Articles by Agustinus Wibowo

Rawalpindi – Peak Hours

Commuting in Pakistan can somehow be crazy. Almost no women are visible, by the way February 4, 2006 The intercity buses connecting the twin cities Islamabad and Rawalpindi (the two totally different twins) are such important like blood and heartbeat in a human body. In the peak hours, many of Rawalpindi dwellers going to Islamabad for education and works, that getting a bus could be very difficult (women especially, due to the rules of seats). Waiting for lift is difficult, that everyone has to fight to be lifted, and in the little sized Toyota, standing up without seat means that you have to forget that you have backbones for a while. Squeezed. I felt relieved I got a seat, which was incredebly a luck. The standing quota for passengers is usually two people, but our Toyota took more people. Actually the passengers were also happy as they got lifted, even though the Toyota was overloading. But the policemen didnt. Our Toyota was stopped by the police, the driver got annoyed, screamed, then cried. The overloading passengers were asked to find another transport (even though they have paid), the traffic jammed for a while because our Toyota blocked the main road. [...]

February 4, 2006 // 0 Comments

Rawalpindi – Earthquake Relief

Margala Tower, destroyed by the earthquake February 4, 2006 As trusted before, my visit to Pakistan is to be a volunteer for the earthquake relief. But due to the sickness I got, I still havent started any single movement. I felt guilty myself, when my friends asked start asking, hey, when you go to the earthquake areas, or you look like also a tourists. Nobody to blame, but being late is always better than nothing. I got several contacts of NGOs working in earthquake areas since my arrival in Pakistan. And today I just got the first chance to visit Dannish Muslim Aid, which was happily received me to be a volunteer and go to Muzaffarabad. The manager, Mr Syed Abid Gilani is just a friendly and helpful man, showed me the pictures of the victims of the earthquake and the work they are doing. The happening was quite similar to that in Indonesia, the tsunami in Aceh, but the terrain here is much more difficult as it happened in the mountainous areas, while Aceh terrain is much more plain. The high mountains, those over 6000 m, just bumped into the villages, swept everything on it, and the scars are [...]

February 4, 2006 // 0 Comments

Islamabad – The Capital of Pakistan

The modern Faisal Mosque, named after the king of Saudi Arabia February 3, 2006 The capital of Pakistan, Islamabad- the name means the city of Islam, is a new city created just few decades ago. The designer of the city was a European, and it was designated to be a modern city. The roads are long, straight, with blocks of commercial regions, residential regions, and government offices. The names of the blocks and the roads are even in number, like F-7 for ths Jinnah Supermarket, or G-7 for the block opossite F-7 separated by the main road called ‘blue area’. The using of letter and number is not quite user-friendly. But it seems how it also goes in the West. Nevertheless Islamabad is a new city, the roads are wide, but the population is not that much. The buildings looks more modern and clean than the nearby Rawalpindi, with obvious reason that the strata and level status of the inhabitants are higher, but the feeling of the city is totally empty. Not so much live, vibration, smell, and noise like in Rawalpindi, thus, it’s not the place where most visitors linger about. The reason I go to Islamabad is usually [...]

February 3, 2006 // 0 Comments

Rawalpindi – Slums

Phir Wadhai February 1, 2006 A whole day in Phir Wadhai. Phir Wadhai might be never been in any places you wanna visit. Phir Wadhai is the most important transport hub in Rawalpindi, where you can get bus from here to anywhere in Pakistan. But as other bus terminals in Java (Indonesia), Phir Wadhai is another stinky and polluted place. First I saw the place at a glance from the bus which took me from Gilgit to Pindi. I suddenly ‘fell in love’ with it. The huge stinky pond of unflowing water flourishing the road, while people selling fruits, grilled meat, rice, and anything ‘eatable’ around the stinky black water. The environment made me curious how people here survive, and at last I decided to spend a full day in Phir Wadhai to discover the life here. Rawalpindi is a harsh metropolitan, with dreams to offer about high income to the villagers all around Pakistan. Here you can meet people from Northern Areas, Balucshistan, Sindh, Punjab, from big cities like Karachi and Lahore until small villages in the middle of Thar desert. The life here is not that easy, of course. Many of these people are uneducated, so they end [...]

February 1, 2006 // 3 Comments

Rawalpindi – Welcome to Rawalpindi

Guys having fun in Rawalpindi January 27, 2006 Hotel Al Hayat Hotel, Liaquat Chowk, Pindi, 130 Rs/nite The gruelling 20 hours bus journey from Gilgit, which I regretted to take, at last finished. The regret came from to my anxiety of getting the ticket since the road block, that I thought the ticket can be difficult to get, so I booked earlier. The bus I booked started at 3 pm yesterday, and I booked the ticket at 12. When I lingered along gilgit road, I was invited by Pathani truck drivers to go with them in their truck to Pindi. But I had the bus ticket already, and they couldnt wait for me to cancel the ticket. What happened next was I attracted so much crowds on the streets, as I tried to explain to the drivers that I would like to go with them but I need to cancel the ticket I got first (650 Rs, not that cheap to throw away). Then the owner of their truck coming, and saying I had to pay 400 Rs if I hitch the truck, which I think more like a polite refusal and suggested me to take bus still. So I [...]

January 27, 2006 // 2 Comments

Karimabad – Travelling Again

Journey is about meeting and farewell. Now comes the time to say goodbye to Hunza. January 24, 2006 His name is Hassan Shah, a father of 4 sons and 1 daughter. Today, two of his sons are going to leave him to Manshera, which is around 18 hours away bus journey from Karimabad. Hussain Shah, one of the sons, is bringing his elder brother, Salman Shah, for medical check up. His brother has got a sudden mental attack 2 years ago, and regular check up is needed, as now Salman’s hairs are getting lesser and lesser. This might be a very, very common farewell of a short separate between father and sons. But when this happen to Karimabad, in a family which rarely separated each other, this can be very dramatic. Hussain has never been further than Rawalpindi, not to mention how he dreamed to go abroad. But as Northern Areas citizen, passport for them is not easy to get. Only China is the country that people from this area can go, easily, with border pass. Passport for Northern Areas could be 100 times more difficult than those for other Pakistanis. That’s why leaving house is a big deal here, [...]

January 24, 2006 // 2 Comments

Karimabad – Wedding

Prepared to bring the bride home Being delayed is not always bad. The road to Pindi has been blocked for more than a week now, and I am still in Karimabad. I have heard the rumours that Mr. Karim’s brother was going to marry. So 2 days ago I visited him. Mr Karim was busy, preparing for the feasts and everything. He offered me sharbat (the traditional food for 2 days before marriage, made from flour) but I felt he tried to send me home politely as he couldnt entertain me due to his business. From him, I learnt about the tradition of the wedding in Hunza. The ‘nikah’ will be held in bride’s side, in the nearest jamaat khana from the bride’s house. For this, the bride side invited 40 people from the groom side. These 40 people, mostly relatives, were carefully selected and counted. As we might know, the families in Pakistan are all big, that 40 is a very limited number. It seems that the culture is quite closed for outsiders, that I probably might not be able to join the whole procession. As he was busy in this sunny bright day, I went together with him [...]

January 21, 2006 // 1 Comment

Karimabad – Another Night Talk

Tourism also brings cultural impact to far flung places January 17, 2005 At last the guys from the restaurant successfully moved the TV and VCD to my room. They played hide and seek with the old man, the owner, and it was indeed funny to see the games. The sound was mixed with other movie, Bunty and Babli, to distract the attention of the old man. And they successfully made the old man sleep earlier. One accident happened when they moved the TV, the man woke up. Haroun (not real name) told the old man that the Indonesian guy (me) need the TV and VCD to do his homework. Damn! The 2 CDs, both were painfully obtained, were all damaged. One of it, the funniest porn CD I have ever watched, from South India. The actresses were all old, grey haired, bathing in the river. Then came the raper, old, fat, black, ape-faced man. The open sex happened openly in the river side, but it was too ugly, and the Pakistani guys also thought so. Talking about the open sex, I mean sex in open field, Haroun told me a story of a European couple having sex in a park [...]

January 17, 2006 // 0 Comments

Karimabad – Trapped

A journey to no-men peaks January 16, 2006 Planned to leave Karimabad already, awaiting for the coming jeep from Sust which I can hitch for free, but the friend who is going to go together delayed his journey for unlimited time. Meanwhile the bus ticket from Karimabad to Rawalpindi arouse to 821 Rupees, too expensive for me. And another bad news, there was road block somewhere between Gilgit and Pindi, so all buses will not operating for these 2-3 days. What a luck. Again, I am trapped in Karimabad. Yesterday, to pass the time, I decided to join some local guys climbing up to the Eagle’s Nest. From here we can see the whole valley. I have been there two years ago, and it was a terrible walk in summer. Now in super cold winter, nobody is up there. All hotels and houses are empty, and the road was slippery of ice and glacier. Luckily I was not alone, so there was someone (Mr Karim) who held my hand along the way…. Totally deserted in winter The snow was thick up there, and it was land of nobody, with empty houses and buildings, left-away agricultural fields, resembled a ghost town. [...]

January 16, 2006 // 1 Comment

Karimabad – Porn Night Part 2

Women are rarely seen on the streets of Pakistan. But they are quite open in the movies January 14, 2006 Today I didnt know what was the plan, when I came back to the restaurant, it seems that the guys successfully invited some guests to the old owner, so the old man was busy in his room (just next to the TV) with the guests. The guys locked the owner room from outside, so that the old man cant go out. And then, as previously suggested, the show began. The title today is Horny School Girls. There were about 3 guys watching, and they were all too excited. Not to make the old man hearing, the VCD was played in mute setting. All of the doors of the restaurant were locked, the windows were closed, and they ignored all coming guests. It’s funny to see how these guys, at least 22 years old, still have to play hide and seek with their parents just to watch porn. When suddenly the old man wanted to open the door, the guys were turning off everything just less than a second, and ran away. The room became empty, only me left. The story [...]

January 14, 2006 // 5 Comments

Karimabad – Porn Night

January 13, 2006 Porn night in Pakistan? Yes, the idea was started due to the sudden heavy snow here in Karimabad. Some young guys in my restaurant decided to rent a porn VCD and played in the middle of the night. It’s just a usual thing in Indonesia to watch porn movie together, (read: nonton bokep rame-rame), but it’s become a very special thing here, in a traditional village in mountainous area of Pakistan. That is why I was interested to observe what going to happen. Due to obvious reasons, all names included here are not the real names. Umer, brought his favorite VCD which he got from Aliabad, after more than 100 minutes of journey go and back. He was so excited what we were going to watch tonight. “A guy with two girls, big cock, one girl sucking one girl kissing…” and you could see a slight of horny feeling from his eyes. Yeah, we couldnt wait for the exciting tonight. Everything was prepared, a secret room, a plan to move the TV and VCD player from the restaurant, a plan to make the old man, the owner, going to sleep earlier, a plan to knock my door [...]

January 13, 2006 // 3 Comments

Karimabad – Pakistan Will Open

Pakistani movies are actually quite …, well, “sexy” January 11, 2006 Talking about films with the locals is always interesting, because I believe that films are also part of the culture. The satelitte dish in my hotel restaurant is broken, so for a temporary moment we have to say good bye to Raj and Rani (lit. means king and queen, a typical of Indian movies where the hero is named Raj and heroine Rani and they both will be married) from the TV series of Vuh Rahnewali Mehlon Ki. But quiet life is unimaginable in this house, that the guys then rented a VCD player to fill up the emptiness due to the absence of the TV programs. They only had one very old (of 1960’s) VCD of an Indian woman singing all the way with super high voice. The movie itself is black and white, and soon they got bored. They asked whether I had some interesting VCDs. I brought mostly DVDs with me, but yes, I have some VCDs. First I played Inul. This Indonesian diva with her famous pumping butt, indeed was a stimulus to these hungry men. Everybody was excited to see the sexy butt of [...]

January 11, 2006 // 3 Comments

Karimabad – Indian Connection

Indian influence is obvious here India is just a bordering country, but the history of hostility between India and Pakistan makes the relation between the two countries interesting. As we all probably know, the language of both countries, Urdu and Hindi, are 90% similar. Urdu has more Persian and Arabic originated words, and Hindi from Sanskrit. But both languages are mutually intelligble. Though, the scripts are different. The influence of India is very huge in Pakistan, this is unquestioned. Everybody can sing the gigle of Aashiq Banaya, the new popular Bollywood movie, even though that this new film may not reach the villages of Pakistan. “Mujh se Saati Karogi? (Will you Marry Me?)”, Salman Khan’s newest movie, is a famous sentence anywhere here in Pakistan. And it became a laughter when we use this sentence to tease the others. The people in Karimabad, far away from anywhere, stuck their satellite dish to Indian channels. And guess what, a very plain TV drama, Vuh Ranehwali Mehlon Ki (She is Native of Palace)- A story of a beautiful girl from rich family loving a handsome boy from a poor family, is so sticky that all people in my hotel can be stucked [...]

January 9, 2006 // 3 Comments

Hunza – From Sust to Karimabad

The icy road of Hunza Today decided to go back to Karimabad. During the stay in the Upper Hunza area, there is a very big problem: electricity. Due to failure of generator in Khyber, a village next to Pasu, the villages in Upper Hunza has to wait for its turn for electricity. One in 4 days the electricity comes to a village. I missed both in Sust and Chapursan. So that my memory cards are full, my batteries are finished, my harddisk couldnt start, completely I cant take any more photos. The main reason to leave is that actually I missed the food and hot in Karimabad. Before starting, my Sust friend and I had breakfast together in Sust. Practising my Urdu, I was joking with them that I was very poor, but I could earn money when I didnt have enough, by sleeping with Pakistani men for 150 Rs (1 US$=60Rs). It was merely a joke. But apparently it was an offer for the restaurant owner. When my friends left for work, I was still having my breakfast. And the restaurant owner came, whispering to me in Urdu, offering me 250 Rs to sleep with him. I refused, the [...]

January 7, 2006 // 3 Comments

Chapursan – The Land without Sunshine

The difficult journey to the land without sunshine January 4-7, 2006 Have you heard about the land without sunshine? It was a cloudy morning when someone in Sust bazaar – just one step more to China – told me. “You should go to Chapursan, over there, there is no sunshine for 2.5 months!” Chapursan is up north from Sust, going parallel with the Afghan border. And for harsh winter like this, nobody goes there due to the low temperature, harsh wind, and of course no sunshine. The last part of the challenges really made me decided to depart. There are several cars departing from Sust bazaar. There is no exact departure time, all departures are depended on passengers. Noor Khan – a Chapursan native who have been living in Karachi since student time, and Aziz – a teacher, Noor’s relative, also have been living in Karachi, are my fellow passengers. They told me many things about the culture of Wakhan Tajik – the native of the valley, about the land without sunshine – incidentally the exact valley without sunshine is about the breathing distance from their houses, about interesting event that I can catch the day later – a traditional [...]

January 7, 2006 // 1 Comment

Karimabad – The Land of Heaven

Haider Inn 75Rs Hunza in winter This is my second time coming to Hunza valley. The first time was in summer 2003. I arrived here 2 years ago, and amazed by the development projects carried out throughout the valley. The colour of winter is sad, yellow and grey. But the sadness colour doesnt make the mountains and valley mute, it’s still singing, beautifully. As I remember from my last visit, due to failure of the generator in the valley, I didnt have electricity at all during my 3 day stay here. But now it’s different. The electricity, even though that is still unreliable, works for most of the time. 2 days with electricity and 1 day off. Not bad. And it even has an internet cafe with affordable price. 40 Rs/hour, which is not bad considering the terrain of the area. The Internet cafe is run by KADO, with a partnership with an NGO from Western country. The connection was run by a sattelite, as the Internet administrator told me yesterday, and it cost 2000$/mo for this. The connection is very slow during the day because of the weather, but is bearable in the evening. The organization itself doesnt get [...]

December 23, 2005 // 2 Comments

Mobile Does Not Work

Mashallah I just arrived in Karimabad, Northern Areas today after the gruelling 24 hour journey. Just found that no mobile service provider can send signal up to the mountains here, so my mobile number will not work during my stay in Hunza region of Northern Areas. I will return back to Pindi after 2 weeks, Inshallah, and by the time i will be able to use my mobile again. At this moment there is internet cafe already in this village so communication still can be done thru my email address. [...]

December 21, 2005 // 0 Comments

My Pakistan Mobile Phone number

Just want to announce my number in Pakistan: + 92 334 5005297 I am using uphone service, so i can send messages for a cheap rate, but sometimes can’t receive messages from abroad. So excuse me for late or delayed reply. the safest way to contact me is still by Hello… hello… [...]

December 20, 2005 // 1 Comment

Rawalpindi – Cantontment?

I never expected that it’s very difficult to find a place to stay in this city Imperial Hotel, Muree Road, Rawalpindi 400Rs/double bed room After the 5 hour bus journey from Lahore to Islamabad, and long taxi drive to Saddar Bazaar in Rawalpindi, I was really resent by the hotel owner who refused me to stay in his hotel. Saddar Bazaar is the place for the budget hotels in Rawalpindi, where 2 years ago I used to stay. Today, they refused to accept me as their guest, as there is a stamp ‘Visa not Valid for Cannt Area’ on my visa page. I didnt realize what the meaning of the small stamp on my visa before today. The feeling of being refused in a hotel was very bad. I can imagine the same feeling of people being refused to enter a certain country despite of possessing the valid visa. And I felt disappointed, badly treated, being looked as second class man, etc. Cantontment is military area, which sometimes also include residential and bazaar area, as in this example Saddar Bazaar in Rawalpindi. I didnt know about this before. I am worrying whether this visa will affect my journey thru the [...]

December 17, 2005 // 0 Comments

Going North

Going up north to the mountains. But it seems they love China so much… As my sickness require me to take a total rest for about 2 weeks or so, I decided to move out of Lahore to go up north in the mountainous area of Himalaya. The journey will start today to Rawalpindi, staying there from some days, before taking the long bus journey to the Northern Areas. Meanwhile, Internet will not always available, so that I wouldnt be able to update my blog often nor replying email for quite a time. I hope that my absence will not make you worrying I will be allright for sure. But I am trying to get a new mobile phone number and I will announce the number to anybody who is interested. I love Lahore very much, but I havent seen much of it. Surely I will come back here again as soon as possible, as well as travelling around Pakistan. But yet, I also need a rest anyway…. Salaam [...]

December 17, 2005 // 1 Comment

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