ASIANOVERLAND.NET SYDNEY TO LONDON  DAY 120/316/32: LAHORE TO SHALAMAR GARDENS,  PAKISTAN

Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab, and is the country's 2nd largest city after Karachi, having a population of 11 million (Karachi’s 17 million).

We stay at the International Hotel, near the centre of Lahore, so we can easily visit the many major architectural, cultural and tourist attractions in Lahore. Delhi Belly wasn’t restricted to India. The Top Deck "advice" was to only drink bottles which had been sealed, which meant that we mostly drank beer, and not the water while in Asia, and sometimes soft drinks. This was about the only instruction I received in London about being the courier and tour guide on the overland trips from London to Kathmandu and back, apart from the navigational directions:

“Go down to Monte Carlo, chuck a left, and pick up the Kathmandu signs.”

Lahore's origins are ancient, being part of the bronze age Indus River civilisation more than 5,000 years ago. The city has been controlled by numerous empires throughout history, including Hindu, Persian and Mughal Empires and the Delhi Sultanate.

Lahore reached the height of its splendour under the Mughal Empire between the late 16th and early 18th century, and served as its capital city for many years. The city was captured by the Afsharid Iranians in 1739, and fell into a period of decay while being contested between the Afghans and the Sikhs. Lahore eventually became capital of the Sikh Empire in the early 19th century, and regained some of its lost grandeur.

Lahore was conquered by the British and made capital of British Punjab. Lahore was central to the independence movements of both India and Pakistan, being the site of both the declaration of Indian Independence, and the resolution calling for the establishment of Pakistan. Lahore experienced some of the worst rioting during the Partition period preceding Pakistan's independence. Following the success of the Pakistan Movement and subsequent independence in 1947, Lahore was declared capital of Pakistan's Punjab province.

Lahore exerts a strong cultural influence over Pakistan and is a major centre for Pakistan's publishing industry and literary scene.

Lahore hosts much of Pakistan's tourism, with major attractions including the Walled City, the famous Badshahi and Wazir Khan mosques and Sikh shrines. Lahore is also home to the Lahore Fort and Shalamar Gardens, both of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Shalamar gardens is another Shah Jahan special (like the Taj Mahal), and is one of my favourite tourist walks. The Shalamar Gardens were laid out as a Persian paradise garden to create a representation of an earthly utopia in which humans co-exist in perfect harmony with nature. Construction of the gardens began in 1641 during the reign of Emperor Shah Jahan, and was completed in 1642.

While walking around Lahore, our female contingent were completely covered from head to toe, as the locals require. Corrie usually walked a few steps behind me, as was also apparently required by the locals.  After visiting Shalamar Gardens and the biggest mosque in the world, Corrie was confronted by some locals who weren’t satisfied with throwing stones in our direction, and decided to physically block her path. Strenuous measures were required to enable us to transit parts of Lahore. After that, Corrie took to wearing a ring on her wedding finger, to try to minimise the aggressive conduct of the locals towards unmarried western women. That started a habit which we made official in 1987, when we returned to Kashmir for our honeymoon. Kashmir was aptly descibed by Shah Jahan as "Paradise on Earth".

Our 1980 westbound overland trip book records:

“19 October, 1980

Lahore

STONE throwing event for Corrie and Peter.

Few people still had the “case of the smiling shits.”

Cows guts lying on the side street aren’t exactly my turn-on.”

↑ Day 119 ↓ Day 121