Taxila, Gandhara's Capitol

Recycled Houses Make Great Furniture!

Sunday’s are our one day off, so they are generally good days.  A short while back I spent all day with a friend who has made himself something of an expert on tribal rugs.  We went to the outskirts of the city to look at furniture workshops.  Here, when a house is torn down, they don’t just crush everything and toss it in a dumpster.  They dismantle all the carved wooden doors and window pieces and save what can be reused.  These are then turned into furniture: cabinets, shelving, tables. All very cool stuff.  So we went to the outskirts of Islamabad to where they take these pieces and reuse them.  Some of the items in these workshops are antiques in their own right and will be sold as is.  Old children’s beds, spinning wheels, chests.  The most amazing pieces are the very large door frames.  These can easily be 13 ft high and 10 ft wide and intricately carved.  I’d love to pick one of these up but shipping it to the states would be something of a challenge.  I like that these everyday, very artistic pieces are being reused.  In America we tend to tear down buildings and scrap it all.  I remember when they did that to the Beacon Street Hotel in my hometown, marble and hardwood floors were just destroyed in the interest of tearing the building down quickly, so that the lot could remain vacant for 30+ years.  Some of the workshops we saw had pieces obviously not old, but made to look older by weathering them.  The rest of that day was spent in various carpet shops.  There is one piece that I really like.  It is not cheap though.  It’s a 3’ by 10’ runner they are asking $1800 for.  It’s Turkmen, quite old, very nice.  I’ll probably get it.  Damn.  Addiction is such an ugly word… I prefer fondness.  I am fond of rugs.  One of my room mates commented today on my traveling out to the fringes of the city to look at old shit.  He mentioned that I seem to still have the very young sense of curiosity/adventure.  Yup.  I hope I never out grow that.  When I stop being curious, it’s time to lie down and die.

And with that in mind the Turkmen we went to look at furniture workshops with that day sees no reason I shouldn’t travel anywhere I like.  He said even Afghanistan was much safer now than it was last time I was there in 2009.  He thinks I should definitely see the northern areas of Pakistan as well as Lahore.  It’s interesting to me that most of the carpet and furniture vendors here are Turkmen and not Pashtun or Punjabi.  They all think I should visit Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.  I think I need to visit all of them in the not too distant future.  Turkmen are pretty easy to spot here.  They typically have light skin, almond eyes and often grey eye color.  The ones born up north are also generally well educated.  I find I like them though they can be opinionated and a bit bigoted toward Pashtuns and Punjabis.  Funny, I find myself drawn to a part of the world that was never taught to us in schools.  These are the lands that were big blank spots in the history books we read in high school.  We were taught that Marco Polo left Venice, traveled through Anatolia and was then transported miraculously to the court of the Kublai Khan.  The majority of his journey is completely ignored even though he was traveling through cities vastly older than Venice. 

 

So anyway, I think I’ll be purchasing some furniture while I am here.  I don’t yet know how I’ll ship it but having furniture made from much older furnishings has a draw I can’t ignore.    

Cycling in Islamabad

I just got back from a short 15 mile bike ride.  I’m not allowed to ride up in the Margalla hills right now due to security threats.  So I rode along Margalla road down to F-9 Park.  It’s a huge park here in Islamabad.  It was a very busy day for all parks today.  It’s the end of the Eid Al Fitr weekend and this coming Wednesday is Pakistan’s Independence Day.  So traffic was epic.  I haven’t ridden in traffic this busy since Thailand or perhaps Indonesia.  I forgot how much I love riding my bike in traffic.  I suppose it’s from growing up riding a bike on the streets of LA.  I ride better in traffic than I do on mountain trails, and I’m no slouch on dirt trails.  Funny, most of the American’s I work with hate Pakistani drivers.  They complain about the way they drift about on the roadway and don’t seem to pay any attention to what might be behind them.  All those complaints and yet I feel safer riding along in heavy traffic in Islamabad than I ever have on the Pacific Coast Highway.  Yes Pakistanis drive much slower, but more to the point, they do pay attention to whatever is in front of them.  They look for obstacles, like pedestrians, goats, cows and bicyclists.  So it was a fun ride, and a relatively safe ride.

 

So many people were worried for me when they found out I was headed to Pakistan.  Americans seem to think I live in a land full of terrorists and Islamic fanatics.  OK to be fair, there are some terrorists and Islamic fanatics here.  Just as there are some terrorists and Christian fanatics in the USA.  Many of the people I ride by look at me with some suspicion.  No doubt I look very strange to most Pakistanis, wearing shorts and a brightly painted bike helmet, gloves and eye protection.  I ride an odd looking bike and go nearly as fast as most of the cars here.  So I can understand some suspicion.  What I didn’t expect is the number of people who wave.  Who say hello.  The parents who have their children shake my hand.  This city has a great many very friendly people.  In America we rarely treat visitors this well, especially those that don’t speak the same language.  I am enjoying my time here, half a world away from family and friends.  I’ll be back soon enough.  Not much will have changed where I work, in my home town, with my friends, but I will feel as if I’ve been gone for a decade.                    

Margala Hills and… the Pakistani Weight Loss Program

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!