Beautiful Pakistan

Happy New Year for starters, everyone! 

I might have left the country a few weeks before new years for a surprise family trip to places I'd never imagine I'll visit this early in life. 

Any reason to explore more of the world, I'll take. 

I supposedly have bloods flowing in me from 4 corners of the world: 

Indonesia, Pakistan, China and The Netherlands.

I've lived in Indonesia all my life, I've visited China when I was younger and and I had the opportunity to roam over Holland in 2013, I genuinely thought that I'll never ever go to Pakistan. I'm not going to lie, I was scared, with all the bad things they say on tv and medias, it's not exactly on the top of my dream travel destination.

Thing is, I still have my uncle and his big (lovely) family living there, which was comforting in one way or another. 

When I first landed, I got massive chill looking at how people dress, how they stare at my blue jeans, and how, since it's winter, people wrap blanket over their bodies and head on the street, which I thought was very discomforting. I soon met my cousin and her daughter who took us to beautiful parks. I like parks, I also like the fact that the sweet, respectful men who work in the park or shops are dressed how "terrorists" are portrayed in the media, you know, with long beard, head wrap, and different kind of clothing. It gave me a knock on the head, on how easy the medias brainwash me into agreeing with these awful, awful stereotypes. 

 In Pakistan, I visited numerous of beautiful places like Murree. Murree is an area 2000-3000 m above sea level, making it colder than the rest of Pakistan. People say that it often snows in Muree, but sadly, it only started snowing as we were about to leave. But it was beautiful nonetheless.

Murree.

 In Muree, they have lovely places to visit like this 5 star hotel with beautiful view, the Cable Cart, Traditional Market that sell artistic, handmade goods, etc.

 In the market in Murree with Noreen

Leather Jacket - Zara

Khaki Coat - Zara

Blue Jeans - Pull&Bear

Boots - Doc Marten

Sling Bag - Stradivarius 

  Back from Muree, we were taken to some other amazing places like this Mosque that was made by the same people who built the Taj'Mahal, the Moguls.

They also made castle and museums, all very beautifully made.

 Pakistan isn't half as scary as they make it out to be. I was honestly terrified at first, and sure, it's scary to be in such foreign place with strange culture and behaviours, but as time goes by, I felt blessed to be able to learn about different customs in different parts of the world. Their values and different way of thinking can grant you better understanding and knowledge of how diverse the world is and how to share the planet with respect. 

So with this last picture of Chai (Pakistani Milk Tea),

I shall end this overly long post.

Hope everyone had an awesome NYE and an even better year!

Here's to 2015!

Allah Hafeez,