Well I've made it to Islamabad safely. It was an incredibly long trip, about 25 hours, maybe more. That includes wait times in the airport too though. It went by relatively quickly, I spent about half the time sleeping, so that definitely helped. Of course the long flight from Washington to Doha was completely full, but a nice man switched places with Rod so that he could sit next to me. The airport in Doha, Qatar was shiny and new, apparently it's similar to Dubai so lots of money there, but when we got to Islamabad it was totally different. There are ceilings and interior walls, but no external walls. So people can pretty much just walk in and out freely, and it didn't seem like there was a whole lot of security. The building was pretty much in shambles, dirty, old, stray cats wandering about. Definitely was not expecting that at all. I don't really know what I expected, but I guess I had envisioned Islamabad to be a little nicer. Then we realized that our luggage was lost, so as we waited in the line for missing bags, I had my first meltdown in Isbad. Not only was our luggage lost, but as I waited in line, people continued to butt in front of me. Apparently this is very common here, if there's a tiny opening between two people, someone will squeeze themselves in, and that is perfectly normal. Whereas back home, that's totally rude and nobody ever does it. Of course I never said anything because I didn't want to be rude, and thought that they were being rude, so I just began to cry until Rod butted his way up to the front and dealt with the situation.
As it turns out, it was lost in Washington. I don't understand why as they had plenty of time to get it from one flight to the other, and there were only about 20 of us on that flight. Rod flew with the same airline to Washington a couple months ago, and they lost his luggage then too. I've never had an issue with losing luggage before, but note to self, never fly into the States again. It's been nothing but problems for me!
Anyway, we finally got our luggage back on Sunday morning which was a huge relief. I'd been in the same clothes since Thursday and I was so scared our bags would be lost forever.
Things have been going good here so far, granted this is only my third day. But all the people seem friendly, the Canadians and the locals, I haven't really met anyone else yet though. There's a really nice pool, tennis courts, a golf course nearby (think I may try to learn as Rod loves to golf), a couple of restaurants on the enclave, then of course there are other really good restaurants off the enclave that I'm just itching to try out. We're at the base of the Margalla Hills, which are part of the Himalayas. You're allowed to go for hikes up in there so I hope our shipment comes soon because it has my hiking boots in it.
Our house is really nice, I'm actually quite surprised. It's approximately the same size as our place back in Ottawa, but a lot cheaper. It's only one floor, however there are three different levels with two steps up to each level. The first level has the front entrance, living room and a den/office, the second level has a half bath, kitchen, pantry and dining room, and the third level is our bedroom, walk in closet, ensuite and laundry room. Each level is the exact same size too, so our bedroom is huge and I love it. We also have a back patio, with lots of plants, a table and chair set, and two doors that lead into the dining room and our bedroom. We even have a dishwasher which I am super excited about!
On Saturday, two of Rod's colleagues took us to the grocery store to pick up some food supplies. It's called Metro and is supposed to be like a Costco, but not really. Everything is super cheap, we picked up a 12 pack of Coke for $4 and cigarettes are $9/carton. We're trying to quit though. Across the way from the Metro is an Afghani refugee camp, for those who lost their homes. It was really sad to see that. I've never seen a whole lot of poverty, so to see people living in houses made out of mud and clay, or anything they could get their hands on like scrap piece of metal, was really heartbreaking. The kids were bathing in mud puddles, all the animals were skinny and malnourished, it's just so different from back home and very startling to see.
As it turns out, it was lost in Washington. I don't understand why as they had plenty of time to get it from one flight to the other, and there were only about 20 of us on that flight. Rod flew with the same airline to Washington a couple months ago, and they lost his luggage then too. I've never had an issue with losing luggage before, but note to self, never fly into the States again. It's been nothing but problems for me!
Anyway, we finally got our luggage back on Sunday morning which was a huge relief. I'd been in the same clothes since Thursday and I was so scared our bags would be lost forever.
Things have been going good here so far, granted this is only my third day. But all the people seem friendly, the Canadians and the locals, I haven't really met anyone else yet though. There's a really nice pool, tennis courts, a golf course nearby (think I may try to learn as Rod loves to golf), a couple of restaurants on the enclave, then of course there are other really good restaurants off the enclave that I'm just itching to try out. We're at the base of the Margalla Hills, which are part of the Himalayas. You're allowed to go for hikes up in there so I hope our shipment comes soon because it has my hiking boots in it.
Our house is really nice, I'm actually quite surprised. It's approximately the same size as our place back in Ottawa, but a lot cheaper. It's only one floor, however there are three different levels with two steps up to each level. The first level has the front entrance, living room and a den/office, the second level has a half bath, kitchen, pantry and dining room, and the third level is our bedroom, walk in closet, ensuite and laundry room. Each level is the exact same size too, so our bedroom is huge and I love it. We also have a back patio, with lots of plants, a table and chair set, and two doors that lead into the dining room and our bedroom. We even have a dishwasher which I am super excited about!
On Saturday, two of Rod's colleagues took us to the grocery store to pick up some food supplies. It's called Metro and is supposed to be like a Costco, but not really. Everything is super cheap, we picked up a 12 pack of Coke for $4 and cigarettes are $9/carton. We're trying to quit though. Across the way from the Metro is an Afghani refugee camp, for those who lost their homes. It was really sad to see that. I've never seen a whole lot of poverty, so to see people living in houses made out of mud and clay, or anything they could get their hands on like scrap piece of metal, was really heartbreaking. The kids were bathing in mud puddles, all the animals were skinny and malnourished, it's just so different from back home and very startling to see.
This photo was taken from the parking lot of the Metro, and this neighbourhood is across the way from the Afghani refugee camp
Everyone drives on the left side of the road here, with steering wheels on the right. There also doesn't seem to be much order on the roads, and the traffic police don't really do much to fix that. People go whatever speed they want, in tiny little cars stuffed to the brim with people, on motorcycles with as many as 5 or 6 people on them, mothers carrying their infants in their arms on the backs of motorcycles, no helmets, small little donkeys pulling buggies and running their little hearts out (that's sad to see also), it's just chaos.
Some other things to note:
- The Canada Club serves Moosehead beer for $1.50 a bottle
- They also serve cheap food, for example you can get a poutine or chicken burger for about $2
- The local Pakistani's who work on the enclave are incredibly friendly
- I can't wear short shorts, tight clothes, or tank tops in public, only on our compounds. Which is a super huge pain in the butt as it's hot as hell here
- There are geckos, monkeys, wild boars, wild cattle, poisonous snakes, camels, other farm animals wandering around. I've only seen geckos, cattle and camels so far, and lots of stray cats and dogs
- I was told before I came here that the produce was really good, but I went to the Metro so far and it was absolute garbage. Worst of the worst! Hopefully I can find a good little market
- All produce must be soaked in milton which disinfects it from any bacteria or parasites I guess
- Lettuce is a big no no, as it soaks up a lot of harmful bacterias and milton doesn't seem to help
That's all I can think of for now, so until next time....
No comments:
Post a Comment