Just back from Pakistan...loved it.
 

Just got back from three weeks in Pakistan. Loved it. I always thought that if I ever went to that part of the world, it would be to India - never dreamt I'd make it to Pakistan. I've got real withdrawal symptoms.

Our route was Islamabad-Karachi-Sukkur-Lahore-Peshawar-Saidu Sharif-Chilas-Karimabad-Gulmit-Gilgit-Islamabad. Not always an easy trip (physically or emotionally) but worth every penny and every minute.

How interesting! Please, do tell, details, details.

I was in Pakistan in January for my first visit. It was soooooo fabulous, I am returning in August. Pakistan is thrilling. I hope to go to India one day too, but for now, I am drawn to Pakistan.

I went to Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, and Peshawar. Peshawar was the most exotic.

I stayed in 5 star hotels throughout and they were as good as anything in Europe.

Trip reports please!

Oh - yes - I will post a report. It's a nice way to re-live the trip. I'm flattered to be asked.

Will post again in a day or two when I've assembled the details.

Please!

I crossed into Pakistan from China on the Karakoram Highway the day after 9-11, but still fell in love with the northeast. Fabulous, fabulous mountain scenery, and friendly people - Ismaili Muslims (a branch of Shi'ism). Unfortunately, had to leave Pakistan earlier than planned, but would love to go back. Trip report at www.wilhelmswords.com/asia2002.

It is exciting to see a posting on travel in Pakistan. Having not been there in many years, we often dream of going back. How did you find the safety/security situation for travel?

Here goes. This is my first trip report. I will try to be concise.

My father was posted to India during the Second World War as a young doctor in the British Army. He loved India, and after the war he wanted to join the Indian Medical Service and spend the rest of his life there. When Britain withdrew from India (and Pakistan was born) in 1947, he too had to leave. He felt the loss greatly and never returned to India.

I knew how much my father’s years in India meant to him, and I wanted to see some of the places where he was based. I knew I couldn’t cover the whole of India in three weeks, so decided to focus on one region only. The more I read about Pakistan, the more it appealed to me, and I knew that my father too had a soft spot for that former part of India, having spent at least six months there. Moreover, I had never visited a Muslim country and I was intrigued.

We (my husband and I) arranged our trip through a travel agent here in Vancouver who has offices in Islamabad, Tashkent and Kabul. (I will be pleased to supply the contact details for anyone who is interested).

We flew from Vancouver to London, spent three days in London, and then on to Islamabad. Our guide and driver met us in Islamabad. For the next three weeks, by aeroplane (four internal flights with Pakistan International Airways – excellent service), train and mini-van, we toured from Islamabad to Karachi, Sukkur, Lahore, Peshawar, Saidu Sharif, and the northern areas (Chilas, Karimabad, Gulmit and Gilgit) before spending our last three days in Islamabad/Rawalpindi and flying back to London.

Before we arrived in Pakistan, we were slightly apprehensive about security issues and also because we had no experience of Muslim societies. In fact all our concerns proved groundless (not to say that bad things don’t happen there – they can happen anywhere – but we always felt safe). The generous hospitality in Pakistan is like nothing that we have experienced in any other country; the closest we have encountered was in Russia (most of our travels have been in Europe and North America).

In random order, here are the things we liked best.

1. The Pakistani people. Everywhere we went, people struck up conversations with us. They were eager to know about life in Canada, and to hear our views on Pakistan. People were also eager to talk about politics and religion with us, always in a cordial way. English is widely spoken in Pakistan and the level of debate in the English-language media is high and impressive.

2. The physical appearance of Pakistanis: I have never seen so many good-looking people. Everyone, even the poorest, is immaculately groomed and shaved and barbered, their clothes beautifully laundered and pressed. I felt quite shabby beside them.

3. The food. I love what we think of as “Indian food” and for me, Pakistan was food paradise. It is a little less spicy (i.e. hot) than Indian food, and there is more emphasis on meat. It would be hard to get by in Pakistan on a strictly vegetarian diet.

4. The Khyber Pass: for me, the highlight of the trip. The Himalayas are more impressive visually, but the air of legend and history around the Khyber Pass put it at the top of my list.

5. Moenjo Daro: The highlight of the trip, for my husband. (I was feeling unwell that day and couldn’t accompany him.)

In random order, here are the things that troubled us.

1. The garbage in the streets: a fact of life in Pakistani cities. After a day or two you get used to it, but it remains a sharp contrast to Pakistanis’ immaculate personal appearance.

2. The heat: nothing you can do about this! When we arrived in late March, it was 25C in Islamabad. When we left three weeks later, it had risen to 40C. I don’t tolerate heat too well, so had to slow down my pace towards the end of the trip.

In random order, here are things I would do differently next time.

1. I would take only half as many clothes. Hotel laundry service is quick, cheap and efficient. It was not necessary to lug about a full suitcase.

2. The clothes that I took would be more elegant. I wore loose cotton trousers, loose long-sleeved cotton or linen shirts, open-toe sandals and a sunhat. From the point of view of culture and climate, that was appropriate clothing, but I still felt scruffy. As I say, Pakistanis are very careful about their clothing and grooming. The guidebooks all recommend western women to wear Pakistani clothing. I decided not to do that, and don’t regret that decision. I think I would have felt foolish attempting to dress like a local.

3. I would not drive on the Karakorum Highway (KKH), or at least I would drive less. It is quite a scary road, not for the faint-hearted. You can fly from Islamabad to Gilgit and in future I would do that rather than travel by vehicle. (My husband wasn't bothered by the KKH at all, though, and would happily travel on it again.)

On a practical note, we took Malarone for malaria prevention (no side-effects), Dukoral for E-coli related travellers’ diarrhoea and cholera, Twinrix for Hepatitis A&B, and had the usual polio and other shots. We took four pepto-bismol tablets daily (two in the morning, two in the evening). These various precautions served as well and we both had only one bout of illness, after eating in a restaurant in Sukkur. Imodium and Gravol helped on that occasion.

We would return to Pakistan in a heartbeat. It is a desperately poor country, but we encountered nothing but warmth and courtesy. I wasn’t sure how Pakistanis would react to knowing that my Dad had been part of “the occupying power” all those years ago. But once I mentioned it, Pakistanis were eager to show off the British legacy, and didn’t hesitate to point out canals, bridges, communication lines, museums, hospitals and schools that the British had built. I was grateful for their enthusiasm in showing me this things, and I felt touched.

This report is much longer than I had intended! Please feel free to ask questions. I don’t know what people need to know.

It sounds like a very interesting trip.It's nice to hear positives on a country that often gets a bad rap in the news. Any photos?

Loved reading your excellent report. It brought back a lot of memories for me.

I saw many of the same places but in a different way. I did an organised overland trip which crossed the border from Iran, went through Baluchistan, up to Quetta and Peshawar, the Khyber and then the KKH as far as the wonderful, sublime Hunza Valley. All by road.

The KKH is a bit scary but you see so much (the scenery is stunning, magnificent) and have the chance to make contact with local people, even if very fleetingly.

At trip's end, I travelled on under my own steam down to Karachi on the train and back. For similar reasons in a way to Vorkuta. My parents lived there the latter half of the 60s, and I visited too. I wanted to see it again.

This was in 1995 so clearly pre the War on Terror.

I'd love to go back one day.

Just wanted to add another voice to Vorkuta's - it is a wonderful place to visit.

Laartista - thanks for your kind words. My husband is the photographer in our household (I don't even own a camera). He hasn't got round to sorting through his photos yet, but when he does, I'll try and post a few.

Chimani - thank you, too, for your kind words. I was interested to hear that you'd been to Balochistan. If (when!) we return, we'd like to go there, having got no further southwest than Karachi. I think it must be quite different from the rest of Pakistan (which is itself a wonderfully varied country).

Hi I'm so glad you had a great time - I am from a Pakistani background but left the country when I was four and have lived in the west ever since. I went back in dec 06 and saw how Pakistan is trying to promote itself as a tourist destination. I dont know if I would classify Karachi as particularly touristy but Islamabad is very clean and modern, much like any capital city as well as being the gateway to the Himalayas. Also if you happen to find yourself in Islamabad I'd highly recommend a trip to Taxila - it's an archaeological site that used to be the centre of Buddhism in the 5th and 6th centuries http://archaeology.about.com/od/tterms/g/taxila.htm. In any other part of the world this sort of place would be thronged with tourists, but because it is Pakistan you will hardly see anyone, except old men offering to give you a tour. I really wanted to go to Lahore and explore the Himalayas but this wasn't possible in this trip - inshallah next time (as we say back in pakistan). Anyone thinking of going, I'd say give it a shot, especially if you like discovering places that are relatively free of tourists.

Don't want to hijack the thread, but my photos of Pakistan, and the Karakoram (which was just incredible) are at http://kwilhelm.smugmug.com/Travel/293904

Thanks for the report Vorkuta. My list of places to see continues to grow. You just moved Pakistan up a couple notches.

What were the accomodations like?

Samscomps, thank you for your message. About the only thing I regret is that we didn't have more chances to talk to Pakistanis. We were unsure how to begin conversations, but happily many Pakistanis came up to us voluntarily and spoke to us. I would have liked a lot more of that.

Femi, our travel agent gave us a choice between 2/3 star hotels and 4 star hotels. We decided to go with the 2/3 stars. (Some towns were so small that there were no 4 stars in any case). We stayed at the Best Western in Islamabad and the Regent Plaza in Karachi. Both were considerably more lavish than any hotel we normally stay in either in Europe or Canada.

The other 2/3 star hotels where we stayed were clean and comfortable; not lavish, but perfectly fine for us. The food everywhere was excellent. There are frequent blackouts in Pakistan, but that would affect you no matter which hotel you chose.

Our favourite hotel was the Swat Serena in Saidu Sharif. I just can't believe that it's only 2/3 star - it was beautiful and elegant and the food there was the best we ate anywhere in Pakistan. We also liked the Hunza Embassy Hotel in Karimabad: beautiful views of the Himalayas.

The only disappointing hotel was the InterPak Inn in Sukkur, but we were there only one night.

The sad thing is that in every hotel we were vastly outnumbered by the staff. It is true that tourism to Pakistan has taken a real hit in the past few years. In the whole three weeks we saw only about two dozen western tourists.

Femi - postscript: every hotel where we stayed had "western" plumbing. I had been a little apprehensive about WCs in Pakistan, but in fact it wasn't a problem at all.

V: That report was fascinating! As if I need to think about yet another destination now!! But I don't suppose that would be a good destination now for a single female..

Thursday, those photos are marvelous. I loved looking at them after reading Vorkuta's tales..

Thanks ek! I agree that you might feel uncomfortable as a solo female in some parts of Pakistan - notably Indus Kohistan. I usually travel that way, but this time was with a budget Aussie tour group (Intrepid), and in places was glad of it. Further north, in the Hunza valley, I would have been fine.

Cool!