Landing at Islamabad Int'l Airport was like landing in a different world. There were no fancy walkways from the plane to the terminal. There weren't dozens of planes lined up to be boarded and get on their way. There were two other planes (small ones), buses waiting to drive us from the runway to the terminal, and several airport security personnel fully loaded with machine guns. Welcome to a country that isn't big on, nor used to foreigners!
We cleared customs, exchanged our American dollars for ruppies (60 ruppie to $1.00) and were standing outside of the airport looking to secure a couple of buses to get us from there to a hotel somewhere. It was already 1:00am.
As we walked out of the airport, the first thing that I noticed (other than the fact that it was really cold) was that all of the televisions were broadcasting American All-Star Wrestling. I'm not a big fan of All-Star Wrestling so I have no idea who was wrestling or what organization it was, but a couple hundered men were wrapped in blankets watching what appeared to be their favorite American wrestlers competing. Seemingly, watching wrestling isn't a passive experience for the men of Pakistan, rather it was quite an active one as men would shout, punch each other and cheer on their favorite wrestler. I got more of a kick out of watching the men than what was on the television.
Here was the mindset of the men that I was traveling with. Ah--before the mindset, first the type of man that was on this trip. The majority of men that were on this team of 40 were type-A, All-American business men that were used to being the leader. Now picture that scenario, only add 39 hours of non-stop traveling in uncomfortable quaters and you can probably imagine the mindset of the majority of the team. We were tired, stiff, in a new world that none of us knew anything about, and ready to get to work. This scenario made securing our bus from the airport to the hotel quite an adventure. Hopefully my friend Corey from South Carolina can chime in on that adventure as he was attempting to point lead the entire experience.
To make a long story short, we secured our buses, had to figure out payments and how to pay the five guys who volunteered (we thought) to load our luggage, and were on our way to the hotel. We arrived around 1:30am, got into our rooms and most were asleep by 2:00am. We were set to wake up that morning at 5:30am so that we could get back on the buses that would take us up to Manserah.
I slept hard for those 3.5 hours, woke up, washed up as best I could, and took the advice of my wife who knew what traveling by vehicle in a country like Pakistan would be like. Her number one advice to me before I left was, "If you know that you are going to be taking a vehicle, take Dramamine!"
I did...good thing!
3 comments:
Keep 'em coming Jeremy. Your experience at the air terminal nearly mimics mine at the terminal in Vientiane. THAT terminal is about 60 years behind terminals in the U.S. --- so, I can imagine what you saw in Pakistan.
Isn't traveling in a 3rd world country in 2005 a blast? People cannot even envision what you are going through unless they have been there.
See you soon ...
Love you,
Gram/Gramps
Your hotel trumps my taxi seat. I was in Besham when you woke up. Not complaining, it was an experience.
Boy, I remember being scared literally stiff upon entering the Moscow International Airport. Built for the 1980 Olympics, it was pure Soviet Union and as intimidating as all get out. I felt a bit like the Cowardly Lion when he got scared on the way to the Wizard. Luckily, I didn't break any windows.
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