Guess who's back?

Welcome back to you all! I returned safe and sound from Pakistan yesterday evening. Escaped the clutches of the Taleban successfully and had a really enjoyable holiday. Still jet-lagged, although it seems to be working in my favour at the moment because it is coming up to 2pm in Pakistan right now so I'm relatively awake for this time of day, whereas yesterday evening at around 8pm I was feeling shattered.

I flew on Gulf Air, returning via Muscat. The return flight was a meaty seven and a half hours long and I felt every minute of it! On the way out the flight was overnight so I slept through most of it, this time I was wide awake, sandwiched between my wife and sister-in-law, towards the back of the plane, who both fell asleep. The turbulence was pretty bad at times and those of a nervous disposition would have found it quite scary, images of the LOST plane crash kept going through my head, but I managed! The in-flight entertainment consisted of 3 movies on repeat, Talladega Nights, You, Me & Dupree and John Tucker Must Die, if you've seen them then unlucky, if you haven't, don't (although You, Me & Dupree isn't too bad)!

Enough about all that, let's type about the actual holiday. Unfortunately I forgot to bring the pictures I took so will post them tomorrow for part 2 of the holiday. As mentioned earlier I stayed in Karachi and Lahore and met my wife's very extensive extended family, and that was just on her father's side, who is one of six siblings which means loads of cousins, all of similar ages.

I was in Karachi from the 27th to the 30th of October, flying out in the evening for Lahore. As it was the first time my wife was visiting after marriage, a function was held for us on Saturday. Over 200 people turned up to watch us sit on stage and smile! Or at least, that's what it felt like! The function actually started at 11pm. Before that, my wife disappeared at 8pm to a beauty parlor to get ready, she got back fully decked out at 10pm, and I had yet to get ready! My getting ready simply involved having a shower and getting changed into a suit, taking all of 15mins! We then had the luxury of enjoying a photo shoot and being asked to pose in a variety of positions, some extremely bizarre and then went to the rooftop, where the function was being held, to be put on display!

It was quite unnerving sitting on a stage in front of people I'd never before seen in my life. It only lasted about 15mins before dinner started. Being past 11pm, I'm sure everyone was hungry. The food was really good, although I didn't get to eat much as I was being introduced to everyone who attended. It began to settle down towards 1am, which was when the music party started! This continued until morning prayers at around 4am! The songs were mainly qawalli's and my wife and I sat in the front throughout the party.

After eventually waking up sometime in the afternoon, the day was spent lounging at home before going to Nando's for dinner. That's right, Nando's, Portuguese restaurant, in Karachi. The layout and presentation was exactly the same, the food was pretty similar, but the sauces were quite different. Apart from that it felt like I was in any Nando's restaurant in the UK.

On the last day in Karachi I visited the Sindh Assembly. Sindh is the province in which Karachi lies. My wife's aunt's husband runs the Sindh Assembly and invited us to visit the main hall. This was the very hall where the British handed independence and power to the nation of Pakistan in 1947. I sat in the very chair that Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, sat in at the hand over of power. There were various pictures of Jinnah throughout the hall and surrounding area which I will post tomorrow. I'm not very knowledgeable about the politics of Pakistan and the history of its creation. I do know that it was created as a muslim nation, i.e. based on religious grounds, but failed miserably when it was split up further into Pakistan and Bangladesh. My friend has a vast amount of knowledge on the history, so if you're reading then please post a comment about the politics of the nation, time permitting of course!

Overall, I found the people of Pakistan to be very friendly which was surprising. When I went shopping with family, a lot of people knew we were Shia's and there was never any problem. One of my wife's cousins explained that the people are very friendly; it's the government and extremists that cause all the problems. Now, where have I heard that before? On a day to day basis Shia-Sunni conflicts are extremely rare and in the general community’s people interact well with one another and I saw nothing which disagreed with that opinion.

We arrived in Lahore late Monday night and the difference in the two places was noticeable immediately. Whilst Karachi was busy, dirty, heavily polluted and crazy traffic, Lahore seemed much cleaner, and quieter, although it was 1am so it was bound to be quiet. The journey from the airport showed a very clean city and it seemed as if I had arrived in Dubai or Abu Dhabi. We stayed at my father-in-law's elder brother’s house, who lived in the posh area of Lahore called Defence. Each city in Pakistan has an area called Defence which happens to house all the big and lavish houses.

The house we stayed in was really nice, quiet large and well maintained. My wife's uncle has 4 daughters, so basically including my wife's sisters I was surrounded by girls. Heaven for MTL, but a bit unnerving for me! Fortunately it was no problem; they all interacted well and made an effort with me. I introduced Sudoku to them all which kept them entertained and by the time I left they were completing puzzles faster than me!

In Lahore I had the chance to do some shopping and it was fake city! I was very impressed with the quality on offer, although it was fake designer wear, for many items it was almost impossible to tell the difference. I bought some Versace and Moschino jeans for £10 and you would be hard pushed to identify what is fake about it. In the past, when I've visited India, I've laughed at the quality of the fake clothes, but this was extremely impressive. What was funny was the fact that it's extremely difficult to find the originals even if you wanted to do so.

Apologies, but I am going to end rather abruptly and finish now. I took a lot of pictures in Lahore and want to post them with the rest of the details of my holiday tomorrow. It seems a waste to type more about the holiday and then display the pictures at a later date, better to do it all together, and besides, I have to finish off anyway because I need some food!

So until tomorrow, take care all,
Thoughts just flow, when do they have to make sense?