Yesterday I travelled to Lahore, not by train as initially planned but by plane due to the heightened security following the bombing of an Italian restaurant in Islamabad on Saturday.

The Luna Caprese was a nice spot near the Super Market frequented by foreigners as it sold wonderful italian food along with alcohol. Probably part of the reason for the bombing. Unfortunatly there was a fatality, a Turkish woman working for an NGO was killed, along with a few serious injuries and many walking wounded. I was luckily nowhere near the restaurant but at a St Patrick's party at the Canadian Club in the diplomatic area, which is probably one of the safest places in the country due to the very high security cordon.

Anyway Lahore is vastly different from Islamabad. It is a very old city with buildings dating back to the early 17th century. It has sites built during the Mughal, the Seikh and the British colonial periods. Last evening myself and Amir, a colleague, went around the Badshahi Mosque which is the second largest on the sub-continent and was completed in 1634.


It can hold 100,000 people in its main square and has some amazing acoustic qualities. In the main prayer rooms if you stand in the corners and whisper towards the wall you can be clearly heard in the opposite corner. In another room built into the side wall nearest to the old river you get a very odd acoustic experience. If you stand in the middle of the room, look at the ceiling and shout then look at somebody standing in front of you and talk to them you hear your words in your inner ear. Not sure if this has anything to do with the room itself or the physical tipping of the head but it is very weird. Try it yourselves in any small domed room and let me know the results.

After the tour we went to the allegedly famous Cooco's restaurant, where you can sit on the rooftop that overlooks the mosque and the Seikh temple. Very nice spot and would have been very romantic in the night with the right person, unfortunatly I was with Amir.....

The nearest plate with the brown stuff is brains masala a house speciality. It was suprisingly good.

Lahore city is like any other in the region with narrow roads, choking polution, lunatic drivers, thousands of motorcycles with up to 4 people riding them, all with death wishes. There seems to be continual chaos with horns blaring continuously and traffic going in all directions at once.