Feb. 13 - Gujranwala, Pakistan
Monday, February 13 :: Gujranwala, Pakistan :: 65km today / 4269km total
Woke up feeling... ok, and I decided to head out of Lahore... I'd spent far too much time in that hotel room. I finished the last of my tangerines and a Snickers bar, packed, and left.
400km away lies Pakistan's capital city, Islamabad, neighbouring it's larger twin, Rawalpindi, but today's target was Sialkot, 115km away. Well, 30km into the ride I knew that was a pipedream, as I felt terribly weak and my stomach was hurting - not nauseous, just hurting. I slowly made my way along Highway 1, the old Grand Trunk Road, and meekly pulled into Gujranwala. Hopefully there are bigger, more competent days ahead.
So far the traffic has been... pretty good! I AM riding along a wide road, but still the traffic drives generally in the proper direction with some basic sense of order and reason. I didn't see any horrible accidents today - a rarity for South Asia. We'll see what happens when I get onto the smaller roads, though. There are police out and about, and I've seen them with cars pulled over, ticket book out, so maybe they are keeping things saner here in Pakistan.
Food: Pakistanis certainly like their meat, with a caveat - its almost always fried! Fried chicken is HUGE here. So are hamburgers - with fried beef patties -much to my dismay. As I was walking through downtown Gujranwala I passed 3 fried chicken places, all in a row. The fried chicken restaurants are all clean, well-manicured... its been a challenge to find a "Pakistani" restaurant that is as clean. Sigh. Its never easy here in the Subcontinent.
Woke up feeling... ok, and I decided to head out of Lahore... I'd spent far too much time in that hotel room. I finished the last of my tangerines and a Snickers bar, packed, and left.
400km away lies Pakistan's capital city, Islamabad, neighbouring it's larger twin, Rawalpindi, but today's target was Sialkot, 115km away. Well, 30km into the ride I knew that was a pipedream, as I felt terribly weak and my stomach was hurting - not nauseous, just hurting. I slowly made my way along Highway 1, the old Grand Trunk Road, and meekly pulled into Gujranwala. Hopefully there are bigger, more competent days ahead.
So far the traffic has been... pretty good! I AM riding along a wide road, but still the traffic drives generally in the proper direction with some basic sense of order and reason. I didn't see any horrible accidents today - a rarity for South Asia. We'll see what happens when I get onto the smaller roads, though. There are police out and about, and I've seen them with cars pulled over, ticket book out, so maybe they are keeping things saner here in Pakistan.
Food: Pakistanis certainly like their meat, with a caveat - its almost always fried! Fried chicken is HUGE here. So are hamburgers - with fried beef patties -much to my dismay. As I was walking through downtown Gujranwala I passed 3 fried chicken places, all in a row. The fried chicken restaurants are all clean, well-manicured... its been a challenge to find a "Pakistani" restaurant that is as clean. Sigh. Its never easy here in the Subcontinent.
posted by Graham Durrant at 4:38 AM
7 Comments:
Do Indians eat beef?
Did you encounter cows in the streets or on the roads in India?
What is odd about fried hamburger? That's how most restaurants do it here.
What kind of cars do people drive in India? Pakistan?
hey, thr's an Indo-Pak cricket tournament goin on in Pakistan rt now. it's worth a looksee if u happen to be around.
Is this a dating service?
to Patriarch:
Cows are sacred to Indians, so no, no beef to be found in India (except for Goa or Darjeeling, but those places aren't really "India"). Some Hindu temples even require the removal of leather belts before entering. Theoretically the 120 million Muslims in India could eat beef, but they're not stupid enough to be raising and killing cows in India.
When I talk about a "fried hamburger" I'm referring to an oil-soaked deep-fried patty, as opposed to a stovetop fried patty.
Cars are the same on both sides of the border, they are Maruti's or similar knockoffs. They're kind of like Honda Civics, but a wee bit smaller. Note, though, that cars are not the bulk of road traffic - road traffic on both sides of the border is about as eclectic a mix of gasoline-, diesel-, and human-powered vehicles as you can imagine.
to thespark:
you can't really travel through India or Pakistan and be oblivious to the cricket series. well, you COULD, I suppose, but that would be like travelling through the U.S. in late Sept. 2001 and being oblivious to 9/11.
to sook yee:
are you on crack?
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