Ahoy! I've been in 'Pindi a couple of days now, getting the lie of the land 'n' that and i'm going to be here a few days more - i'll explain why in a mo. I'm in a pretty decent hotel, I have a balcony room, en-suite facilities, a sit-down toilet, there's a terrace and some weights up on the rooftop, and all this luxury for a mere 120Rs, or $2!! Ok so there's the bit of peeling wall, and there's no actual light as such in the bathroom, but even so...
Pakistani trucks/buses/taxi-rickshaws are mental! They have these incredibly outlandish patterns,designs, metal bits all over them. It certainly beats the Iranians with their "Welcome to my Bus - We go to Goodbay" , "Never Dead Mother" and "In The Name Of God Please No Smoking" stickers. The traffic is actually remarkably calm in comparison, although it's still a hundred times worse than picadilly rush-hour.
The whole Ramadan thing is a little tiresome, but I get round it by eating tasty apples for breakfast, and having these strange deep fried vegetabletype thingamywotsits for lunch. I really don't know what's in them, I just point at the pile, ask for 10 rupees worth, and go away and munch them. In my quest for foreign recipes, which I'd forgotten about up until now, I managed to persuade the hotel chef to tell me how he made his Chicken Jalfrezi, and instead of telling me, he showed me and made one up especially! I also nicked the recipe for Mix Vegetable, just in case I lose all my senses in the heat and marry a veggie...
The reason i'm stuck here for a few more days is that i've applied for a chinese visa, because that appears to be the only way to the south east corner by land. Officially there aren't any ways, but I will attempt (if i get the visa) to cross into Tibet from Nepal, and then into Myanmar from China, or failing that, into Vietnam from China. So it's very comforting to hear that there's a State of National Emergency in Nepal right now, on the heels of the Royal Family massacre. It's great to know that trekking will be all the more exciting by the threat of Maoists blowing me up.
Wish you were here?
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