Perfect World

... is one without boundaries

where great outdoors is truly the great outdoors and one can actually go where the signposts point.

I love road trips. Because you can see the land roll past. The green, brown, grey hills. The blue sky, sometimes sparkling, sometimes with white, grey, black clouds. Fields, green, gold, yellow. Like a massive patchwork quilt. Cities and rivers and lakes. But also because you see signposts. That tell you what lies ahead. Start traveling south from Islamabad towards Punjab and the boards will measure distance to Attock and Jhelum, then to Lahore, then Multan. From Multan they start measuring road distance to Karachi. Travel east from Lahore, they'll give you distance to Amritsar (which is in India). Travel west towards Peshawar and they'll tell you you will reach Kabul (Capital of Afghanistan). Travel from Karachi and they will tell you how far away Quetta is. I can spend my life following where these roadsigns lead.

A week ago I had the chance to travel through northern Pakistan. Through the state of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. I'll write about that later. While travelling north from the capital Muzaffarabad along a narrow road clinging to the mountain side with neelam river snaking along, one sees roadsigns at a very regular basis. The ones that truly caught my imagination were the ones measuring distance to Srinagar and Baramula. To us Pakistanis, places of lore and also heartbreak. Cities in the heart of Jammu and Kashmir, renowned for their breathtaking beauty, places one yearns to see, but somewhere where we can never go. Srinagar was once the capital of the unified state of Jammu and Kashmir, now a part of the Indian held Territory. It has been that since 1947. So is Baramula.

I'm not discussing politics here. I'm only talking about my perfect world. A place without boundaries. Where you can go where the signboards lead ...






I apologize for the picture quality. Taken from the cracked windshield of a moving bus.

*A little history/geography lesson (from a Pakistani point of view): Azad is Urdu for 'free'. Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) is the part of the state of Jammu & Kashmir under Pakistan. Jammu & Kashmir is disputed territory between India & Pakistan since independence in 1947. Predominantly Muslim, at the time of independence people of the state wanted to join Pakistan (I don't know what they want now other than an honest referendum and a right to choose. If East Timor can get it, why not them?). It was instead merged with India as the state had a Sikh ruler. AJK is the territory that was liberated in the 1949 war between India & Pakistan over Kashmir. Muzaffarabad is its capital. The rest of the state is still under Indian rule. We Pakistanis call it 'Maqbooza Jammu & Kashmir'. Maqbooza is urdu for 'occupied'. Srinagar is still its capital.

of Egypt IV --- The Egyptian Museum and Closing Thoughts

On my way back from the Pyramids, I had gone on Thursday, the last workday of the week, I decided to go for the overkill and visit the Egyptian Museum too. Overcrowded is an understatement, there were literally queues of people both inside and out, shuffling behind each other looking at the displays. Kinda put me off but anyway, it is the world's single biggest collection of Egyptian artifacts afterall. Built 1897-1901, the museum was opened to the public in 1903. It is said to have over 27,000 ancient Egyptian artifacts, and if you spend a minute looking at each of them, you will need 10 months to see the entire thing! If you're visiting the museum for a few hours like me, there are a few things you should make the bee line for:

1. The royal mummy chamber. There are actually two seperate chambers, and there is a additional ticket for visiting these, on top of your museum entry ticket, 100 Egyptian pounds which equals to a little more than a 1000 Pakistani Rupees. The two chambers together have fifty four mummies, the highlight being that of the Ramses III

2. The treasures of King Tut. Tutenkhamen the boy-king of Egypt, died at the age of 19. He was married to queen nefertiti. His tomb in the Valley of the Kings remained safe from marauders throughout the centuries and was discovered untouched in 1920. All the treasuers in the tomb now lie in the Egyptian Museum. You get completely awe struck by their magnificence and the lengths to which the ancient Egyptians went to before burying their king. Important are the mask of Tutenkhamen. It is an 11 kg solid gold mask which was said to have covered the head of King Tut's mummy. Also for display, one of the two guilded coffins, The other still lies in the actual tomb in the Valley of the Kings and contained King Tut's body until only a month or so ago when the mummy was moved to a climate control chamber to prevent further damage through exposure to heat and humidity. There are a gazillion things more, jewelery, statues, thrones, chairs, beds, boats, crockery, clothes and what not. Definitely worth the visit. By the way the jewelery can put today's internationally famous top designers to shame.

Sadly no cameras are allowed inside, so I consoled myself by taking pictures of the exterior.

Host to all touristing humanity in Cairo, the place was crowded

I don't know what the Latin says but if you look closely the year of start of construction, 1897, is on the left, and the year of finish, 1901, is on the right. On the top are the Egyptian flag and the flag of chief archaeological body of Egypt

Yup this is what it looks like, a thriving Lily Pond in the middle of sweltering Cairo afternoon heat. looks amazing

A close up of the lily pond

After spending some three hours at the museum, I went to the office, the P&G office in Cairo is in the Nile City towers at Corniche El Nil, spent another four hours winding work up, then got into a cab and headed for the airport. Cairo traffic is infamous and my contact in Egypt bundled me off to the airport three and a half hours before the flight. As is bound to happen in such situations, the roads were relatively uncrowded and I made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare. Chatted the two hours at the airport away with a South Indian business intelligence professional based in Dubai, who was heading back to Dubai from meetings in Cairo and as usual was surprised to see a Pakistani girl travelling alone and that too on business. Heck, whats the big deal?!. Broke my fast at the airport as well. Got into the plane, had gotten my upgrade to Business Class (yay!) and slept my way back to Karachi, which was of course punctuated by an 8 hour transit at the Dubai airport.

Egypt is a place where you shouldn't go for a few days or a week, but for a month maybe more. Cairo is just barely scratching the surface, there are so so many things to be seen in Egypt: Memphis, Valley of the Kings, Abu Simbal, Aswan dam, Al Fayoum Oasis, Bab Zuweila, Beit ul Suhaymi, Souq al Gamaal, Citadel, Dahshur and I'm sure many many more.

of Egypt III --- Pyramids by Day, Light & Sound Show by Night (continued)

Going to the light and sound show doesn't at all mean you've seen the Pyramids, so naturally I headed there the next day in the morning. The pyramids were constructed by kings of the fourth dynasty, Cheops (the first and the largest pyramid, it is one of the seven wonders of ancient world), Chephren (second pyramid, the only one with some of its decorative limestone remaining at the tip) and Mykerinos, the third and the smallest pyramid. The pyramids are situated at Giza, outside the Giza city. The location actually has 11 pyramids, the remaining eight are much much smaller, grouped around their respective bigger pyramid and belong to the kings' mother or wife or daughter. The pyramids are flanked by temples (The Valley Temple and the Sphinx Temple), where the embalming process of the dead king was done by the priests and the entire area is guarded by the sphinx located in the centre right in front of Chephren's pyramid.

Cheops' Pyramid:Covering an area of 13 acres, the sides are oriented to the four cardinal points of the compass and the length of each side at the base is 755 feet (230.4 m). They rise at an angle of 51 52'14.3" to a height , originally, of 485 feet (147 m) but nowadays 450 feet (138 m). It was constructed using around 2,300,000 limestone blocks, weighing, on average, 2.5 tons each. Although some weigh as much as 16 tons. Until recently, relatively speaking, it was cased in smooth limestone but this was plundered to build Cairo.

Chephren's Pyramid:Built smaller than Cheops' Pyramid as a mark of respect, the height is 447.5 feet, length of each side at the base is 707.5 feet and the slope of the sides is 52 20'. Some limestone still remains at the top.

Mykerinos' Pyramid: The smallest of the three pyramids, it has a height of 204 feet, length of each side at the base is 356.5 feet and the Slope of each side is 51°

I don't think I've seen a white camel before

Left to Right: Cheops, Chephren, Mykerinos, and a few satellite pyramids. Cheops seems smaller as it is farther away

The North African Desert

The Sphinx

The Valley Temple, all the statues and artifacts have been removed to the Cairo Museum

The Valley Temple, another view

Final installment next ....

of Egypt, Part II --- Pyramids by Day, Light & Sound Show by Night

I will start with the light and sound show first as that happened first in chronological order. It takes place at the Giza pyramids. The show happens seven days a week, the first show of the day starts at 7:30 in the evening, and happens in different languages. Make sure you pick the English show or you will find out you are stuck listening to ancient Egyptian history that sounds like gibberish (unless of course you are fluent in French, Spanish, German and so forth). So like I mentioned the show is essentially about ancient pharaoh-nic history, presented via spectacular lasers and lights which are projected on the pyramids and the sphinx and accompanied by powerful narration. Take a good camera with you. My point and shoot cybershot completely failed to capture the magnificence of it. You will hear about all the four eras of pharaohnic kings, with key figures and their achievements highlighted. This is the place to brush up on your nephertiti and tutenkhamen facts. The show is preceded by the march of a band dressed in traditional Egyptian costumes. As always pictures:

Khufu's (also Cheops) pyramid on the right, it is the largest and the first pyramid, part of the seven wonders of the ancient world. On the left is Khafre's (also Chephren) pyramid, his successor's successor)

Pyramid of Khafre (also Chephren), the second pyramid, with his face projected on the sphinx in the front

From right to left, Chephren's Pyramid, Menkaura's Pyramid (also Mykerinos), Chephren's successor, it is the 3rd and the smallest pyramid. Also at the very left one of the smaller pyramids of Menkaura's wife/mother/daughter

The Sphinx, constructed by Chephren, with head of a man, and body of a lion, meant to keep marauder's away from the sacred burial ground

Later, the pyramids by day.

of Egypt, Part I --- First Impressions and Some Sight Seeing

I can't believe how quickly time passes away, yet when you think of the future, of the things to come, of the time till you get something you want, or the things you are waiting for, it feels like it will never pass, like my time to get out of Karachi e.g. ... anyway this post is about Egypt, which I was planning to write RIGHT after I got back, and believe it or not its been two months! Hence that little philosophizing about the nature of time.

To Cairo

One of the best things about my job is the traveling, not only because I want to, literally, see the entire planet, but also because its for free, and yes it gives me much much needed breaks from Karachi. To be away from here for 7-10 days is a blessing, even if part of it is spent in 8 hour transits at the Dubai airport. Helps me survive the next month or two. Anyway when the opportunity came not only to get out of Karachi, but to Egypt of all the places, obviously I couldn't be happier. Getting the visa was a hassle, apparently the fax machines in the Egyptian embassy in Islamabad don't work, so its impossible to get the 'invitation letter' by the company you're visiting in Egypt (which is by the way the requirement for a business visa) faxed to them in the first go. So after making numerous phone calls to both Cairo and Islamabad, my passport (with the visa) arrived at the Karachi airport the night before my flight to Cairo. Got picked up from there by a friend and delivered to my house. This is what it looks like (To think all this effort for a purple stamp, this brings me to a discussion about visas but thats for later)

Note the 'Brocter Wa Jaambal' written at the bottom left, thats Procter & Gamble for you in Arabic!

In Cairo

Cairo is a huge city by any standards. Home to about 70% people in Egypt. I landed at night, breaking my fast while in the plane (oh did I mention this was in Ramadan?). Much too tired to take blurry dark pictures from the moving car, I just chatted on my way to the hotel with this Finn who had come on the same flight from Dubai as me, and incidentally was staying at the same hotel, and had like me also called for the hotel meet & greet service. He was surprised to know that I was from Pakistan (something that has happened before to as people don't associate single women traveling alone on business with Pakistan), and then went into a reverie of how he has lived in Islamabad for 3 years and loves the city.

Anyway I was surprised to see how much more cleaner (and i hear safer) Cairo is as compared to Karachi, and you don't see a SINGLE beggar on the road, (maybe they hide them from people like us) and all the Egyptians I met were friendly (I had people telling me how bad Egyptians are) but that was maybe because I got mistaken for an Arab quite a number of times, which was good till people spoke to me in Arabic and I would be like 'wha?' And then they'd go "Oh I thought you were Arab"

Ramadan in Cairo is a festival. People literally stay up all night and just sit on the roadsides eating and chatting and smoking away. Its weird, seeing so many people on the road, very late in the night. The only time the roads are empty I guess is at Iftar (which they translate into 'breakfast' in English and had me confused for quite a bit). Oh and their word for Sheri is 'Suhoor', took a bit of time to figure that out as well.

The Nile

Sight Seeing

Though my work schedule turned out to be much more hectic than I thought, but going to Cairo and not sight seeing is I guess going to the moon and not getting any moon rock? So here goes, results of some hasty sight seeing:

Khan el Khalili & Jamia Al Azhar: Ancient egyptian bazaar in the heart of old Cairo, right next to the now derelict and abandoned, massive structure of Jamia Al-Azhar. The university is arguably one of the world's oldest, built as a mosque in 969 AD when Cairo was founded. The university now has moved to modern premises outside main Cairo where religious studies are augmented by modern education as well. The old Al-Azhar still serves as a mosque and a location for religious gatherings. Khan el Khalili is now the heaven for souvenir sellers, with a healthy spattering of traditional egyptian cafes, designed to attract the wandering tourist. Here are the pictures:

A shot of one facade of the ancient Jamia Al Azhar, wish I had more time to exlore it inside-out

"Khan el Khalili - The Quintessential Curio Street"

lil stuffed furry animals smoking mock shishas

yup thats a huge shisha

pyramids anyone?

beautifully crafted glass perfume bottles. Perfumary is one of the most ancient Egyptian secrets along with papyrus. Perfumes are sold seperately

lamp shop

A jeweled frog. This one is probably a pendant

Remember I was saying something about people sitting outside on the roads?

More later ...

Stranger Perspectives

Extreme close up of a snowglobe or rather a 'glitterglobe' of Istanbul's Sultanahmet Camii which is more popularly known as 'The Blue Mosque'. Constructed in 17th century, the mosque is famous for its blue Izmir tiles interior, hence the name. A visit ijavascript:void(0)s nothing short of awe inspiring. The 'glitterglobe' bought from a small shop in Istanbul's 'Grand Bazar' on 18th March 2007.

Here's the real deal:

How to apply for a Visa (for Pakistanis)

Not too long ago I chanced to go to the diplomatic enclave in Islamabad for a visa interview. Now those of you, who like me have been born and raised in Islamabad, or are generally familiar with it, will remember the days when diplomatic enclave was this sleepy sector on the edge of the town (the starting edge that is) with rather bumpy roads, shrubbery, buildings here and there with flags identifying who they are (or not) and general peace and quiet. You could drive around the streets at a leisurely 40kph, having a generally happy time playing the flag game, trying to identify what flag is that you’re seeing, losing your way and finally parking across the road in front of your intended destination, get your work done and happily drive away. Living that my family was at the OTHER edge of the city (F/11) it took us half an hour to get to the enclave, 15 minutes to an hour getting done whatever we came for (which was mostly a relative asking us to pick their passport or something since we live in Islamabad) and then go our way.

No more is this the case. Since 9/11, Al-Qaida, religious fundamentalists, bomb blasts and suicide bombings, diplomatic enclave is now a walled fortress with forbidding gates which a mere mortal must dare not approach. You turn right some 500 meters from the gates and then take a side road into a parking lot. You park your car and then pass through a security check where they strip you of your cell phones, electronics and bags that are larger than a specific size and of course you’re searched. Once deemed ‘not-a-security-risk’ you head towards this ticket booth that has counters marked with names of different embassies. Here they sell you entry and exit tickets for the diplomatic enclave, with the name of the embassy you’re heading for on it. If the embassy of your interest is not listed, stand in any line and they’ll scribble the name on a blank ticket and hand it to you. Then you go onwards to this waiting area where they have about 6 lines, each marked with boards bearing the name of various embassies. You stand in the relevant line and then wait for a bus to drop you off to your destination. The buses run in a round-robin fashion, i.e. they stuff as many people as fit from the first line into the first arriving bus, the next bus then picks up people from the next line and so on. If you’re at the end of your line which is 5 rounds away … then tough luck … be prepared to wait in the line for anything between and hour to an hour and a half. Thankfully the bus arrives, you get stuffed into it and after less than a 5 minute ride, you are dropped at the first signpost that says the name of whatever embassy you’re headed to. You get off, walk for 10 minutes or so, hopefully reach at the time of your appointment (I barely made it) and you’re done in 15 minutes! And then on your way back you wait for some 15-20 minutes for any bus heading back to the parking area so you can hitch a ride on it.

I had a 9:00 am appointment for which I left home around 6:45 am and still BARELY made it!

Oh and you might say that they are doing it in the spirit of public service … but no … parking is 10 Rs. Entry ticket is 15 Rs. And exit ticket is another 15 Rs! Trust our administration to come up with money making ideas. Where all the money actually goes …. is an entirely different story!!

Talking alien!

No chinchillas as yet ... but I promise you I will someday write about them ... my immediate and pressing issue is trying to access my blog/email/google in english! with google.com its easy, there's a link that ends with 'google.com' ... even though it will begin with Turkish or French or German or whatever is the language of choice in the region!

I decided to write SOMETHING in my blog (after promising 5 months ago that I will) and it was a NIGHTMARE trying to find my way to the dashboard ... let me illustrate:

1. EVERYTHING is in German. I currently happen to be located in German speaking part of Switzerland. And for the LIFE OF ME I can't find any button on any Google associated site that says 'English'. Dang!
2. While i was still handicapped with a language I'm not 'very' familiar with (sans 'Shisse' and 'frichen' which were learnt thanks to Saady and 'ich versteh euich nicht' learnt thanks to Rammestein) my blog HAD to be the choice few they decided to migrate to Google accounts ... even though i admit it makes things a lot easier!
3. I admit i visit my own blog very rarely ... something which I'm trying to fix ... and while I'm trying my best to find my way around the numerous login pages by colors and orientation of web-content ... i find out i don't remember my login OR password!! double dang!

Sufficeth to say that since you are reading this post and it is in English ... I somehow did find my way to the posting grounds of blogs. The entire page is STILL in German and again I'm trying to rely on my memory of colors and orientation to try to post it. But wait before i start playing with the interface let me save this post on my computer! don't want to type all of it again if it goes missing (pun intended) in the Swiss Alps!

P.S. The german equivalent of save as draft is "ALS ENTWURF SPEICHERN" and publish is "VEROFFENTLICHEN". I know because i tried posting it and ended up saving as a draft, then posted it without formatting and this is the third try in which I'm editing ... found the right button the first time, thank God it wasn't delete! and now time to Veroffentlichen! till next time!