Experiencing Lahore
Trip Start
Jun 09, 2011
1
4
Trip End
Aug 09, 2011
Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
The entrance to the zoo only cost 15 rupees which is a LOT cheaper than the Bronx zoo in New York City! The zoo was really well maintained and a lot of fun. We same lions, elephants, giraffs, (sooo manyyy) bird, zebra, a black swan (reminded me of the movie lol), ostrich, monkeys, tigers, etc. When we saw the lepord, the trainer was also there. He literally stuck his hand into the cage and started playing with the cats! He did the same thing to one of the monkeys, and the other monkey behind the monkey the trainer was playing with got so defensive that he ran up to the trainer and began knawing at his hand. The trianer just kept pushing the monkeys and teasing them! The when we saw the cheetahs, the trainer told us how one of the cheetahs was found. Apparently, the cheetah was found in a remote village in Pakistan and came inside a family's house. Thee cheetah attacked one of the women in the house and then went into the kitchen. A little boy came and was succesfully able to lock the cheetah into the kitchen! Also, the trainer explained to us that all the other animals get fans in their cages besides the cheetahs, because when the cheetahs first came to their cage, they attcked the fans!!!
Afterwards, we went to see the lions and tigers but they ALL were fast asleep from the heat! The even had ice blocks in their cages as well as air conditioning! And, at the very end of our trip, I sat on a camel! I wanted to take a ride on the camel, but apparently it was just for kids. Oh, well, at least I got a picture on a camel! : )
It was only half past noon when we left, but the heat was getting so severe, we decided to go home for lunch. I sat on a rickshaw for the first time as we took one back home! I honestly will NEVER understand how drivers survive on Lahore roads! You know how in America there are signs every where asking drivers to "Please share the road with bikes" ... well, in Lahore, those same signs would read "Please share the road with bikes, motorcycles, rickshaw, carts, pedestrians, and your everyday donkey."
After a long day out, I came back and took a nice, long shower. In Pakistan, literally, if you step outside of your house, when you come back, you're going to NEED a shower! I literally take about 2 showers a day here.
Sidenote: some impressions about Pakistan ...
- The Fruit here is delicious! The color of the fruits is beautiful too! Its interesting, because the marketplace (to put it nicely) isn't very clean or pretty. But the market place is filled with beautiful fruit! Its interesting to see such beautiful fruit in a place that looks ...ummmm...very unclean.
- I love that vendors come up and down your street selling stuff, especially fruit!
- Appreciate Electricity!!! To anyone reading this, remember to alwaysss apreciate having electricity! I know I will when I go back! The electricity always goes out for a couple hours everyday but you never know for how long or when. The good thing is, the generator allows some lights and the fans to work. The bad new is, you never know how long the light is going to be gone for, so sometimes the generator dies really fast.
- The following is what everyday conversations consists off for Pakistani people: what's for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacktime; electricity; heat; marketplace; TV. I can completely predict by now what the entire day conversation will consist of! lol
Book: "Something Borrowed" by Emily Giffin
This was another light read / chick lit novel. The book was okay, and I continued it just to know what happened at the end. (It had a really predictable / boring ending, fyi). Advice to everyone: keep novels with you when you travel. So when you're jet lagged at 3 am and have nothing else to do, you have a novel by your side. I think tomorrow my dad and I are going to go to Lahore's popular library and I'll be able to grab some more books to read.
