Off and Pak-ing!

Pakistan was wonderful, a real treat and a nice escape from the craziness of India.

I rolled into Amritsar--the holy Sikh capital of the world--on Sunday and rolled right on out Monday afternoon. But Sunday in Sikh land was really nice too. While Delhi's wild honking has somehow made it's way this far north, the rude hawkers and touts have not and I found it relatively easy to walk down the street hassle-free. Amritsar is home to the beautiful Golden Temple where the original holy Sikh books are housed. It's completely impossible to describe in words but when I make it to Delhi tomorrow, I'll try to post a few photos. But the best thing off all is how Sikhs practice community--everything is free!! There are free dormitories for pilgrims and visitors as well as free meals at the temple kitchen (open 24/7). Yes! A FREE day! Upon arriving at 5 am, I quickly found the foreigners dormitory and put my stuff in a locker. That's where I met Tess, a really fun guy from Germany who was on his way out. We had a great time hanging out all morning and sharing a cup of Chai in celebration of some recent success in his pursuit of scholarships. Later that night, a guy from Canada joined me to watch the India/Pakistan border closing ceremony. Unfortunately all of my videos were accidentally deleted but hopefully the photos will accurately show the goofiness of this event. It's like a Charlie Chaplin film meets M*A*S*H. It was a fun day. The only draw back was the bed bugs... Luckily I slept in a bed without them but the other two people in my room were not so lucky--they woke with bites all over! Eeek!

Sunday afternoon I continued on to Lahore, Pakistan. It was an interesting day. Crossing the border was an experience to remember as I was the only one crossing. The place was virtually deserted save a handful of border guards. This particular border point is the only place foreigners are allowed to cross by land and it's often closed due to fighting over the Kashmir region, so making it across was momentous--few get to do it. And lucky for me, I'm an American! Chinese, Pakistani and India nationals can only cross by train which is always delayed by about 3 hours on both sides for custom checks!

Once I crossed, I was instantly impressed. Pakistan was LOADS cleaner. The people smiled more. The buildings were more modern with air conditioning. And my tuk-tuk driver was super nice; on the way to Lahore, he not only bought me lunch as a welcome gift but also stopped to help to people who's motorbike broke down. Indians just wouldn't do that (or at least not any that I met).

Upon arrival, I checked in to the Regal Internet Inn (basically the backpacker's first and only choice in Lahore) and was warmly welcomed by Malik and his groovy group. Some people had been living there for months, some had arrived just that day, but all of them were kind, interesting, intelligent, and really funny. There were people from Morocco, France, Australia, Germany, UK, and me. All sitting around the coffee table in a makeshift-living room up on the roof, we all enjoyed sharing stories from the road. It was just like a home and the friendly atmosphere was just what I was missing. Maybe it was the facilities or maybe it's the fact that you better be determined and a little "out there" to go to Pakistan, but they were the best bunch I've met yet. Later that night we all went to Food Street to dine on some truly delicious kebabs. It was amazing. I've seriously decided that Pakistani food is second only to Thai and not by much.

The next day, every one slept late (as in 11 am)--including me! Shock of the century! The bed was just too comfy and clean! Then I headed out to see the Lahore Museum, the second largest museum in Asia. Too bad I only got to see one gallery of 20... Just 15 minutes after I arrived the power went out and never came back on. I waited two hours before the closed and locked the doors. It was rather disappointing. So I did the next best thing: I went to the fort. It was well worth the trip. Rebuilt numerous times since around 100 AD, the fort's present state is all that's left of Akbar's remodeling in the 1600's. Most of it's in ruins but I got some great photos and really enjoyed the emptiness of the 26 acre complex. (This month is Ramadan and Muslims are supposed to fast both food and water during the day which means most of them stay home and just think about eating and drinking.)

After the fort I went across the street to the mosque which can hold over 100,000 worshipers at a time! Wow! There I met a really cute old man named Sawamni who kind of tricked me into being my guide (as most will do) by telling me it was free, at the end though, after a long sad story about his house being swept away by a flood, he asked for a donation. I'm pretty sure the story was fake but he was just so cute I couldn't help it and I paid him more than his service was worth. It was just so nice to have someone to talk to, who smiled and laughed and joked with all the joy in the world. I have a great photo of him which I'll post soon. When we parted, he gave me his home made business card written on a piece of Coca-Cola cardboard box. It was adorable. While at the mosque, I also saw some interesting relics: hairs from Mohammad's mustache, Mohammad's turban and cloak, as well as Mohammad's walking stick. Very interesting... Though I highly doubt any of them really belonged to the man. lol. But I guess that it's not really whether their real or not that's important, perhaps it's just what they symbolize and the reassurance they give believers that maintains their value. It's also worth mentioning that while in Delhi at the National Museum I saw three relics of the Buddha: three pieces of his bones.

Then I went back to the Inn/dormitory and chilled out for the rest of the evening with some truly remarkable people. Malik--the owner--was Benezir Bhutto's Press Secretary (Bhutto is Pakistan's recently departed, former Prime Minister, beloved by most Pakistani's; her husband was just recently elected President there). We had some interesting talks and I really look forward to using him one day as a contact for a story because this man knows EVERYTHING and EVERYONE in Pakistan. Just love him. I also met a guy named Chris who writes for The Stranger in Seattle and is currently en route to Afghanistan as an embedded journalist. Good news for me because that's yet a second contact that I can use in the near future! Among the others around the coffee table were several young men who had recently been to Kyrgyzstan and offered lots of advise and pointers for traveling there.

But perhaps it was my conversations with the locals that were most interesting. Every conversation started like this:

Where are you from? --America.
Your country is attacking mine. Why do you do that? --Well, that's President Bush and no one likes him.
Then why is he your President? --Hmmm... Good question...
Do you hate Pakistan? --No.
We are not terrorists. Your country says we are terrorists but we are not. --I know. I'm sorry about that.

Can I just say here that the sooner Bush leaves the safer Americans will be at home and abroad. I met lots of people who are hostile towards Americans because of our President and the crap he says and the decisions he makes. It's really unfortunate that these days many American's choose to stay home out of fear rather than travel and spread goodwill because I see no other alternative to fixing this problem as long as he's in power. (An interesting side note: one guy told me that some teacher from his mosque told him 63% of our parliament was made up of Jews. I laughed and had to set him straight. He was really surprised to hear that not only do we have a congress and not a parliament, but that only one Congressman is Jewish and that's Joe Liberman--less than 1%. Just goes to show you how our actions have really influenced the way people think of us.)

But today it was time to go, so I met up with another guy from Germany who was crossing over to India today and we made the journey together which was especially nice because we could split the cost of rickshaws to and from the border. He wasn't really all that interesting to talk to and a little argumentative at times, but I think in the end he was happy to be with me as I knew what to do and where to go at the border as well as how to get a rickshaw at a good price and where to go once we arrived in Amritsar.

So I'm back in Amritsar and currently wasting time on the internet. It's 6 pm and my train leaves at 9:30 (supposedly--these things are usually late) but I figured a little update would do well to fill the time gap. Tonight I'll travel by train to Delhi and then check in to a hotel in the morning. And then, around 2 am Friday, it's off to the airport! I can't wait to go to Kyrgyzstan! Though I hear the food is nothing special, the scenery is and that home stays are totally the way to go. But the best part will be seeing MY best part: Jeremy. I miss him terribly. He's currently in Kazakhstan and will meet me in Bishkek on Saturday.

Until we meet, I'll be chilling out pool side in my glorious escape from the sub-continent heat! Yikes!! I've been sweating like mad! How much water does Kortney drink a day? 7 liters. Wow. And the most amazing part is that even though I'm drinking about half of my body weight in water, I only have to use the bathroom about once a day. That means I'm sweating A LOT.

Keep reading! I'll be posting photos soon with perhaps a few more anecdotes from my sub-continent adventures!