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Pakistan |
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Karachi
Pakistan's commercial centre and largest city is a sprawling place of bazaars, hi-tech electronic shops, scurf-infested older buildings and modish new hotels. Its sights are spread far and wide so a taxi or rickshaw is necessary to travel between them. A good place to start is the Quaid-i-Azam Mausoleum, a monument to Pakistan's founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah which can be charitably described as distinctive. More impressive is the remarkable white-marbled Defence Housing Society Mosque. The single dome, claimed to be the largest of its kind in the world, will make your gum cleave to the roof of your mouth. Above the mosque is Honeymoon Lodge, birthplace of the Aga Khan. Other sights include the Holy Trinity Cathedral and St Andrew's Church (both good examples of Anglo-Indian architecture), the city's zoo, and the Zoroastrian Towers of Silence, hills where the dead are traditionally exposed to vultures. South of the city is Clifton, a former British hangout and now an exclusive coastal corner for the local wealthy, the popular but rather drab Clifton Beach, and Manora Island, a less-crowded beach resort. Saddar, the city centre, is the main shopping area with thriving markets selling carpets, fur coats, leather jackets, snake-skin purses, silk scarves and the country's biggest range of handicrafts. It also has a number of food stalls and cheap restaurants and the majority of budget hotels. Nightlife in Karachi is an oxymoron. If travel outside of Karachi is possible, then the archaeological site of Moenjodaro - once a city of an Indus Valley civilisation - and the Chaukundi tombs are well worth a visit. Being the commercial and unofficial capital of Pakistani, flights
in and out of Karachi are numerous but it's worth checking the ETA
of your flight. Karachi is at the epicentre of political and ethnic
tensions; a tension that is cranked up to knife edge proportions
when combined with rival drug gangs, political assassinations, and
terrorist bombings. If your flight touches down in the middle of the
night it would be wise to wait until sunrise before catching a taxi.
For the same reason catching buses should be avoided for the
foreseeable future. Buy a train ticket instead: trains run from
Karachi to most major destinations.
Today, after many years of excavation, Moenjodaro has come to be known as one of the most spectacular ancient cities of the world. Whether it shared its leadership with Harappa or not, it was certainly a metropolis of the first order. It had mud-brick and baked-brick buildings, an elaborate covered drainage system with soak-pits for disposal bins, a large state granary, a spacious pillared hall, a College of Priests, a large and imposing building (probably a palace), and a citadel mound which incorporates in its margin a system of solid burnt brick towers. Efforts are being made to save the ruins from crumbling due to rising water table.
BanbhoreAbout 64 km (40 miles) east of Karachi is Banbhore, an archeaological site which some scholars identify with Daibul, the port city where the Arab general, Mohammad Bin Qasim, landed in 712 A.D. The Museum at site houses a rich collection of painted pottery, coins, beads etc. Haleji LakeAsia's greatest water fowl reserve, Haleji lake is 70 km (about 52 miles) from Karachi. During winter, a hundred thousand birds fly down to Haleji from the cold of Siberia. It is a bird watchers' paradise. ThattaThatta, about 98 km (61 miles) east of Karachi, remained the capital of Sind for about four centuries. Today, it is notable for a vast necropolis of a million graves scattered over an area of 10 sq. km. (six sq. miles) on Makli Hills. Some of these tombs and graves are exquisite specimens of architecture, stone-carving and glazed tile decorations. Also in Thatta is the Shahjahan Mosque built on the orders of Emperor Shahjahan. Its blue tiles and mosaic work are alluring. |
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Karachi is the
capital of the Sind province. It is a bustling center of commerce and industry,
a big port and the largest city of Pakistan with a population of over seven
million. It has an International Airport which is a major link on all east and
west air routes. Karachi has sunny beaches at Sandspit, Hawkes Bay, Paradise Point and
Clifton. It has a lot to offer, including the National Museum, the Hill Park, a
golf course, 
