Holiday in Pakistan (12): conclusion
The conclusion of my holiday in Pakistan was almost as disruptive as the beginning, with a threatened flight change. At Islamabad airport, I was not given a boarding pass for the onward journey from Doha. Then, at Doha airport, I had to visit three desks of Qatar Airways, be told that my intended flight was fully booked, and have a suggestion that I fly home via Athens, before I eventually secured a seat on the same flight as the other group members.
The problem was unusually heavy rain in the Guif region which had substantially dislocated flight schedules. Climate changed is seriously impacting global travel now.
So, how to assess this holiday?
There are so few foreign tourists in Pakistan that all the hotels, restaurants, shops and tourist sites made us incredibly welcome. Everywhere ordinary people wanted to speak to us and be photographed with us. “How are you?” “Where you from?” “Thank you come to Pakistan” were said over and over.
Internationally, many view Pakistan as an unsafe destination. Certainly we experienced lots of road checkpoints and security at hotels and we saw armed guards, police and soldiers everywhere, but we never ever felt threatened. The danger is not to tourists: the day before our departure, two suicide bombers on motorbikes attacked a Japanese delegation in Karachi.
This was a wonderful trip in so many respects: the vibrancy of Lahore, the modernity of Islamabad, the historic sites, the mosques and markets, and above all the absolutely stunning mountain scenery of the Hunza Valley. We had some delightful accommodation and delicious food.
However, overall it proved to be the most challenging holiday of my life. I always expect some things to go wrong on long-haul ventures, but the scale and frequency of the set-backs this time were unprecedented.
Really, Pakistan – as I found in Ethiopia – is not yet ready for tourism and we paid the price for being pioneers. The country does not yet have the transport infrastructure, in terms of good roads and reliable flights, for large-scale tourism. We met so few foreign tourists outside a few from Thailand and Taiwan.
As far as the Jules Verne group was concerned, the biggest challenges were at the beginning and the end: a delay of over 40 hours at Heathrow airport, so that we lost two days of the programme, and that 18-hour road journey from Gilgit to Islamabad, when we lost a third day of the itinerary.
However, I am still pleased that I made the trip. It was a real adventure in a very different country. Geographically, the highlight was the glory of the mountainous Hunza Valley. Emotionally, the biggest buzz came from my mountain climb at Shigar Peak, the toughest climb of my life.
To summarise: Pakistan is a fabulous tourist destination but it is not for the faint-hearted or infirm tourist.