Lahore seems like a fairly peaceful city, and in the nice parts, is extremely leafy and clean. Old trees line the roads, which are in good condition. Our friends welcomed me in their home in the suburbs, where an amazing collection of kitchy developments has been laid to house the professional masses. The city itself has fairly low density. I will try to take pictures when I return later in the week.
This is a picture of the entrance to a development in suburban Lahore. Not far from this is something called Trafalgar Sq, I'll let you guess what it looks like...
Besides the brightly colored buses and the occasional donkey cart, there is nothing out of the ordinary about either Lahore or Karachi. There is the same nice villas, the same decrepit buildings, same beggards, bicycles, and tuk-tuks, same Range Rovers, servants, and armed guards, etc... that you might expect in similar cities around the world. Once thing that is amazing about both places, though, is the shear size: Karachi has 14M people (at least)...
People here are incredibly friendly and business driven. They all mention how bad Pakistan's reputation is around the world and want everyone to know that it's undeserved. Frankly, with what I've seen so far, I agree. I was invited to iftar to break fast, and met some very nice, highly cultivated and intelligent individuals. Of course, there is the occasional anti-zionist diatribe, and the jabs at the US and India, all within the confines of polite discourse and utmost respect for one's guest (that would be me).
Oh, and one more thing, once you have been to Lahore and Karachi, you know why NYC cabbies drive like they do...
1 comment:
It seems most places with negative reputations rarely live up to them. I think Xander was speaking to someone from Pakistan the other day, and this mathematician was expressing frustration that some are content to judge an entire people based on its government. Of course, we could sympathize in many ways thanks to Bush.
I love reading your posts from abroad. I'll probably never have cause to travel as much as you do, so it's fun to read your impressions of other places. Keep 'em coming!
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