Some of you might know. I've just returned from 5-day Pakistan visit.
Well what I can say is that, it was not as worse as what I had in mind, but at the same time it is not up to my liking. I felt like going home even the first day has not ended. Erm..honestly I'm quite reluctant to be on the trip, but sometimes you just don't have choice in life.
The first difference I sensed was the smell! The smell from the people, the air, the water, everything. It's hard for me to describe, it is sorta a strong, dense smell and you'd rather not breathing in. I'm not sure whether it's because they do not bathe frequently with the add-on of 'repugnant' cologne which made it worse. However, it might be the same way if a foreigner visited our country and felt uncomfortable with our environment. In the end, it's just a problem of adaptation. From Day 1 till Day 5, I'd say my resistance lever has reduced tremendously, in which I proclaimed that my nose was malfunctioned. 我的鼻子坏掉了.
Thankfully, I felt like I'm able to breathe once again The moment I landed in Malaysia. But somehow my luggage still contained the 'Pakistani' smell.
Same thing goes to the food. Prolly the spices they used are not something that suit my taste bud. What they normally eat is bread (naan, pita etc) with a variety of curries,dhal and raw or pickled vegetable. Most of the people prefer bread over rice. The rice they grow in the country is the longer in shape and harder as well. I was told that they do not use coconut milk for their curries, but palm oil. That gives a very oily texture for the curries. Furthermore, I consider myself as someone who has sweet tooth. I get happy easily with desserts, BUT this does not happen in Pakistan. Their desserts are basically sugar, made of whole lump of sugar + syrup. One bite and that's it. It is way beyond my tolerance level. But the people over there eat as though it is of normal sweetness. Basically, the food I consumed over there is just to fill up the stomach and hardly enjoy anything. The food is either too much spices, too salty, too spicy or too sweet that I hardly could comprehend. By the way, they eat a lot as compared to people in Malaysia, might even been more than those
ang mo. O.O
First meal in Pakistan. Nasi biryani + forgot what chicken + bread(nt shown here)
The buffet banquet at Salt and Pepper Village, serving local dishes.
Next, is the traffic. I thought it is worse enough in Vietnam.
But hey, the traffic in Vietnam seems like nothing comparing to Pakistan.
4 rows of vehicles in 2 narrow lane. Nobody is following the traffic signs or traffic lights.
Basically everyone just pushes their horn and they'd get through. If you do not give way for either slow driving or blocking the way, the horn button will be triggered continuously until the matter is resolved. In Bali, Indonesia, I've experienced how two cars from opposite directions can pass through a single lane with a gap of maybe less than 5cm by moving slowly. But over here in Pakistan, they drive so closely and yet they are speeding. I've been well trained for not to shout in the car even when I'm afraid sometimes ago. So I manage to hide my fear but shouted frantically with hidden voices.
Several unforeseen incidents occur throughout the trip. Flat tyre on a rainy day on the way to expo, spent few hours before the car could be on the run again. Flat tyre again after the expo. According to the agent, the car tyre has never been punctured for 5 plus years. We're somehow too lucky to encounter this. But then it is sorta expected with the bad road condition (big hole + lotsa stones) in some of the places.
The media has shown how unstable this country is. You'd never know how true it is until you make a visit to the place. But because of the impression given by the media, people might not be so adventurous for safety purposes. It might be true that for part of the country closer to Afghanistan has a different story. But in Lahore and Karachi, it is considered as quite peaceful though there is a lot of army check/inspection along the way. and sometimes I would doubt that if that would help. Even entering the hotel, we need to go through checking like what normally we see in airport.
Thanks to this trip. It has changed my initial perspective due to media. I do not mean to say that media has been reporting false news, but rather giving out false impression. Quoted from my agent, let's say if a bomber attack has occurred in the country, when it is being reported in all media available all over the world, worse still it will be reported repeatedly for different time slots on the TV news, it would seem like a Big serious matter. Definitely, that makes sense and I totally agree with it. This is for sure not good for the country development and affected its economy directly. Though I did not stay long enough to judge, but within those few days, it's all safe. Some has said that the chaotic was created by some countries which intend to be superior of all in terms of power, wealth etc. According to the conversation with one of the customers, as Pakistan is made of a real big piece of land, the climate in Pakistan varies from minus 30 to positive 50 degree Celsius. You can have everything in this one country, from greenery to snow mountain and to desert at the same period of a year!! Amazingly, the can have 4 seasons of fruits and vegetables at one time (strawberry, banana, rock melon, grapes, papaya, pineapple, peach, apple (they claim that their apple is sweetest of all)). You name it and they have it. It will be really amazing if one day this country has been developed, it is possible to compete with the China market. The population of 1 or 2 states would be on par with the population in Malaysia. It is really out of mind of how powerful this country would be if without the politician complication. Perhaps that explains why there are interference from some countries who think they are superior over others. =X
However it is true regarding the social class categorization. The saying of the rich would get richer and the poor would get poorer. Only those on the top gets to be exposed to more opportunity and suppressing the poverty. A lot of factors could change this, but sorry to say it is none of my concern. *Double =X* Just hope that by being more educated, things could change gradually. Surprisingly their communication in English is in fact excellent. The middle to upper class could converse in fluent English, which might be even better than some in Malaysia and definitely better than those in Thai and Vietnam. To be fare, I couldn't comment more as I've not been to other Asian countries yet. However it is really good to have a common language, so communication has not been a problem thus far.
Not sure if I will be sent to this country again. If you were to ask me, it is a mixture of yes and no for me to visit again. But I'm sure given with more time, I'll be more prepared to explore this place again!
Hmmm...it is getting boring.
Well, pardon me. It's a business trip. I couldn't be faking my feelings while expressing through. Not many photos been taken as well. My memory has been getting worse and that's why I'm capturing this piece of experience in the blog so that it could stay forever.
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