Saturday, 28 December 2019
I slept poorly and kept hearing men talk from outside my room. I woke up for morning prayers and had a quick cleanup. I then stayed in until 10:00 to pack and charge my devices.
I left after 10:00 and took a Careem Motor to Quaidabad as I’d read (from what limited sources I could find - seriously there is not that much information from foreign travellers on this place) that this is where I could take a shared van to Thatta. I was disgusted when we arrived at the state of the place. There was dust but of course, mud, flies... ugh! I spotted a bus and walked towards it. I boarded and asked a passenger if the bus was going to Thatta, she said no but that I could ride it until the highway, get down and catch another bus. She said she was also going down along the highway and that I could go down with her and she would guide me to another bus that goes to Thatta. I wasn’t keen on changing buses but decided to just board as at least I would have her to guide me. The bus finally moved after 15 minutes and shortly after, the girl called out to me and said I could get down then and board a shared van to Thatta. So I got down and went to ask and was directed to a van. I sat in front next to the driver.
The problem with this shared van was it waited and waited for passengers to board it and when it finally moved, it kept stopping to pick up passengers. At first it was like every 50 metres and then at every small village and town that we passed. We finally reached Thatta two cramped hours later and I got down and walked to the Makli Necropolis. There were quite a few local visitors just arriving too.
I spent more than an hour in the Necropolis and at one point, attracted the attention of a policeman and his sidekick. They then started following me around for God knows why. They probably thought I might blow up the Necropolis or something. I chose to view it as the local police and his sidekick escorting and ensuring I didn’t come to any harm.
I exited the site and crossed the road to await the next public transportation heading back to Karachi. An old man kindly brought me a chair and I sat with him and a boy. Told them I was going back to Karachi and when a colourful bus came, he went to tell the conductor that I wanted to get on. I wasn’t sure as the bus already looked full but I boarded it anyway and managed to sit on some makeshift seat close to the driver. He sure loved playing with his horn, honking at every possible scenario.
We reached Karachi barely two hours later and I got down when I saw some familiar landmarks. I then took an auto rickshaw back to my motel. I went to the reception to get my bag and asked about my room and this time got a room on the second floor. To be honest, I didn’t know what the difference was between a single room and a double room because the sizes of the rooms and beds were similar. The room looked better than the one I spent in the previous evening so I didn’t understand why I had to pay extra for the previous evening in what was a more inferior room. After depositing my bag and locking the room, I went to the nearby shops and bought some biscuits and a big 5-litre bottle of water from one shop. Everything on display at the shop felt dusty. The shopowner spoke English so I chatted for a while with him before returning to my room.
Sunday, 29 December 2019
I decided to ask the motel if they could arrange an auto rickshaw driver to bring me around Saddar, the centre of Karachi. The guy at the reception promptly called a driver but he could only speak Urdu. I told the reception guy of the places I wanted to go (which I googled earlier) and he copied them down in Urdu on a piece of paper which he then gave to the driver. He said the fare was PKR2,500 and when I asked for how long, the auto rickshaw driver gestured five hours and this was confirmed by the guy at the reception.
We left at 10:30 and went to a few places. But as the driver didn’t know English and most directions, he had to keep stopping to ask for directions. I couldn’t communicate with him as he didn’t know English. I was starting to seethe and when he passed some colonial buildings without stopping which I had expressed I wanted to visit, I started fuming. And he brought me to Masjid Tooba but I couldn’t enter at first as it was time for mass prayers for men. The driver also went to perform prayers before bringing me into the mosque. We then went back to the motel and it was barely 14:30 when we arrived. I told the guy at the reception (a different bloke this time) that I would only pay PKR2,000 as he only took me on a four-hour trip instead of five and that he didn’t cover the places I wanted to go. He probably covered only 25% of the places I wanted to go. I left the money on the counter and walked away. The reception guy then called out to me and followed me, asking me to pay the PKR500 balance. He said the driver was poor. I was angry at this statement and said, ‘Look, everyone is poor. Everyone has to work hard. But don’t cheat other people.’ Seriously, please don’t use that line to give a shoddy service and expect to be rewarded fully regardless. And it’s not like I’m that rich to throw away money like that. I would have been prepared to pay extra as a tip if he had rendered a good service. I couldn’t help thinking of the rickshaw puller in Dhaka who brought me around, also arranged with the hotel reception’s help. That man couldn’t speak much English either but he took pride in his work and showed me so much and gave me a good glimpse into the everyday life there. It’s a shame this Karachiite rickshaw driver couldn’t have the same pride in his job and city.
I stayed in my room until 17:15 when I went out to look for dinner. I came back with potato briyani. There was also chicken briyani but I already had that on the flight over from Lahore and am cutting down on chicken anyway.
Monday, 30 December 2019
I woke up after 02:00 to check in for my flight (I couldn’t stay awake last night to do it). I tried to sleep again but sleep was elusive. I even tried to sleep in after morning prayers but was not successful. I stayed in until 13:00 after requesting to check out after I have performed prayers. I then spent 3.5 hours in the lobby reading my book. At 16:30, I called for an Uber auto rickshaw to bring me to the airport. It was less than 3km away anyway.
We reached the airport barely ten minutes later and he dropped me outside the airport compound. I walked in and decided to check where I could have some dinner. I finally had a light dinner at the airport cafeteria on the seventh floor. A PIA staff came and chatted with me and when I showed him the book by Malala that I was reading, he started discouraging me from reading it. He claimed that Malala was pro-US, a USA agent etc and finally I said I was going to keep an open mind. I then left him and went to perform prayers.
After that, I went down to ground floor and went in. I couldn’t check in yet as the counters weren’t opened yet so I sat down and read. The counters were finally opened at almost 21:00 and after dropping off my bag and getting my boarding passes, I joined the long, long queue to clear passport control. After passport control, you have to join another queue so that a man could check that your passport had been properly stamped.
After that, it was the duty-free area and I finally encountered Pakistani products. I didn’t manage to visit any markets or bazaars or shops apart from the grocery stores in Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore to buy water so had not bought anything. In the end, I bought a pair of cashmere shawls which are reversible (i.e., you can wear it both ways). Then I walked to the gate and waited. Oh and guess what? Our flight was delayed to depart at 00:00!
Tuesday, 31 December 2019
I dozed off during taxiing and take-off and only woke up just before they served in-flight meal. After that, I tried sleeping again. The movie selection was nothing to shout about so I didn’t bother.
We landed at Suvarnabhumi Airport at 06:30 and had to take a bus to the terminal. I searched frantically for a prayer room and it was way past morning prayers.
This time, my layover was just over two hours and before long, I was already making my way to the gate. We took off on time and landed at KLIA at 11:58. My bag was out early but not early enough to catch the 12:30 bus back to KL Sentral so I had to take the 13:00 bus instead. And my, what a hot day it was in KL. I reached home just before 15:00. Alhamdulillah.
I slept poorly and kept hearing men talk from outside my room. I woke up for morning prayers and had a quick cleanup. I then stayed in until 10:00 to pack and charge my devices.
I left after 10:00 and took a Careem Motor to Quaidabad as I’d read (from what limited sources I could find - seriously there is not that much information from foreign travellers on this place) that this is where I could take a shared van to Thatta. I was disgusted when we arrived at the state of the place. There was dust but of course, mud, flies... ugh! I spotted a bus and walked towards it. I boarded and asked a passenger if the bus was going to Thatta, she said no but that I could ride it until the highway, get down and catch another bus. She said she was also going down along the highway and that I could go down with her and she would guide me to another bus that goes to Thatta. I wasn’t keen on changing buses but decided to just board as at least I would have her to guide me. The bus finally moved after 15 minutes and shortly after, the girl called out to me and said I could get down then and board a shared van to Thatta. So I got down and went to ask and was directed to a van. I sat in front next to the driver.
The problem with this shared van was it waited and waited for passengers to board it and when it finally moved, it kept stopping to pick up passengers. At first it was like every 50 metres and then at every small village and town that we passed. We finally reached Thatta two cramped hours later and I got down and walked to the Makli Necropolis. There were quite a few local visitors just arriving too.
I spent more than an hour in the Necropolis and at one point, attracted the attention of a policeman and his sidekick. They then started following me around for God knows why. They probably thought I might blow up the Necropolis or something. I chose to view it as the local police and his sidekick escorting and ensuring I didn’t come to any harm.
I exited the site and crossed the road to await the next public transportation heading back to Karachi. An old man kindly brought me a chair and I sat with him and a boy. Told them I was going back to Karachi and when a colourful bus came, he went to tell the conductor that I wanted to get on. I wasn’t sure as the bus already looked full but I boarded it anyway and managed to sit on some makeshift seat close to the driver. He sure loved playing with his horn, honking at every possible scenario.
We reached Karachi barely two hours later and I got down when I saw some familiar landmarks. I then took an auto rickshaw back to my motel. I went to the reception to get my bag and asked about my room and this time got a room on the second floor. To be honest, I didn’t know what the difference was between a single room and a double room because the sizes of the rooms and beds were similar. The room looked better than the one I spent in the previous evening so I didn’t understand why I had to pay extra for the previous evening in what was a more inferior room. After depositing my bag and locking the room, I went to the nearby shops and bought some biscuits and a big 5-litre bottle of water from one shop. Everything on display at the shop felt dusty. The shopowner spoke English so I chatted for a while with him before returning to my room.
Sunday, 29 December 2019
I decided to ask the motel if they could arrange an auto rickshaw driver to bring me around Saddar, the centre of Karachi. The guy at the reception promptly called a driver but he could only speak Urdu. I told the reception guy of the places I wanted to go (which I googled earlier) and he copied them down in Urdu on a piece of paper which he then gave to the driver. He said the fare was PKR2,500 and when I asked for how long, the auto rickshaw driver gestured five hours and this was confirmed by the guy at the reception.
We left at 10:30 and went to a few places. But as the driver didn’t know English and most directions, he had to keep stopping to ask for directions. I couldn’t communicate with him as he didn’t know English. I was starting to seethe and when he passed some colonial buildings without stopping which I had expressed I wanted to visit, I started fuming. And he brought me to Masjid Tooba but I couldn’t enter at first as it was time for mass prayers for men. The driver also went to perform prayers before bringing me into the mosque. We then went back to the motel and it was barely 14:30 when we arrived. I told the guy at the reception (a different bloke this time) that I would only pay PKR2,000 as he only took me on a four-hour trip instead of five and that he didn’t cover the places I wanted to go. He probably covered only 25% of the places I wanted to go. I left the money on the counter and walked away. The reception guy then called out to me and followed me, asking me to pay the PKR500 balance. He said the driver was poor. I was angry at this statement and said, ‘Look, everyone is poor. Everyone has to work hard. But don’t cheat other people.’ Seriously, please don’t use that line to give a shoddy service and expect to be rewarded fully regardless. And it’s not like I’m that rich to throw away money like that. I would have been prepared to pay extra as a tip if he had rendered a good service. I couldn’t help thinking of the rickshaw puller in Dhaka who brought me around, also arranged with the hotel reception’s help. That man couldn’t speak much English either but he took pride in his work and showed me so much and gave me a good glimpse into the everyday life there. It’s a shame this Karachiite rickshaw driver couldn’t have the same pride in his job and city.
I stayed in my room until 17:15 when I went out to look for dinner. I came back with potato briyani. There was also chicken briyani but I already had that on the flight over from Lahore and am cutting down on chicken anyway.
Monday, 30 December 2019
I woke up after 02:00 to check in for my flight (I couldn’t stay awake last night to do it). I tried to sleep again but sleep was elusive. I even tried to sleep in after morning prayers but was not successful. I stayed in until 13:00 after requesting to check out after I have performed prayers. I then spent 3.5 hours in the lobby reading my book. At 16:30, I called for an Uber auto rickshaw to bring me to the airport. It was less than 3km away anyway.
We reached the airport barely ten minutes later and he dropped me outside the airport compound. I walked in and decided to check where I could have some dinner. I finally had a light dinner at the airport cafeteria on the seventh floor. A PIA staff came and chatted with me and when I showed him the book by Malala that I was reading, he started discouraging me from reading it. He claimed that Malala was pro-US, a USA agent etc and finally I said I was going to keep an open mind. I then left him and went to perform prayers.
After that, I went down to ground floor and went in. I couldn’t check in yet as the counters weren’t opened yet so I sat down and read. The counters were finally opened at almost 21:00 and after dropping off my bag and getting my boarding passes, I joined the long, long queue to clear passport control. After passport control, you have to join another queue so that a man could check that your passport had been properly stamped.
After that, it was the duty-free area and I finally encountered Pakistani products. I didn’t manage to visit any markets or bazaars or shops apart from the grocery stores in Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore to buy water so had not bought anything. In the end, I bought a pair of cashmere shawls which are reversible (i.e., you can wear it both ways). Then I walked to the gate and waited. Oh and guess what? Our flight was delayed to depart at 00:00!
Tuesday, 31 December 2019
I dozed off during taxiing and take-off and only woke up just before they served in-flight meal. After that, I tried sleeping again. The movie selection was nothing to shout about so I didn’t bother.
We landed at Suvarnabhumi Airport at 06:30 and had to take a bus to the terminal. I searched frantically for a prayer room and it was way past morning prayers.
This time, my layover was just over two hours and before long, I was already making my way to the gate. We took off on time and landed at KLIA at 11:58. My bag was out early but not early enough to catch the 12:30 bus back to KL Sentral so I had to take the 13:00 bus instead. And my, what a hot day it was in KL. I reached home just before 15:00. Alhamdulillah.
|