There are no true certainties in Pakistan. I’ve been here just 3 weeks but that much is apparent already. One near certainty, if you have allergies Islamabad will remind you of it. I found this truth right out the gate, day 7. Went for a hike in the Margala Hills. These look similar to the Santa Monica Mountains of LA… only different, different dirt, different plants, same general shape and height though. Seven of us hiked, a mix of State Dept. and Military. We went up trail 3 and back on 5, about 5 or 6 miles total. At the top of the hike are a pair of restaurants where we hoped to buy some frozen yogurt. Alas, the yogurt place opens at 10 and we were there at 10:05… so no luck. Oh, I suppose I should explain that in Pakistan, just because a business opens at a specific time does not mean you can shop at that time. 10 was simply the time the workers arrived. The yogurt would take a half hour or more before they could sell any. So, back down we went. It was a nice day, a good hike amongst the scattered goats and cattle. Seemed an odd place to forage cattle and goats but then who am I to judge? This is the same area I hope to do some rock climbing in. Apparently some of the Brits have bolted a number of sport routes in the hills. Good news for me and once my rock shoes, harness and helmet arrive.
The haze the day we hiked was also reminiscent of the LA basin. Well, OK, the LA Basin of the mid-70’s. Visibility was only a few miles. Apparently this wasn’t smog so much as dirt, moisture and pollen. At the end of the day I developed a sore throat that lasted for days. No stuffy nose, just an inflamed airway. Not too pleasant. So I began getting back into my Tai Chi practice, half an hour daily first thing in the morning. That quickly helped. We shall see how it works over the course of the next year.
Another near certainty in Pakistan is that, as a visitor, you will experience the unique Pakistani diet regime. Or, as the professional medical types refer to it, an intestinal issue. Be it traveler’s diarrhea, tape worms or whatever. (Gee, I guess this post is going downhill faster than usual). It’s now been a week since I properly digested anything. Great weight loss tool I must say! So anyway the usual treatment of antibiotics didn’t touch it. I need to head back to the clinic when they open Monday and see what my next option is. In the mean time I am beginning to think differently about food. I do like the local Pakistani fare but at the moment nothing sounds remotely appetizing. This must be the adventure part the Navy used to advertise!
I haven’t gone shopping for rugs yet. This morning I got off to a late start. Last night I went to play dominos and some
silly card game at one of the other houses.
I was cajoled into staying later than I’d planned. Not a bad thing though as this morning was a
bit of a nasty thunder storm… not nasty as in ugly, rude or in a sexual way,
just a serious downpour with lightening and stuff. So the ride began a bit late. I rode to Chilla Gah Imam Bari, a Muslim shrine where a local Sufi
used to dwell back in the 17th century. I had to leave my bike near the bottom of the
path up the mountain. An old gentleman
that didn’t speak English told me I couldn’t take my bike. He also conveyed that it would be safe to
leave it, so I did. It was a nice walk
up. Many nice people, some make jokes in
Urdu, usually kids. I don’t mind as many
people were happy to shake my hand and a few took photos with me. By and large these are very nice people, much
like people everywhere. After visiting the
top I collected the bike and went for another ride. I went way up trail 5 to the top of Pir
Sohawa road at Monal. OK to be honest most
of way I was carrying or pushing the bike, lots of big rocks, stair steps and
it’s steep. I made it to the top and
took the road back down. I’d been wanting to ride down this road since I first
saw it, steep curvy, looks like a blast for a bike. There are several steep switch backs and I was
hoping to take a nice fast run… oops, cheap tires, slippery road like an LA
freeway after the 1st rain, I spilled it on the 1st
switchback. Luckily the slippery road
surface doesn’t just cause rubber to slide, skin does as well, so the road rash
is not as bad as I’d feared. It is a
strange and surreal moment, shoes clipped into pedals, knowing the bike is
going over and then sliding across the lane; the realization that your skin is
being rubbed off as you slide toward the guard rail. Luckily there were no cars near the turn and I
stopped short of the guard rail. As I
was putting my chain back on the chain ring a car stopped to see if I was
OK. Funny, I can rub soap on it to clean
it up but water stings like a son of a bitch.
Anyway I rode more carefully the rest of the way down. Though I did pass a couple of motor scooters
on the way. At the bottom, near 7th
Ave. a kid (boy in his 20’s I’d guess) on a motor scooter, began riding along
with me. He saw my right arm and was
concerned. I told him I was fine. But he kept pace until we were at Atta Turk
road where he was headed to the parking lot for trail 3. Again some random kid, was genuinely
concerned and quite nice. These are good
people, most of them. 
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