Karachi Ka pictorial safar-nama: by Gamma

Society Travel & Tourism
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I set off for karachi on 25th of december with PIA. As usual , PIA’s Plane arrived 2 hours late at Amsterdam’s schipol airport and there was delay in boarding too so in total it was over 3 hours late.

My destination was karachi but flight was routed through islamabad. Due to the delay i missed my flight to karachi and aba-hazor shouted at everyone at the airport from the chaprasi at PIA check in counter to the manager of PIA at Islamabad International Airport which was less tolerable than the 7 hour waiting. We had to wait 4 hours for the next flight so i took some pictures. Islamabad airport’s waiting lounge has seen good changes:

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*1. Entrance to waiting lounge *

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*2. Waiting lounge *

I arrived in karachi had a few days of dinner/Lunch invitations from all over the karachi (actually from country) as the onslaught of constant invitations came to rest i set out into the city.

First was ** Bans Road**. This is where the roots of karachi are setted.
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*3. Two typical Buses and an old Taxi with Karachi License plate *

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*4. One of the oldest Building in Karachi. Dates back to the time of partition *

After this i decided to go towards Clifton. On the way i encountred the newly arrived “Green Bus” , passing an old bus, symbolising the advancement of Metropolitan’s transport system into the 21st century.
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    1. Green bus and an old bus . In the background the Shaheen Complex can be seen *

I got into Clifton through the famous Clifton Bridge:
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    1. The ‘double flyover’ has a highway passing under it. *
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As soon as the flyover ends you see the PSO's (Pakistan State Oil) relatively new building which is one of my favourite buildings in karachi (maybe Pakistan). The building reminds me of hanging gardens of babylon , maybe if the ancient babalonians were to construct a moderen structure of steel and glass they might come up with somthing like this :

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* 7. PSO's head office. appologies for clearity problems. *

Next comes the ** 3 swords ** which are a monument reminding us (pakistanis) of Jinnah's 3 principals : Faith, Unity and Descipline. Its ironic that the amount of Descipline in the general public can be judged by the need of having a banner over the traffic lights telling the motorists to stop their vehicles.
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* 8. Three Swords: Faith , Unity and Descipline . Near Clifton*

Passing the 3 words , i stumbled across the NewsReporters from the ** Indus News / The City Channel ** taking an interview of a traffic police man asking him of the difficulties he faces . I saw the Interview later that evening on Indus News. THis is an example of how the cable network in pakistan despited being criticized , is making a difference , however limited.

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*9. News Reporter from the INDUS NEWS taking an interview next to three swords *

After that I drove off steadily towards Sindbad (the amusment park) near clifton. A new shopping mall was being constructed infront of Sindbad. One of the things that i especially noticed around Karachi was the construction of shopping malls all over the busy/important areas. This has especially became accelerated since September 11th as government has american dollars. The middle/upper class People seem to have more cash these days to spent at these malls which also is providing jobs for the poor:

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* 10. A mall is being constructed infront of Sindbad in clifton. *

We arrived at the clifton seaside. Despite it being a workday the beach was flooded with people. New tiled walkways, benches and umbrellas had been putup and cleaning seemed satisfactory too (accroding to pakistani standards, done by our very own second generation Afghani kids)
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* 11. Clifton Beach with people enjoying the renovated facilities (even the afghani kid whose bag is sitting on the tiles *

Close to Clifton, the Wall originally to give a seaside view has been extened many miles to create an extension to clifton where expensive housing schemes and shopping mall construction is to be inaugurated soon.

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* 11. The Wall into the sea that gives a spectular sea side view *

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* 12. The wall has been extended over 5+ kms *

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* 13. wall being constucted *

A setting calm sun near Clifton:
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* 14. Setting sun. Clifton *

As we were about to leave the seaside i saw a guy ruining his car by driving it in the water doing atleast a 70kph. I thought it must be some rich kid who's dad is an Minister having a ball with his rich friends. Much to my surprise it turned out to be a mullah with his wife and 2 kids seemingly enjoying the risky and costly act. Made me think:

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*15. A Mehran driving into the water *

As we were going back i had to take a picture of ** JonyBr and Phajja jee's ** beloved ** The Village **. Next day i made beuffet reservation with family and came starved to the resturant and left with a stomach ache. I ate: 3 batair (quails) , 2 chicken leg pieces, 1 naan, biryani, saag, chicken pakoray , gulab jamun, Kulfis, Feerni, paan, laasi and much more. My fav resturant in karachi has to be The village:

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* 16. The Village : a village themed resturant with a sea side view on a peer *

East meets West. Right next to The Village is the biggest macdonald in asia:
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* 17. Largest Drivein/Resturant/park macdonalds owns in this part of the world . clifton *

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Next week i went Fishing with family. We hired a launch from ** kimari **and i took the following pictures:

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* 18.Over looking clifton from water. You can observe the in water hills from land in Image 11 *

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* 19. Another look at image 18 *

The launch operator dropped the anchor near ** pakistan's worst envirnomental disaster ** ever. I am talking about the oil spill. We were fishing few hundred meters from where the disaster happened.
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* 20. Oil Spill and the chosen fishing spot! *

Even though the water was still oily and dark with hydrocarbons the waters seemed teeming with life. I spotted two huge school of fish passing by. And eveb though it was my first attempt at catching fish i was able to catch 5 fish and a crab. Altogether our family caught around 30 fish:
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* 21. My family's bounty *

After a while we had more fish then we could possibly eat. So we stopped and had the crew operating launch cook it.
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* 22. Fish being cut , cleaned and cooked (thats my foot on the left ) *

After we were fully stuffed and the sun was setting we decided to go back.
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* 23. Setting sun *

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** Other pictures: **
I went to National Meusem and took a picture of a set potraying sindhi village life.
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* 24. Interesting, Expected, Depressing all at the same time. And more. *

Before heading to clifton i had a plate of the famous karachi biryani
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*25. Plate of traditional biryani *

On the way to Clifton we pass close to the sherton Hotel. This is where there was a bomb attack recently.
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* 26. Sherton , Karachi *

In clifton , A radio cab, an addition to Karachi's Public Transport System, over took us.
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* 27. A Radio cab operated by KPTS *

Night near Gulistan-e-Johar.
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*28. Billboards, billboards everywhere not a useful thing to see *
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* 29. Under Flyover.. billboards everywhere *

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Watching my frist Lolly wood movie: Larki Punjaban... meet some real characters there as i thought i was a piece of work ... i saw people that put me to shame. It was an enjoyable family experience:

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* 30. Larki Punjaban about to be run *

Driving close to Aladin
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* 31.Aladin Shopping and amusment park in the "city of no lights" *

Our Journey ends near the Quaid's Tomb:
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* 32. night time quaid sleeps...so does the nation *

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* 33. Thank you shell for ripping us off *

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* 34. The full checkup went till the evening. Millinium mall in the background. *

To sum it up my trip to karachi (pakistan) was elightening. It has strengtened the love / Hate relation i have with my land.... and my respect for the concept and its people has grown further. Long Live Pakistan.

** Note: Please ask me before using any of my pictures in any form , thank you **

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wowww :k:

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pak :love:

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zaberdastt :love:

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:eek: :eek: Holy crappamoly!!!

Great pics gammi :k: DO I get to see urs too?

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i am gonna meet you in person 2morrow… so no needs for dee pics

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beautiful :k:

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Awesome pictures Gamma…Thanks for sharing…:jhanda:

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some of the pics are really :Pretty:. its a pity though that somehow some of the outstanding pics (PSO House, the sunset and that of the mehran running into the water..class acts :k: ) came out a bit screwed up.

Lagta hai aap ne daba ke shugal kia hai. Chaa nahin gae aap? :~)

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Beautiful Pics :k:

Karachi ki yaad aagyee In pictures ko dekh kar :frowning:

thanks for sharing

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Mashallah allah mian humarei pakistan ko kisi ki nazar na lagayei

Ameen

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:jhanda: :k:

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wow zabardast pics :k::k:

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Re: Karachi Ka pictorial safar-nama: by Gamma

oh my goddddddddddddddddddddd :teary2: i have travlled so much in 4L :frowning:

iss kay aagay waali design say mujhay 2D lagtee hay :crying:

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Thanxx a ton Gamma, thanx for reminding soamny thignsss :k: