The first thing i was meant to do was tell you a bit about Pakistan. Well here are some facts.
A bit of a background for Pakistan.
*Officially the islamic republic of Pakistan.
*Pakistan means " land of pure".
*Created in 14 August 1947 .
*Founder of pakistan is M. Ali Jinnah.
*Official language Urdu.
*Population in 2008 was 165.9 million
*Currency rupees.
These are the basic facts about the country of Pakistan. in the next blog i will look at the basic politics of Pakistan and talk more about my travel there.
Wednesday, 1 April 2009
Friday, 13 March 2009
50p cigs
50p 50p 50p 50p 50p 50p 50p 50p 50p 50p 50p. I think i was starting to cry when i heard how much the Goldleaf cigarettes were for. At first they felt a bit weird compered to B&H but after a while they tasted like the best cigs in the world.
who ever smokes and i say this with sadness will know that a pack of cigs are to expensive in the U.K. a pack of B&H in 2001 was about £2.15 in 2008 it's about £2.90.We know that smoking is bad for your health and it is said that making cigs more expensive will make people think twice about smoking. however the tax that is given to the goverment by the tax companies are in the millions and if truly the government wanted to tackle smoking they would have banned the companies from making cigs, but that is another disscusion.
however some people call them throat burners but they 50p . i say it again 50p .
Pakistan transport
All you see are these massive decorated trucks which looked like some truck with women clothes on. You may be thinking what the hell is that, it the secret weapon of Pakistan, yes it a bus. it can carry up to 1000 people and if you move an inch your a goner.
luckily we had a AC van waiting for us at the airport which my uncle booked from Mirpur, A town which is north of Pakistan and near the border between India run Kashmir and Pakistan run Kashmir it's about 2 hours from the airport.
As we were going to Rawalpindi first, we noticed how packed the roads were and the sound of car horns make you jump and turn around. This experince was one of the best parts i enjoyed in Pakistan which involved traveling from one city to the other with service stops.
unlike in the U.K where service stops involve having McDonald or WHSmiths these service stops had, Samosa stop, corn on the stick stop, tea stops, pakistani sweets stops, mini hotels withcurries i had never seen in my life and the best thing cig shop.
The brilliant thing for me was if i had every item on that list once it would cost me a maximum of £3.
So far so good. I decided to become a chain smoker there and then.
finally arriving
Finally we had landed. after 8 hours we had finally we had landed. YES. If i knew what was going to happen i swear down i would have stayed on the plane.
After the normal check at any airport in the world we were waiting for our bags. In the start they were only a couple of bags coming then out of know were 500 bags then ours came along and we gripped the bags and put them on the half broken trolley's that were provided.
quickly all of us went towards the exit. pushing the half broken trolleys, then it hit us. you say what hit us. The heat people the heat. the heat in pakistan is not like Spain or Morocco. it's humid heat.
What tends to happen is after 5 minutes your head is killing and all you want is get under a AC.
Putting the heat to one side it felt good to come to a country were the people who you never meet in your life giving you hugs and saying always ASALAM ALAI KUM ( peace be with you) and ISHALLAHA ( god willing).
Next it was time to drive to Rawalpindi which is about 20 minutes from Islamabad airport, we had to go see relatives who my mum knew.
Friday, 27 February 2009
PIA (pakistan international airlines)
What a rip off. our tickets cost about £450 and the airplane, the food and the air hostess were crap, but it was the best eperience i had in a plane EVER!
The plane was okay it ran. it was a Boeing 707. It had about 9 million people in it. Man it's a site and a half. I can't describe it but you might get the image of 4 million Pakistani aunties, 4 million Pakistani Uncles, half a million British Pakistani 2 pac's and half a million British Pakistani young women. man it was brilliant.
This is how it looks from the inside not bad, but imagine 9 million British Pakistani in it. AND ONLY ONE TELLY, AND TWO TOILETS.
These women look sweet but man .... what can i say... just put it this way they don't see 9 million people they see 9 million goats..... goats you say.... yes just feed them and move on .
But man the flight lasted 8 hours but it was one of the best times i had on a plane. I have been to Morocco and Turkey and the plane journey is a different experience. but a plane to Pakistan has it's own experience.
The plane was okay it ran. it was a Boeing 707. It had about 9 million people in it. Man it's a site and a half. I can't describe it but you might get the image of 4 million Pakistani aunties, 4 million Pakistani Uncles, half a million British Pakistani 2 pac's and half a million British Pakistani young women. man it was brilliant.
This is how it looks from the inside not bad, but imagine 9 million British Pakistani in it. AND ONLY ONE TELLY, AND TWO TOILETS.
These women look sweet but man .... what can i say... just put it this way they don't see 9 million people they see 9 million goats..... goats you say.... yes just feed them and move on .
But man the flight lasted 8 hours but it was one of the best times i had on a plane. I have been to Morocco and Turkey and the plane journey is a different experience. but a plane to Pakistan has it's own experience.
getting the visa
it was time to get the visa sorted out. man this was load of PC. i mean to go to Pakistan i needed a visa.why did we need a visa i asked my dad. he tried to explain " basically in the 1970's Zia-ul-Haq who was the general Pervez Musharraf of his time became angry at the U.K because they wanted people coming from Pakistan to have visa's so he decided that people who wanted to come to pakistan needed visa. it's a man thing.
what the......???????
This was going to be a long holiday.
Friday, 13 February 2009
bradford and getting ready to go to pakistan
The first time I ever went to the country my dad came from was in 2001. I say my dad’s country because I knew nothing about it and I was born in Britain and think of my self as a British Muslim.
Pakistan? what did I know about Pakistan nothing really. All I knew about Pakistan was what I heard from my family and friends.
The day my dad told us we were going Pakistan I was about to go to school, I was in year 9 then about 14 years old and the summer holidays were about to come.
After school couple of my mates went to the park to smoke which we did mostly after school because that was the best time to have a smoke and whilst we were talking I told
them I was going Pakistan.
Mobeen or mob as we knew him said “what your going back home bruv, you know you have to shit in a hole and wash your ass with water”.
All of us started to laugh of our asses but inside I knew he was chatting sense and I knew I will have to make a excuse of not going “back home”.
After about a couple of cigs and chatting about who was going to win the premiership, the new Subaru car and who was the fittest bird in the school we decided to catch the bus and go home.
My brother and sister had come back from school and all we were talking about was how we could make excuses of not going to Pakistan. To this day I say my argument was the best which was:
“ how could we go to a country where they shit in a hole”.
After talking for ages my eldest sister who is a nerd to this day said we should just go after all it is a free holiday.
After about 2 weeks of playing football every day and buying separates cigs the time had come to go “back home”.
My mum started to pack all the bags about 200 suite cases literally. The way it works is that on a Pakistan plane each person is allowed to take 45 kg suite cases. I had a last night with the boys and they made a list of what I should bring back for them cheap asses gave a couple of pounds and said I should bring back the change.
Pakistan? what did I know about Pakistan nothing really. All I knew about Pakistan was what I heard from my family and friends.
The day my dad told us we were going Pakistan I was about to go to school, I was in year 9 then about 14 years old and the summer holidays were about to come.
After school couple of my mates went to the park to smoke which we did mostly after school because that was the best time to have a smoke and whilst we were talking I told
them I was going Pakistan.
Mobeen or mob as we knew him said “what your going back home bruv, you know you have to shit in a hole and wash your ass with water”.
All of us started to laugh of our asses but inside I knew he was chatting sense and I knew I will have to make a excuse of not going “back home”.
After about a couple of cigs and chatting about who was going to win the premiership, the new Subaru car and who was the fittest bird in the school we decided to catch the bus and go home.
My brother and sister had come back from school and all we were talking about was how we could make excuses of not going to Pakistan. To this day I say my argument was the best which was:
“ how could we go to a country where they shit in a hole”.
After talking for ages my eldest sister who is a nerd to this day said we should just go after all it is a free holiday.
After about 2 weeks of playing football every day and buying separates cigs the time had come to go “back home”.
My mum started to pack all the bags about 200 suite cases literally. The way it works is that on a Pakistan plane each person is allowed to take 45 kg suite cases. I had a last night with the boys and they made a list of what I should bring back for them cheap asses gave a couple of pounds and said I should bring back the change.
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