We took our bags to Chinese lessons today – it was the other teacher who is much, much better than the one on Monday. She took our Line accounts (which I created only for the purpose of Taiwan travel as I don’t use it otherwise), and has been sending up pictures and videos all day. […]
East of the world
I am in Taiwan, and will be here for at least the next two months, perhaps longer. The rest of the journey was fairly smooth though it was notable how the density of masks skyrocketed – on the flight itself, there was only one small family without masks and they were European. The air of […]
Old haunt
Here I am in KLIA in the middle of the night, a place I’ve passed through many, many times at this hour, when the flights from Pakistan typically arrive. This time I’ve made my way to the lounge as my connecting flight is several hours away, and am just about to doze. I wore a […]
Global sniffles
Fires, wars, fascists, now plague. Probably more that has slipped my mind. The decade continues its winning streak. A hypochondriac aunt is convinced she’s down with coronavirus in the States; every sniffle and sneeze here in Lahore is regarded with suspicion. Unfortunate, as in this smog season everyone, including myself, has a cold and a […]
To the hospital
In the morning, after my useless meeting, I went off for my haircut. It’s a quite long drive to Shah Allah Ditta, an area on the outskirts of Islamabad, which used to be an old Buddhist site (it’s close to Taxila) so there are many caves filled with Buddha statues. The house itself is overlooking […]
Sepia to technicolor
Much of Saturday was spent firefighting at work, including chasing down people who had already left for their Christmas vacations but the machine never stops, so most of them had replied by Monday. Saturday morning I made it out to an early breakfast with a couple of friends, both with an interest in heritagey stuff, […]
Crabs in the sky
Miraculously, I was able to leave the office at around 2; another could leave at 2.30, and soon we were on our way to Lahore. Cars are so much nicer than buses, there’s no question of it. Certainly quicker. It was a fairly smooth trip despite fears of fog until we approached Lahore — at […]
Dancing horse
Well, a slight exaggeration. In the morning my host and I drove down to Chakwal to the ancestral (my great-great grandmother’s) village where there is a family farm. It came into the family about 20 years ago as part of a settlement of a decades old property dispute and since then we have been trying […]
Terror strikes
Back in Islamabad. In the morning we went to visit an uncle who lives very far away, in the new bits of Defence, and then back, a quick lunch and off to the Daewoo. It was an uneventful journey, enlivened only by a chicken patty of the classic sort you get in all Pakistani bakeries. […]
Up and away
I left work early, by which I mean at the time when we are supposed to leave on Fridays, as I was planning to catch the Daewoo to Lahore. This I did, though it felt a very long journey. It is lovely to be back with my father. Slowly it has started feeling a little […]