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So I found myself on the train, tearing through the heart of Pakistan - before sunset on the first day, we began to leave the desert, and when I woke up the next morning, the land was lush, green - we were in Pakistani Punjab! Gazing out the window, I saw buffallo heads bobbing on the rivers, while brightly coloured women patrolled the monsoon drenched fields. For the veteran traveller to the region, not much perhaps, but for a first-timer to the sub-continent, an image that won't be forgotten.<br />

Old World Exploits

Conor Meleady
2006-02-28 08:42:47

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So I found myself on the train, tearing through the heart of Pakistan - before sunset on the first day, we began to leave the desert, and when I woke up the next morning, the land was lush, green - we were in Pakistani Punjab! Gazing out the window, I saw buffallo heads bobbing on the rivers, while brightly coloured women patrolled the monsoon drenched fields. For the veteran traveller to the region, not much perhaps, but for a first-timer to the sub-continent, an image that won't be forgotten.

I was accompanied by a Sindhi, an Afghan, a Punjabi and two Pashtus, my first taste of the ethnic melting-pot that is Pakistan. They communicated with each other in a mix of Urdu and English. I had heard all about the 'interrogation' many travellers face on the sub-continent, but I was not prepared for this. Questions ranged from the cost of my electricity bill, the availability of fruit in Ireland, to the rate of corruption in my government. Nothing was left unasked, and after an hour, I was noticably less than enthusiastic about satisfying their curiousities. I wasn't complaining, however, when they bought me dinner.

So it was a long 34 hours to Rawalpindi, where I spent a night before moving on to Peshawar, capital of the North-West Frontier Province. Peshawar is a Pashtu city, and it was here that I experienced Pashtu hospitality for the first time. This is not like Iran or south-east Turkey. Pashtuns are fiercely hospitable. Why fiercely? Because they will literally fight over you. Example. I made a friend on the bus, Asif, and we agreed he would show me around the old town. Before we set out, he warned me...."Be careful - this is a Pashtu city. It's dangerous. Believe me, I know Pashtus - I am Pashtu!" So, strolling along, and the inevitable calls for tea and chat begin, but Asif doesn't like this, and keeps pulling me away from the shop keepers. Finally, I get a moment alone (he was buying me an ice cream ...