25 to 27 july, yazd (the old city)

the night before we left yazd, sk tossed a handful of 9 numbers for this cute boy to pick.

unknown to him, sk emailed the numbers back to singapore to buy 4D.

nice to cool off next to a fan. the heat in yazd is about 40 degrees during the day time. fortunately, weather was dry so... less sweat but more burn...

the inside of jameh mosque.

getting lost in the old city... it's fun!

i still haven't figure out what this picture means. if you know, please write me a comment.

zorastrian sign

the zorastrian temple

a zorastrian fire temple. there is a flame in this temple that has been kept burning since A.D. 470...

an example of a live body in the pit on the tower of silence...

the tower of silence - the ancient zorastrians (a religious group) used to place their dead bodies here for vultures to eat them. there were no cremation nor burial in those days because they felt that fire and earth are sacred.

a bazaar

another mosque

a small view of the old city

jameh mosque - next to our hotel (silk route hotel).

we arrived Yazd in the middle of the night and took a taxi to Silk Route hotel which was recommended by travelers on the Lonely Planet forum. it was a lovely hotel with many wooden bali-style daybeds placed around its common area. we got a dormitory bed each for 40,000 rials per night (sgd 6) and the room sleeps about 8 people, had a high ceiling and was located at the basement. i thought it was quite a good recommendation and there is no check-out time.

23 to 24 july 2007, kerman

a mosque

women in black chador. this is the official color for women but nowadays, the young and trendy dress differently. one can probably see more colors in other parts of iran...

in Iran, it is a taboo for us to hold hands in public as we were not husband and wife.

as friends, this was how our public photo was taken. contactless...

we took a local bus to this bazaar and the bus driver did not charge us for the ride because we are foreigners. in iran, its people welcome foreigners to their country with a big and friendly smile or hello.

trust me, you will not be left alone unless you look like an iranian. most of the time, there will be someone to show you around or interested to know more about your country and culture.

kerman

roads were very good in iran. no bumps at all!

this was a sunset shot taken from the bus.

to me, Iran was a mysterious country except for the bad publicity about their involvement in nuclear weapons and oil control.

this photograph was taken on an air-conditioned Volvo bus from Zahedan to Kerman.

cakes and drinks were served on every long-distance bus in Iran. and if you understand Farsi, you can watch the Iranian films on all the buses... it's a luxury to travel by buses here! so travelers, dont miss this place

from here, we hitch-hiked to mirjave market. the people at the market were not very helpful. they kept telling us that there were no public buses to Zahedan and that we have to take a taxi. fortunately, we found a military soldier nearby and he helped us to get onto the public bus to Zahedan. from there, we took another bus to kerman.

looking back at the long queue at taftan border crossing into iran. that is the local's queue. foreigners like us don't have to queue. we were seated by one side until the guard think that its our turn to cross. what a privilege...

after the worst bus ride, we arrived at the iranian border in Mirjave at 12 noon.

21 to 22 july 2007, quetta

the worst bus ride so far... this was an overnight bus from quetta to taftan border.

the seats came off loosely and the entire journey was a bumpy ride.

as we were seated in the last row, the never ending bumps kept us awake throughout the night and made us looked like pandas the following day...

in exchange for USD200, look what we've got here... a huge pile of iranian money to put in the wallet.

he (who had just barely recovered from a night's fever and diarrhoea) trying to be friendly with the locals... or the other way round...

my hindi look...

16 to 20 July 2007, Lahore (hot and wet)

train to quetta... a very warm and dusty overnight train...

mr. syed riaz - he helped us get a discount on our train tickets a few days ago and here he is... sending us off.

waiting for our train to quetta in the train station. we were surrounded by curious locals while seated on the floor.

pakistan sufi dance night




qawalli performance. we were treated as special guests and given 'front seats', which are normally reserved for the rich people. the people seemed to enjoy the performance very much and started to shower the performers with money! one local was telling us that this is normal and many of the top 'bands' earn a living out of performing here.

regale internet inn ( 150 rs/dorm)

local escaping the heat of lahore inside the mosque.

this old man acted friendly in the beginning and brought us around the mosque. he then asked for 2oo rupees which we refused. lesson learnt: don't follow old man.

badshahi mosque. i will relate my experience here in the next pictures.

in colorful trousers posing with colorful truck.

i was trying to take a picture of the colorful goat in the background but in the end i got a colorful picture of happy pakistani children. i wouldn't say this children are pure like angels but such act of eagerness to take a picture will never be seen in modernize places like singapore.
getting lost in the lahore old town on a warm and sticky afternoon. i was running around trying to get a soap box for the budget conscious siew lian. to see the real southern pakistani way of life, this is a good place to explore.

14 to 16 july 2007, islamabad - the red mosque attack

Sha Faisal Masjid - claimed to be Asia's largest mosque. a Chinese man drove us here when we met him on the road outside his guarded terrace house.

it was a thrilling bus ride from gilgit to islamabad. the roads were narrow... at times, only one vehicle can cross a sharp turn round the tall hill while the other parked close to the hill to wait for his turn. road condition was very poor... some vehicles fell to the side of the hill and were held in the middle of the slope by some thick tree branches.

i don't know how but I fell asleep on the bus anyway and woke up in the morning to find that the bus was cruising smoothly on a big road towards Rawalpindi. phew...

we arrived at a hotel at Rawalpindi but the place was too rowdy and expensive. so we took another mini-bus to Islamabad, where we checked into Star Hotel.

the weather in islamabad was so hot at the time of visit... i think it was around 38 degrees celcius. the weather cooled to a good 28 degrees after a big rain.

the red mosque attack had just ended a few days ago. many people died and some roads especially near the Lal Masjıd and embassies were closed. many soldiers were stationed there and curfews were imposed. some slight tension can be felt around everywhere.

the locals had different views about the killing. many were against the govt's decision to fire at the students who held hundreds of hostages. to show their disatisfaction, the extremists took the opportunity to carry out massive suicide bombings in many parts of pakistan, mainly in the north western area, which took away many innocent lives.