Just before we left NZ the people we’d organised our border pick up and trip to Islamabad with had contacted us to say they had 2 Dutch guys taking a car with driver on a 2 day journey up to Gilgit (the main city on the Karakoram Highway in the mountains) and did we want … More The calm of Islamabad
Monday morning meant shops were open. Before moving on from Lahore we wanted to clear a couple of practicalities. Firstly we’d discovered that we need exact change for lots of things – auto-rickshaws, small shops, even the hotel didn’t have change for our big notes. There was a bank on the corner of our street … More Onwards to Islamabad (via Rohtas Fort)
Every evening since 1959 (except for a brief period when they were at war) India and Pakistan have undertaken a nightly border closing ceremony at the Wagah crossing. It has become infamous for being a strange spectacle of overt nationalism, and involving very tall men from the Border Security Force on the Indian side and … More The infamous Wagah border closing ceremony
Lahore is the capital of Punjab state. Home to 11m people it’s Pakistan’s second largest city and its cultural hub. It’s a vibrant place full of chaos and contrast, with squalor and splendour, wide green boulevards and chaotic small streets. The locals have a saying “If you haven’t seen Lahore you haven’t been born yet.” … More “If you haven’t seen Lahore you haven’t been born yet”
Border crossing days aka clean top days (it always helps to look half presentable when asking to enter a country) are always a mix of excitement and nerves about the unknown. We love crossing borders, nothing beats walking into a new country with the locals. Despite having a lot in common, India and Pakistan’s relations … More Into Pakistan – Crossing the border
We’ve been asked this question a fair bit. First a quick history lesson – Pakistan only gained independence in 1947 following partition from India (the two countries then almost immediately went to war over the still-disputed Kashmir region). Initially incorporating what is now Bangladesh in the East and present-day Pakistan in its West, Pakistan became … More You want to go where?! Why Pakistan
A 5:40am flight sounded ok when we booked it. When it actually came to it we worked the alarm had to be set for 2:30am… Not sure how we’ve managed to do this to ourselves twice but it sums up this trip so far perfectly – early mornings and packed days. With all that what … More A hop through India – Amritsar
Having opted for the 6:40am train to fit the most we can into the day again we were up at 5:30. Sassi had found another tuk tuk driver to take us to the station. Just a short hop it wasn’t worth getting out of bed for so it was a job for an early riser. … More Chilling in Colombo
For the first time we had some proper flexibility to determine our schedule as the plan was to catch the bus down to Dambulla, a large town 30 minutes away, and then pick up a bus to Anuradhapura. Buses are frequent and all up the journey should only take about 2 hours. With lots to … More Dealing and wheeling in Anuradhapura
The key part of our Sri Lanka plan was to visit the ancient cities in the centre of the island. Polonnaruwa was the capital in the 11-13 centuries. The ruins are now part of an archaeological park which is a UNESCO world heritage site. Our plan for the day was to see the park and … More Exploring ancient cities
Marie & Emma's Travel Journal 