weren’t sure what was going on. Marian told us we had to change buses. Who knew? We talked about neighboring Afghanistan, and the level of safety there for travelers. She did say Pakistani would not dare venture there, as it is dangerous. Once we arrived at the bus station, I called up an Uber and one arrived in about 10 minutes. We were only 15 minutes to our guesthouse. It all worked at fine.
We are travel weary, and look forward to sleep. We are safe and comfortable. There is not trouble here in Pakistan, it’s similar to other Stan countries we have already traveled to. We are being careful and safe, as is our normal.
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About Us
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