I was contemplating which new country to visit for my year-end trip back in October 2019 when I recalled some of my colleagues went to Pakistan in August 2019. I then searched for flights and decided to fly to Islamabad and visit the city before going to Lahore and Karachi and flying home from Karachi. The return fare then was less than RM2,200 so imagine my surprise and horror when I found the price had increased by RM300 by mid-November. I quickly purchased my tickets then purchased the one-way ticket from Lahore to Karachi.
Saturday, 21 December 2019
I left home 09:30 and made my way to KLIA. I had already checked in online so I only had to drop off my bag at the airport. The queue was short which I found surprising seeing as year-end is a peak travel period. After buying some bread, I went in to clear passport control and security check. It was then when I realised I had left my camera SD card behind and I went to WHSmith to find if they had any. The first one said they had stopped carrying it a while back; the smaller store had some but they were priced quite expensively. I then browsed Hermes before walking to the gate and was surprised to find many passengers at the boarding area. It looked like it was a full flight. Strange why the check-in counters looked deserted earlier. We boarded and the plane took off at 13:15. Surprisingly, there was no USB port at our seats for passengers to charge their devices.
We landed at Suvarnabhumi Airport at around 14:00. I spotted a prayer room just before escalator going up to the transfer counter so decided to perform prayers first. After prayers, I went through transfer process then sat and waited, charging devices and reading to kill time. My layover was 4.5 hours!
After charging my devices, I started walking to my gate and browsed the shops along the way. I also went to find a prayer room and found one quite near to my gate. I managed to perform evening prayers before walking to the gate. It turned out that we had to take a bus to the plane. I had chosen to sit at the aisle next to the window seat and observed that the window seat did not have ample leg space. Well, my leg space was quite limited too but it was even smaller for the window seat.
We took off at 19:00 local time. I dozed off after inflight meal and movie. To be honest, I didn’t think much of the food. And there was no USB port on this plane either. Tsk tsk Thai Airways! We landed at Islamabad International Airport at 22:01, and it took a long six minutes to taxi to the gate.
My bag only came out at 22:46. I went to change money first before walking out. As expected, the exchange rate was not great at the airport but I had to pay for my ride and the next day being Sunday, I wasn’t sure if there were money changers opened in the city. I had expected to get PKR155 for every USD1 but only received PKR152 for every dollar. I looked at the locals and immediately noticed that they liked to wrap themselves with what looked like blankets to ward off the cold. A man asked if I wanted a cab and quoted me PKR2,000 so I walked around trying to find friendly faces that I thought could help me (I had checked the Careem and Uber beforehand and it should cost about PKR600 to get to my hotel). There was airport WiFi but I couldn’t get connected. I finally managed to get a young man to help me - he connected me to his data and we arranged for an Uber driver to come but when I went up, the driver had cancelled my request. I then asked another man to help and this time, the driver came. I had to ask another person to call the driver though as I couldn’t figure out where he was parked. We left the airport and drove into the dark night. There was no streetlights along the highway from the airport to Islamabad city!
Sunday, 22 December 2019
We arrived at Khyber Lodge 2 at 00:10. I had informed the hotel owner of my late arrival beforehand and was relieved to find someone opening the door after I rang the bell. I paid the Uber driver PKR600 and was quickly brought to my room on the first floor. The owner engaged me in a brief conversation then left me to my own devices. I slept an hour after arriving - good thing I had performed prayers earlier! There didn’t seem to be any hot water in the bathroom and no toilet paper either. I was glad there was a portable heater though in the room and the blanket was also adequate for winter. Alhamdulillah.
I woke up at 05:50 by the call to morning prayer and didn’t sleep thereafter. Breakfast was from 08:00 to 10:00 and was brought to my room at 08:15. It was nan bread with scrambled eggs and hot milk tea which I requested for during my brief conversation with the owner late last night, or rather early this morning. I told the hotel owner that I was planning to take a local bus to Taxila and he discouraged me, saying the bus would take too long and be too full which would make me uncomfortable. He then helped arrange with a Careem driver to take me to Taxila Museum. Driver arrived at 09:13 and it took 30 minutes to reach Taxila Museum. I paid PKR480 to the driver.
I was approached by an auto rickshaw driver who offered to take me to some temples. I told him I would think about it first while visiting the museum. I paid PKR500 to enter the museum and spent some time there. When I exited, the auto rickshaw driver was still waiting and continued to persuade me so after some thinking, I decided to take him up on his offer. We went Mohra Morado, Jandial, Sirkap and Dharmarajika sites. I had to pay PKR500 to enter Sirkap (the ticket was also valid for Dharmarajika). We were back at the museum car park at around 14:00. I paid driver PKR800 as agreed although at first he wanted to take the whole PKR1,000 note which I handed to him (I didn’t have any smaller change). Then I saw a hotel and went to the hotel shop (hotel reception was closed) where I sought help from a group of three professionals to arrange a Careem driver for me. I chatted with them while waiting. I was back at Khyber Lodge 2 by 16:30. I paid the driver PKR420 and before entering the hotel, went to the shops across the hotel where I bought a 5-litre bottle of water for PKR170.
It had been a long tiring day and I was already in bed just after 21:00.
To be continued
Saturday, 21 December 2019
I left home 09:30 and made my way to KLIA. I had already checked in online so I only had to drop off my bag at the airport. The queue was short which I found surprising seeing as year-end is a peak travel period. After buying some bread, I went in to clear passport control and security check. It was then when I realised I had left my camera SD card behind and I went to WHSmith to find if they had any. The first one said they had stopped carrying it a while back; the smaller store had some but they were priced quite expensively. I then browsed Hermes before walking to the gate and was surprised to find many passengers at the boarding area. It looked like it was a full flight. Strange why the check-in counters looked deserted earlier. We boarded and the plane took off at 13:15. Surprisingly, there was no USB port at our seats for passengers to charge their devices.
We landed at Suvarnabhumi Airport at around 14:00. I spotted a prayer room just before escalator going up to the transfer counter so decided to perform prayers first. After prayers, I went through transfer process then sat and waited, charging devices and reading to kill time. My layover was 4.5 hours!
After charging my devices, I started walking to my gate and browsed the shops along the way. I also went to find a prayer room and found one quite near to my gate. I managed to perform evening prayers before walking to the gate. It turned out that we had to take a bus to the plane. I had chosen to sit at the aisle next to the window seat and observed that the window seat did not have ample leg space. Well, my leg space was quite limited too but it was even smaller for the window seat.
We took off at 19:00 local time. I dozed off after inflight meal and movie. To be honest, I didn’t think much of the food. And there was no USB port on this plane either. Tsk tsk Thai Airways! We landed at Islamabad International Airport at 22:01, and it took a long six minutes to taxi to the gate.
My bag only came out at 22:46. I went to change money first before walking out. As expected, the exchange rate was not great at the airport but I had to pay for my ride and the next day being Sunday, I wasn’t sure if there were money changers opened in the city. I had expected to get PKR155 for every USD1 but only received PKR152 for every dollar. I looked at the locals and immediately noticed that they liked to wrap themselves with what looked like blankets to ward off the cold. A man asked if I wanted a cab and quoted me PKR2,000 so I walked around trying to find friendly faces that I thought could help me (I had checked the Careem and Uber beforehand and it should cost about PKR600 to get to my hotel). There was airport WiFi but I couldn’t get connected. I finally managed to get a young man to help me - he connected me to his data and we arranged for an Uber driver to come but when I went up, the driver had cancelled my request. I then asked another man to help and this time, the driver came. I had to ask another person to call the driver though as I couldn’t figure out where he was parked. We left the airport and drove into the dark night. There was no streetlights along the highway from the airport to Islamabad city!
Sunday, 22 December 2019
We arrived at Khyber Lodge 2 at 00:10. I had informed the hotel owner of my late arrival beforehand and was relieved to find someone opening the door after I rang the bell. I paid the Uber driver PKR600 and was quickly brought to my room on the first floor. The owner engaged me in a brief conversation then left me to my own devices. I slept an hour after arriving - good thing I had performed prayers earlier! There didn’t seem to be any hot water in the bathroom and no toilet paper either. I was glad there was a portable heater though in the room and the blanket was also adequate for winter. Alhamdulillah.
I woke up at 05:50 by the call to morning prayer and didn’t sleep thereafter. Breakfast was from 08:00 to 10:00 and was brought to my room at 08:15. It was nan bread with scrambled eggs and hot milk tea which I requested for during my brief conversation with the owner late last night, or rather early this morning. I told the hotel owner that I was planning to take a local bus to Taxila and he discouraged me, saying the bus would take too long and be too full which would make me uncomfortable. He then helped arrange with a Careem driver to take me to Taxila Museum. Driver arrived at 09:13 and it took 30 minutes to reach Taxila Museum. I paid PKR480 to the driver.
I was approached by an auto rickshaw driver who offered to take me to some temples. I told him I would think about it first while visiting the museum. I paid PKR500 to enter the museum and spent some time there. When I exited, the auto rickshaw driver was still waiting and continued to persuade me so after some thinking, I decided to take him up on his offer. We went Mohra Morado, Jandial, Sirkap and Dharmarajika sites. I had to pay PKR500 to enter Sirkap (the ticket was also valid for Dharmarajika). We were back at the museum car park at around 14:00. I paid driver PKR800 as agreed although at first he wanted to take the whole PKR1,000 note which I handed to him (I didn’t have any smaller change). Then I saw a hotel and went to the hotel shop (hotel reception was closed) where I sought help from a group of three professionals to arrange a Careem driver for me. I chatted with them while waiting. I was back at Khyber Lodge 2 by 16:30. I paid the driver PKR420 and before entering the hotel, went to the shops across the hotel where I bought a 5-litre bottle of water for PKR170.
It had been a long tiring day and I was already in bed just after 21:00.
To be continued
|