Monthly Archive for December, 2007

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Days 207-209 – Xmas in Pakistan

Published on December 26, 2007 in Cultural and Weird and random. 0 Comments

People back from home are asking me if I miss Xmas, Lenka even tried to bring me the Christmas atmosphere through SMS and of course I got wishes of a happy Xmas time…

Well, I have spent the Xmas in Lahore, in the hostel mentioned below… In Pakistan, and most of all iLahore, has a suprising lot of Christians. But they celebrate Christmas on 25th, unlike in Slovakia where the celebration is on 24th night. I have spent the days sightseeing in Lahore…  But I have a few interesting stories to share :)

random guy: “hello, what Your name?”
me: “Tomas”
random guy: “me [insert name], nice to meet You …… where You from?
me: “Slovakia – Czechoslovakia – Europe ”
random guy: “Aaah, Europe … are You Christian?…… because I am!”
me: “Yes …………by birth.”
random guy: “Ok, nice to meet You, Happy Christmas”
me: “You too, Khuda-hafiz”

random guy: “hello, what Your name?”
me: “Tomas”
random guy: “me [insert name], nice to meet You …… where You from?
me: “Slovakia – Czechoslovakia – Europe ”
random guy: “Ok, suppose You pray to Your God what would You wish for? ”
me: “……. [mind stuck] well, ehm, aaaaah, huh …. [finaly idea] I guess Peace for this country.. ”
random guy: “Ok, nice to meet You, Happy Christmas”
me: “You too, Khuda-hafiz”

random guy: “hello, what Your name?”
me: “Tomas”
random guy: “me [insert name], nice to meet You …… where You from?
me: “Slovakia – Czechoslovakia”
random guy: “I am Pastor in church here in Lahore. I just see You here and think he is Christian, and thats why I come to You. Would You be so kind and let me invite You for dinner to my house, day after tomorrow?”
me: “Well, nice to meet You, I am not sure if I have time, I might leave Lahore soon ”
random guy: ” I will show You my church. Actually would You like to say something in my church – from the Bible. You do read the Bible(!?)”
me: “Thats really nice of You, actually I want to read it…. Just like the Quaran. But as I say, I dont know yet if I am here than. [which is truth].”
random guy: “Ok, here is my number, can You give me Your number and we call and say if You can?”
me: “Ok, here it is. [that cant hurt and actually it could be interesting]”
….. discusion during which he shows me his planned speach for the next mess and tells how he wants to be a good reader of English Bible and than we part [and I forget it all due to Benazir]
….. few days pass……
phone: “hello? here is [name], I want to ask how are You, I sent You SMS message on Christmas.”
me: “Oh, hello yes [totally forgot about the message], nice to hear You. ”
phone: “So can You come to my home? I am not sure if I tell You, I even have a small school at the Church, and I tell them I met You and they want to see You and I say You might see, if can. I understand You are busy.”
me: “well, I want to return back to Karachi as soon as possible, so do not know… again [partly true], will see”
phone: “Ok, was just nice to hear You, good bye, God bless You”
me: [confused] “Yes, good bye.”

guard at Sacred Heart Cathedral : “halawala kikle afiaz [something in urdu]?! ”
me: “Pardon me? I want to take pictures, can I?”
guard: “haliflatu platu watu [something in urdu] Christian?”
Jeremy : “Why? …. Yes, we ………… by birth”
guard: “Catholic? urdududududu [something in urdu]”
Jeremy : “No, we not Catholic, can we go to the cathedral? ”
me: “Yes, we are”
guard : “huhlugugulgu, nah, go. [gives up and lets us in].”
Jeremy: [pissed off] “Why did he ask us? If we are Catholics? Did anybody ask us at the Mosque or Sikh Temple if we are Muslims or Sikhs?! What the #$%? ”
me: “In case like this, I will be buddhist, muslim or even sikh, I want to see it…”
Jeremy: “phf” [pissed off, disinterested in the really nice cathedral]
…after a while…
me : “Jeremy! I know now why did he ask us… There is a service going on inside…”
Jeremy: [surprised looks at his bag] “Oh, afraid of terorist attacks? From us? ”
me : [thinking: Actually, its Christmas service, Muslims also dont like when non-muslims go for their Friday prayers and this service is only once in the year... ]”

(I am cheating – the last pic is from India, in Pakistan there were no Xmas markets…)

Days 181-92 – more India!

Published on December 10, 2007 in Cultural and India. 0 Comments

OK, I admit, I tried to be lazy… and not write nearly anything about India… but she doesnt deserve it, India took good care of me, so here we go again:

1. Getting there

I was requesting visas for India from Pakistan, which is already a disadvantage, but thanks to a few miracles and Umar who did the running around Islamabad offices, me and Jeremy got the visas right on time, actually we had to wait for them in Lahore as they came a day later… 3.300 rupees :P The only good thing was that foreigners dont get visas that say how exactly do You have to cross (train, plane, bus) and where (which exact border place), so we walked to Inda :O

Simply said – we took a taxi from Lahore, went to Wagha border, went through the Paki customs, walked to India, went through the Indian customs and than got a taxi to Amritsar… I know it looks pretty simple, and it would normally be, but not if there is a bus with fifty people who comes at the same time as You :P    It took us damn 3 hours to get from 1st to 2nd taxi!

2. Amritsar

Amritsar is the city closest to Lahore, it took half an hour from the border to get there. We had couple of hours before our train left so we thought we have no reason to hurry… but. First of all we wasted time at the border and than it took us 1,5 hour to get a ticket – wait in the line! The way how the ticket selling works is the TOP of unefficiency I have ever seen.

Anyways, we went first to the Golden Temple, as that was something Jeremy wanted to see… and I have to say, I am glad he did. It is a beautiful place, where there is lots to see… For any tourist it is also very good to know that the temple is open to any visitor, there is a place to sleep for free inside, the temple has a charity kitchen that serves hundreds of poor every day and most of all – its really beautiful.

3. Train ride

Was OK. If I say that it took 28 hours, I guess some of You will be scared, well, it was sometimes boring, but it was pretty OK and comfortable.

We spent couple of hours talking to a random indian guy – about everything: partition of India and PK, differences, history and even Kashmir. Result (can not say what is true and what not):
- people of both countries like each other, its the governments that do all the conflicts
- the Pakistani security services actually attacks India
- there is no way how India or Pakistan can accept that Kashmir is not theirs

4. Jamshedpur

Would be a small and unimportant town, if TATA Steel was not founded here – this is where the TATA empire has started. Btw, TATA is launching the “Worlds cheapest car” for only 2.500 USD :) … Apart from that the town is actually owned by TATA and has to be said, thats why its also called the cleanes town of India (eventhough by European standards it still has a long way to go). Generally its just an industrial town with not much to see except a Culture centre (founded by TATA) and schools were poor people learn handycrafts (founded by TATA), TATAs trainign centre (where the opening ceremony was) and TATA Steels factory (which we have not seen).

During the conference we had an Indian night, during which there was a whole program of different kinds of Indian music and dances, really nice :)

5. Kolkata

Where we stayed in a cheap (but really bad) hotel, as we had couple of days left before we had to go back to Pakistan. We saw some nice places like Victorias Memorial (but didnt go in, too expensive for foreigners) and Belur Math (headquarter of Ramakrishnas). As Kolkata experienced some riots lately (conflict between oposition and government) some places have been closed…

BUT what was the most important for us was the FOOD and TEA. Amazing lassi, potato chat, spicy tea and other random foods, that was the best part of the Kolkata stay :)

6. Way back to Lahore

Took two nights and one day :)   Not kidding, but it went fast… Got a few intesting sights, like a cow looking into our compartment, saw the holy river Ganga, and sunrise over the fields. Stopped again for a short time in Amritsar (we came before the border opened) and than walked back to Pakistan… The End :P

Day 181-92 – Dream of every (?) traveler….INDIA

Published on December 9, 2007 in India. 0 Comments

How to start? There is a very frequent saying that “You can only love or hate India, there is nothing in the middle“… Well, I am a proof that there is :)

I have spent in India more than a week, took a train across it – from Amritsar to Kolkata – and had a day in Amritsar – a city with a beautiful temple worth hours of walking…

…but after all I have to say that I have achieved only five special things:
- got absolutely broke,
- met some really nice people at the conference (like You always do),
- got a very much deserved faci experience,
- made a tick on the field of “been to India” that all wanna-be-travelers have,
- had some really good street food and tea…

I knew that the difference between Pakistan and India is not too big, but was suprised with lack of a feeling of something new and special.

I got enough, but looking back, I think, when I come to this region of world, I will head for Pakistan – for me its more interesting, more surprising, nobody has been there and most of all – ITS MY HOME!

Sorry India You were nice, but my heart belongs to Your Brother :)