I had been to Islamabad just once before, stopping overnight on our way to South Waziristan on my first visit to to Pakistan, so I hadn't really seen a lot of the city at that time. The only thing I remembered about it was that it looked a bit more planned and orderly than Lahore because it was a recently created city (1960) built for the government. So it was nice to be able to spend a little more time in the region. We spent our first day in the area in the mountains and then spent the next day in town. When we arrived at the hotel, there were many men sitting along the side of the road. We learned they are Afghan refugees. They stay there and by day, look for work as day labourers, many of them having small jackhammers or other tools so they can just go in and do their job. It was so sad. They are homeless and have little recourse, it seems.
Murree & Nathia Gali (almost)
When the British occupied India (remember that included Pakistan because it was all one country then), they created a series of what are called hill stations, mainly, from what I can tell, to provide relief to their citizens from the heat. Hill stations are always in places where there are high hills and/or in the foothills of the Himalayas. Often, there are resort hotels there--but it should be understood that these are resorts by local standards, not all inclusive Mexico-type places. Having said that, when I visited one in India, I actually stayed at a Best Western, which offered a relaxed atmosphere and had a wood-burning fireplace in the room that they lit up for me because it gets cold at night, so it seemed really cosy and winter-resort like, in a way. In any case, we drove up some very windy roads to get there (thankfully, we had a driver, and my husband didn't have to do it like in Gran Canaria!) and enjoyed some mountain scenery and some good kabobs at a local restaurant. Murree has a number of churches and convent schools, and they teach English quite well there, so my mom started talking to a group of school girls passing us by, and they were so excited to talk to a white lady that they made TikTok videos practising their English. They were so cute.
From Murree, we had hoped to make it up to Nathia Gali for even more mountain vistas, but we kept stopping so I could get photos of rhesus monkeys, and by the time we would have reached there, it would have started getting dark soon, and no one relished the thought of driving these roads in the dark, so we got some monkey photos and still some decent photos of the mountains and then went back to Islamabad. I was pretty excited about the monkeys because they are a different species than what I normally saw in Southeast Asia. Rhesus monkeys are in the macaque family but are a different species, so I've seen a lot of monkeys in the macaque family now, whether in South or Southeast Asia. It was also interesting that we saw a lot of packed snow that still hadn't melted along the road. It's such a novelty to local tourists that we saw they had carved chairs into them them and decorated them with spray paint designs so that they could get their photos taken while they sat upon these icy seats. It was quite entertaining to see that.
We had wanted to send some postcards, so we were able to get some stamps while we were in Murree, and not only were we surprised by the huge and number of stamps that took up a lot of space on the postcard, but also the fact that the government uses any opportunity to send out a political message! Yet another claim that India used state terrorism in the war in 1965.
Islamabad
My mom had told me there was a small village within Islamabad that they had been near but hadn't had a chance to explore yet. The village is called Said Pur, and they have a Sufi, Sikh, and Hindu temple all next to each other! We all thought that would be interesting to explore, but when we got there, we learned that unfortunately, all of the buildings were closed for renovations. The Sufi one in particular was really beautiful, and the workers permitted me to get some photos of the exterior, stepping out of the way for a few minutes to allow me to do so. That was really kind of them. As we were trying to decide what to do after, we noticed that some other construction in the area was taking place and that these little donkeys were being used to carry blocks of cement. It looked so heavy!
We decided to drive up Margalla Hill, which is actually a lovely green space with trails for walking and hiking, and there are some great lookout points from which you can see the entire city of Islamabad. There, too, we saw monkeys! But we also went to Gloria Jean's, and Australian chain with locations all over Asia, for coffee. We told the waiter what we wanted, rather than using the menu, and our order came back all wrong. My husband and I were both given frappes when we wanted hot lattes, so we told the guy, and when he brought our coffees back, we were given mochas. Even though my mom's husband could speak to him in his own language, Pashto, it turned out that he was illiterate and didn't know what any of the coffee beverages were, and by us not pointing to them on the menu or saying just the number next to the item, he was unable to then point to them or use the number when he was relaying our order to the folks making our beverages. He must have just taken his best guess. It just really hit me that if we hadn't realised that, we might have been upset or annoyed when in reality, you have to have patience in these situations. The country has a high rate of illiterate people, but they need to work, too, so you aren't always going to get someone who can read.
When we returned from Margalla Hill, we tried to see the newly built Faisal Mosque. We were able to see the outside, but once we tried to enter, we were turned away. We found out that the leader of the opposition party in Pakistan was inside, and he was creating problems because he wanted to bring in his gun and allow his entourage to do the same, and the mosque workers were trying to sort this out. Consequently, no one was allowed to go in due to security concerns. Indeed, as we were walking away from the mosque, we started seeing increasing numbers of police arriving, some with bulletproof vests and shields--it was the riot police!
Later in the day, we were able to get a drive-by tour of the diplomatic enclave. My mom and her husband have become good friends with a former English student of theirs who has since become a successful optometrist, running 4 stores in the country, one of which is in the diplomatic enclave. As a result, he was able to get us in so that at least we could see the area. It was really surprising to see--or in reality not see--a lot of the embassies and high commissions because they're behind such high cement walls for security reasons. We felt bad for the people that live in the enclave, though, because you aren't allowed to go out from there without an escort and some planning, so I imagine it would be easy to feel trapped there.
It was just was well we left on the day we did. I mentioned the riot police at the mosque. Well, part of the reason things were so tense is that there were going to be riots the next day prior to March 28, the date on which there would be a non-confidence vote on the country's PM, former cricketer Imran Khan. Huge protests and riots were expected from all the parties involved. Access to the road we were supposed to take to get to the highway was already blocked off by the time we left, and we had to take a detour. As we were on the highway, we saw vehicle after vehicle driving the opposite direction with flags and banners advertising whose side they were on. I certainly wouldn't have wanted to be caught up in that! And as of writing today, the country voted in favour of non-confidence, so Imran Khan is out. I can't imagine how many more riots will results from that.
As for my photos, I have to say that I have always only shared my own photos, but this time around, there were a few that were taken by others, especially of anything on the street. I've always been at a window for these things myself, but I have a husband now, and I always sat in the middle on our journeys. It didn't bother me because I wanted him to see as much as he could--I've already done so a lot in my life, and being flanked by him and my mom, I just got them to snap various photos for me. I leave with some photos from around the yard at my mom's like of her roses and their fancy pigeons--the white one puffing his chest out in pursuit of te ladies! And don't forget to check my bird blog for bird photos from the trip. But I hope you have enjoyed some of the insider info here and have seen the beauty of the country but the way that it is a land of contrast.
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