Karachi, Pakistan Trip - Conclusion

Finally I have the time to write this.
I went to Karachi last week on business. It was my first trip to Pakistan, and it happened during our Chinese New Year. I was a bit reluctant to go, hearing too many security warnings, but I am glad I went.

These are the few things worth sharing:

Security
It is much better than what people told me. It really just looks like another Makati City in Manila. No doubt, armed officers (or guards??) can be seen everywhere, but it is to the similar level in Manila. Like Manila, we have to be scanned before entering any buildings. The only extra security measures I noticed, in comparison with Manila and Jakarta is, they also open and examine the bonnet when vehicles enter the premise.

In a country with frequent bomb scares, this kind of safety measure is appreciated, to help protecting our lives. But I have one question, not specific to Pakistan though: how do they know my luggage in the boot doesn't contain a bomb? They didn't scan my luggage in the boot.

Oh, I don't know whether there are curfews or not (as told by some), but we were out at night without any problems. I forgot to confirm with the locals about this.

Airport and Immigration Process
My office has very good relationship with the immigration officers and the airport. Upon arrival, we were greeted by an officer before immigration counter. We had express lane, bypassing queues/protocol/etc. I felt like a queen. :P

Similar process on return - upon arrival to the airport, I skipped all queues (or crowds), followed the officer bypassing everything, only waved my passport and went straight to the check-in counter. Best ever experience in any airports. :)

Drinks
Similar to India, I was advised to drink only branded bottled water. Do not take salad/salad-dressing, only eat cooked food.

Food
The food was fantastic. We had a great dinner on a roof-top restaurant called Bar-B-Q Tonight. The restaurant occupies the whole building, and the roof top is opened for seating. On a clear day, you can see the starry sky, as we did. It was breezy and very cozy.


It has an open kitchen at the ground level, which you can see how the food you ordered is being cooked. Very fun.


This is the lift that brought us to the roof-top. Very cute and old fashion. The lift's door is not sliding, but is to be opened outwards, err... well, like any doors. My pic is taken at the wrong angle, can't see clearly. There is this guy standing outside to help patrons open the lift door. Fun, isn't it?


They serve local and western food, but we only ordered the local flavors. Their naan is extremely tasty, very different from those in KL. Garlic is finely chopped in their garlic naan, which tastes just too good that it can be eaten on its own. Their chicken kebab is very different from ours. I hope I have two stomachs to eat them all. :P Sorry no photos, I was too hungry to take any. :P

Smoking Lifts
Yes, they are allowed to smoke in the lifts, otherwise why they have ashtray in the lift? This was taken in Marriott. I forgot to check out at Sheraton.


Beautiful Buses
Their public buses are very beautifully decorated. And their traffic is much better than ours.


People
All local people that we met are very nice and polite (except the Marriott Hotel staff I mentioned in previous post). My colleagues are so hospitable, offered to take us out for dinner and sightseeing. Unfortunately I left 2 days earlier than the others, they went to one's house and had great fun there! The drivers are very nice too. One very chatty guy have been to a lot of places including few cities in China and Malaysia. We thought he must be rich to do that, no? :P

Others
Not much greeneries in the city. I don't see many trees at the road sides, and what I saw was mainly dusts, rocks, paved and unpaved roads, constructions, etc. This is something that the city hall should improve, if they care of the quality of air for their people.

I didn't have the time for sightseeing. I've heard about great shopping for textile, which I will try next time. I heard that you can buy the textile and get the shop to taylor make for you. Of course, I will need my colleague's help to collect and send to me. I heard that the workmanship is very good, worth trying.

Yes, I have plans to re-visit the city, and I am not afraid any more. Just don't put me in Marriott Hotel will be fine. ;)