Travel Narrative: Lahore

Posted by Matthew Crouch at 16:54

How do you sum up a place like Lahore in a few words on a couple pages of a Microsoft Word program? You haven’t lived until you have been to Lahore as the travel book saying says so. Well, you can’t argue with that. After Karachi, the Cholistan desert and the mystical city of Multan, Lahore seemed down right European by comparison. Thus Lahore is probably the best place for a Westerner to begin to enter into the mysteries of the land that is Pakistan. Certainly the architectural remnants and urban planning from the old Colonial days explains why the city has that European edge to it. The trees, gardens and greenery along the wide boulevards of Lahore certainly separate it from more southern dry Pakistani regions. Lahore and Karachi are two different places and they cannot be compared but both are worth experiencing!

I picked up a book from one of the many Lahori bookshops titled “Lahore: Old and New” and this certainly is the best formula to start with when visiting there. Lahore really is two cities side by side; one old, one new and both must be experienced to be believed. Of course you could visit Lahore’s old city by the Badshahi Masjid (Mosque) and certainly spend the whole of your time in that beautiful quarter but then you would miss the complete cultural capital experience that includes the other side of this modern city of present day Pakistan. There is no excuse not to venture into the more modern areas to see how the other half of the Lahoris actually live – plus the food is better in this part of the city! With this singular city experience of urban Siamese twin duality - expect Lahore and its citizens to richly reward your travel efforts!

If you need western class amenities of a five star class, endless shopping and restaurant choices then there is the new city and if you are feeling more adventurous and want to travel back in time there is the old city. Both are challenging and both are richly rewarding to those who take the effort to touch, taste, see and feel this enigmatic city of the world. Taxi’s, buses, auto-rickshaw or horse driven tonga make traveling around Lahore inexpensive with any of these classes of transportation – be sure to try them all because each mode of transport will frame your adventure of the day quite uniquely!

One memory of Lahore that lingers in my mind was getting my shoes shined by men or boys wandering around the whole of that dual city with an old wooden box and makeshift tools of their trade. You’ll need your shoes shined often as well for there are many dusty areas alongside the streets and roads so any outing will cover your shoes in dirt. Fortunately shoe shiners are prevalent and quite cheap and they are enthusiastic for work so indulge them whenever you are in a situation where you are waiting. Whether you are waiting at a café or a petrol station, after a bus or taxi ride but better not before a bus ride as sometimes the shoe shine takes awhile if your shoes are really dirty. The shiners often times have a pair of sandals for you to wear as they will scurry off quickly with your shoes to work somewhere out of sight but don’t worry you’ll get your shoes back but you won’t recognize them because they were probably never so clean before! Whether you are resting in park or just need a break when walking around the unique streets of old Lahore you’ll always find a shoe shiner if they don’t find you first! No one in Pakistan really wants to annoy you they just want your shoes to be clean and only for a few rupees. After all this is a Muslim country with sincere attitudes towards cleanliness and keeping feet clean and these fellows want to work with dignity. And why not for you’ll have shoes to be proud of! Tip only when you feel the work done was worth it and don’t hesitate to wave a shoe shiner over if they don’t ask you first. You really have no excuse not to always have shining shoes in Lahore or the rest of Pakistan for that matter! Either use sign language or English but this is a good situation to practice your Urdu since you probably are itching to try out some of those phrases from the back of your guidebook. If nothing else the words “aachaa”, “gee”, “shukriya”, and “Allah hafiz” should get the job done pleasantly and with respect.

I departed Pakistan from the Lahore Airport but I should have started there. The Lahore Airport is the cleanest, most comfortable and well organized airport I have ever passed through. Everyone who I encountered from check point security guard to waiter to floor cleaner was happy, friendly, helpful and talkative. The airport though somewhat modest in design actually functions properly (a rarity these days) as an airport and since I find most airports tedious, confusing and exhausting the airport of Lahore was a brilliant exception in my experience of traveling. I would gladly trade life threatening soaring planks of concrete and glass high overhead for a port that functions on the human scale rather than for the architects and politicians ego’s that build them. I think this was the only airport I have been in that actually had a calming effect on me while I waited for a flight. It certainly is the only airport with café waiters who come to where you are waiting at each gate to offer tea and sell pastries which is a brilliant scheme that’s carried out professionally, discretely and respectfully without trying to extort the passenger with this pleasant convenience. So I had a cup of tea which was only bag tea that was much needed and all without having to fetch it myself. Again the waiter was beyond friendly and happy to do his job! If only Lahore could run all the world airports like this as the Americans globally hawk fried meat and potatoes of dubious origin along with ketchup, pickles, onions and gaseous sugar water with hardly a greasy smile!

Lahore actually has too many things to occupy someone passing through Pakistan so it is mandatory to plan well ahead of time what you can visit with your time there with thoughtful selection. That said Pakistan and certainly Lahore are places that happen to one passing through them. You cannot really go out and expect to make this and that happen so let Lahore work its own magic over you and show you what she will. This is a city that will seduce you into having a relationship with her, Lahore that old dame of a city, will expect you to make calls again and again if you want to grasp her luxuries of a human and not just material sense. From the Magnificence of places like the Badshahi Masjid and the adjacent Fort, to palatial Shalimar Gardens, from the not to be missed Lahore Museum of Art with the unforgettable starving Buddha sculpture alongside an exquisite collection of Islamic art, design and craft. There are endless hours to be spent perusing the many bookshelves that line the city shops and as English is so widely available throughout the whole of Pakistan you’ll find plenty to read. Then there are endless alleyways for shopping with convenient tea rooms for sugary milk chai and restaurants alongside typical Pakistani street vendor food. Not to be missed is ‘pan’ a delicacy of sweet spice served in large green leaf and eaten whole straightaway from the vendor’s fingers.

Everything you will do in Lahore will be packed with people but what is so remarkable about this city and land is just how pleasant everyone is. Pakistan is full of remarkable enthusiastic citizens that are exceptionally kind but the folks of Lahore are a bit more modern and detached in this regard when compared to the rest of the land. Certainly the coolest Lahori is beyond happy and welcoming when compared to a cool Northern European who borders on the cold. But when compared within what I experienced in my stay in south eastern Pakistan the Lahori were a bit more urban and aloof. That is not to say that the Lahori were unkind in anyway it is just as a pale faced westerner you will be welcomed with a polite detachment. You can rest assured on your visit that the Lahoris’ while still remaining true to the Pakistani way of being whole heartedly gracious and kind more so even in the ways that one can expect the Muslims the world over to be for Lahore is still very much a part of the truly remarkable Pakistan of today!

These words here are only scratching the surface of this multi-faceted city which is at once modern and beautifully tumble down. This is really a massive urban styled Shangri-la for Pakistan and it is among the friendliest and enchanting places of the world. I can’t help but agreeing with the travel books that you just haven’t lived until you’ve been to Lahore!