Our quiet little Spring Break in Lahore ended up being pretty jam packed with fun. Events during the week included: playdates at Aarno, Esha and Zain/Suraya's houses, M-TH daily yoga for Christine, a Rafi Peer Puppet Festival, 2 trips to the home of Rangdey Truck Art, a failed attempt to see Beauty and the Beast (technological issues), a 'Thank You' massage and facial for Christine from a colleague, lots of grading by Randy, a Sunday brunch date, Mahnoor's birthday party, 2 LAS-hosted events- a pool party and victorious night of pub trivia at the International Club, first ever friends sleepover and a zoo trip during our stay across the street at the Avari Hotel. Busy times, good times.
With just over three weeks for our Christmas vacation and having
spent the first two weeks in Borneo, we wanted to do something in the last few
days of our holiday. So, we headed
north, into the hills, into the mountains north of Islamabad. We had a good but quick trip north, including
getting far enough north (in the Himalayas) to get out of Punjab and into the
province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and far enough west a day later to get into the
KP (or Northwest Frontier Province) as well.
The girls definitely saw snow--lots of it--and got to play in it
for the first time.
We were up a lot higher than I thought we would be--by the time we
hit Ayubia National Park near Nathia Gali we were nearly at 10,000 feet at the
park...and even our hotel in Murree was around 7500 feet.
We took a pretty thrilling--and chilling (it was COLD)--ride in a three-kilometer
chairlift up a mountaintop...and back down. Girls were scared but also a
bit excited about it.
And then on our Islamabad day, we went west on the road toward
Peshawar to visit the ruins of Taxila, visiting the museum first and then three
ancient sites.
Sticking with tradition for at least another year, we
spent our Christmas holiday on an island:
Borneo.
Flying from our home in Lahore, Pakistan, to Sri
Lanka, with an overnight stay in Colombo courtesy of the airline, we then flew
on Christmas Eve from Colombo through Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah,
Borneo, Malaysia (city, state, island, country). We spent Christmas Day and the next in Kota
Kinabalu, relaxing at the hotel, reading, eating, and splashing in the rooftop
pool. It was a nice way to unwind before
our tour of Borneo really began.
Tuesday the 27th of December, we were
picked up by our tour guide and driver and transferred about ten minutes away
to a different hotel—a much nicer one at that.
We were introduced to our guide David and driver Fender, both very nice
and knowledgeable and helpful. That
night, we were driven a bit up into the mountains to the Mari Mari Cultural
Village, where we saw replicas of various tribal houses and villages, sampled
food, participated in a few fun activities, and enjoyed a traditional music and
dance performance (Anastasia even joined in on stage!) followed by dinner. For Talula, the highlight was all the kittens
around. And she’d see even more
throughout our tour, much to her delight.
For Anastasia, the highlight was probably the tapioca and the honey
tastings. They also had some rice wine,
which was all right but nothing special.
Wednesday morning at breakfast in the hotel, Anastasia
went on her own to get some chicken sausage at the buffet. She asked a boy about her age for
assistance. For the rest of the holiday,
we would poke fun at her and her new boyfriend, “Sausage Boy.” (My favourite bit was telling her that she
liked him because she never “sausage” a face as his. Yes, “Dad Jokes” really are that awesome).
After breakfast we left the city and headed for the
mountains. On our way to Mt. Kinabalu,
we stopped along a river and traversed a suspension bridge that led directly
into a village market—giving us some local flavor. At the national park surrounding Mt.
Kinabalu, we explored a botanical garden and went on a little nature walk. Anastasia enjoyed leading the way, while our
tour guide David walked more with Christine and me to tell us about the flora
and fauna and about the mountain itself and surrounding park. It’s a huge place. After lunch, we had another hike up a
mountain, this one a bit more strenuous.
It was only five hundred meters, but it was five hundred meters of
climbing up a mountain side. Anastasia
just about ran up the path, climbing the steps as quickly as she could, and I
struggled to keep up with her while Christine had the unenviable job of encouraging
Talula to keep trudging up the pathway.
In the middle was David, our guide, probably not too sure with whom to
walk. Once we made it high up into the
treetops, we then enjoyed a pretty thrilling canopy walk. It was much higher than some of the walks we
had done in New Zealand or Florida, and the view was incredible. In the same area as the canopy walk, we also
explored a butterfly garden and saw—and smelled—some sulphur hot springs.
That night we stayed at a pine resort in the
mountains. Christine and I sat out on
the front porch overlooking Mt. Kinabalu and sipped some wine while the girls
ate ice cream. Win win.
Walking around the resort that evening with the girls,
I had a little conversation with them. Talula told me that I was a strong boy.
“Why not a man?” I asked her.
“Okay, you’re a strong old man.”
I winced. “Old? Let’s go back to boy.”
She replied, “But you ARE old, Daddy.”
Thanks, Talula.
The next day, we had a long overland transfer, five
hours, to our rainforest lodge. However,
we made a few stops along the way, including a stop for refreshments at a
little roadside restaurant serving up some pork pau (a Chinese bun,
essentially). We also stopped to see a
couple of very famous flowers that were in bloom: the Rafflesia, which are humongous flowering
plants found in Southeast Asia. They’re
not easy to find, which explains why we had to pay an admission fee to get in
to see these impressive flowers.
From the tour van, we then transferred at a jetty onto
a little narrow boat to cross the Sukau Kinabatangan River to our rainforest
lodge. From there, we would take a
series of boat cruises, starting late that afternoon. On our first boat cruise, we spotted
hornbills, several hawks, egrets, a kingfisher, a blue-throated bee-eater, and
numerous proboscis monkeys. At the lodge
itself, we would see wild boar, turkeys, and many monkeys, mostly long-tailed
and short-tailed macaques.
Our second day in the rainforest involved three
separate boat rides of two hours each:
one early morning, one late afternoon, and one night cruise. During our early-morning cruise, we saw more
proboscis monkeys, hornbills, eagles, and, most importantly, orang-utans! There was a group, or rather, a congress, of
about eight orang-utans hanging in a tree, eating and playing. During the afternoon cruise, we saw another
highlight: a crocodile. We saw two more crocs on the night cruise,
which was interesting. David used a
heavy-duty flashlight to search for animals, and occasionally turned it off to
give us complete darkness (the stars were amazingly bright). We saw several sleeping critters: two monkeys cuddled together in a tree, a
very cute little kingfisher gripping a branch and sleeping soundly, and other
birds. The crocodiles were awake, of
course, as was the large brown owl, a buffy fish owl who was perched on a limb
over the water, hunting for fish, presumably.
We found an additional sleeping animal on our boat: Talula.
She denied it, but we have pictures.
The following day, Saturday, was New Year’s Eve. We left the rainforest lodge for Gomantong
Caves, where we saw a mother and baby orang-utan on a walkway in the jungle
before entering the bat cave. The cave
has a significant economic impact in the community, but not just due to
tourism. Besides all the bats in the
caves, there are also swiftlets whose bird nests are edible, if you so desire,
and are a popular delicacy in China.
Even less appetizing in the cave would be all the roaches there,
crawling everywhere, including all along the walkway and the railings. The girls in particular were creeped out by
the roaches. And as much as you may want
to grab the hand rails, think twice. The
smell of bat guano is also strong in places, adding another element to assault
one’s senses.
We then drove onward to Sandakan, where we had a nice
lunch on a hill overlooking the water at an English tea house. Then we visited two animal sanctuaries,
conveniently located next to one another:
one for sun bears and one for orang-utans. We could also hear pygmy elephants in the
jungle, but we didn’t get to actually see them.
From there it was a quick half-hour flight back to
Kota Kinabalu, a more favorable option than driving six or seven hours through
the mountains again. It was New Year’s
Eve, and we celebrated by going to the mall across the street from our hotel
and having sushi for dinner there.
Sunday, New Year’s Day, we were on the water. First, we took a boat (something
significantly larger—and covered—than the ones in the rainforest) out to a
coral reef in the Tunku Abdul Rehman Marine Park. The girls tried snorkelling for the first
time. Talula spent a little more time in
the water than her sister, however.
Within a few seconds of being in the water, Anastasia suddenly freaked
out and swam back to the boat. She
thought she had seen a huge fish, right below her. Something big and blue. It was one of the dive master’s fins. Christine spent more time on the water,
although in our second snorkelling location, the girls took turns on an
inflatable goose tied behind the boat, which was safely anchored. (Everyone also had floatation jackets on). After the snorkelling sessions, we had lunch
and some beach time on little Gaya Island where we encountered some wild boar
and a few giant lizards.
Then we were transferred back to our hotel and our
tour was over. We had two more days in
Kota Kinabalu, just to relax, walk around a bit, enjoy some seafood and local
food, including a meal served entirely on banana leaves, and splash in the
hotel pool. We simply bathed in the
warmth of the nearly-Equatorial sunshine before heading back to the cold and
smog of wintertime Lahore. As we flew
home on Thursday, 5 January, we left Kota Kinabalu’s sunshine behind, flying
through Kuala Lumpur, and then boarded our first successful flight on Pakistan
Airways (a previous attempt in the spring resulted in a cancelled flight and
thus a cancelled vacation), where we landed amid some pretty severe smog in
Lahore.
We are ready for summer already. Or at least spring.
With a full week off for Eid Al-Adha this September, we flew from Lahore through Muscat to Salalah in southern Oman, known for its green mountains and valleys thanks to Khareef (monsoon) season that lasts throughout the summer and ends in September. While much of the Arabian peninsula is desert, and indeed parts of Salalah too, the Dhofar region in southern Oman is much greener than the rest of the country.
On our first full day in Oman, a Sunday, we let the girls play at our resort hotel’s playground after breakfast, thus starting a regular routine for the rest of the trip. Then we drove out to Al-Mughsayl Beach, thirty kilometers west of Salalah. We visited Marnif Cave (definitely a misnomer since it’s really just an eroded rocky outcropping that you walk under) and some blowholes nearby. The girls had a blast gettings soaked there as each big wave spurted out from under the rocks.
Then we tried a restaurant there overlooking the ocean. Originally, we tried to order chicken nuggets and sandwiches from the menu, but the waiter told us they didn’t have that. He suggested chicken tenders and French fries, so we agreed to that. Then, he came back and told us no chicken--just the fries. We left. We ended up eating at a Lebanese restaurant near the hotel--not an oceanside view, but the food was really good. They had excellent fattoush, possibly the best I’ve ever had, plus very good hummous, filafel, lemon juice with mint, the usual. Our day then ended with time in the hotel pool, which was huge and had a children’s pool and a hot tub as well, so the girls divided their time not quite equally among those attractions. Monday, we drove eastward to Taqah, thirty-five kilometers away. We climbed a little hill to the small town’s fort overlooking Taqah--a pretty scenic view that also gave us a vantage point to some animal slaughtering in celebration of Eid. Goats were the primary food source, although we did see a guy walking around town with a cow head. We also saw some animal entrails on the side of the highway a few times. Also in Taqah, we spent some by the khor (the beach) where some fresh water rain into the ocean. There were quite a few birds, some fish, some greenery. It was a pleasant location. Back in Salalah, we hit the mall, where we enjoyed lunch at a coffee shop, reminiscent of the old days in Abu Dhabi. The next day, we drove up into the Dhofar Mountains north of Salalah, thus completing each direction one could go without running straight into the ocean. We visited the tomb of An-Nabi Ayyub (the Biblical Job), almost certainly NOT his legitimate final resting place. Nevertheless, the hilltop spot provided views of some beautiful vistas of nearby wadis (valleys) and mountainsides. We had a quick picnic lunch in the mountains before heading back down the southern slopes to town and more pool time at the hotel. Wednesday, we visited the Al Baleed Archaeological Site nearby. We had a fairly long walk all around the site, including a decent oceanside boardwalk view. Then we visited the adjacent Land of Frankincense Museum, which is much more than frankincense. It provided a solid history of the archaeological site and of Salalah and Oman in general. Afterward, we stopped at a coconut stall and bought one for each of us. The guy running the stall cut each coconut open and inserted a straw--instant refreshment. We also ate the coconut after finishing the juice. Then it was on to another Lebanese restaurant, this one with a family room where we ate in a private little cubicle with a pair of couches, a table, and a big flat-screen TV where we watched Sherlock Holmes--in English, a treat since our hotel room TV had nothing in English. The hummous was really good, but the mixed seafood grill (fish, prawns, squid) was overcooked. At least the lemon juice with mint was decent.
The following day, we picked up some picnic grub at a Lulu Hypermarket (yet another reminder of Abu Dhabi) and headed west again, this time past Al-Mughsayl Beach up into the green Dhofar Mountains. We had a mountaintop picnic overlooking a very scenic valley that, after a quick hike around a hill, led to a view of a private beach and inlet boasting some very green ocean water. We saw camels grazing on the mountain tops--quite an unusual, unexpected sight. We also saw hundreds of camels outside Salalah, around various nomad-like farms and tent camps. Some tents had huge outdoor grills serving up goat and camel meat, with the animal skins hanging on display like storefront decorations. This was also an unusual area because of the numerous isolated playgrounds scattered along the way. Presumably, families would buy the meat and then have picnics near these playgrounds, but it seemed to be either too early in the day or too late in the season for us. The monsoon rains from Khareef season were pretty much over, although the mountains and valleys were still very green and there was still quite a bit of Salalah’s characteristic fog in the mountains, adding a little mystery and a lot of vegetation to an otherwise desert region. Friday was our final day in Oman. We spent a leisurely morning at the hotel resort, between the children’s playground, the beach, and the pool, followed by a visit to the mall again after checking out of the hotel, and then we flew back to Lahore that night (after an eight-hour layover in Muscat).
17 April 2016
After an hour's drive out of Lahore, just off the M2 to Islamabad, we reached Hiran Minar. Mughal Emperor Jahangir built this memorial to his favorite antelope upon its passing in 1604. It's a beautiful walk around an artificial pond, with sights including the minar itself, the octagonal pavilion connected to land by an arched causeway, wooded paths and kingfishers. On our way back we passed brick kilns (and their oppressive work environments) which strongly contrasted with the opulent birthday party we later attended. So in one day we saw the greatest period of the region along with its current dearth and abundance. CLICK here to see the photos
