Day 54 Lahore

10:14 am. Coffee and two pain chocolates in Hotel Pearl Continetal - clearly a five star establishment: here with T, on the recommendation of her friend back in Ireland. We were determined to get a decent cup of coffee somewhere in Pakistan - and we've found it. Used the internet at the hotel - complete with its own mini-office, costing 580 rupees for the hour's privilege, that's about 7 dollars and worth every penny. Later on we found some fantastic and cheap street food for lunch; deep fried food: I always think this should be good to eat. Disapointed by Lahore's 'botanic garden' (or at least I think we found the botanic garden) - it's not so much a garden but rather a (nice) park; locals playing cricket, with piles of bricks for stumps. Visited the Old Fort, Shahi Qila, in northwestern Lahore, in the older walled part of the city. Huge, red sandstone structure, very hot to walk on (bare feet); carpets were spread here and there and soaked in water - these were okay to walk on though. The fort is a UNESCO World Heritage Site visited by large numbers of locals, who get a preferential rate at the gate (this is common in Pakistan - there's a tourist rate and a local rate). Rickshaw back to the hotel. 5:00 pm and it's very hot and humid in the hotel room: the temperature is an absolutely constant 35 degrees - night and day. Feels like 90% humidity. Dripping all the time.

The Wagah Border is the only road border crossing between India and Pakistan, and this is the way we'll travel into the next country, probably tomorrow. Today however we got a rickshaw (or rather, a couple of rickshaws) to take us from the hotel to the border and back again - it's a fair way (25 km maybe) and the rickshaw drivers were dubious - but then there's lots of rickshaws and it's very easy to negotiate - just say "sorry, I don't want your rickshaw", and move onto the next guy with his rickshaw. Basically I think that the drivers couldn't understand why we'd want to go 25 km in a rickshaw, rather than a taxi. In the end 1000 rupees (which got split six ways) got us the return trip - and the driver quickly entered into the spirit of the thing - ending up with the two rickshaws racing each other.

Border closing ceremony: seems to basically comprise Pakistan vs. India trying to outdo each other with a Monty Python ministry of silly walks afair: the Pakistani guards march right up to the Indian guards, until their noses are touching just about. The two sides must pick their tallest to be in the parade: I'd say we're talking 6 foot eight inches or thereabouts. The Indian guards wear khaki, and the ones wearing black are Pakistani (here the Pakistani's have the edge - the khaki tends to show much sweat, quite unsightly). Lots of loud shouting and stamping of heavily booted feet and 'rave' music and cheering. The latter cannot be good for the feet I feel.

Flags are lowered. Rickshaw ride back to the hotel. Uneventful apart from the driver crashing into the back of a bus, he seemed okay, but I think the headlamp no longer worked, and he kept looking at the front wheel.