Monday, March 27, 2006

I'm in Pakistan!

From New Delhi, I caught a train to Amritsar, a holy city in the northern state of Punjab. It is the holiest city for Sikhs. There, I caught the closing of the border ceremony in Wagah. It was a very cool event with a lot of patriotism on both sides. I also visited the Golden Temple in Amritsar, which is the holiest temple to Sikhs. It was magnificent.
Today I took a local bus to the Indian-Pakistani border and crossed into Pakistan. So far the infrastructure is similar to India, but there are no cows around (cows aren't sacred in this predominantly Muslim country), so there is less poop on the streets. Actually, in Amritsar the cows were in a barn, so there wasn't very much poop on the street there (except from the wagoncarts). The colorful saris that many Indian women wear are gone too. In fact, the buses are divided in half for the women to be in the front and the men to be in the back, although I think the separation is optional for the women; they can sit in back if they want or if there is no room up front.
The people I have met on the streets and the buses are very friendly and helpful. On each bus I took, someone got up and insisted on letting me sit in their seat. They were also very helpful in getting me off at the right stop. I think that may be a benefit to a lackluster tourist industry; people aren't used to foreigners so they are much more gracious. Also, there are no tout so far, so that makes travelling much easier. I will try to load some photos and videos in the next few days.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Dude, what's up Mr. Global Traveller?!?! Chihiro pointed me to your site. I enjoyed reading through your recent exploits... what an adventure! Stay safe.

Bothwell