I had to go for some business at the Pakistani embassy today, I hadn’t been to the one in Cairo before and didn’t know what to expect.
Well my wife and I were pleasantly surprised to find a fine old stately mansion in the middle of downtown Cairo flying the Chand Tara. We were greeted by a bearded elderly chap who spoke fluent Arabic and of course Urdu and immaculate English.
It was a chilly day (uncommon for this time of the year) and we were offered dud patti and sundry snacks and a little chit chat before business.
I’ve been to many embassies around the world and dealing with the staff is always hectic to say the least. But today in this little corner of Pakistan in Cairo the affairs were taken care of briskly with the utmost courtesy and friendliness.
my parents used to live in Tunis n Libya when my brothers and i were born, in the late 70’s and early 80’s…and they also tell us that the pakistani embassy staff there was really nice and they used to visit there and know everyone there
its a bit different in the usa coz there so so many pakistanis…i have had only one experience in dealing with the LA consulate here in the usa and phone per toh unhon ne koi khaas meethi baatein naheen keen theen par baycharon ko jab mein ne bataya ke i am in a rush they processed my documents pretty fast…
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*Originally posted by Thap: *
I had to go for some business at the Pakistani embassy today, I hadn’t been to the one in Cairo before and didn’t know what to expect.
Well my wife and I were pleasantly surprised to find a fine old stately mansion in the middle of downtown Cairo flying the Chand Tara. We were greeted by a bearded elderly chap who spoke fluent Arabic and of course Urdu and immaculate English.
It was a chilly day (uncommon for this time of the year) and we were offered dud patti and sundry snacks and a little chit chat before business.
I’ve been to many embassies around the world and dealing with the staff is always hectic to say the least. But today in this little corner of Pakistan in Cairo the affairs were taken care of briskly with the utmost courtesy and friendliness.
I think I’ll visit the place more often.
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Thap I've seen the Pakistani embassy in Cario its nice
It beats the pants off the UK/US Embassy buildings...but admittedly the nicest embassy and grounds are not far from where I live...the Mexican Embassy.
Nice to hear about the Cairo Embassy and the good experience you had there.
However I went to the Washington Pakistan Embassy......oh man....what an embarrasment.
Floor was cracked the door was dirty to the point that I almost didnt want to touch it . The people were rude and needless to say that nothing got done. It seemed as if I was bothering them there.
At that time I compared a few other embassies ( at least from outside and entrance ) on the same street and each and every one of them was more presentable.
If any officials of Paksitan read this please take note of the fact that your embassies reflect your peoples' personality.
I think we can do better than that. Much better than that.
Very similar to what i had experienced at the PIA office at JFK airport in New York city, aug/sept 1998. Part of a very long and tiring story, i had to catch a plane (extreme emergency) from nyc to karachi. the plane left at 11 pm and i got there at 10.45. (i had arrived in new york from houston 30 minutes ago at La Guardia).
Oh, i still had to buy my ticket.
Needless to say time won the race and i was left reeling at the PIA office with the plane already left for karachi. The incharge of the place (a captain ahmed) saw my despair and let me use the office phone with a generous offer to call anywhere in north america to do whatever it took to arrange a stay in new york. when it took me a while to get help he even stayed there for a whole extra hour (everyone else had left) before someone i knew in new jersey arrived to pick me up. oh and ofcourse the donuts and deli sandwiches and coffee was on the house too.
Something you'd only expect around Pakistanis. Hospitality is our middle name.
Talking about embassies i couldnt believe my eyes when i saw that at the one at toronto, people actually line up!! And taking a number doesn't mean you're taking a number just for the heck of it. Pulling a ticket from that big round tape isnt a formality anymore, its for real!
i have always been travelling alone for abt 5 yrs now as well and i can second that…some of our countryppl ppl who work in these airline offices r so nice…
Allah ka shukar hay never faced such a situation but did hear from others abt their similar experiences…
I was at the British Embassy this morning; understandably the security was tight as a gnats arse. Much of town was cordoned off incase of attack.
Anyway to cut a long story shorter...
I was to get some paperwork done; the most sour-faced middle aged hag on this side of the Med took great relish in telling me I needed to get so and so stamped across town before I could get my shipment through customs.
Anyway so after spending about 10 minutes being as polite as possible and running circles around her with logical/flattering verbal prose I was finally met with........"You are not in immigration and customs, so you know nothing"
At that point rather than lose my temper I replied ........."obviously you haven't had any for quite some time madam, I suggest you take the morning off and visit the Turkish Baths in Mohandseen" ....well I'd like to have said that instead I said "you know what I bet outside of this plastic booth and away from all this bureaucracy I bet I could make you smile".....I bet I couldn’t actually.
Anyway the British Embassy in Cairo is a fortress manned by bitter old grunts. I'm considering going for dual nationality now.
I am very proud of our pakistani embassy in toronto..last year they had a small place..but now they moved to a bigger place..there’s more space to sit..there’s a big tv there..and walls contain all the travel tourism photographs..it looks very neat and tidy.
and uncle on the counter is very very helpful and polite..he can speak several languages with fluency..
