Pakistan Travel Blogs

Jihad and the Left Hand of God
Sep 17, 2007 (31 photos)

... to it and put your trust in Allah" (8:61). On top of all this, Russia is funding terrorism in Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to militant newspapers in Karachi.  Iranian Shi'a groups are funding the Shi'as and Saudi Arabi is encouraging ...

The Month of Wine and Walnuts and the Chicken Myth
Sep 25, 2007 (25 photos)

... the right to a separate identity for minority groups.  Although minorities such as Christians are a small part of Pakistan's population, having this right flying above them is important, although it doesn't guarantee their longevity and survival. ...

End of Ramadan: Eid Mubarak
Oct 14, 2007

... neighbors Rado and Marta from the Czech Republic, who I had met at the Regale Internet Inn six weeks earlier.  In Pakistan, a limited number of routes and hotels mean that undoubtedly you will run into the same travelers on the road. A Christian ...

Thank you and Goodbye
Oct 29, 2005 (3 photos)

... chap her parents set her up with! I also asked her loads of other things, like, do they have sex education in school in Pakistan and she thought I meant sex in school (ha! How much of a laugh would that be!). But I explained that it was important for ...

Up the Khyber Pass!! Oohh!
Oct 18, 2005 (32 photos)

... David joked and asked him if he knew Shahid Afridi (for all you non-cricketers out there he's a big hitting batsman for the Pakistan cricket team). He claimed he was his cousin!! The people you meet! We had to turn him down because we had stuff to do ...

Ramadan Begins
Sep 13, 2007

Iblis (Satan) said, 'Solve this mystery! I am the touchstone of the false coin and the true. God made me the test of lion and cur. He made me the test of genuine and counterfeit. When did I ever blacken the counterfeit coin's face? I am the assayer. I ...

A Fortress with One Clear Gate
Sep 13, 2007 (9 photos)

... urban renewal!) and a couple of empty coffins for sale on the roadside.  Then we passed the Khyber Agency checkpost and left Pakistan, in a way.  The Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) is one of those areas of the world that was a victim of ...

So many of us in one place!
Oct 10, 2005 (68 photos)

... and it went off somewhere. We sent it slow so fingers crossed it gets there! One of the things to do whilst in Pakistan is to experience Sufi drumming, and what an experience it is!! The Regale take people every Thursday night to a particular shrine, ...

Two Weeks in the Hunza Valley
Oct 29, 2007 (31 photos)

... ; The recurring theme was how the people of Pakistan were kind and generous and the politicians were all corrupt, leading Pakistan nowhere.  On another note, somehow all the Karimabad photos dematerialized, so nothing here. Gulmit was the small ...

Why me?
Oct 6, 2005 (35 photos)

On the way to the station we picked up some snacks as we didn't know what would or wouldn't be available on board. We'd already tried the potato samosas and they'd gone down a treat so we got some more. We didn't get to the station too early because we ...

Nanga Parbat's Rupal Face
Oct 10, 2007 (13 photos)

The moon was waning, as Ali and I trekked to Herligkoffer basecamp, below the Rupal Face of Nanga Parbat, the 9th highest mountain at 8125 meters.  On October 7, I awoke before dawn to eat my pre-dawn Ramadan moon, looking east.  Low in the sky ...

Four Nights with Sufis
Sep 9, 2007 (43 photos)

... ;Some Muslims would disagree with Malik, however; another man, a Sunni said "Sufis are not Muslims." Entering into Pakistan is entering into the world of Islam with all its intricacies, its grace, its misunderstandings, its turmoil, ...

Unexpected luxury!
Oct 4, 2005 (7 photos)

The bus trip was possibly the worst I'd ever experienced so far in my travels. It was absolutely jammed full of people and stuff. Our seats in the bus were right near the back with very little leg room. They were so old that all the padding had worn ...

Green and not.
Oct 15, 2005 (13 photos)

Islamabad It was an easy bus journey to Islamabad. I thought for a capital city it would be quite busy and have the normal hustle and bustle and business. Our hotel had satellite tv, which was fab for David because the cricket was on. We watched the ...

Karachi the commercial city!!!
Jul 24, 2004 (22 photos)

... locals see Westerners as being rich which is not entirely false when you consider that £50 a month is a good wage in Pakistan. But Pakistani's are extremely hospitable. They will help out wherever possible to help you, so long as you treat them with ...

Quetta (blog)
May 29, 2007 (4 photos)

... departing Esfehan we have spent travelling through desert and stopping at three towns: Yazd (Iran), Bam (Iran) and Dalbandin (Pakistan). Staight after Esfehan and before Yazd we headed South to the ancient ruins of Perspolis which was cool but compared to ...

Two Weeks in Chitral District
Sep 19, 2007 (14 photos)

In the northwest corner of Pakistan lies the Chitral District, home of the Chitrali people as well as the Kalash people, the immense Hindu Kush mountains, and wildlife tucked away in a small national park.  I stayed here two weeks, camping in the ...

Pakistan
Sep 11, 2006 (10 photos)

... entry ... I feel like I should stretch my legs and be happy about the chance to think about everything I have seen. I got to Pakistan about a week ago and I have had an amazing time thus far. I have mainly been in Islamabad and Rawlapindi which are twin ...

In the mountains of Murree!!
Sep 12, 2006 (5 photos)

... - they know the problems and the press (at least) does a good job of presenting the contending perspectives on how to move forward. Pakistan has such diversity in terms of environment. In just an hour we were away from the heat of the city and in the ...

Quetta to Islamabad
Jun 11, 2007 (25 photos)

... hear the distant sound of pee hitting a mound of excrement that had been piling up in the basement below amongst concrete rubble. Pakistan is filthy! After this experience I was happy to spend the rest of the day in the Serena Hotel swimming and scoffing ...

Just Passing Through..
Oct 3, 2006

Draft..

Boring Border Crossing Number 20..
Oct 13, 2006 (2 photos)

A quick one from the border between Pakistan and India. Generally I wouldn't send anything from a border crossing but this one was quite interesting we thought. Maybe we're nerds. Due to the 'tensions' between Pakistan and India no trucks are allowed to ...

Watching Rakaposhi..
Oct 4, 2006 (8 photos)

Belated greetings from Karimabad. Karimabad is a small mountain village in the Hunza region of Northern Pakistan. It's a lovely little place and was described to us as a Japanese commune. Seems the Japanese kids just love to spend a month or so doing ...

Zohur
Sep 30, 2007 (11 photos)

"I'm so happy to see you," one of the nature guards said as I arrived at sunset to their Ranger Checkpost Station on a ridge high above Chitral Valley in the Chitral Gol National Park.  That evening, I erected my Sierra Designs' Clip Flashlight ...

Up The Khyber..
Sep 27, 2006 (4 photos)

... and around the Khyber Pass. For centuries the Khyber Pass has divided and linked empires and peoples, marking a frontier between Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia. In safer days it was also part of the original overland route (or hippy trail) from ...

Rajar Bazaar, No! Sadar Bazaar!
Oct 26, 2005

... in Islamabad the next morning to pick up our passports but we swapped emails. Maybe we'll look him up when we're next in Pakistan. At this rate we won't be needing any hotels at all during our next trip! We finally got to Rawalpindi and had to negotiate ...

Crossing the Pakora Pass
Sep 18, 2004 (8 photos)

... exhilaration as I got to the pass. The view over the snowfield and glacier was the best thing I had seen so far in Pakistan (even on the trip?), it stretched out beautifully before us, white snow contrasting with blue sky, grey moraine to one side and the ...

Sufi Night
Oct 28, 2004

... full of people escaping their daily humdrum lives, in a way that we would go to the pub. But there are no pubs in Pakistan. Once we found the performance area, which we had to force our way through an unrelenting crowd to reach, we were packed into a ...

The route to Rush Lake, Days 1-3
Sep 5, 2004 (9 photos)

Day 1: dep Hoper (2790m) 0750 arr Bericho Kor (3300m) 1300; 5h walking, 1h10 rest; ascend 510m After a cold night in Hoper, the morning was superbly bright and clear. Akbar & Mohammed, my two portering companions for the trip, and I headed out of Hoper ...

Return from Rush Phari Days 4-5
Sep 7, 2004 (7 photos)

Day 4: Part 1: Ascent of Rush Peak (5100m) from Rush Phari (4700m); ascend and descend 400m in 3h30, 0500 to 0830 A colder night than the previous gave us frost instead of snow, but the weather appeared clearer, so Mohammed & I walked and scrambled our ...