Here and There Blog

I recommend this day trip for anyone. One hour away from BA by the rapid boat, lunch, bus tour (short) walking tour (30 min) and free time - a few hours. When booking you have the option of either 8 or 12 hours, take the 8. Colonia is small and you'll run out of stuff to do. They photograph well - what more can I say? Lorie on the step. This is when it's still all nice and cool and we haven't baked in the sun al day. The town. Below - me at the closest thing that can be compared to "City Wall".

Recoleta Cemetery is fun to visit since it is a maze of statues, cats, alleys, and tombs. You have to look up, sideways and down to see everything. Me visiting Thomas Guido. OB and one of the many cats that live in the cemetery. Looking down one of the many paths.

Dinner at Dada Bistrot - This really was the best meal of the trip. I had salmon but the mashed potatos were my favorite. I could have had a double serving. Good red wine, great service. Lorie and Brad - Hard Rock Cafe. Hanging out in the room.

In the Recoleta Design area, a small garden exists. The butterflies seem to own the garden and flit about everywhere. I'm surprised these two stayed still long enough for a photo. Same purple flowers as Carlsbad. Must be the universal go-to plants for cities. All the plazas have some plants.

International Hardee's look quite different from their US counterparts. The California aspect is played up and the decor isn't the standard boring white/red color scheme. Lahore was unique with the stars on the ceiling. I was taking these photos right before opening when I looked outside and realized the door was open and the line was being let inside. The crowd piled in and it stayed busier than this for the rest of my trip and I can only assume that it is still plenty busy!

Home, tired. Don't know why - I slept 11 hours last night. It's strange to see random news banners on the CNN ticker instead of death counts from bombs. The disconnect is unbelievable. The news is almost the same except here in the US children are killed by child predators, usually one at a time but many every day. In Pakistan children are killed by suicide bombers, many at a time and almost daily. Wondering when as a world are we are going to stop killing children? Every child that I met in Pakistan was happy and acted with the same curiosity and joy as any kid, anywhere.

Okay, this one I couldn't quite get. If you look to the right of the tree you see a guy with a cart. The yellow objects sticking up are roasted corn cobs for sale. It's the Lahore version of the NY hot dog carts.

The delivery trucks are all colorful like this one.

Finally got one of the traffic jams and the police on the sidelines. You wouldn't realize it from the photos but the police are as numerous as the security guards. Off the side of the roads are barber shops. Pull over and get a shave. Flowers everywhere. These are around the hotel. And bagpipes at a wedding.

We had the VIP and Media event last night. Everyone was freaking out on free food and we had to shut down operations since apparently our highly paid security team was letting everyone in the door, no questions asked. So there you go. You can have the guns, the metal detector, the VIP list and it is all for show. I gave a kitchen tour for Masala TV, the Peshawar based food channel. That was impromptu and strange. I hope they ended up with something that can be used. The group of us females made the midnight news highlight showing us laughing and happy (good timing on the camera man's part) and I gave a couple of interviews one that was live (good thing I didn't know) and one that was probably a clip. I was too busy to take photos so I have to wait until some kind person sends the photos my way.

This guard peered over the roof as we were taking pictures in the parking lot.

Mid-day I walked into the dining room to take a break from the chaos from training. I sat down, looked up and saw all these kids. First I panicked because today was originally feed the kids day but it was changed and I was worried that some kids weren't told to come on Tuesday. Turns out that these kids were here to read out loud from the Koran for 90 minutes as a way to ask for Allah's blessing on the restaurant. (If I have this wrong, then maybe someone will comment) There weren't many children but they were loud! They also were not expecting me or my camera.

Okay, I know the guard looks a bit tired in this photo but that's because I'm making him pose. We have around 12 of these guys guarding the restaurant at any given time and they do look imposing plus of course, they're all armed. The most sought after people / jobs are police, security, and bricklayers because that is what everyone wants. Firepower and strong walls. To get into our hotel we have the car stopped at a barricade and then the hood and trunk are opened and checked. An explosive detector is passed around and under the car and sometimes the bomb sniffing dog is around. Then the fence is lowered and the other gate is raised and we go in the parking lot. Then there is first security screening which is only a metal detector and our bags are passed around. After that it is a full x-ray screening of bags and a second metal detector pass through. Inside the hotel it is one of the interiors where all the floors look down on the center lobby. So on the second and third f...

At a local place. The dessert was a coconut rice pudding type dish, served in the coconut. Doesn't show up well in the photo but it was almost like coconut pudding and really tasty!

After a few days of trying to get donkey pictures I could not believe it when I caught a glimpse of a horse and cart going through the Drive- Thru . Not only did I sprint out of the restaurant to get this photo, everyone was calling me because they knew I would want this photo op! The cart driver gave up and backed up the cart so I could get a photo. I think the horse looks pretty freaked out about the whole camera incident!

Alcohol is technically illegal in Pakistan except by special permit. So some hotels can serve beer/wine/spirits but it has to be in a secluded room. In our hotel, the room is 242. Even though beer is illegal, Pakistan has a brewery in Rawalpindi and we can order Murree Classic Tin (can) Murree Classic Bottle, or Murree Bottle (cheap lager). Of the three, we decided the green label one was the only one drinkable but I don't think I need to try them again.

The sign in the background says "Park at your Own Risk" We all have to share the road

This is about it - a 1922 Rolls

Gotta share the road with the scooters and bikes! Me and hotel car guard guy. All the people at the hotel wear a different style of traditional Pakistani dress. This is what the guys wear that are working in the parking lot area.