Day 5 – Sunday March 19th – What a day!
One of those days! I guess, inevitably when you are in a foreign culture, a very poor country, there are times when nothing goes as planned!
In the morning Ms SB had to pay respects to a relative who had had a recent death. By the time she got back the morning was over. We packed up and set off for the city centre, so we could find a hotel for the next few days. We went to another hotel that promised internet access…..it was a creepy male place, with very unfriendly staff. And no internet access. They directed us to another hotel. We were very relieved when we arrived, as it was fairly luxurious and they promised the Internet! They took us to the ‘family’ section.
After we had settled we went out sight seeing. Ms SB wanted to visit a shrine to a Saint, to say some prayers. It was mad hectic but fascinating driving through Lahore, always much to see, 21st Century imposed on top of medieval city, range rovers weaving between carts pulled by buffalo. Dark passages, dusty tiny shops, people in rags, and huge flash shopping malls. But as we got closer to the monument the crowds tightened around, closing in. Drumming sounded, and suddenly, outside the monument we could not move at all, jammed in by people everywhere. Apparently it was Urs, an Islamic 3 day festival, and people had come on pilgrimage from everywhere. The crowds scared me, we pulled out scarves right around our selves, hiding our faces except for our eyes and as soon as we could manage we moved on.
Next we went to the Lahore Fort, the major tourist site in Lahore. Again the crowds from Urs where full-on, the car surrounded. Then, guess what! The car went dead! Not a peep. Electricity all dead. Now I was really scared. Me and Ms SB sat in the back covered in cloth, whilst our young driver tried for over an hour to get it working, with the hustle and bustle of strange costumed crowds around. Finally a kind gentleman helped, and straight away put the right two wires together, and we moved again.
We gave up sight seeing and went back to hotel, shattered. But no internet! Ms SB’s relatives called the hotel and threatened all sorts of things, and they scuttled off to get the wires to get it going. We locked ourselves in our room, and waited. And waited. And waited. It was almost midnight and we heard that it was almost ready, when! Boom! The electricity went off! All we could do was lie on our beds and laugh and laugh and laugh! Nothing more could possibly go wrong!
It flickered back on and off for an hour, and finally chocked back into action….and then finally, I got onto the net! I could finally send some emails to start working out our schedule for the week ahead.
In the morning Ms SB had to pay respects to a relative who had had a recent death. By the time she got back the morning was over. We packed up and set off for the city centre, so we could find a hotel for the next few days. We went to another hotel that promised internet access…..it was a creepy male place, with very unfriendly staff. And no internet access. They directed us to another hotel. We were very relieved when we arrived, as it was fairly luxurious and they promised the Internet! They took us to the ‘family’ section.
After we had settled we went out sight seeing. Ms SB wanted to visit a shrine to a Saint, to say some prayers. It was mad hectic but fascinating driving through Lahore, always much to see, 21st Century imposed on top of medieval city, range rovers weaving between carts pulled by buffalo. Dark passages, dusty tiny shops, people in rags, and huge flash shopping malls. But as we got closer to the monument the crowds tightened around, closing in. Drumming sounded, and suddenly, outside the monument we could not move at all, jammed in by people everywhere. Apparently it was Urs, an Islamic 3 day festival, and people had come on pilgrimage from everywhere. The crowds scared me, we pulled out scarves right around our selves, hiding our faces except for our eyes and as soon as we could manage we moved on.
Next we went to the Lahore Fort, the major tourist site in Lahore. Again the crowds from Urs where full-on, the car surrounded. Then, guess what! The car went dead! Not a peep. Electricity all dead. Now I was really scared. Me and Ms SB sat in the back covered in cloth, whilst our young driver tried for over an hour to get it working, with the hustle and bustle of strange costumed crowds around. Finally a kind gentleman helped, and straight away put the right two wires together, and we moved again.
We gave up sight seeing and went back to hotel, shattered. But no internet! Ms SB’s relatives called the hotel and threatened all sorts of things, and they scuttled off to get the wires to get it going. We locked ourselves in our room, and waited. And waited. And waited. It was almost midnight and we heard that it was almost ready, when! Boom! The electricity went off! All we could do was lie on our beds and laugh and laugh and laugh! Nothing more could possibly go wrong!
It flickered back on and off for an hour, and finally chocked back into action….and then finally, I got onto the net! I could finally send some emails to start working out our schedule for the week ahead.
posted by Miss Plum at 7:15 PM
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