what are your shopping essentials when on a trip to pakistan/india/bangladesh? What are those things that you wait to buy only there?
Re: shopping essentials
clothes, clothes and more clothes :) :)
Re: shopping essentials
Most importantly CLOTHES
then other things like, all the masalas, padads, daals, home made aachar, sweets, fresh ghee that my naani make at her house ( we freeze it for 2 days prior to our travel) etc etc coz the quality is different compared to what you get outside India. I live in Bahrain, so its only 3 hrs away by flight , its easier to bring all these things, they don't get spoiled or spill in your suitcase, hell the one time i brought with me 10 kilos of fresh vegetables and a kilo of fresh paneer !!!!! my mom after having spent 30 yrs outside bombay still craves and raves about indian vegetables !!! lol you would think i live on pluto or something !!! but my mom likes us to bring it .
All those munching knick knacks like spicy banana chips, chana-chor etc you get in the grocery shops, also the mouth freshers ( mukhwas) that you find at indian restaurant, i bring them by the kilo and its usually gone in one week
I love how in india you get things in small sizes like shampoo, soaps and creams..... i buy all the itty bitty sizes they look sooooo cute and well i like to play them , pretend I'm a giant!!!!
Some time the religious stuff, like if we need agarbatti's and stuff like that for the mandir
and the best part is the food that you get to eat while you are there......i'm going in april for a week , cannot wait for bombay-sandwhich, paav bhaaji, vada pav etc etc ... yummmmmm
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lol @Payal
yea … i am going end of next week back home too .. it’s been quite a while … lucky for you that you have a short flight .. but still … there is no check on bringing perishable items?
i am sooooooooo looking forward to home-made chapatis and lots of desi food that is sort of trickling out of my memory and i need to refresh it … my mother asked me to make a list of everything i want to eat when im there … but i just cant. other that i am really looking forward to … dahi barhay and chana chaat and fruit chaat and milkshakes and challi and paaaan … lol, yes i love paan …
but m having second thoughts about buying clothes … i dont really have a desi community to be mingling around with .. and my husband (not desi) isn’t very keen on me wearing a sari to his friends’ gatherings … lol .. i really want to get 1 or 2 casual-formal saris and 1 or 2 formal shalwar kameez … but then im like … where would i wear them to? in the past year the only time i’ve worn shalwar kameez is when we went out for our wedding anniversary, at my graduation, and to this christian event who sponsor some children in pakistan and wanted me to give a little presentation about my country. that is it … and to all these events i basically wore the same thing … because that is the only one i had … lol …
i would love to bring ghee though (good point) .. i wonder if it is allowed 
i need to get curtains for my bedroom 
… i dont like the (affordable) curtains available here … the ones i have right now dont block out light enough .. and it’s going to get even worse in summer … plus the street light RIGHT OUTSIDE my bedroom window is not cool either.
lol @ the small-sized toiletries …
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Clothes,clothes and more clothes...same as clothesmad ...then want to eat all authentic desi pakistani food...
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My list for next visit.
- I will definitely bring atleast 2 formal shalwar kameez for the 2 Eids for myself and if I can then I bring couple more. Also for my son and husband, kurta shalwar for Eid.
- Henna as I use it sometimes on my hair
- Bed sheets
- Curtains looks like a good idea so I added it just now
- Tava (to make roti)
- Big wall hanging of either Ayat-ul-kursi or something like that
- I plan on bringing Urdu book with urdu alphabets and also books used in class 1 and 2 for urdu for my son as I plan on teaching him to read urdu too
(atleast thats my plan right now as I think the urdu alphabets are close to Arabic so it will be easier to learn along with arabic)
- Plan on eating out as much as I can at places like Pizza hut, nandos, KFC and Arizona grill etc. I miss being able to eat chicken when we go out here.
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CLOTHES!! churiyan, masala's, dry fruits :D
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Oh mehndiiiiiiii .. haaaaaaan !!! thanx for reminding me ... i also want to bring that. i want to get tava as well ... but then sara wazan usi ka bun jayega :( ... i just dont get it how people do their shaadi ki shopping in pakistan, including gold ... and then take it abroad with them .... wouldnt it be super expensive? how do you guys do it? i think its about 2000 rupees extra per kilo ... no?
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Oh mehndiiiiiiii .. haaaaaaan !!! thanx for reminding me ... i also want to bring that. i want to get tava as well ... but then sara wazan usi ka bun jayega :( ...** i just dont get it how people do their shaadi ki shopping in pakistan, including gold ... and then take it abroad with them .... wouldnt it be super expensive? how do you guys do it? i think its about 2000 rupees extra per kilo ... no?**
anyone?
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Why do you need to go over your allowed baggage? You've clearly mentioned you won't be getting much clothes from Pakistan that means you'll have plenty of room for anything else you want to bring. But lets say even if I do go over my allowed limit and have enough things for one more bag, i don't mind paying extra.
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farrah, I don't know who you are flying with but my dad was saying PIA allows unaccompanied luggage to be booked as cargo. Things like the tava and other heavy stuff you can make a box of and bring it back like that.
Re: shopping essentials
farrah, I don't know who you are flying with but my dad was saying **PIA **allows unaccompanied luggage to be booked as cargo. Things like the tava and other heavy stuff you can make a box of and bring it back like that.
yes.
noted! thanks :)
Re: shopping essentials
I do not take much stuff with me when going to Pakistan. I do not wear my jeans or western clothes there so I dont take them. I have some clothes at my place in Pakistan and whenever I go, I get a couple stitched to wear there.
I left some of my son's clothes there, last time when I went to give it to any needy person.
So I had space and weight to bring stuff back.
I keep all my gold in my handbag.
Cargo is not cheap either. I tried sending some stuff by cargo from one city to another and it was costing around the same amount I would need to pay if I took an extra bag in domestic flight.
Not sure how much is it for international cargo.
Also I did not have problem because I could take 2 bags for myself and 1 for my son.
And if the bag is getting too heavy, you have to decide what is more important to bring back.
I do not like paying extra for the bag as it takes away the point of the price difference if I pay $50 to $70 for an additional bag, unless the stuff really needs to be brought back.
Last time at airport a saw (I guess) a new dulhan who was moving from Pak to US and had heavy bags or may be one extra luggage and she was asked to pay $75 or $85 by PIA staff.