Rawlapindi, Islamabad and My Run In With The Law
Monday, April 25th, 2005The bus trip from Peshawar to Rawalpindi was generally unexciting. One brief point of interest was the appearance of Akbar’s fort, a 16th century construction that dominates the valley it sits overtop. Indeed, save for the fort, it was made pretty much entirely on the motorway through lightly rolling countryside, and just about as novel as a trip down the 401 back at home.
But there was no mistaking Rawalpindi for London, Ontario (or Toronto, for that matter.) The market area where we arrived was furiously busy. With the help of a friendly fellow from the bus (who spoke barely any English) and a shopkeeper (whose aid he enlisted) I got an autorickshaw to the part of town where I was headed. I was surprised to discvoer when we stopped for fuel that the vehicle ran on compressed natural gas, in a cylinder identical to those used in barbecues back in Canada.
Finding my guesthouse took a while of wandering around the busy streets of ‘Pindi (as Rawalpindi is commonly known), first since the streets were never named, and second because the place had moved, but eventually I got there.
I checked in (to the unsurpsrisingly empty dormitory, meaning that I got a larger room for a smaller price than if I’d taken a single) and went up on the roof to survey the city.
While there, I also tried on my Shalwar Kameez, and found it to be perhaps the most comfortable clothing I’d ever worn. My hosts in Peshawar had mentioned a few times that with my beard and tan, I could pass for a Pathan (a group of Pakistanis from the west of the country that generally have pale skin) and with the Shalwar Kameez on, the effect was complete.
Ready for a wander about town, I headed out to do some sightseeing.
[read on]
Llew