Islamabad

Touring Islamabad is a hot and dusty task, but it is well worth the effort, even in 35 degree heat. I started by visiting the Shah Faisal Mosque, which was once the largest mosque in the world, but has now slipped to 4th place. This is an enormous structure, built to represent a tent, rather than the traditional dome-shaped mosques. The courtyard alone can hold 40,000 people. I had to ensure that I was suitably dressed as many signs warned that ‘ladies must wear proper Islamic dress’. Men could wear what they liked. It was no trouble, since I had several sets of shalwar kameez, the tunic-and-trousers suit worn by women in this part of the world. They are loose and comfortable, and easy to wear. I also wore a veil, as much for sun protection as for observing strict Islamic dress code. As always, I was stared at a great deal – in a week in Pakistan, Ellie and I did not see a single other Westerner. Although it was a bit disconcerting at first, to have people put down what they’re doing in order to stare as we walked by, or just stop in the middle of the street to look at us, we just decided to pretend that we were film stars and these were our fans. It made all the stares a bit more bearable.


After the mosque, I went up to Damon-e-koh which is a lookout above Islamabad. The driver helpfully pointed out the massive gash in the mountain side from a recent plane crash. That doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence about our upcoming flights!

The view was interesting, but as there is a near-universal pall of dust everywhere, the visibility was not great. Still, I got to understand the extreme neatness and orderly layout of the well-designed Islamabad, which was created in 1965. This was in complete contrast to the chaos and confusion of Rawalpindi , a centuries-old jumble of houses and shops thrown together without much forethought. This means that Rawalpindi seems more ‘alive’ than Islamabad. The latter has a more sterile and unnatural feel about it.

Next I visited Saidpur village. This was an original potters’ village which the Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation tarted up and encouraged various craftsmen to ply their wares there. It was not as artificial as some ‘model villages’ I’ve seen, mainly because it was still very much a rural village and quite frankly, there weren’t any other tourists about, apart from me. It was quite picturesque, as the photos show, and I single-handedly kept the village economy afloat by buying a wide range of handicrafts. I bought Ellie an antique camel-bone earring box – what every 14-year-old in Canberra needs!


The next stop was Rawal Lake. Since it was a Saturday, there were loads of Pakistani families enjoying picnics and wandering about. At Rawal Lake and throughout my wander around Islamabad, I was frequently asked by local women if they could have their picture taken with me. I always obliged. I really did start to feel like a film star, albeit one whose name no-one knew! :-)