To, well, Brunei. We leave tonight. It’s not the most compelling holiday destination so I am afraid I am filling up my Kindle and my iPad with reading material, downloading podcasts and generally expecting not to have much to do. We decided to go for a long weekend, unfortunately it is over the Gentleman Friend’s […]
Eid with leeches
We went to Taman Negara over Eid. There was barely any internet there, so no updates. The jungle was beautiful, far more dense than I’ve seen elsewhere, such as Mulu in Sarawak, and filled with gibbon cries, though we never saw one. We did spend some time at a hide and saw deer and what […]
In KL
Well here I am. I arrived yesterday after a surprisingly comfortable flight, with a bulkhead seat by the window so I zoned out/ napped/ dozed/ neither slept nor woke throughout. I wisely didn’t eat anything: PIA’s food has become foul in recent years. I wish they’d stick with their much beloved biryani and Shezan style […]
Korea
Korea planning turns out to be quite difficult. Fortunately Hangul turns out to be very easy, though it’s hard to keep track of the very simple — characters? Letters? Much of it will have to be done tomorrow as I am currently locked out of some of my accounts. Leaving for Malaysia tonight.
Here
I arrived in London last night, after a couple of days scrambling to arrange travel plans and set things in motion for the business. It was a longish flight, the first time in several years I’d flown between Pakistan and the UK indirectly. The direct flights are PIA which are typically like travelling in a […]
Village stop
I’m back in Lahore. My father and I drove back this morning, stopping en route at the farm near Chakwal to inspect the damage done by the windstorms to the almond groves (significant) and to discuss the next crop (daal) for the fields. It was all very green thanks to the rain. The Salt Range […]
Putt
A gorgeous dinner today at The Charsi Tikka. Charsi means dope smoker and this was apt as successive waves of hash smoke swept over us and the cooks and waiters were alike clearly under the influence. THere was a group of extremely rowdy and loud children that had us in a terrible mood to begin […]
Weather
Another cool, windy, rainy day yesterday. We drove out to Islamabad in the late afternoon and the light became very beautiful as evening fell. Evenings are one of the things I miss living in Malaysia – you don’t have that still time before darkness falls. Anyhow, there was a diffuse pink light in the west, […]
Gifts
It seems likely I am, after all, going to Lahore this week. My brother suggested the services of his travel agent, I scoffed internally (who ever heard of a travel agent who was useful for anything at all), and twenty minutes later the fellow came back with a seat that was Rs 15,000 less than […]
Drive
Out of curiosity I cracked open an energy drink – one of those narrow macho looking cans with Fast and Furious writing in neon colours. (Looking at the can it is, in fact, called Drive, #DRIVEM7ASPAR, whatever the latter means). Good lord. What a foul thing. I took a single sip and poured it down […]