Pakistan

Train to Amritsar

Well, here we are, sitting in the train after the toughest customs to date: they opened the rubber insoles of my shoes, looking for hash! Glad I didn’t take the Herat shopkeeper's word that the border was a breeze. The Ceylonese man next to me got nabbed when they found a few watches hidden in his armpits, poor fellow. 

We should be here a good two hours before we advance the next few kilometers to Amritsar, where I hope to grab the first class night train to Delhi. I took a second class train from Rawalpindi to Lahore, and it was as horrible as I had feared: crammed together on the floor, a dry, hacking cough on my right, a too-friendly Pakistani laying his hands on me on the left; then thrown out of the compartment at about 2 AM; inadvertently choosing a first class compartment, or I had to pay another $1.50 for the privilege of once more sleeping on the floor, this time over a 2' x 6‘ beam. And always worrying about getting robbed. It’s almost not worth it. Lahore had a fine mosque (the largest in the world) and a really fine museum, with a collection of Buddhist sculptures, miniature paintings, and odd items from Mohenjo Daro and other truly old sites. But the town, like all towns, is noisy, dusty, dirty, and uninteresting, and my head aches when I stay longer than a few hours in such an environment. Peshawar and Rawalpindi were the same, and Islamabad was completely uninteresting. Pakistan's north is the only part I’d like to see.

Having a nice chat  (in German) with the only other occupant of our compartment; a good Turkish fellow on vacation from his job in Tehran. We may travel on to Delhi together. Somebody just brought us tea and delicious cakes.  Life continues in a never-ending irregular series of ups and downs.  The Turk turned out to be a good old boy, sweet and quiet, no malicious bone to his body, interested only in relaxing and smoking a whole lot of hash. 

We stayed together in a nice, cheap, quiet hotel in Amritsar (no time to see the Golden Temple), A first class compartment for just the two of us the next morning to Delhi.  Great way to travel: smoke, talk, order tea and lunch, buy items through the windows at the train stations; even take a nap on the upper berth.  That’s my way from now on.