Things to do when you’re in a Pakistani military cantonment under a security lockdown and you CAN’T go out due to the threat of possible suicide bombings from Afghan terrorists most likely working for an unfriendly foreign government…
. chat to your friends on MSN
. decide not to convert after reading material on Islam and the Status of Women
. update your journal and add photos from your holiday
. read some obscure Russian literature
. plot ways to evade the security checkpoints… ?!?!
Yep that last one’s a doozy. But when MD and US Dave got together this afternoon that’s exactly what they did for about half an hour – try to figure out how to get around the security lockdown so we could go out and do something interesting. :S Sounds sensible to me… when someone tells you that you cant leave cos you might get blown up… it’s only natural you would try everything possible to try and go out! Many plans were proposed and stored for use over the weekend in case we still cant go out.
Instead of trying to sneak out today (they’ll be expecting that) MD took me on a walking tour of the Cantonment instead. It’s a large place about the size of three BrisVegas suburbs and all surrounded by a 10′ barbed wire fence. The Staff College itself seems to be in the middle of the place (I could be wrong about that though) and it is surrounded by residential areas. The res areas vary greatly in standard of living I think = there’s Street Four where the Allies live (MD and his foreign national mates), Street Five about the same standard of living for their Pakistani instructors and then it kinda dwindles down to dormitory barracks for the Pakistani student officers and further down to mud hut arrangements for the various other personnel in the place. Mostly the entire area, except those parts that would be frequented by the Commandant, looks like a ghetto. There are stray dogs around the place (possibly diseased)… loads of very small unsupervised children wandering about (also possibly diseased)… areas where people have been dumping their rubbish (and burning off stuff)… strange and mysterious odours wherever you walk (most of them unpleasant)…. high tension power lines right over peoples housing (they’re audible which is a worry)… and armed personnel in various uniforms ABSOLUTELY EVERYWHERE.
But the weirdness of the place is the stark contrasts…. Would you believe that existing along side this abject poverty and these slum like conditions are the officer’s Polo Club, their gymnasium, swimming pool and Skeet Shooting Range??? I mean Polo ferfucksake??? It’s positively absurd that the children of the officers can go out for polo lessons in the afternoon, while literally a stones throw away are some other kids playing a game of cricket with a makeshift bat on a pitch that has been cleared away in the middle of a rubbish tip! There were some officers riding around on some nice looking horses, practicing their polo.. and then you see a family of four go past crammed onto a vesper?!?! The lawn of the Staff College is immaculate… but around the corner there isn’t a tuft of grass to be seen in the playground?!?! There’s a well kept (but not well stocked) library around the back of the Staff College which is a beautiful building….. but less than one hundred meters away is housing with plastic for roofing! It’s a crazy fucking place.
The walk around was very interesting, and it ended with a couple of gin and tonics back on Street Four, expertly mixed by UK Mark – who it turns out was our salvation! See the whole lockdown thing is pretty serious… but not serious enough that the Pakistanis would stop Mark from going down town to dinner for meet his Embassy Defense Attache who was down from Islambad to see him. So MD and I scored a dinner invite to go with. And that is how I ended up having dinner tonight with Brigadier Steve, the Defense Attache, and his Executive Officer, Lt Colonel Ian from the Britsish Embassy. UK Mark picked us up (we were tailed all the way by a security detail) to the Quetta Serena Hotel where we had a very civilized silver service dinner in the hotel restaurant. 😐 It was a great night out… Me and four very well educated, very well travelled, and (for soldier types) very refined gentlemen with the most unique set of life experiences you have ever thrown together at one table in your life!
After dinner we popped back over to see Smahel the carpet man who had been collecting together all his silk carpets to try and find something that appealed to me. But alas there was just nothing in his shop that really did it for me … and it seems nothing in the store room either… he kept sending his mininion out to bring in more rugs. I did see on really nice rug that had a beautiful tree of life design on it… but it was quite large and not a price what fits in my budget easily… 150,000 Rps …. which is about AU$3000. Absolutely gorgeous… Hmmm will have to think about that one… I reckon I can talk him down a bit! 😉
