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Karachi
Pakistan's commercial centre and largest city is a sprawling
place  of
bazaars, hi-tech electronic shops, scurf-infested older
buildings and modish new hotels. Its sights are spread
far and wide, so a taxi or rickshaw is necessary to
travel between them.
A
good place to start is the Quaid-i-Azam
Mausoleum, a monument to Pakistan's founder
Mohammed Ali Jinnah, which can be charitably described
as distinctive. More impressive is the remarkable white-marbled
Defence Housing Society Mosque.
The single dome, claimed to be the largest of its kind
in the world, will make your gum cleave to the roof
of your mouth. Above the mosque is Honeymoon
Lodge, birthplace of the Aga Khan.
Other
sights include the Holy Trinity
Cathedral and St.
Andrew's Church (both good examples of Anglo-Indian
architecture), the city's zoo, and the Zoroastrian
Towers of Silence, hills where the dead are
traditionally exposed to vultures. South of the city
is Clifton, a former British hangout and now an exclusive
coastal corner for the local wealthy, the popular but
rather drab Clifton Beach, and Manora Island, a less-crowded
beach resort
Saddar,
the city centre, is the main shopping area with thriving
markets selling carpets, fur coats, leather jackets,
snake-skin purses, silk scarves and the country's biggest
range of handicrafts. It also has a number of food stalls
and cheap restaurants and the majority of budget hotels.
Nightlife in Karachi is an oxymoron.
If
travel outside of Karachi is possible, then the archaeological
site of Moenjodaro - once a city of an Indus Valley
civilisation - and the Chaukundi tombs are well worth
a visit.
Being
the commercial and unofficial capital of Pakistan, flights
in and out of Karachi are numerous but it's worth checking
the ETA of your flight. Karachi is at the epicentre
of political and ethnic tensions; a tension that is
cranked up to knife edge proportions when combined with
rival drug gangs, political assassinations, and terrorist
bombings. If your flight touches down in the middle
of the night, it would be wise to wait until sunrise
before catching a taxi. For the same reason catching
buses should be avoided for the foreseeable future.
Buy a train ticket instead: trains run from Karachi
to most major destinations.
Lahore
The capital of Punjab is Pakistan's cultural, educational
and artistic centre and easily the most visited city
in the country. With its refuge of shady parks and gardens,
its clash of Moghul and colonial architecture, and the
exotic thrill of its congested streets and bazaars,
it's not hard to see why. A collection of some of the
city's attractions include: The
Mall, an area of parks and buildings with
a decidedly British bent; Lahore
Museum, the best and biggest museum in the
country; Kim's Gun,
the cannon immortalised in Kipling's classic Kim; Aitchison
College, an achingly beautiful public school
that boasts Imran Khan as a former pupil; Lahore
Fort, filled with stately palaces, halls
and gardens; and the Old City, where a procession of
rickshaws, pony carts, hawkers and veiled women fill
the narrow lanes. The city has too many tombs, mosques
and mausoleums to mention.
Lahore,
250km (155mi) south of Islamabad, is serviced by a plethora
of international and domestic carriers. Long hauls overland
can be done in the comfort of reliable, air conditioned
buses, and smaller trips in the ubiquitous minibuses.
Lahore lies on the main national line between Peshawar
and Karachi and there are frequent direct services to
all major destinations.
Around
Punjab
Punjab is Pakistan's most fertile province, rich in
both agriculture and ancient history. It's also one
of the more stable of the country's regions, and travellers
should have few of the problems that are faced further
south and in the north.
The
prosperous and hospitable town of Bahawalpur is a gentle
introduction to the area. From here you can journey
into Cholistan -
a sandy wasteland dotted with nomadic communities and
wind-swept forts - or the Lal
Suhanra National Park, an important wildlife
reserve. Further north is Harappa
which is, after Moenjodaro, the second most important
site of the Indus Valley civilisation.
Rawalpindi
and the country's capital, Islamabad,
are twin cities. The former is a patchwork of bustling
bazaars while the latter is subdued, suburban and still
being built (construction of the new capital didn't
begin until 1961). From here you can visit Taxila,
an archaeological repository, and Hasan
Abdul, a place of holy pilgrimmage.
Bahawalpur
is the most southerly town in the Punjab. There are
daily flights from Islamabad about 555km (344mi) away.
Most of the major destinations in the Punjab can be
reached by bus, minibus, and train.
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