Re: Back to Lahore

Posted by Mike McDermott on Mar 26, 2013; 2:11am
URL: http://sundownersadventures.385.s1.nabble.com/Back-to-Lahore-tp5706609p5706667.html

Oho! So that's where the sixth bottle ended up!

No fair, Simon; that meant that the rest of us could have only had a bottle each.

See, the truth will out, even when, as in this case, it took 36 years.

>It appears that you are able to move freely about, how safe do you feel?

Well, I'm mostly stuck in my hotel room working, working, and then for a change, working. The hotel has high walls surrounding it with razor wire atop, armed guards who check everyone coming in or out the gates, and the same checks getting inside the hotel as airports have. But everyone I have met here inside or outside hotels has been very friendly and hospitable, the Akrams being probably the best example of that, not the only one.

This is a very fascinating place; there's a helluva lot happening. There's a new book out called "How to get filthy rich in rising Asia" centred here in Lahore. I ordered it from the little shop here at Faletti's, and they said they will have it in a couple of days.

I would say that I feel perfectly safe, Simon, but that sounds a bit too much like famous last words to me. Maybe not as famous as the guy who jumped up in the American civil war and said "come on men, they couldn't hit an elephant at this dist ...", but still too close for comfort.

My report is due at the end of the week. I don't know if you ever saw the Aussie film "The Castle", but it's about that sort of thing. The Government here is trying to ensure that fair compensation is paid to people whose property is taken from them for public works. Apparently, some people agree that the properties aren't worth squat, but the owners often don't. Hence the need for better property valuations. I understand that it's a particularly volatile issue with all those public works in China, but I don't have any first hand knowledge of that.

After that, as long as my visa comes through I'm off to Samarkand next week (part of my Silk Road thang, which you recall), and then back here for a couple of days, then back to Darwin.

I'll post here again when I get back there; as they say here, inshallah.