In the previous blog, I just about came to where we were setting off for the trip. One thing I noticed during the whole trip was how different and similar things are traveling in Pakistan and Sweden. So I thought that I should share a bit of what I saw. In Sweden it is very hard to get toilets everywhere except if you stay at a restaurant where as in Pakistan they have made different stops by the motorway where they have toilets and restaurants. Then to get drivers for 5 days who are experienced and want to travel with you isn't easy as well in Sweden, but in Pakistan that is pretty easy to fix. So I am not trying to compare but these are just normal thoughts you get when traveling because you see so many things.
Starting from Karachi it is a very big city and has so many great places like Mazar-e-Quaid, malls, palaces and even beaches. The thing is I have visited every single place of them but still whenever I see them it feels new and gives me refreshment. In the start we were only in the city but after a time we came to the motorway where the roads were clean, boards, no tension, it was so nice roads that almost everyone in our car slept without getting disturbed. One thing I never noticed before was something called toll plaza. In Sweden we call it trängselskatt which is like a simple fee you have to pay because you are now about to enter the motorway which will take you to another place outside the city you are in. The difference is that in Sweden when we cross that road there are cameras taking photos of your registration number and then at the end of month you get a bill. Here in Pakistan there is like a big stop and big boxes where people sit and collect the toll from the government so every time the toll plaza comes you have to be prepared.
As i said in the first blog we already decided some stops and one stop we would never like to miss because of its food place and locations is Madina Restaurant in Kotri, a proper desi restaurang as i said nice location and the food is our favorite. It was warm and peak time when the sun shines the brightest and of course everyone was a bit tired as well, at least me. One thing I liked was the pictures that @shahzad-ansari took of me. Having someone that is an expert in photography feels nice because these pictures were my favorite. We ordered seekh kebab, nihari and some other dishes and the food was delicious as expected. Two things you want in high quality on a trip are food and toilet, to be able to survive because the rest is being handled by itself.
After eating well and being recharged we moved on to our next destination or stop which was Sukkur. The reason for taking a break at Sukkur is because my aunt's and grandfather's siblings live there and I do also have two cousins. We thought that arriving in Sukkur at around 20 o'clock and then staying there for about 4 hours and then the motorway was so comfortable and easy that the time would fly by. Things started to happen exactly like we planned, around 19 o'clock we entered Sukhur being welcomed by the famous bridge named Lansdowne Bridge. The clouds were dark and not only in Sukkur but the whole month I spent in Pakistan was rainy, but still very beautiful. It has an interesting history and is quite old as well which you can see by the color and everything. After sometime looking for my aunt's house we saw my grandfather's brother who I call as dada (grandfather) at the stores and he then showed us the way home.
It was so nice to meet everyone after so long a time laughing talking about things you can't on the phone because you don't get the same vibe. After some talk of course we had to eat, and after eating we ordered a famous drink in Sukkur which is limca and lassi. This is a very funny part during our 4 hours in Sukkur. The app showed us that the rider was nearby and that we could now pick our order, so me and my aunt went outside the house to see where the rider was. After 10 min we saw a rider on a bike driving past us and we said it might be him, we called him and said you drove past us so just come back the same way. Oddly he didn't come for a long time and after 5 more mins he came back and we said is it you who have drinks, he said no that's another rider and he is waiting for you at the stores which is not that far off. We told him could you tell our rider where we are? After so much effort we finally got our drinks. It was only an hour left till we had to move and so we started to take pictures as a memory. It was fun to meet everyone there, as we always have a good time together.
Quick Note:
Just to make sure that the text doesn't get too long I have decided to share this trip in different parts which i hope will be easy for you guys. This series will be based on my experience but both @shahzad-ansari and @shrazi have posted blogs on this trip, so make sure to read that as well.