Pakistan Travel log
Lahore - Pakistan's historical and cultural city , known as " the soul of Pakistan". In 630 AD Chinese Tang Dynasty monk Xuanzang had come to visit . From 1021 to 1186 AD Caleb Navier Dynasty founded this place as the capital. From 1525 to 1707 AD, it has been the capital of the Mughal Empire. On the 24th morning we got on the Lahore bound flight, routing Bangkok. As stayed at the Bangkok airport for about nine hours, so we have plenty of time at Bangkok airport . We are very tired the whole trip, fortunately Thai Airways’ service is very good . As the flights from Lahore is very little, so everyone can understand.
When we finally arrived in Lahore, it was very late in the night , and we met our tour guide , MR.Saleem, a Pakistani without bearded , I heard that he has been studying in Harbin university for a few years, so his Chinese is quite good.
We thought we could see a quiet city in such night, but on the opposite the night in Lahore are much more noisy than we thought. So we realized that Pakistanis’ lifestyle re very different from Chinese. They usually get up late, and they need to attend Mass before lunch at half past one. Their happiest time is after 20:00 pm. And local restaurants opens at 20:00, friends and family gathered together to eat, chat. And most Pakistanis’ nightlife extended to 3:00. The hotel We stayed was the best five-star hotel in Lahore, but there are a lot of differences from hotels in China: facilities was quite old. But the security measures are well, whoever getting into the door must accept security checks, which makes us feel much more relieved. The staff were very polite to us , it seems to that Pakistan is really a paradise to Chinese.
The next morning we went to arrange at the exhibit hall, and experience the efficiency and quality of work. We can only see the crooked panels on the booth. There is no fascia, no exhibition, nothing at all. Fortunately, we knew that before. At least, we can find our booth. Our guides were very enthusiastic, helping us contact the staff , and even help us unpack the exhibits, which makes us all very moving. we go back that afternoon, we all feel exhausted , as our fascia and exhibition still dosen’t come. And I heard they will come in the evening, so we had to leave.
Finally the opening is coming, although fascia and construction are finished until 10:00 , and the quality is flawed, but we basically did not have time to consider these inadequate. Because after 10:00, a large number of people quickly fill the entire view exhibition hall, an endless stream of people come to consult, and when the busiest time come, a clerk needs to cope with two customer inquiries at the same time. Besides the visitors, journalists also came, basically each of our clients have been interviewed. The son of Minister of Pakistan and the government officials come to visit the exhibition, and they specifically come to the China Pavilion is the position of condolences in a circle , which makes our exhibitors very excited and moved. We can understand the Government of Pakistan see Chinese on this exhibition pavilions as a very important and good partnership.
This three-day exhibition has been full of people. Originally the closing time is 17:00, but we have to stay till 19:00. Although we are very tired, but with these huge harvest, we know that our efforts were not wasted. However, this phenomenon also highlight a problem: there are a lot of people , but lots of them are students and non-professionals. Although they dose not ask some professional questions, these non-professional exhibitors took a lot of materials, which bring some unnecessary waste of resources . And once a lot of people see the Chinese people, they are all eager to take pictures with us. We are very patient at the beginning, but the things happen again and again, we become tired and impatient.
We told the organizer about this problem, and finally, our guide told us that such local large-scale international exhibition is very little in Pakistan. So the Pakistani see the show as festivals, although organizers make the rules that the requirements must be certified professionals to enter the hall, but it does not prevent the size of one professionals with the whole family to come, which is their custom. For these students, it is important to use this opportunity as part of their social experience project. This has why the exhibition are in such a professional and non-professional mixed phenomenon. Pakistanis are too warm, and never give up any opportunity to see foreigners.
Fortunately, a three days busy time are over and exhibitors were much more rewarding. last day we visit Lahore city and know much about the city. Lahore has a history of nearly 2000, which is known as the perfect embodiment of the Mughal powerful national strength. Lahore is known as the Garden City, you can see monuments with a long history everywhere, the beautiful and simple Court, the wonderful Pakistani universities, every building has its own history. Then we visited Lahore's most famous monuments: the Great Mosque, Castle and Shalimar Park, the monument to the heroes of the independence of Pakistan and the Islamic Summit Conference Memorial Monument known as Tiananmen Square in China.
Great Mosque, also known as the Royal Mosque, belongs to the World Heritage List. The Royal Mosque is built by the last one called Mughal Emperor Otto Lang Zhebu. His father and even his grandfather loved to build all kinds of buildings, and build a large number of castles, mosques in mainland India and Pakistan. The most famous one is Taj Mahal his father Sajia Han built in Agra. But Sajia Han do not have time to built the same building in blace across the river. When he was imprisoned by his son. The Royal Mosque, completed in 1673 , was the largest mosque in Pakistan before the completion of the Faisal Mosque. the square can be used for 100,000 people at the same time. It is built for three parts: the arches, squares and prayer. Because the building is made by marble stone, it is sound quite good, imam prayed sitting central hall, the sound did not weaken. It reflects the equality ideology of Islam.
The opposite of Mosque is the Lahore Fort, just like the Beijing's Forbidden City, which was the residence for kings and their wives. Between the castle and the Grand Mosque is the Shalimar Park, the north of the park is the Great Mosque, and the south is the palace castle, the east is the exit, leading to the nearby Christian auditorium, the west is ancient entertainment places to eat. The guides said that the monarch are open-minded: if you Islam, you can go to the north, if you are a Christian then go to the east , if you do not have any religion, you are free to go to the west side to eating and entertainment places, anyone here can find their own place. There are a total of 21 buildings in Lahore Fort city. And there is a hold up by the 40 columns of the palace in the middle part of the castle, known as the "Forty Columns Hall". Actually,it is the emperor's "Office" and "Schoolroom". Going from this central organs of the emperor out of office, you can get on a large underground rock pilgrimage station, and in the front and ends of the station there is a small square and a small stage in the middle of a pool. When the emperor sat facing the side of the square, he can review the military drill, or interview subjects bow down and hear the case; if he turned toward the side of the stage, he can enjoy the wonderful performance of the Kabuki. Unfortunately, after 300 years, the gallery is no long as beautiful as before, today's visitors can only face the vicissitudes of pillars with nostalgia.
The most famous castle attraction is the "mirror palace" on the northeast corner. This is the king Shah Jahan built for the queen. Palace wall inlaid with approximately 900,000 glass lenses of various colors, but it was also covered with gold and silver puzzle with lines of stones . Walls are build with white nephrite, arched dome trimmed with countless stones and glass beads. When you watch in the afternoon sunlight, diffuse with bright luster. Although now it is left only a little, but you can still get a glimpse from the ruins. There is also a beautiful love story about mirror palace.
A legend goes like this: A Ji Man from Persia is a very beautiful and intelligent woman, Shah Jahan called " Taj Mahal " , meaning " crown palace ", they vowed to live and die together, inseparable. One night, Ji Man in the castle walls of the palace watching the brilliant night sky on her head , and emotionally told Shah Jahan how much she wants to have a magical palace. Even lying in the bed, she can also saw the sky full of stars. So Shah Jahan ordered the mobilization of the country's craftsmen to construct such a Taj palace. In craftsmen carefully conceived, the palace created with superior marble palace on the top of a dome, four walls inlaid with colored precious stones, domes and walls pasted with 900,000 red, blue and brown glass lenses, as long as in the central hall lit a candle, colored lenses can be each other out of a vast galaxy, which was really wonderful. So the culmination of this magnificent palace got the name "Mirror Palace", which is the magnificent castle in Lahore. Mirror Palace is made up by the welcome hall, conference room, recreation room, bedroom, artificial lakes, fountains and composition room, the palace arches and pillars are decorated with harassment decoration, building on the ground with a worn gray translucent creamy marble, and the lower place are all filled with water. When you walk on, it seems like walking in the clouds . Unfortunately, the mirror palace was completed in 1631, when A Ji Man died in the previous year while she was giving birth to their fourteenth child. And she never lived in the palace Shah Jahan built. It is said that Shah Jahan despaired, and do not want to eat anything. And his hair even become all white during only one night.
In the afternoon we drove to the border to see lowering of the flag ceremony between India and Pakistan 's border. We were very excited because the flag-lowering ceremony is a highlight of the border line. And such kind a product of the complex political situations was really a competition between soldiers in two countries competing with each other is actually the climax of the ceremony. This scene has been reported in many countries’ travel magazines. But most of the people visit all the views from the Indian side, as Pakistan's tourism is relatively backward. So it would be wonderful view to see lowering of the flag from the perspective of Pakistan.
The port of Flag-lowering ceremony is Wagga border about 17 km from Lahore, which is one of the main land route between India and Pakistan. The guide said there were many times Indians fought cross the border line, but Pakistan's army defeated. We can see a patriotic enthusiasm among Pakistanis, and the venue on both sides of the stands are full of Pakistanis,but men and women sat separately, and we, as foreigners, was arranged to sit on the VIP seats, but because we are late, the good location was already taken away.
Before the ceremony , two men wearing green flag T- blood of Pakistanis flagpole waving huge running back and forth. We can hear the large voice of Pakistani national anthem. And the audience's emotions began to be mobilized. We were sitting just before male spectator stands. So we can clearly see everyone waving arms, the music accompaniment, in unison shouting " Allah , Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan ( hurray ), Pakistan", on the opposite, the Indian also has the same slogans. And the entire port just became a soccer fields, the sound was deafening.
With a prelude of the massive parties, the Pakistani soldiers who was responsible for lowering of the flag, walked toward the border. These soldiers were about two meters high with thick black beards, wearing a crest cap, gown-style uniforms through the knee, red ribbon tied at the waist , pedal boots , all majestic.
When they came strutting in front of the audience, the soldiers began to show up, walking fast, arms back and forth to the horizon, then abruptly stop, and start stomping move forward, shaking his head like a rooster. It looked like that they wanted to run towards to the India and fight with them. They were expressing anger. The Indian also do the same show, but feels the Indian’s soldiers are not so tall as the Palestinian’s, so they are not as strong as the Palestinians. Finally the flag went down, and the border was closed, flag-lowering ceremony officially ended. But we are still excited, and when we went back to the car, we still kept laughing, and I feel that such a serious lowering of the flag had already become a show, which can not see in China.
In a conclusion, during this exhibition trip, our exhibitors know more about the local market in Pakistan. We are all first came to this country, and previously seeing on the news are the bad side: poverty, explosion and so on, which make the visitors afraid of going there. But as we stayed here one week, all we can see is the other side of the Pakistani: warm people, the vast market demand and beautiful cultural heritage, which reflect the social progress in Pakistan. Through this exhibition, our exhibitors have great confidence the market prospects of Pakistan and see Pakistan as the most potential for development of the market in Southeast Asia. It is also one of the international livestock markets many exhibitors want to know more, and to participate in more similar exhibition here.
