Dushanbe-Lahore
27/05/14 01:22
The hotel is quite nice and we enjoy the air-conditioning! Local buffet at the restaurant and then we meet Kamir, our guide. He came all the way from up north (5 hours by bus) to give us a tour here. He knows the city very well since he lived here for 7 years during his university time. Lahore is the capital city of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest and metropolitan area in the country. With a rich history dating back over a millennium, It is a main cultural center of Punjab region and Pakistan. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains an economic, political, transportation, entertainment, and educational hub. It is referred to as the "Mughal City of Gardens" due to the historic presence of gardens in and around the city dating back to the Mughal period.
The driver first takes us to the Lahore Fort. Since there is major reconstruction going on, we have to walk around it and see the poorer side of Pakistan. These construction workers are probably on the lowest end of the income scale here and live accordingly. The Lahore Fort, locally referred to as Shahi Qila is citadel of the city of Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan.[1] It is located in the northwestern corner of the Walled City of Lahore. The trapezoidal composition is spread over 20 hectares.‬Origins of the fort go as far back as antiquity, however, the existing base structure was built during the reign of Mughal Emperor Akbar between 1556–1605 and was regularly upgraded by subsequent Mughal, Sikh and British rulers. There are people everywhere but they are again very friendly. We have to take pictures with some and make small talk.
Next to it is the Badshani Mosque. the name means the 'Imperial Mosque', commissioned by the sixth Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in 1671 and completed in 1673, is the second largest mosque in Pakistan and South Asia and the fifth largest mosque in the world. Epitomising the beauty, passion and grandeur of the Mughal era, it is Lahore's most famous landmark and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Capable of accommodating 55,000 worshippers in its main prayer hall and a further 95,000 in its courtyard and porticoes, it remained the largest mosque in the world from 1673 to 1986 (a period of 313 years), when overtaken in size by the completion of the Faisal Mosque in Islamabad. It is huge but rather plain; no comparison to what we saw before in other countries.
We booked a walking tour through the old city and Karim is rather reluctant. But we insist and it is like walking into a wall. The chaos, smells, noise, people is difficult to describe. Best if you look at the pictures under „Pakistan“. To go back to our bus we take a Tuktuk; another unforgettable experience! Traffic jam and chaos pure! Everybody (Tuktuks, cars, horse carriages, push carts, scooters) in every direction and pushing for the right of way.
Back in the hotel first a shower, washing our pants and shoes, and meeting Mr. , who will fly with us to Kathmandu as a navigator. Dinner at the hotel’s restaurant is excellent. And we can get some wine and beer there (otherwise not sold in Pakistan)!
Pakistan was one of the two original successor states to British India, which was partitioned along religious lines in 1947. For almost 25 years following independence, it consisted of two separate regions, East and West Pakistan, but now it is made up only of the western sector
What is now Pakistan was in prehistoric times the Indus Valley civilization (c. 2500–1700 BC ). A series of invaders—Aryans, Persians, Greeks, Arabs, Turks, and others—controlled the region for the next several thousand years. Islam, the principal religion, was introduced in 711. In 1526, the land became part of the Mogul Empire, which ruled most of the Indian subcontinent from the 16th to the mid-18th century. By 1857, the British became the dominant power in the region. Britain agreed to the formation of Pakistan as a separate dominion within the Commonwealth in Aug. 1947, a bitter disappointment to India's dream of a unified subcontinent. The partition of Pakistan and India along religious lines resulted in the largest migration in human history, with 17 million people fleeing across the borders in both directions to escape the accompanying sectarian violence.
The driver first takes us to the Lahore Fort. Since there is major reconstruction going on, we have to walk around it and see the poorer side of Pakistan. These construction workers are probably on the lowest end of the income scale here and live accordingly. The Lahore Fort, locally referred to as Shahi Qila is citadel of the city of Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan.[1] It is located in the northwestern corner of the Walled City of Lahore. The trapezoidal composition is spread over 20 hectares.‬Origins of the fort go as far back as antiquity, however, the existing base structure was built during the reign of Mughal Emperor Akbar between 1556–1605 and was regularly upgraded by subsequent Mughal, Sikh and British rulers. There are people everywhere but they are again very friendly. We have to take pictures with some and make small talk.
Next to it is the Badshani Mosque. the name means the 'Imperial Mosque', commissioned by the sixth Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in 1671 and completed in 1673, is the second largest mosque in Pakistan and South Asia and the fifth largest mosque in the world. Epitomising the beauty, passion and grandeur of the Mughal era, it is Lahore's most famous landmark and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Capable of accommodating 55,000 worshippers in its main prayer hall and a further 95,000 in its courtyard and porticoes, it remained the largest mosque in the world from 1673 to 1986 (a period of 313 years), when overtaken in size by the completion of the Faisal Mosque in Islamabad. It is huge but rather plain; no comparison to what we saw before in other countries.
We booked a walking tour through the old city and Karim is rather reluctant. But we insist and it is like walking into a wall. The chaos, smells, noise, people is difficult to describe. Best if you look at the pictures under „Pakistan“. To go back to our bus we take a Tuktuk; another unforgettable experience! Traffic jam and chaos pure! Everybody (Tuktuks, cars, horse carriages, push carts, scooters) in every direction and pushing for the right of way.
Back in the hotel first a shower, washing our pants and shoes, and meeting Mr. , who will fly with us to Kathmandu as a navigator. Dinner at the hotel’s restaurant is excellent. And we can get some wine and beer there (otherwise not sold in Pakistan)!
Pakistan was one of the two original successor states to British India, which was partitioned along religious lines in 1947. For almost 25 years following independence, it consisted of two separate regions, East and West Pakistan, but now it is made up only of the western sector
What is now Pakistan was in prehistoric times the Indus Valley civilization (c. 2500–1700 BC ). A series of invaders—Aryans, Persians, Greeks, Arabs, Turks, and others—controlled the region for the next several thousand years. Islam, the principal religion, was introduced in 711. In 1526, the land became part of the Mogul Empire, which ruled most of the Indian subcontinent from the 16th to the mid-18th century. By 1857, the British became the dominant power in the region. Britain agreed to the formation of Pakistan as a separate dominion within the Commonwealth in Aug. 1947, a bitter disappointment to India's dream of a unified subcontinent. The partition of Pakistan and India along religious lines resulted in the largest migration in human history, with 17 million people fleeing across the borders in both directions to escape the accompanying sectarian violence.
TransAsia 2014