As Maryam had to go back to the office monday morning I spent my last days sightseeing with her sister Amna and Insha, a friend of their's.
Karachi itself is not really a touristic highlight, being the commercial capital of the country it mainly hosts big companies' headquarters, a busy port and various industries.
One of the few sights is an ancient graveyard outside the city called Chaukhandi tombs. At first it was hard to find the site as no sign whatsoever was put at the main road, not to mention anything in English! By asking local people we eventually found it and even a guide who would show us around. According to Insha who had been here quite a few times with visitors it'd been the same guy for the last 15 years... The remarkable thing about this graveyards from the 15th-18th century are it's impressive tombs with lots and lots of ornamental sandstone carvings. We could admire impressive tombs of whole families with various wealth situations. Especially astonishing was the way these tombs were built without using any cement or other sticky material, the sandstone plates were just arranged on top of each other.
It was baking hot in the sun and no protection was in sight so after about half an hour we happily escaped into the nice coolness of the air-conditioned car and went back to the city.
After a big lunch from all you can eat buffet with numerous Pakistani dishes while overlooking the beach we went to the Mohatta palace, a Hindu businessman's summer home built in 1927 in typical Rajasthan tradition. This businessman couldn't enjoy his summer home for long as he fled to India after the partition. Nowadays it hosts a gallery with various exhibitions and currently some Pakistani's crazy modern art.
And that was it about the sights of Karachi!
More importantly we tried lots of different food, went some more souvenir shopping and after work Maryam joined in.
And finally on my last day I sent my Indian/Pakistani clothes back home as I won't need them in the countries I'll travel to next, which meant a huge relive for my luggage weight ;-)
Karachi itself is not really a touristic highlight, being the commercial capital of the country it mainly hosts big companies' headquarters, a busy port and various industries.
One of the few sights is an ancient graveyard outside the city called Chaukhandi tombs. At first it was hard to find the site as no sign whatsoever was put at the main road, not to mention anything in English! By asking local people we eventually found it and even a guide who would show us around. According to Insha who had been here quite a few times with visitors it'd been the same guy for the last 15 years... The remarkable thing about this graveyards from the 15th-18th century are it's impressive tombs with lots and lots of ornamental sandstone carvings. We could admire impressive tombs of whole families with various wealth situations. Especially astonishing was the way these tombs were built without using any cement or other sticky material, the sandstone plates were just arranged on top of each other.
It was baking hot in the sun and no protection was in sight so after about half an hour we happily escaped into the nice coolness of the air-conditioned car and went back to the city.
After a big lunch from all you can eat buffet with numerous Pakistani dishes while overlooking the beach we went to the Mohatta palace, a Hindu businessman's summer home built in 1927 in typical Rajasthan tradition. This businessman couldn't enjoy his summer home for long as he fled to India after the partition. Nowadays it hosts a gallery with various exhibitions and currently some Pakistani's crazy modern art.
And that was it about the sights of Karachi!
More importantly we tried lots of different food, went some more souvenir shopping and after work Maryam joined in.
And finally on my last day I sent my Indian/Pakistani clothes back home as I won't need them in the countries I'll travel to next, which meant a huge relive for my luggage weight ;-)
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