Beauty in a sad setting

2023 was a year that saw only the renewal of our expired visas despite the never-ending wish list of my better half. So our weekend sojourns were mostly local: double-decker bus rides to Old Lahore and its Food Street; strolling around the Lahore Fort and the Shahi Guzar-Gah; renewing our acquaintance with the exquisite Shalimar Gardens and Jehangir’s Tomb and re-living our history at the Lahore Museum. Perhaps our most memorable visit this year was tagging along with friends to the opening of the historic Cecil Hotel, Murree, in April 2023.

With PC Hotels now managing it, the Cecil has been painstakingly and lovingly restored to its hey-day glory. The beauty of its façade is reflected in its lavish interiors: polished wooden floors and ceilings, period furniture, historic paintings and tapestry-adorned partition screens combine to take one back in time. It was indeed a dream come true, for who could have believed that the Cecil would rise again like a phoenix from the sad shell it was reduced to when we visited almost a decade ago?

While there is no denying the glory of the restored building, for me, unfortunately, the takeaway was how poor planning could mar the loveliest of things. The iconic building now stands rather unhappy in its splendour, surrounded by ugly evidence of the rampant commercialisation destroying the delicate fabric of the hill station. Once set on tens of acres of open forest land with commanding views over Murree and its surroundings, the Cecil now has little land to itself. The view is rudely interrupted by innumerable apartment buildings that can only be described as eyesores. The highlight of childhood trips to Murree was always “tea with a view at Cecil.” I still have a few blurry pictures of the unobstructed views taken with my 35mm camera back in the day, now destroyed by ugly grey structures constructed without any allowance for the terrain or the character of a hill station.

So, for Cecil, we have both a happy and a sad ending. While witnessing a forsaken part of colonial Murree return to life was wonderful, it was also sad to see its surroundings eaten away by unplanned and unaesthetic commercial interests. Perhaps if the commercial expansion had been more aesthetically planned in sync with the landscape, the Cecil would not have looked so sorrowful and lonely.

When all’s said and done, 2024 will surely see the materialisation of some of our 2023 travel plans, aka my wife’s wish list. So whether we shall stand amidst beautiful tulip fields in the Netherlands, marvel at Delphi’s sanctuary in Greece, walk the streets of Vincent Van Gough’s Arles in France or imbibe the splendid architecture of Dubrovnik, Croatia, is still to be decided. But one thing is certain: we sure are going places in 2024.

– Niaz Ali Akbar is a development professional and an avid traveller. He can be reached at niazakbar@gmail.com

No Nigeria, yes Rwanda

Being a patriotic Pakistani, I hate to see any other nation get ahead of my homeland. When I heard that Nigeria had surpassed Pakistan in corruption, the news made my blood boil. I wanted to go to Nigeria and discover what made them shine so bright in this category.

There was another reason to visit the west coast of Africa. I was born in the year 63 of the last century. I turned sixty this year. A popular Urdu saying can be translated in English as, ‘When you turn sixty, you are finishty.’ It's too bad finishty is not an English word. I made it up to make the English translation rhyme, as does the original saying in Urdu. The notion holds currency in other cultures as well. Most working people retire around that age and slowly start phasing out. The sixty-something people are also supposed to be slowly losing their minds and are prone to do stupid things. How could I act imbecile on my 60th birthday? Go to Nigeria, limping – I had broken my left leg watching skiers on a slope near Reykjavik.

Just like deceptions worn by the airports and the five-star hotels in Third World countries, websites featuring the bureaucratic process related to a particular public need can make you believe things worked logically in a place known otherwise. Nigeria made obtaining a tourist visa look easy. You fill out the information online, upload a copy of your passport and the latest photo, pay the visa fee and you are done. Just wait for an email from the Nigerian Immigration. Within 72 hours, you will be notified if your visa application has been accepted or denied. I spent a couple of hours handling the application process and then waited. Having obtained an e-visa for Kenya, I anticipated the Nigerian visa would take slightly longer but still work. It did not. Four days later, I had not received any response. By that time, I was in Nairobi. My Lagos flight was in three days. I decided to inquire with the Nigerian embassy in Nairobi. The staff at the embassy was helpful. Calls were made to Abuja to find out what was happening with my visa application.

A few hours later, I was told something unimaginable had happened. All the visa applications submitted online over the last ten days were lost. Gone…with no records left at all. I had kept copies of every step of the visa application process. I also had confirmation of the visa fee payment. One suggestion for me was to reach Lagos airport with this documentation and try to get a visa on arrival. But my sixth sense told me I was putting myself in a compromising position. What if the Nigerians arrest me for entering the country without a visa? Although I had jail experiences in Colombia and Turkmenistan, spending days behind bars in Nigeria did not appeal to me. The friendly staff at the embassy promised to expedite the visa process if I resubmitted the visa application. How long was the expedited visa process? Three days, I was told. But by that time, Nigeria had lost my trust. I decided to cancel the plan. One close-by country I could go to and get a visa on arrival for sure was Rwanda. So instead of flying to Nigeria, I flew to Rwanda.

Rwanda, along with Uganda and Congo, is a tourist destination for people interested in watching gorillas and chimpanzees in their natural habitat. Sadly, Rwanda is now a bigger attraction for sociologists interested in studying modern-day genocide. A few hours spent at the Genocide Memorial in Kigali made me better understand the social factors that can lead to a pogrom.

At the end of my short Africa trip, Nigeria’s reputation as the citadel of internet scammers came in handy when my repeated requests to refund the visa fees were ignored by the entity that collected the fees on behalf of Nigerian Immigration. I had to make just one call to the credit card company and complain about the Nigerian extortion; the representative on the call said, “Oh, Nigeria,” and the money was returned right away.

– AH Cemendtaur is a social commentator and traveller

A new cache of unknown mysteries

One year departs after having laid bare everything it had carried in its belly and another one beckons with a new cache of unknown mysteries that we would know nothing of until destiny decides to make them known. Did I know the names of the places I was going to visit during 2023 at the beginning of the year? Not even one.

The highlights of the outgoing year were my third visit to Andalusia, a couple of trips to Africa and a very gratifying tour of Central Asia. Most importantly, this year marked the change of my base from London to Dubai, opening many more possibilities for visiting places nearer to this part of the world.

About Andalusia, I thought I had seen the best of this region in my previous visits, but a road trip to the Pueblos Blancos (white villages) of Ronda, Olvera and Setenil de las Bodegas made it clear that the magic of this region’s stunning landscapes of mountains, gorges and bridges was boundless. The bell towers of cathedrals towering over settlements of whitewashed houses built around streets winding up the hills always presented an alluring picture.

When work took me to Cape Town after ten years this August, I felt the optimism in the air had subdued since my last visit, but a drive around Table Mountain, its vineyards, botanical gardens and several beaches below once again captivated me with its splendour. I took the opportunity to visit the landlocked kingdom of Lesotho, which is surrounded on all sides by South Africa. One would have thought this complete envelopment would have deeply influenced every aspect of life in Lesotho, but the contrast with its giant neighbour could not have been more striking. The little-known mountainous country retains its unique character. The roads that wind through these mountains have sparse vehicular traffic, but one often comes across lone Basotho rangers wrapped in colourful woven blankets, walking alongside their herds with the echoes of bells hanging from their necks echoing through the stillness of the mountains.

The third call in Africa was from its pearl, Uganda. Kampala, the chaotic capital of this little country, was notable for its gentle people, busy markets, red earth and inclusive character. Within the city, one found flagship temples catering to followers of a variety of faiths, including Catholics, Sunnis, Bahais, Protestants, Hindus, Protestants, Ismailis and Sikhs. I might have missed a few. In the city of Jinja, where people go to visit the source of the River Nile, on one bright, breezy morning, I was struck by the legacy of the Gujarati Indian community along the main street in the form of buildings from the early 20^th Century with their characteristic family names and year of construction still on the facades.

The year was wrapped up by a trip around the -stans. In Almaty, I saw metro stations as ornate as the ones in Moscow and Tashkent. Atop the Koke Tobe hill, I was overwhelmed by the surprise playing of a Pashto song, “Laar sha Pekhawar ta, kameez tor ma la rawra,” on the park’s speaker system. Next door in Kyrgyzstan, the capital Bishkek impressed with its backdrop of jagged snow-peaked mountains and a spectacular performance of Swan Lake at the opera. Pakistani and Indian students were all over the city and at one of the cafes called OneBucks, they left messages of youthful love, homesickness and freedom for Palestine on post-it notes stuck all over the walls. Across the border in Tajikistan, my mouth still waters at the thought of the freshly grilled fatty kebabs outside the great Panjshambe Bazaar, listening to soulful Tajik music under a starry sky. Lastly, the capital, Dushanbe, full of lavish monuments, greeted me with an unbelievable display at dusk - a loud noise emerged near the main square adorned by the gigantic statue of Ismail Somoni as countless flocks of birds came to perch on the tree branches and started gossiping amongst themselves about the affairs of the day.

Soon, I will add a list of new destinations to my travel hopes for the coming year, but I will be equally happy if those places are replaced by different ones determined by chance. All that matters is to always have newer destinations in mind and the capacity in one’s limbs, lungs and pockets to get there when they call for you.

– Shueyb Gandapur is a world traveller. He has travelled to 97 countries, 85 countries of which were on his Pakistani passport. He shares picture stories from his travels on his Instagram handle @ShueybGandapur

Stuck in the past

The year 2023 took me to a lot of exotic and not-so-exotic places. I found myself stuck in snow on a narrow ridge separating Siran and Kaghan valleys, doing dune bashing in the deserts of Dubai, exploring long-forgotten ancient step-wells in the middle of nowhere in Attock and returning to Kalabagh, a town stuck in the Nineteenth Century on the shores of the living Indus. Kalabagh has fascinated me for a long time. It is so full of history yet neglected; a sad story worth telling.

Kalabagh is situated along the mighty Indus as it debouches from its mountain gorge and enters the vast plains of the Punjab. A river in its gorge is only a few hundred metres wide. It spreads to several kilometres in expanse as it enters Kalabagh and flows beyond. The 19^th Century railway bridge still stands in a picture postcard setting connecting Kalabagh to the Punjab. The once-strategic Mari Indus railway station receives few trains these days. It proudly displays North West Railway benches, a Nelson ball signalling system, rusting railway stock and dilapidated colonial bungalows. It was here in times gone by that the broad gauge ended and the narrow gauge ‘Choti rail’ started. It took the passengers from Kalabagh to Isakhel, Lakki Marwat, Bannu and to North Waziristan. The Choti Rail does not run any longer. The stations are in a shambles and the railway line is partly there and partly stolen.

The recent history of Kalabagh revolves around the towering figure of Nawab Ameer Muhammad Khan, a one-time governor of West Pakistan and a strong administrator. The family owns the impressive Kalabagh Fort, the trademark Bohr Bangla and many estates along the river. My friend, Malik Amad's staff, showed us around. We marvelled at the artifacts and family history on display at the fort. The staff looked from another generation - courteous, old school and very proud of their heritage. One could not miss the nostalgia for the glory the fort had once upon a time. A visit to Kalabagh isn’t complete without exploring its ancient bazaar and buying traditional embroidered shoes, tillay wali chappal, and some fascinating local handicrafts. The day ended with a dinner at the newly opened riverside restaurant, all praise for the enterprising young entrepreneur.

The next day, we took a boat to Makhad Sharif, about two hours upstream from Kalabagh. The gorge is beautiful as is the scenery around. The ancient temples at the top of the hill next to the ancient port of Mari Indus are imposing just like Nandana or Malot but few tourists explore it nowadays. We saw people digging gold at many places along the way, mining gold from river sand. These illegal miners are now using excavators and destroying river ecology while no one watches. Soan River merges into the Indus near Makhad and dumps all the toxic waste from factories and housing societies of Rawalpindi into the Indus, a sad display of our collective apathy for our ecology.

With an intriguing history of the Nawabs, ancient Hindu temples, colonial railway stations and bungalows, salt mines and mighty living Indus, Kalabagh is only two hours from Islamabad on the new DI Khan Hakla motorway. While the tourism department is maintaining some facilities like speed boats and a hostel, there is room for some nice heritage hotels and restaurants for a wholesome hospitality experience. Tourism is not a luxury; it promotes local economic growth and benefits the poorest of the poor. Hope someone is listening.

– Dr Omar Mukhtar Khan is an international development professional with a passion for travel and heritage. He tweets @omk1973.

Dream within a dream

This past year was less of a travel writer’s year for me because of some other assignments. I did, however, manage to make a couple of short trips to widely different places. It was Chakdara in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that made me think why I had missed this remarkably historically rich place so far.

I was there at the invitation of my dear friend Saqib Espzai. With two of his friends, we went walking in the hill northwest of Chakdara, outside Osakai town. The hill was littered with Buddhist remains. There was ruined housing, defensive walls and what seemed to be a monastery. Some ruins that were clearly living spaces showed signs of repair which meant the place had been occupied for some considerable time.

Since none of us had any archaeological expertise, we did not even attempt to make a surface collection. The consideration was that since this site had never been scientifically explored, we did not want to disturb any evidence that could be useful, should archaeologists ever venture here.

Walking along the crest of the ridge, we descended into Talash town. For a long time, Saqib and I had been talking about the fortress of Massaga, where the Aspasioi (Espzai) gave Alexander a very hard fight. My friend believed that Talash was the place. This was of particular interest to both Saqib and myself because Massaga has never been identified.

If the master Aurel Stein could not locate Massaga in the 1920s, we did not want to boast that we had found the ancient fortress. However, it was very exciting to see the fortification that still sits on the slopes above the town. It is now being encroached upon by housing and needs to be preserved.

Going by some architectural features, Dr Hameed, head of the Department of Archaeology at the Punjab University, later confirmed that the fortress dates to the early Muslim period. That would place its construction in the early 11^th Century. I believe the Ghaznavid, who were then making inroads into this part of the world, may have even repaired an older structure, leaving signs of their building style.

For 2024, there is a dream waiting to become reality: to travel on the ancient Barbarikan-Arachosia trade route. The road connecting Bhambhore on the seaboard near Karachi with Kandahar was a busy artery at least as early as the 5^th Century BCE if not earlier. An anonymous Greek mariner of the 1^st Century BCE tells us of the trade passing northward from Bhambhore along this highway.

If all goes well and if my research is done in time, my friend Zaman Narejo and I should be travelling up this road sometime in 2024.

– Salman Rashid is a fellow of The Royal Geographical Society. He has authored many books. He tweets @odysseuslahori

The only surviving palatine city

2023 was a memorable year for me. It took me on adventures across the globe. Among the many places that I visited, one that stood out for the first time and again was Alhambra in Granada.

The Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain, is a palace, fortress, and citadel built in the 8th Century. It’s one of the most notable pieces of Islamic architecture in Spain.

The Alhambra Palace is the only surviving palatine city (related to the imperial courts in Europe since Roman times) of the Islamic Golden Age. The popular fortress in Spain is a testament to Islamic architecture and serves as a nostalgic reminder of the glorious Islamic Golden Age in Spain (from the 8th to 14th Centuries). Not only is the palace a breathtaking piece of architecture, but it is also surrounded by bountiful natural beauty, aptly described by Moorish poets as “a pearl set in emeralds.”

Besides its historical significance, what made it special for me was the engravings of Allah and Muhammad on the walls of the castle. To see fragments of your belief and identity engraved on the walls of a castle in a quaint European city was indeed a special feeling.

In the coming year, I hope to venture out from my comfort travel destinations, i.e. North America and Europe, and go explore Asia. I particularly want to visit Japan and South Korea in the fall. Fall bloom is stunning and these places offer a very different cultural experience. Plus, I’ve heard great things about them being extremely advanced in terms of technology, so that would be interesting to see. Let’s hope to make that trip happen in 2024. Fingers crossed.

– Hafsah Sarfraz is a communications professional, freelance journalist and photographer

Bonafide spot on a discerning traveller’s list

For me, the travel destination for 2024 is unreservedly Saudi Arabia.

This may come as a surprise to many. Saudi Arabia is very familiar to Pakistani travellers as a prime religious destination. However, in the last five years, a lot has changed in Saudi Arabia.

The government has spent billions of dollars in re-imagining Saudi Arabia as a bonafide spot on a discerning traveller’s list. The aim is to attract tourists from all over the world, not just Muslim pilgrims.

Saudi Arabia’s location is quite unique.

It is a large country (13th largest) with a varied climate. From the vast dunes of the Empty Quarter in the southwest to the cooler climes of Abha (where it snows), there are year-round travel options.

The north of the country, especially the northwest, is part of what is known as the Holy Land, comprising Palestine, Jordan, parts of Egypt and Saudi Arabia. This is the region frequently mentioned in the Bible, and there are many archaeological sites relating to it.

Just south the region of Al Ula was the home of the Nabateans, the civilisation behind the legendary Petra in Jordan. The Saudi part houses a sister city to Petra, carved in sandstone mountains. The archaeological remains and the incredible natural beauty around it are a must-see.

The south of the country has historically been associated with the ancient Yemeni civilisation, also mentioned in the Quran. The city of Rijal Almaa and its stunning structures deserve mention.

Saudi Arabia is a treasure trove of Islamic sites, but in the past, they have been strictly out of bounds for visitors. However, now, many famous historical Islamic sites have been opened for tourists and are well-marked with guided tours. An obvious example would be the forts of Khybar, 150 kilometres north of Medina.

Areas around Riyadh have gone through heavy restoration. Those with a modern bent can enjoy the elaborate winter festivals in Riyadh and Jeddah. Not to forget, the world-famous Neom should be visitable by 2030.

Safe to say, then, it would not hurt to add a few more days to your Umra and visit some of these places. That's what I plan to do.

– Ali Syed is a finance professional based in Dubai. He tweets @travelutionary1

Two days in Paris

There is a certain randomness in old friendships. My dear friend Imran Qureshi, the famous visual artist, called me one day from Lahore in April to say that his first show after the Covid pandemic would be displayed at Gallery Ropac in Paris. He asked if I could join. As I live in the Hague, the notice was short. Despite that, it sounded worthwhile, primarily because I had attended Qureshi’s exhibition in MET New York and Washington DC at equally short notice. I drove to Paris and made it to the opening reception on the evening of April 27. The show was aptly titled Homecoming – for it was after long that the artist was exhibiting his work and it was the type of work he had been doing in the 2010s. Unlike Qureshi’s recent work, these were miniatures showing his mastery.

The opening was followed by a dinner where I met famous designer Christian Louboutin, a friend of Qureshi’s. I gave him my book, All That Art, which he browsed with interest. Qureshi later told me that Louboutin kept All That Art in his summer home in Portugal. I liked the simplicity of Louboutin, who kindly allowed me to take a photo of him with the book. Visual artist Suleman Khilji came from the UK, where he is studying at the Royal College of Arts. Khilji’s figurative work is profoundly contemporary yet has an element of classic figurative painting, too, and though figurative work is coming back, Khilji started it at a time when it required some daring because the Pakistani art market was fascinated with neo-miniature abstraction. Pakistani designer Mehrunissa, who, with her mother, is the force behind creative Studio Lel, was also present. Thus, Paris became a meeting point for Lahore’s National College of Arts graduates from different parts of the world over Imran Qureshi’s exhibition.

I had another day to spend in Paris. The next morning I opted to see the Pompidou Centre. It is one of the early large-scale buildings of high-tech architecture and one of my favourite buildings. It was completed in 1977 and designed by two star-chitects, Renzo Piano and the late Sir Richard Rogers. The colourful structure, caged in pipes and utility edifices on the Paris street skyline, looked odd. It looked like a Lego structure. However, its other side, the actual front, has a large public space in front and engages the people sitting there or entering the centre. Pompidou Centre has a huge public library, gallery spaces and cinema halls. As I took the escalator, it was like going to an airport but with the most beautiful view of Paris.

In 2024, I hope to visit Paris again to see the retrospective of American abstract expressionist icon Mark Rothko, whose work I got to appreciate while living in New York. But this time, Paris combined for me Pakistan’s creative people from my alma mater, the National College of Arts and high-tech architecture.

– Suljuk Mustansar Tarar is Pakistan’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of the Netherlands. A career diplomat, he writes about contemporary art and architecture and is the author of All That Art. He can be followed on Instagram @suljuktarar & X @suljuk.