For english version, scroll down. :)
Tesne pred vianocami sme sa rozhodli ísť na výlet na sever Pakistanu. Smer našej cesty bol Islamabad, Murree a Lahore.
Náš výlet začal veľmi zaujímavo, mali sme odchádzať o 9:00 zo stanice v Karachi, avšak keďže presnosť sa tu od vlakov nikdy nečaká, meškal náš vlak 2,5 hodiny už pri príchode.
Pred odchodom ma varovali, že to bude zlé, takže som si predstavila svoje zážitky z cestovania vlakom v Rusku. Nakoniec to samozrejme nebolo až také zlé. Vozeň plný skladacích priční, chrápajúci ľudia všade naokolo, otvorené okná prepúšťajúce mrazivý chládok, kričiaci predavači a malé deti, ľudia hádzajúci odpadky na zem a to všetko v krásnom 22,5 hodinovom balíku. :)
Počas cesty som sa najviac zamýšľala nad špeciálnym pakistanským pristupom k odpadu. Aby som upresnila ako to asi funguje... Sedíte si na prični vo vlaku a dostanete chuť na mandarinku. Čo spraviť? Samozrejme že hygiena typu umytia rúk alebo mandarinky nehrozí. No tak si začnete okamžite šúpať mandarinku. Kam so šupkami? No na zem predsa. Aké logické. A ak majú mandarinky kôstky? No tak tie je najlepšie flusať susedovi rovno pod nohy.
Späť k téme... Ak sa vám náhodou stane, že si zabudnete zobrať so sebou jedlo, nevadí. Sú dve možnosti. Buď máte fajn spolucestujúcich, ktorí si so sebou priniesli celú kuchyňu, alebo si môžete kúpiť čipsy, keksy, oriešky, čaj a ďalšie blbosti od predavačov, ktorí chodia okolo každých 10 sekúnd.
Inak sa tá cesta celkom dala. Také ranné zobudenie vo vlaku má svoje čaro. Všetko vás bolí, smrdíte ako povaľač a jediná vyhliadka na osvieženie je záchod šlapák, kde už pred vami boli všetci cestujúci. S veľkým odhodlaním a vykasanými gaťami som si teda strčila pastu a kefku do vačku a pobrala sa s fľašou vody k rannej hygiene. Keď mi však pri prvom otrase padla pasta rovno do tej hajzlovej diery, bolo mi jasné, že sa s hygienou pre ten moment budem musieť rozlúčiť. :)
Ráno o 9:30 sme dorazili do Lahore. Po pol hodine čakania na jednej predmestskej stanici sme začali byť nervózni, lebo sme chceli stihnúť autobus do Islamabadu o 11:00. Vtom nám jeden spolucestujúci povedal, že z tejto stanice je to na autobusovú bližšie. Tak sme sa rýchlo pozbierali a rozbehli k východu. Kým sme sa predrali, vlak sa už začal hýbať. Z pomaly sa rozbiehajúceho vlaku sme teda všetci vyskákali a pobrali sa mestom, čo vyzeralo ako Veľká Mača. Tu somárik ťahal vozík, tu koník, blatová cesta... Po chvíli sa nám podarilo chytiť jednu rikšu, avšak 2-hú sme už nevedeli nájsť. Neostalo nám nič iné ako sa všetci traja aj s batožinou narvať do tej malej rikše. Našťastie cesta trvala len 20 min.
Potom už všetko prebiehalo hladko. Autobus sme stihli, cesta trvala len 5 hodín a keď sme dorazili na stanicu do Rawalpindi čakal nás tam Umair, ktorý mňa a Rahab hodil k Nide (MCP 07-08 AIESEC Pakistan).
Deň 1
Po krásnom a výdatnom spánku a prvej teplej sprche po 2 mesiacoch nás u Nidy čakali skvelé domáce raňajky (a potom aj celý zvyšok pobytu). Kým sme sa dostali von z domu bolo už skoro poobede, ale stihli sme si pozrieť Shakar Parian, kde Taha prišiel o kopu peňazí pri strieľaní do balónikov. Kto by to bol povedal, že taký obyčajný týpek vás môže obrať o tak veľa. :)
Potom sme navštívili Pakistanský monument (dokončený len pred rokom), kde sa nám 
naskytol krásny výhľad na Islamabad. Islamabad je mimochodom jediné poriadne naplánované mesto v Pakistane. Vyzerá ako úplne iný svet. Ulice sú čisté, všade samá zeleň, smetné koše, šoféri dodržiavajúci predpisy.
Nakoniec sme zakotvili v Lok Versa, kde sme si pozreli výrobky všetkých provincií Pakistanu a dali si chutný čajík (k večeru tam už bola zima ako v chladničke).
Deň 2
V utorok sme navštívili Faysal mešitu, ktorá je dominantou Islamabadu. Darovaná bola Saudskou Arábiou a je taká veľká, že ju vidno skoro z každého miesta v Islamabade. Možno aj preto, že sa tam nenachádzajú skoro žiadne vysoké budovy. :) Mimochodom ak náhodou neviete, tak taká návšteva mešity so sebou prináša aj určité nutné správanie. Po príchode sa musíte vyzuť a ak ste žena omotať sa šálom. Vstup do mešity je oddelený pre ženy a mužov.
Tesne pred západom slnka sme dorazili na jazero Rawal, kde sme sa povozili na koníkoch (malý okruh okolo jazera za 80 PKR - v skutočnosti hore dole chodníčkom 5 minút :). Západ slnka sme si vychutnali pri chutnom čajíku a hranolkách.
Večer som sa stretla s pár ľuďmi z LC na afgánsku rolku a kašmírsky čaj, avšak už o 10pm všetci zdúchli domov.
Deň 3 (24.12.)
Streda bola pomalšia. Nemali sme nič na pláne a tak sme sa väčšinu dňa potulovali po novom kampuse v Isloo. Ešte síce nie je dostavaný (domáci tvrdili, že je hotový na 80%, ale na naše pomery to skor vyzeralo na 20%:). Je na krásnom mieste v horách. Po čase strávenom s aiesecármi sme skončili na takej celkom zvláštnej a maximálne nezorganizovanej večeri v jednej prehnane drahej kaviarni/reštaurácii MINT. Jedlo tam síce bolo super, ale akosi mi chýbala vianočná atmosféra.
Vzhľadom na to, že tu sa vianoce neslávia, tak som ich kompletne tento rok zmeškala.
Všetci aiesecári zdúchli už o 8, takže sme ostali asi 5ti. Prešli sme celý Jinnah supermarket (obchody na ulici), dali si zmrzku a super si oddýchli.
Deň 4
Tento deň sme si rezervovali na návštevu Murree. Krásne miesto vysoko v horách, kde mala byť kopa snehu. Tak sme si pekne nabalili kopu teplých vecí, čiapky, rukavice, svetre a vydali sa na cestu. Keď sme tam dorazili, zistili sme k našej smole, že je tam asi 15 stupňov a naša kopa teplých šiat sa ostala váľať v aute celý deň.
V Murree sme sa previezli na sedačke na Pindi Point, kde sa nám klasicky ako to už na sedačke býva, naskytol krásny pohľad na okolité hory. Zvyšok dňa za svetla sme zabili nakupovaním na Mall road.
Večer sme s Umarom vyrazili do reštaurácie Monal, ktorá sa nachádza na Pier Sohawa - kopci nad Islamabadom. Úžasný výhľad na večerné mesto, výborné jedlo a to všetko na terase, kde je 0 °C a hreje vás tak maximálne pocit vlastnej pohody.
Deň 5 (26.12.)
Posledný deň v Islamabade. V podstate sa nič špeciálne neudialo, okrem nákupov darčekov pre Nidu a jej rodičov. Jediné čo sme stihli bol rýchly obed v Savour foods a utekali sme domov, aby sme stihli vlak do Lahore.
Avšak ako vždy, Taha meškal, takže sme zmeškali náš vlak. Ďalšou možnosťou bol Daewoo autobus, avšak keďže sme nemali žiadne lístky, museli sme ísť na čakačku. Po 2 hodinách na stanici sa nám však podarilo zohnať super luxury bus, ktorého jedinou výhodou oproti normálnemu busu boli trochu širšie sedadlá a vyššia cena. Zvyšok cestovného zážitku s občerstvením vo forme čipsov a hrozivej cesty v hmle bol porovnateľný. Nakoniec sme miesto 1:30am dorazili na intráky až o 2 hodiny neskôr.
Unavená, frustrovaná, že mi nikto nedvíha telefón, a rozbitá som sa chcela hneď hodiť pod sprchu a do postele. Keď tu zrazu sa z hmly vynorilo MCčko s ďalšími aiesecármi, tortou, kvetmi k mojim narodeninám. To bolo asi to najlepšie prekvapenie k narodeninám aké som zatiaľ zažila. Spapali sme skvelú tortu a až potom sa hodili do postele. :) Ďakujem všetkým, táto malá party mi zlepšila náladu na celý ďalší deň.
Deň 6
Ráno sme zistili, že úplne všetko zahaľuje hmla a tak sme sa šli pozrieť na voľby nového vedenia AIESECu. Tam sme nakoniec ostali až do 4 poobede a kým sme dorazili k Badshai mešite tak už bola tma. Napriek tomu sme si ju ale pozreli pekne vysvietenú (potom ako znova naskočila elektrina:). Keďže potme sa toho moc robiť nedá, išli sme potom na drahú večeru do Cokoo's. Miesto, ktoré nám toľko ľudí odporučilo, malo zvláštny šarm rozpadnutej barabizňe s vysokými cenami, ale pekným výhľadom na mešitu, ktorá sa nám čoskoro stratila v hmle.
Deň 7
V nedeľu sa nám podarilo odísť skôr a tak sme si stihli pozrieť celú pevnosť za denného svetla. Potom sme si dali super večeru na food street. Je to veľmi známa ulica v Lahore, ktorá je plná rôznych reštaurácií, kde v podstate varia všade to isté, ale napriek tomu každý tvrdí, že to jeho je to najlepšie. ;)
Najväčším úspechom tohto dňa bolo, že sa nám podarilo kúpiť lístky na vlak, o ktorom Taha tvrdil, že je najlepší.
Deň 8
Posledný deň sme si rezervovali na nákupy. Výlet do Liberty market bol však veľkým sklamaním, pretože ceny boli vysoko nadhodnotené. Tak sme to po chvíli vzdali, nakúpili jedlo na cestu, dali si obed a pobrali sa späť na intrák.
Nasledovalo útrapné zháňanie taxíka. Samozrejme nijaký taxikár nehovorí po anglicky a ani keď zavoláte priamo do spoločnosti tak si moc nepomôžete. Keď sa nám nakoniec podarilo jeden zohnať, tak nám polhodinu pred odchodom zavolali, že to rušia. Po rôznom vyvolávaní a nakoniec pomoci od jednej domácej sa nám podarilo jeden zohnať.
Cesta späť sa začala celkom fajn. Prišli sme načas na stanicu a vlak mal len jemné meškanie 40 minút. O 8pm sme už sedeli v kupé (samozrejme sme predtým stihli nasadnúť na jeden zlý vlak a len tak tak zoskočili dole:). No a potom sa do 10pm vlak ani kúsok nepohol.
Celá cesta prebiehala v pohode. Dostali sme kupé skoro so samými ženami. 2 tety v stredných rokoch a 3 hlučné deti. :) Jedna z nich cestovala prvýkrát po 12 rokoch bez svojho manžela a stresovala celú cestu. Táto bola taktiež jediná zo všetkých, ktorá hovorila po anglicky. Jedna vec je tu celkom sranda. Z nejakého dôvodu si tu ľudia myslia, že ak na vás budú hovoriť v urdu pomaly a viackrát niečo zopakujú, tak to nejakým zázrakom pochopíte. :p
Počas cesty sa z nášho pôvodného príchodu o 4pm postupne stávalo 8pm, 11pm, 12pm... Naše mobily sa nám vybili asi v polovice cesty, takže sme nemohli najprv nikomu napísať, že sme ok. Chudák Taha, ktorý išiel do Karachi letecky stresoval nad hororovými scénármi ktoré sa nám mohli prihodiť.
Nakoniec sa nám podarilo cez moju slovenskú simku kontaktovať aiesecárov a keď sme po 29 hodinách cestovania dorazili do Karachi, prišiel nás Taha vyzdvihnúť. Predsa len dve zahraničné baby na vlakovej stanici o 1 v noci...
Nakoniec všetko dobre dopadlo a tento výlet bol celkovo super zážitok. :)
English version
Shortly before Christmas, we have decided to go on a trip to the north of Pakistan. Our destination was Islamabad, Murree and Lahore.
Our trip has begun in a very interesting way. We were supposed to leave at 9am from the railway station in Karachi, but since no one expects the trains to be on time, out train was also 2,5 hrs late.
Before the departure, I was warned that it will be pretty bad, so I imagined my experience with travelling in the train in Russia. In the end, it was not so bad. It was a vagon full of foldable bunks, snorring people everywhere, open windows letting in a cold breeze, shouting salesmen and small kids, people throwing trash everywhere on the floor and everything in a nice 22,5hr package. :)
During the trip, I was mainly thinking about the special pakistani approach towards trash. Let me introdouce how it works... You are sitting on your bunk and you feel like eating a tangerine. What to do? Of course a simple hygene of washing your hands or the tangerine is unneccessary. So you start pealing your tangerine. But where to put the hulls? Of course on the floor! How logical. And if the tangerines have stones in them? Then its best to spit them right under your neighbours feet.
But back to the topic... If it just so happens that you forget to bring your food, its not a problem. There are two options. Either you have nice fellow-travelers, who brought the whole kitchen with them, or you can buy chips, bisquits, nuts, tea and other useless things from the salesmen running around every 10 seconds.
Other than that, the journey was pretty ok. A nice morning wake-up in a green coach train has its charm. All your body hurts, you smell like a hobo and the only prospect of a refreshment is the train toilet, where all of your fellow-travelers have been before. With a strong will and pants pulled up, I put the toothpaste and toothbrush in my pocket and went with a bottle of water to do my morning hygiene. But as soon as with the first tremor my toothpaste fell right into the toilet hole, I knew that the hygiene was over for that moment. :)
At 9:30am, we reached Lahore. After half an hour of waiting at one small train station, we started to get nervous, because we wanted to make it for the bus to Islamabad at 11:00am. Then all of a sudden, one of the guys sitting next to us, told us, that the Daewoo station is closer from this spot than from the main train station. So we gathered all our stuff fast and started moving and pushing towards the exit. Until we reached it, the train started moving. So we all had to jump from a slowly moving train (even Taha with his huuuge suitcase) and started walking in a place that looked like a village. Here you could see a donkey, here a horse, muddy road and no one else but us on it... After a while, we managed to get a riksha, but we couldn't get another one. So there was nothing else left but to push all three of us and the luggage inside one small riksha and suffer for the next 20 minutes.
After that, everything moved smoothly. We got the bus, the journey was just 5 hrs and when we reached the station at Rawalpindi Umair was waiting for us to drop us off at Nida's (MCP 07-08 AIESEC Pakistan) and take Taha to his place.
Day 1
After a great and fulfilling sleep and the first hot shower after 2 months, we got an amazing breakfast and Nida's place (and then on for the rest of the time in Isl). Until we got out of the house, it was almost afternoon, but we managed to visit Shakar Parian, where Taha lost a lot of money while shooting at baloons. Who would tell that such a regular guy can ripp you off so much. :)
After that we visited the Pakistani monument (finished only one year ago), where we got a beautiful view of Islamabad, which is the only planned city in Pakistan. It looks like a completely different world. The streets are clean, green everywere, trash cans and drivers following the rules.
At the end of the day, we had a look at the provincial handicrafts at Lok Versa and had a tasty tea (like we had all the time every day, because it was cold especially at night).
Day 2
On tuesday we visited Faysal mosque, which is a landmark of Islamabad. It was given as a gift by Saudi Arabia and you can see it from almost every corner of the city. Maybe also because there are almost no high buildings in Islamabad. :) Btw., in case you don't know, a visit to the mosque requires a certain behaviour. After coming, you have to take your shoes off and if you are a woman, you have to wrap a shawl around your head. The entrance into the mosque is always separate for men and women and after entering you have to remain quiet so that you don't disturb people who are praying.
Shortly before the sunset we reached the Rawal lake, where we went for a short ride on horses (small round around the lake for 80 PKR - in reality up and down a small path for 5 minutes:). We enjoyed the sunset with a tasty tea and fries.
In the evening I met a couple of people from the LC for an afghani roll dinner and kashmiri tea, but after 10pm everyone vanished home.
Day 3 (24.12.)
Wednesday was slower. We had nothing planned, so we spent most of the day just roaming around the new campus of NUST in Islamabad. Although it is not finished yet (locals claimed it to be finished at 80%, but for our standards it was more like 20%), it is located in a beautiful environment surrounded by hills. After some time spent with the aiesecers, we ended up on a strange unorganized dinner in one expensive cafe/restaurant called MINT. The food was quite good, but I was really missing the Christmas atmosphere.
And since the Christmas is not celebrated here, I missed it this year completely. I wouldn't think that I would miss it so much, but I did.
In the end of the day, all aiesecers vanished at 8pm and we ended up being just 6 (Alishan, Jeremy, Katya, Rahab, Saaim and myself). We walked all around the Jinnah supermarket, had an ice cream and went home.
Deň 4
We reserved this day to visit Murree. A beautiful place high in the mountains, that was supposed to be covered in snow. So we packed a lot of warm clothes, caps, gloves and sweaters and hit the road. When we reached the place, we found out that the weather is sunny and its about 15 °C and we left all the pile of clothes in the car.
First place we went to was the Pindi Point, where we sat on a chairlift and enjoyed a great view of the mountains. The air was playing with our hair, Taha was taking pictures after he stopped fearing the fall from the shaky chairs and the kids under us were screaming "10 rupees... 10 rupees". After that we spent the rest of the daylight shopping at the Mall road.
In the evening we visited the restaurant Monal at Pier Sohawa - a hill above Islamabad. The whole evening we enjoyed a great view of the evening city, amazing food (especially cheese naan) and everyting on a terrace, where the temerature was around 0 °C and the only thing keeping us warm was the feeling of comfort.
Day 5 (26.12.)
The last day in Islamabad. Nothing really interesting happened here exept for shopping for gifts for Nida and her parents. The only thing that we managed was a quick lunch at Savour Foods and we ran back home, so that we would catch the train to Lahore.
But as usuall, Taha was late and we managed to miss our train. The only remaining option was a Daewoo bus, but since we didn't have any tickets, we had to go on a chance. After 2 hours of waiting, we managed to get tickets for a super luxury bus, which had the only advantage of bigger seats and higher price. The rest of the bus experience was exactly the same with refreshments in form of chips and a scary trip in fog. We ended up travelling a lot longer and we reached LUMS dorms at 3:30 am, 2 hours later than we were supposed to.
Tired and frustrated that no one picks up my phone (we had no details on our accomodation) I just wanted to get a shower and go to bed. When all of a sudden the MC and other aiesecers appeared from the fog with a cake and flowers singing happy birthday for me. :) That was probably the most amazing surprise I ever got for my birthday. We ate the amazing chocolate cake and went to bed right after. :) Thanx to everyone, this small party brightened up my whole next day.
Day 6
In the morning we found out that everything is covered in fog and so we decided to go and see the elections of the new leadership body of AIESEC. We ended up sitting there till 4pm and untill we reached the Badshai mosque it was already dark. We anyways decided to see it, unfortunately as a result of loadshedding, we couldn't see anything. :)
Fortunatly, the power came back and we managed to walk around the nicely lit up mosque. After that we went to a super expensive dinner to Cokoo's, which was right next to the mosque (that was covered in fog). It was a place that we were told to visit and it had the weird charm of a shack falling apart with high prices attached to it.
Day 7
On sunday, we managed to leave earlier and we got Affan to come along with us. We saw the whole Fort during daylight and had a great dinner afterwards at the food street. It is a famous street, whichis full of different restaurants, where they basically cook the same things, but still each restaurant claims to be the best. ;)
The biggest achievement of this day was however that we managed to buy train tickets for a train, which Taha claimed to be the best option.
Day 8
We reserved the last day for shopping. The trip to Liberty market with Tabinda was however a big dissapointment, as the prices were jagged up really high. So have we eventually given up and went to shop for food for our trip home.
After reaching home, we went trough a painfull experience of finding a taxi to take us, when no one on the other end spoke english. Finally we managed to get a taxi after being rejected a couple of times (and one cancellation of our order even) and we happily left LUMS to find out, that our taxi was nowhere to be found. In the end we asked one local girl to help us out and finally everything seemed to have turned for the positive.
The journey back started really nicely. We arrived to the railway station on time and the train had only a slight delay of 40 minutes. At 8pm, we were already sitting in our vagon (and of course we managed to get on the wrong train before, but managed to get of just in time:). And then, till 10pm, the train didn't move an inch.
The journey was quite ok. We had a cabin with only women. 2 middle-aged aunties and 3 loud kids. :) One of them was travelling first time alone after 12 years and was stressed the whole trip. She was also the only one from all, who spoke english. One funny fact about the people here is, that they think that if they speak in urdu veery slowly and repeat themselves, you will miraculously understand them. :p
During the trip, we noticed that the train was stopping quite often and sometimes for a very long time. Our arrival started shifting from 4pm to 8pm, 11pm, 12pm... Our cell phones died about half way through and we couldn't write to anyone. Poor Taha, who took a plane home was stressed about all possible scenarious that could happen to us.
In the end we managed to contact Saaim through my slovak sim card and after 29 hours of travelling to Karachi, Taha picked us up. Arriving after 1am, 2 foreign girls at a night railway station, it was the best solution.
So everything turned out for the better and this trip was a cool experience. :)