Candid Camera II

I have been insanely busy these past days. I even have a mini-afro because I don’t have time for a haircut.

In between taking people leaving Pakistan to the airport and wrapping up at work,  I’m busy planning a trip to K2,  the 2nd highest peak after Everest (part of the Himalaya ranges are in Pakistan). For every 5 people that try to reach the top, 1 dies…but I am only climbing until the base camp, which is around 5000m, still higher than Mt. Kenya but not dangerous. So hopefully I will be on a bambanet in another 5.5 weeks in Nbo missing Pakistan like crazy 😦 and uploading photos of the great trek.

Before I show you the good side of Karachi, I have to tell you that there is trash all over the place. For example, we throw our trash in the empty plot next to our building…and that’s even decent because some of our neighbours fancy throwing it out of the window and into your poor face on the street below. But some guys who moved in next to us for a while won.

Good morni….wtf…

Seriously, how can you put your trash outside your door like this…we sent them a note telling them to throw it out. It worked for a while, then they started again. So we tied one of their own paper bags with diapers and shit (literally) to their grill then it stopped again 🙂

Another thing you will see, in India and Pakistan, is these red stains

The PAN-demic

No, these are not bloodstains, you dramaqueens. It’s pan, some stuff that I still don’t understand, but this is where it comes from.

To the beauty.

People tell me that I  bitch about Karachi…I really hope I don’t because I would recommend this place to anybody…so for good measure, here are some of the awesome views in the city, apart from the sea that you already saw in this post:

Jinnah Memorial– the tomb of Pakistan’s founding Father Qaid-e-Azam

Mohatta Palace – now kind of a museum

This is just outsde Karachi, in some fancy housing scheme. An outdoor theatre, that stalled and water from the rain collected.

Frere Hall – now a book fair on Sundays

Pakistan’s founder – Muhammad Ali Jinnah – Qaid-e-Azam’s- house in Karachi. It still has some of his clothes and furniture

In brief, Pakistan was Moghul territory back in the day – the Moghul Empire was one with beautiful architecture, extravagance, shemales and loose women…plus they used to wear those ‘Aladdin’ shoes (that you can buy but are as uncomfortable as a leather thong – I imagine) Whatever the case, the architecture you see in old buildings (including not so old colonial ones) is grand and influenced by Moghul architecture. When you forget the stares, and ignore people’s warnings about it ‘not being safe’, walking around Saddar (the city centre) is great fun. Caution (like in any big city) is advised.

Apart from the buildings , you will find all kinds of interesting stuff in Saddar Town, like shops selling embalmed animals and others ‘antique’ knives (the kind I imagine are only made to cut off infidels’ heads). You will also see a narrow street with rows of guns and ammunition shops on both sides, others with electronics and more electronics. On a good day, you might also spot 2/3 miscellaneous Nigerians.

I leave you with pictures of a school here, Indus Valley School of Architecture and Design, built by the Aga Khan Foundation. It’s basically an arts school and fits right in in a country with so much artistic roots.

This pond has fish (there’s another with turtles) and is next to the potter classes…it’s probably called the ‘Pool of Reflection’ or some other artistic stuff 🙂

Watching a class drawing the dude on the ladder .