I hate going to the movies. There's too many people, the tickets and snacks are overpriced, people are talking, babies are crying, if you have to go to the washroom you miss a good five minutes, phones are going off, it all just drives me nuts. So I'm not entirely sure what I was thinking when I agreed to go to the movies on a Saturday night here in Pakistan. I guess after having such a good day, I figured, why the hell not? At least I can say I did it.
So shortly after 9pm we drove to Rawalpindi, the sister city of Islamabad. A lot older, and a lot more chaotic. We missed the first showing of the movie we wanted to see, The Expendables 2, so we had an hour to kill before the 11:30 show. We wandered over to a place called Cosmo I think it was, and discovered that it sold an awful lot of Western foods. Good to know. We purchased some drinks to take into the theatre, thinking that it too would be expensive. Unfortunately here, they search you, and your bags, so we had to dispose of our newly purchased beverages. There are metal detectors everywhere in this country, especially for places that have a higher traffic flow, such as hotels or theatres. Your bags even have to go through an x-ray machine, and most of the time you beep when you pass through, but they don't seem to care. What's the point then?
The tickets only cost us 400 rupees, which is about $4. And since our drinks had been thrown out, we had to purchase two bottles of water, and a popcorn of course, which came up to just over $3. Decent! Much cheaper than back home, that's for sure. It sucks because we "shouldn't" drink the fountain pop here, as we don't know if it's made with the tap water or not, which we aren't supposed to drink.
Apparently here in Pakistan, when you purchase your tickets, they come with an assigned seat. At first we just assumed that it was for inventory purposes, to keep track of how many tickets were sold, but we were wrong. And since Wendy had purchased 3 tickets for herself, Dan and Aron, and I purchased 2 for Rod and myself, we weren't sitting together, even though I purchased mine immediately after her. Weird. Also, you should know that there are lines for women/families, and then a line for the men. Very bizarre. So we went and found our seats with the help of ushers, and soon discovered it was a packed house that night. Apparently everyone wanted to see The Expendables 2. They don't do previews in Pakistan, but instead show an advertisement about a local company and then play the national anthem and show videos of a poor country with lots of poverty and a family of 5 on a motorcycle. Yes, I had to stand for the Pakistani national anthem and it was probably the most humiliating thing I've ever done. I will never go back to the movies, for that reason exactly.
At least the movie was pretty good. And you know what? Apparently Pakistanis love killing, because whenever someone died, they hooted and hollered and just went crazy with excitement. It was very disturbing and sickening to watch and listen to them carry on this way over someone's death, fake or not.
It's also quite weird to be a minority for the first time in my life. Obviously I experience this everywhere, not just at the theatre, but it seemed to bother me more when I was there then it usually would. It's like they've never seen a white person before. They stare, whisper to each other, stare some more. How annoying.
Oh, and I can't tell you how many times I saw small children wandering around by themselves. Back home it seems like people keep their kids on lockdown, and here they just don't seem to care.
That movie theatre experience put a sour taste in my mouth, that hopefully will go away soon, or this is going to be a long two years.
So shortly after 9pm we drove to Rawalpindi, the sister city of Islamabad. A lot older, and a lot more chaotic. We missed the first showing of the movie we wanted to see, The Expendables 2, so we had an hour to kill before the 11:30 show. We wandered over to a place called Cosmo I think it was, and discovered that it sold an awful lot of Western foods. Good to know. We purchased some drinks to take into the theatre, thinking that it too would be expensive. Unfortunately here, they search you, and your bags, so we had to dispose of our newly purchased beverages. There are metal detectors everywhere in this country, especially for places that have a higher traffic flow, such as hotels or theatres. Your bags even have to go through an x-ray machine, and most of the time you beep when you pass through, but they don't seem to care. What's the point then?
The tickets only cost us 400 rupees, which is about $4. And since our drinks had been thrown out, we had to purchase two bottles of water, and a popcorn of course, which came up to just over $3. Decent! Much cheaper than back home, that's for sure. It sucks because we "shouldn't" drink the fountain pop here, as we don't know if it's made with the tap water or not, which we aren't supposed to drink.
Apparently here in Pakistan, when you purchase your tickets, they come with an assigned seat. At first we just assumed that it was for inventory purposes, to keep track of how many tickets were sold, but we were wrong. And since Wendy had purchased 3 tickets for herself, Dan and Aron, and I purchased 2 for Rod and myself, we weren't sitting together, even though I purchased mine immediately after her. Weird. Also, you should know that there are lines for women/families, and then a line for the men. Very bizarre. So we went and found our seats with the help of ushers, and soon discovered it was a packed house that night. Apparently everyone wanted to see The Expendables 2. They don't do previews in Pakistan, but instead show an advertisement about a local company and then play the national anthem and show videos of a poor country with lots of poverty and a family of 5 on a motorcycle. Yes, I had to stand for the Pakistani national anthem and it was probably the most humiliating thing I've ever done. I will never go back to the movies, for that reason exactly.
At least the movie was pretty good. And you know what? Apparently Pakistanis love killing, because whenever someone died, they hooted and hollered and just went crazy with excitement. It was very disturbing and sickening to watch and listen to them carry on this way over someone's death, fake or not.
It's also quite weird to be a minority for the first time in my life. Obviously I experience this everywhere, not just at the theatre, but it seemed to bother me more when I was there then it usually would. It's like they've never seen a white person before. They stare, whisper to each other, stare some more. How annoying.
Oh, and I can't tell you how many times I saw small children wandering around by themselves. Back home it seems like people keep their kids on lockdown, and here they just don't seem to care.
That movie theatre experience put a sour taste in my mouth, that hopefully will go away soon, or this is going to be a long two years.
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