There are no two opinions when it comes to coconuts being a staple and a quintessential part of every kitchen of this island country, as they are used extensively while cooking curries and making cocktails to give them a texture, flavour or creaminess. However, dosas with idli and sambar can also be qualified as runners-up in the race to win hearts and appetites here in Sri Lanka.

My first lunch on the island was at a street-side café: a masala dosa, also known as thosai, served on a banana leaf. It wasn’t much to write home about at first glance, but the first bite told a different story.

If your tastebuds are accustomed to the South Indian style of dosa, which is crispy and paper thin, this dosa was only somewhat similar. It was less crispy, spongier and even thicker when compared to the South Indian variety. In other words, it was an acquired taste.

Once the dosa batter was laid out, it was stuffed with spicy potato curry, unlike the mashed potatoes we’re used to seeing. It was paired with idli and sambar.

The idli — soft, steamed rice cakes made from fermented rice batter — was fairly bland, but the sambar was a flavour bomb in the form of a stew made from lentils, eggplant, tamarind, spices and herbs, offering a tangy, savoury tingle to the palate and performing a balancing act.

It was after a few bites that the server brought out the coconut chutney, which was definitely the showstopper. A simple coconut pulp made with green chillies, ginger, curry leaves, tamarind and coriander, served with a garnish of mustard seeds, it was incomparable to anything we eat in Pakistan. Every ingredient was making its presence felt and it was a perfect amalgamation of sweetness and tanginess with a hint of spice.

My Sri Lankan host didn’t let us order any soft drinks with the meal and instead whispered something to the server. As we were about to finish our meals, he brought out four giant coconuts with straws on the side. “These are called Thambili, and they are king coconuts,” he explained before the server took out a cleaver, sliced the hard, fibrous shell and cracked the husk.

The saccharine water inside the shell was finished up in seconds and it was then time to crack the shell open with a mallet and scoop out the white inner flesh with a spoon carved out of the shell. It was an refreshing blast of vitamins.

One item that I had listed as a must-try were hoppers, also called appam in the local dialect. To my surprise, they were a dime a dozen in every eatery, be it a fine dining establishment or a stall on the side of the road. I did not have to wait long, as my hotel was serving hoppers at breakfast at a live cooking stall.

It was a treat to watch the chef behind the stoves managing three burners at a time. I wasn’t surprised to find out that hoppers are also cooked with fermented rice flour and coconut, like many items in Sri Lankan cuisine.

After pouring the batter in a deep concave-shaped cast iron bowl, she spread the batter swiftly with a few twists and turns of her wrist, before breaking a fresh egg into the bowl with a sprinkle of salt and pepper and placing a lid on the small container.

Once the batter was crispy around the edges, the bowl-shaped hopper was dished out on the serving plate. Various condiments like coconut chutney, chilli paste, seeni (sweet caramelised onions) and a red onion sambal with lime found their respective corners on the plate to complement the hopper. It was simply divine.

I had to make two more rounds to satisfy my cravings and when the lady at the stand suggested that I try the sweet hopper too since I liked the savoury ones so much, I had to give them a go too.

On our second day in Colombo, our hunger for seafood reached new heights. After browsing various websites, getting recommendations from local taxi drivers and calling a few Sri Lankan friends, we hopped on a local train running alongside Marine Drive and ended up at a beach-side restaurant named Barracuda, sandwiched between a railway track and the Indian Ocean.

Located right next to the sandy beach, with mangroves and palm trees scattered all around, this chic place was buzzing with soothing live music. There were fairy lights dangling from trees branches, pebbled pathways leading to the billowing waves below and an ample supply of cool breeze to greet guests. Although Chinese and Thai dishes dominated the menu, Barracuda was mainly recommended to us for the seafood.

After scanning the menu thoroughly, we ended up ordering seafood platters with different combinations of prawns, crabs, lobsters, grouper, cuttlefish and other local varieties of seafood. These were prepared in a number of different ways, some were fried, others sizzled. Things were poached, curried and even steamed.

The server strongly recommended chilli crabs as an appetiser and to a resounding yes from us. The platters were enough to send anyone into a food coma. The meaty crabs soaking in curry sauce, fish marinated in tamarind and parsley, prawns wrapped up in a crispy crust and a cornucopia of chutneys and sauces all over the platter — it was all simply delectable.

No trip to Sri Lanka is complete without a visit to the tree plantations, so it was time to move away from Colombo’s hustle and bustle after two days of staying in the busy metropolis.

The saying “the most difficult roads lead to the most beautiful destinations” proved to be true when we arrived in Kandy. Surrounded by mountains, tea plantations, rain forests and garden terraces all at once, the city can be compared to our own Murree or Bhurban.

Although we had planned to spend just one day in the mountains, the two-hour drive to a tea plantation site in Nuwara Eliya made us extend our stay for another night. After an hour on the serpentine road, we decided to make a pitstop as soon as we passed by a small roadside café that grabbed our attention.

With a thatched roof perched atop a thin tree trunk frame and barn-style furniture with solid wood planks as table tops and stools, the vibes of this TripAdvisor-certified café were both tropical and rustic at the same time, perfectly complementing the Buddha quietly placed upon a pedestal. The place called for a dhaba-style treat of chai and local snacks.

Aloo bonda is a crispy deep-fried snack that pairs well with tea. Although they appear similar, this wasn’t your average pakora lookalike. The server informed us that aloo bonda is made from sweet potatoes and a blend of curry leaves, mustard seeds, ginger, finely chopped sautéed onions, cumin, green chillies and lime juice.

The mixture is shaped into small balls, dipped in batter and fried till golden brown. It was packed with herbs and flavours and we lost count of how many we ate as we sipped hot tea and swiped bondas off the plate.

The finale of our trip was a visit to the 150-year-old Damro Labookellie Estate Tea Factory in Nuwara Eliya. The view was simply breathtaking. Being the oldest tea estate in Sri Lanka, the place is always packed with visitors and tourists.

After a short tour, the guide informed us that this factory produces high-grade black tea as well as premium white tea. Since it was difficult to savour the flavours and the aromas of the two different teas from the samples offered, we were left with no choice but to buy packs of both to know the real difference.

Black tea was a hardcore affair, dark in colour and robust in flavour. White tea, meanwhile, was much sweeter with a gentler boost.

As this was the last day of our visit, we opted not to accrue additional luggage costs on the flight home and buy packets of loose tea instead of the fancy boxes offered to us at the plantation.

Ala Khutah (In His Footsteps), the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s latest initiative to provide meaningful experiences in the land of the Two Holy Mosques, allows visitors travel along the 470-kilometre route with visits to 41 different historical sites and a number of interactive exhibits.

The project’s inauguration by the governor of the Madina region was announced by Turki Al-Sheikh, chairman of the Kingdom’s General Entertainment Authority. In a post on X, he said the project documents the “historic milestones” of the Hijrah and “promotes deeper understanding of the Prophet’s life”.

The trip can be booked through a dedicated mobile app, available on both the Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store. The Primary Package — the only one available on the app at time of this story’s publication — spans four days from the Cave of Thawr on the outskirts of Makkah to the Quba Mosque in Madina and is priced at 4,230 rial (Rs315,300) for four people.

The package includes overland transport on public buses, accommodation for three nights, entry to all ticketed attractions and five interactive experiences, according to the app. Meals are not included in the package and while non-Muslims are welcome on the trip, their entry to the Cave of Thawr is barred.

Interactive experiences include a 30-minute presentation on The Wonders of the Camel, sensory storytelling at Khaymata Umm Ma’bad — where the Prophet’s arrival brought life to the drought-struck desert — and an immersive experience of how travel in the area differs between summers and winters.

Across the seven stations built along the route — corresponding to the seven places the Prophet spent the night during his journey — over 68 shops and 112 restaurants have been built to cater to visitors.

The experience, which was inaugurated just in time for Ramazan, is sure to attract large numbers of devotees and even visitors interested in Islamic history and Arab culture. Al-Sheikh, who oversees most of the Kingdom’s tourism initiatives, said the Ala Khutah aims to attract a million visitors in its first phase, reaching a target capacity of five million by 2030.

Cover photo: Ala Khutah/App

Advertised as a special tourist train running from Karachi Cantt to Zero Point/Marvi — the last station on the Pakistani side of the old Thar Express route — the initiative by the STDC promised a weekend of unique sights, sounds and adventure.

Tickets cost Rs20,000 for the two-day trip, which included food, transportation and a berth to sleep on. An additional Rs3,500 got passengers shared accommodation at a guesthouse to spend the night.

What is the Thar Desert Safari Train?

The train, which ran on its sixth trip from Karachi to Hyderabad and onwards to the border between India and Pakistan on February 14, is one of two special ‘tourist trains’ being run by the Sindh Tourism Development Corporation (STDC).

Passengers board at Karachi, Hyderabad and Mirpurkhas, after which the train runs to Chhor — a small town in the middle of the Thar desert. Upon reaching Chhor, they are moved onto buses and taken to Parchhi Ji Veri (PJV), a hilltop resort, to watch the sunset, have dinner and enjoy a musical programme.

The impressive lineup of performers included a local singer and snake charmer — a jogi — a singer from Hyderabad who serenaded attendees with ghazals, and Faqeer Wahid, son of renowned folk artist Allan Faqeer, who boarded the train at Karachi and accompanied the travelling party throughout the trip.

Activities at the PJV resort included archery, dirt biking, camel rides and even a zipline — which was not operating when we visited. The hill and the nearby town are named after a folk hero named Parchhi who dug a small sweetwater well — veri in the local Sindhi dialect — some 10 to 12 kilometres from Chhor on the advice of a local saint.

After dinner, those who paid for accommodation at the guesthouse were taken to Umerkot, while the rest of the passengers headed back to Chhor to spend the night on the train. The next morning, the party departed for Khokhrapar — the last operational Pakistani station on the ‘Dukhi Train’ line — before moving on to Marvi after being cleared by the Pakistan Rangers.

The commander of the unit charged with border security in the area greeted passengers at the platform and briefed them on the history of the area and its rail line. The Maharaja of Jodhpur had the line constructed in the 1890s to transport wheat during a famine.

Initially called Raja jo Rail or The Raja’s Rail, the train was taken over and upgraded by colonial authorities and used to transport supplies — notably water — to their troops in the area. Local legend says people began to call it the Dukhi Train (sorrowful train) because the water splashing out of rail cars made it look like the train was sobbing as it chugged through the desert.

The line, as Zahid Hussain — a Pakistan Railways employee with almost 40 years of experience — earlier told me, had been upgraded further by independent India and Pakistan. It was used to link Khokhrapar to India’s Munabao all the way till 2019, when the Thar Express service was suspended indefinitely.

Hussain recalled a time before the border had been fenced and travel between the countries restricted. He said wild deer would move freely across the desert and people would use the rail line to visit their relatives. He regretted that the border closures hurt local residents and created distances between families.

At Marvi, we were asked not to photograph any “enemy installations and buildings” out of respect for various “memoranda of understanding and agreements between the belligerent parties”. Walking out past the border fence and into the open desert, we could clearly see the Indian tricolour flying ahead. We stopped at the international border — a literal line drawn in the sand — and were told the Indians had been informed of our arrival well in advance to avoid any untoward incidents.

After the brief visit to the border, we were taken to the ‘meeting point’ — a collection of buildings on the Pakistani side that serve as neutral ground for bilateral deliberation between forces from both sides. Tea, pakoras and jalebis were brought out as we lounged in rooms usually reserved for high stakes negotiations. Outside, Faqir Wahid and his troupe treated us to a medley of national songs and his iconic dance moves.

After that, it was back onto the train for the seven-hour journey to Karachi, stopping at Chhor, Mirpurkhas and Hyderabad along the way. Breakfast and lunch were served on the train for both the outbound and inbound journeys and snacks were provided to passengers on the return leg after we crossed Hyderabad.

Here’s what worked

The experience was definitely a unique insight into both the culture of far-flung desert communities and the security arrangements along one of the most tense international borders in the world. It was also a welcome escape from the chaos of city life, with cellphone coverage dipping drastically after we crossed Mirpurkhas.

The entertainment programme at PJV was fun, with children and adults alike staring wide-eyed as venomous cobras followed the movement of Sattar Jogi’s flute. The second singer of the night, Farah Lashari, took requests and everyone enjoyed singing along to classics like ‘Kali kali zulfon’ and various Sufi kalams. The train’s own travelling musicians received uproarious applause everywhere they performed.

Meals on the train were also decent, with breakfast comprising an omelette with two slices of bread and lunch and a dinner of chicken curries with sides of rice and roti. Lunch on the first day had a gulab jamun for dessert which was replaced by a second entree of daal on day two. Meals were served to passengers at their seats, but they could also choose to eat in the attached dining car.

Many had positive things to say on the way back, including Railway Scouts leader Mehboob Hussain, who was accompanying a group of boy scouts and girl guides on the trip. He said the trip aligned well with the scouts’ ethos of exploration. He appreciated the initiative as a bridge between city-dwellers and the inhabitants of the desert, especially praising the visit to Zero Point as an educational experience.

Professor Saima Akhtar, a senior academic at the University of Karachi, said the trip was an “adventure” and she didn’t recall being uncomfortable at any point in the trip. She was accompanied by her family and students from her department of Public Administration, for whom she said the trip was one of “experiential learning”.

Dr Akhtar said she had been looking to take this trip ever since it first ran and was glad to have finally gotten the opportunity. She also remarked that the drop in ticket prices, which earlier stood at Rs30,000 for the initial journeys, was representative of the country’s “economic decline”. She was especially appreciative of the guesthouse her group stayed at in Umerkot, telling me they got to pick fruit and vegetables from a nearby field as a bonus experience.

And what didn’t…

For a journey that has already run five trips, some aspects certainly needed improvement, especially when it came to passenger comfort and accommodation on the train. The cars and cabins, which housed many people for over 24 hours of the journey, were — and excuse the pun — a train wreck.

Worn out seats, missing footholds that made climbing onto the upper berths an ordeal and broken light fixtures and switches dampened the otherwise pleasant experience. The non-availability of blankets on a train for the chilly desert night, with the air-conditioning running on full blast, made sure the sound of shivering reverberated through the two passenger bogeys.

Hussain, a retiree with a lifelong wanderlust, told me he wouldn’t bring his family on this trip despite having travelled on trains with them throughout his life. He said the cleanliness on the train was “very, very pathetic, from the washrooms to the cabins themselves”. His point was only reinforced as a cockroach scurried past us as we talked over nuggets and tea.

He said the musical programme at PJV and the visit to the border were “excellent” and appreciated the exclusive access to experiences that was only available on this specially organised trip. Outside of that, he said he wouldn’t take another such journey, choosing instead to drive himself and explore at his leisure.

The final word

The Thar Desert Safari was definitely a unique experience, one that most people in Karachi and other urban areas don’t usually have the opportunity to enjoy. The initiative would have been worth far more appreciation had this been its inaugural run.

However, the many kinks that the STDC failed to work out on its sixth journey left a bit of a bad taste in one’s mouth. If the goal is to attract tourists — especially foreign tourists — the experience falls short in many ways and needs to improve.

While the price tag gives the impression of some element of luxury — at least to the Pakistani mind — that luxury, sadly, is nearly non-existent.

That isn’t to say that I regret taking the trip, just that I wouldn’t do it again unless a serious effort is made to make the journey — not the destinations, those were great — more comfortable.

News of his plight brought out countless well-wishers, who have handed him endless supplies of food, toys, a comfortable cat house — and his very own Instagram page run by a fan.

He’s not alone: according to City Hall, Istanbul has more than 160,000 cats living on its streets who are regularly fed and fussed over by the city’s 16 million residents.

These street cats are looked after with an almost religious devotion.

Whether on the Asian or European side of Istanbul — or the ferries connecting them — cats can be seen everywhere, snoozing on restaurant chairs, wandering through supermarkets or curled up in shop windows.

And they are rarely, if ever, disturbed.

“Istanbulites love animals. Here, cats can walk into shops and curl up on the most expensive of fabrics. That’s why they call it ‘the city of cats’,” explains Gaye Koselerden, 57, looking at Kanyon’s toy-filled corner which looks like a child’s bedroom.

From pre-Ottoman times

Like Kanyon, many strays have turned into much-loved neighbourhood mascots.

In Kadikoy, locals set up a bronze statue in 2016 to immortalise Tombili (Turkish for chubby), a pot-bellied feline whose characteristic pose — lounging on benches with one paw draped over the edge — spawned countless internet memes.

When Gli, the tabby mascot of Istanbul’s sixth-century Hagia Sofia basilica-turned-mosque, died, an obituary in the Turkish press recalled how she was stroked by US president Barack Obama when he visited in 2009.

At the neighbouring Topkapi Palace, for years the opulent residence of the Ottoman sultans, they have just restored a centuries-old cat flap.

“Cats have always been here, no doubt because they are clean and close to humans,” the site’s director Ilhan Kocaman told AFP.

The presence of so many cats in the city has often been explained with reference to “the deep affection the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) had for them”, explained Altan Armutak, an expert at Istanbul University’s veterinary history department.

When Ottomans seized Constantinople in 1453, “they found cats waiting to be fed outside fish stalls and butchers’ shops,” he said.

“Giving the cats food was seen as an offering in the name of God.”

Living side by side

Six centuries later, cats have retained their historic presence in Istanbul, although these days City Hall is trying to manage their numbers, sterilising more than 43,000 cats last year, 12 times more than in 2015.

And the authorities are concerned about residents’ often over-generous offerings of food, which they fear is encouraging the spread of rodents.

“Normally, cats chase rats. But in Istanbul, you can see the rats eating the food alongside the cats. We must tackle this,” the region’s governor, Davut Gul, recently warned.

Although several such clips did the rounds on social media, they seem to have had a limited impact.

“I’ve lived here for four months and I’ve never seen a single rat,” said Fatime Ozarslan, a 22-year-old student originally from Germany as she put out a sachet of wet food in Macka Park, which is home to at least 100 cats.

“In Germany, we have many rats, but here, with so many cats, they must be afraid,” she smiled.

Without its cats, Istanbul just would not be the same, she said. “Here people and cats live side by side, as equals.”

Cover photo: AFP

You may have come across this term in the context of fashion; it can be described as timelessness, minimalism, refined, thoughtful, low-key, and high-quality. In GB, this luxury is twofold: it has to do with everything that God created in this naturally blessed region and that man built in the name of tourism.

Simply put, quiet luxury in GB’s context is to have the time to take in its striking natural beauty and serenity, that too from an equally striking setting.

As the hospitality industry grows in these areas, many resorts, local-run home stays and boutique hotels are cropping up for getaways and retreats ranging from culinary to wellness that don’t require you to sell your kidney.

The options here have the potential to dim the appeal of international destinations, particularly in this economy.

However, let me acknowledge that there is one word closely associated with quiet luxury that I left out for GB: effortless. Seeing the beauty may take as little effort as simply opening your eyes but reaching it is another story. Limited air options, long and sometimes risky road routes, unpredictable weather conditions – these are just some of the issues one has to take into account when planning these trips. It also requires understanding that tourism on this side of the country is still very new and building proper infrastructure in a territory with complex landscapes, and high-altitude locations — sometimes numbering in thousands such as Basho Valley in Skardu at 11,800 feet — will take time.

The argument I’ll make here is that most travel requires effort of some kind; some of us travel across the world with long layovers, go through visa hassles, and spend more than we save just for a view from a plush setting. Call it a resort holiday, a spa getaway or a zen retreat, the purpose of such trips is to immerse yourself in an alternate reality that breaks away from daily routines. So while you may have to factor in last-minute changes, trust that GB offers just that — a chance to free your mind of to-do lists and your phone of WiFi connections (you’ll only want it for the camera).

Log entry: In both my visits this year, the locals spoke of how tourism financially supports households across the districts, but in 2025, this flow of income was affected by the Pakistan-India tensions in May and then catastrophic natural calamities in parts of GB in August. “We want people to come, we want them to understand how to support us even in tough times,” said a resident of Skardu, adding that visitors should trust locals with their safety and listen to their guidance. When I asked about concerns regarding mushrooming hotels, they talked more about the hope that they’ll create opportunities for the people of the areas. However, in multiple conversations, they stressed how tourists needed to show more respect towards the place and its people. “Whether you want to open a hotel or stay in one, you have to adopt our way of life, don’t impose yours on us,” said a Hunza guide, his words echoed by many others.

GB has 10 districts and I visited six of them this year over two trips: Gilgit, Hunza, Nagar, Skardu, Ghanche, and Shigar. Apart from Nagar, which we visited for the picturesque Hoper Valley (9,000 feet) where you’re driving through the mountains amid higher neighbouring peaks to reach the cherry blossoms and Hoper Glacier, I spent at least a night in the other five. There are many companies curating these trips for visitors (shoutout to GoZayaan for planning mine) that offer competitive packages covering accommodations, flights, local travel and sudden changes to itineraries.

There are many tempting accommodation options in GB; this travelogue talks of places where I stayed and would stay again. They all came with stunning views — some by design, all by simply the privilege of existing in a location where all one has to do is look up to be awestruck.

Heritage luxury

It may not seem like a good sign to start with a hotel chain, but these are not your typical showily expensive 5-star properties: we’re talking forts and palaces steeped in history turned into classy accommodations.

There’s the 11th century Altit Fort in the former princely state of Hunza where the cottages at the edge of the gardens put you in the lap of the valley; Shigar Fort where you can stay in the 17th century palace of the Raja; and the majestic Khaplu Palace in Ghanche which 200 years later still exudes grace worthy of the label “royal” — all managed by Serena Hotels.

From amenities to service to the views, these sites speak luxury, not scream it. Part of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development, the Serena chain has aided in the renovation of these historic sites, promoting local culture and crafts, and providing employment for the community.

Tips:

• Eat at the restaurants in Khaplu but also make room for the delicious trout (with an option to catch it yourself) in Saling Valley in Ghanche. Make time to watch the sunset from one of the three royal balconies in the palace.
• Do not miss the walk behind Shigar Fort — I thought of gatekeeping this information passed on to us to avoid hordes of visitors next time but the views were so truly, wonderfully exceptional that no one should miss out and so I must pay it forward.
• For Altit, just book the cottages — it’s your front-row seat to the majesty that is Rakaposhi.

Secluded luxury

When you enter Shigar from Skardu you do so via a switchback road that goes up and down and twists around. You’ll have barely just taken in the colossal dunes of Sarfaranga Desert when golden peaks beautifully enveloped in the clouds greet you and then another turn opens an even more expansive view with mountains, patches of green and riverbeds as you drive through to reach your destination: Dera Lamsa in Lamsa village.

The resort, facing the Shigar River, is the perfect spot to gaze at the views, with its best feature being the private terraces, which are just that — private, not to mention spacious. They come with panoramic views that, without exaggeration, made me stop typing and close my eyes to relive them.

The evenings in Lamsa are velvety blue and luminous. The stars light up the sky while halo-like light radiates from small settlements in the distance.

The resort itself is still new, only in its second year and hasn’t seen many visitors in 2025 due to the war hysteria and then the flood scare, as one of the people involved in running the place told me. There’s also a gorgeous Heritage Villa, which feels more like a resort than the rooms do but isn’t available throughout the year, at least up till the point when we visited. Some teething issues aside, it’s the sort of place that could easily become your go-to for every trip to Shigar.

Tip:

Watch the sunrise — see the pink hues turn golden then white as the clouds descend. It’s a live nature show that happens every morning and is well worth that alarm going off.

Log entry: Don’t get sucked into the ‘Hunza versus Skardu’ debate — it’s a moot point because the two, which are similar in theory, are very different places and experiences. Also, familiarise yourself with the geography of the region because while the guides and other locals are very nice and eager to share information, they’ll appreciate that we don’t consider all districts of Skardu as Skardu; they take pride in where they come from and how individually unique each place is — like in the case of our guide in Baltistan who was from Shigar. Our guide in Hunza was from Ganish village and took us around to show what makes it special, later also inviting us to his home for dinner with his family. Both places have beautiful languages, memorable food and music that can travel with you, so really, don’t spend time on comparisons.

Outdoor luxury

Rule 1 of planning trips to GB: plan for the unexpected. Our original itinerary said glamping in Deosai — now banned — but the roads led to Katpana Desert as the ones to the former were blocked due to a landslide. There’s not much to complain about the unexpected when the trade-off is a cold desert, also referred to as ‘desert of the stars’, with a lush green namesake lake that is so still and mirror-like that you’d think the reflection of the mountains and clouds was painted on top of the waterbody.

Glamping — glamorous camping — is still relatively new to Pakistan and Glamp Pakistan is among the most prominent names in this space.

We stayed a night in the ‘New Safari Gold’ glamp that includes rustic and tastefully colourful interior, ample furniture, a private outdoor space (with a bonfire pit and a swing) overlooking the lake, and a chic bathroom that could compete with some of the finest hotels in the business.

The food was very good, and the service was exceptional. What else can you really ask for in the middle of a desert?

Tip:

Just lay on the sand when night comes, otherwise you’ll have a stiff neck from looking up constantly at the stars — and you will be looking constantly at the sky full of stars (I’d like to think Katpana is what Coldplay was singing about when they wrote ‘A Sky Full of Stars’).

Affordable luxury

Homestays are family-run accommodations, so you know you’re bound to get good food — and that was just the case with Lavender Cottage and Guest House in central Skardu. I love dumplings; ‘mamtus’, the local version in GB, was the first meal on my first trip and they were delicious.

Fast-forward to the second trip’s last night and I had them again (after having some more along the course of both visits) at Lavender Cottage and believe me when I tell you that they were unequivocally the best. My friend and I also had the ’tresspi balay’, a local soup made with beef stock, beef chunks and homemade noodles — so good (and generous!) that we kept filling our bowls. The rooms were comfortable and clean, and the gardens were filled to the brim with flowers.

The hospitality was warm and personalised, just like at Riverdale Resort in Gilgit. Riverdale gives you the feel of a modern tree house, right next to the gushing streams flowing into the Gilgit River. Our room was on the bank of the river and its adjoining terrace extended over the waters. While they call themselves a resort, I’d categorise them as a homestay, run by a gentle man named Hadi who’s been entrusted by the family that owns it.

Hadi was the ideal concierge; from suggesting the best spot for breakfast on a property filled with scenic seating to bringing a tray of the local Tumuro tea just as you’re thinking of it. The grounds are beautifully kept, the rooms tastefully decorated and the location away from the bustle of Gilgit.

Tip:

If you like absolute silence for sleeping, then you’ll need noise-cancelling headphones at Riverdale as the river won’t quiet down. Also, don’t fuss if some things take long or if the amenities aren’t glamorous; these are small enterprises that pride themselves on making your visit feel personal, not pristine.

Modern luxury

While all the stays were researched and selected ahead of time, Byarsa was booked on the way to it — flights from Gilgit stopped during the India-Pakistan “will they, won’t they” period, so my friend and I had to take the flight from Skardu while airspace was still open. Unexpected changes is one thing but possibly having to stay for an unknown period while war breaks out is another, so needless to say the room was booked amid some anxiety for the sole purpose of spending one night.

Byarsa, on the Lower Kachura Shangrila Road, turned out to be a rustic, suave glass-panelled sanctuary stocked with luxe Honey, I’m Home toiletries. They also call themselves an eco-friendly property, said to be working with the local government to form a proper waste disposal system in the area.

The boutique hotel on that rainy, uncertain day felt like a warm and cosy hunting lodge, the kind that smoothly slides under the modern luxury label, much like the art and wellness resort Ambiance in Hunza. Located in Aliabad, it has comfortable and tasteful rooms but the architects and designers knew what elevation offers: views, views and views.

Speaking of spaces designed solely to give you the feeling of being in the mountains without actually being IN the mountains, Ambiance Resort has outdoor decks for dining, a bridge connecting its buildings and room balconies overlooking the Karakoram Range.

The hotel also has a few trekking paths for the days you don’t feel like going into town. It prides itself on its art collection and you’ll see works from “over 80 young Pakistani artists”, as the brand says, across the property, with its in-house dining venue named Art Café. Easily one of my most colourful stays, the lobby itself gives the impression of a contemporary art gallery.

Tip:

Book the massage at Ambiance’s Resonance Spa. Nevermind that finding a spa in the middle of the mountains after long drives and tiring trials (that seemingly unassuming walk back from Husseini Bridge in Hunza comes to mind) feels like the ultimate luxury, the massage itself was top notch. They’re not the cheapest treatments but worth splurging for a spacation.

As mentioned, much has been said about the beauty of these places, so I’ll leave it at this: words, pictures and even the best Instagram reels can’t capture what unfolds in front of you when you visit — whether it’s the Passu Cones coming into full view in Hunza or the otherworldly landscape of Shigar as you enter it — and the journeys to these destinations give you the gift of time, so use it well.

Log entry: Valleys in Gilgit-Baltistan are plenty but not all easy to get to; the route to Basho Valley has some patches of proper roads, the other times you’re just on uneven terrains that are so narrow that the thought of a vehicle coming from the other side makes you rethink your journey.

I’m pretty sure my insides moved a little, given the bumps experienced on the rutted route, strongly recommended to be only undertaken in a jeep. The drive is worth all the bumps and bruises for the wondrous sights you’ll pass, including the glacier streams below (the faint-hearted, however, should not peek at them during the drive up).

Hoper is also a narrow and rough drive (also not one for the faint-hearted — or those who believe in railings) but less adventurous than Basho and thus, kinder to your body. And then there’s Sok Valley in Skardu, the route to which isn’t as memorable but ranks highest in my books as a destination among the three, foremost for its serenity. It’s the kind of place where hours can go by listening to the river, watching its colour change, and marvelling at God’s artistry that made the peaks surrounding the valley all so distinct.

All photos and videos by the author

Searches linked to #TravelTok increased by 53 per cent, while #FoodTok rose by 52pc, #StudyTok searches were up 60pc, and #FitnessTok recorded the largest jump, growing 66pc compared to 2024, the company said in its annual report.

“TikTok Search has become an essential part of daily life in Pakistan,” said Umais Naveed, TikTok South Asia content operations lead, in a statement. The platform has noted that travel queries from Islamabad to Altit Fort in Hunza indicate a growing trend for exploring Pakistan’s landscapes and landmarks.

In a statement, TikTok said people use the social media application to explore destinations, catch up on moments as they happen, and find quick, relatable guidance from creators who speak their language and understand local contexts. Notable search trends on TikTok by Pakistanis in 2025 included product reviews, software, mehndi designs and AI prompts.

The top searched words on TikTok in Pakistan in 2025, in terms of places, were: Islamabad, Altit Fort Hunza, Chenab River, Lahore and Karachi. The most searched news and moments were: Babar Azam’s 100 century, Pakistan v South Africa, Pakistan v India, ‘Nadia Meri Soni Sawani’, and floods.

Originally published in Dawn, December 25th, 2025

Visitors from outside the EU or the European Economic Area — which includes Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway — will have to pay 32 euros ($37) from January 14, a spokesperson said on Friday. Britons will have to pay the higher rate.

Four burglars made off in daylight with jewels worth $102 million on October 19, exposing glaring security gaps at the world’s most visited museum. In November, structural weaknesses prompted the partial closure of one of its wings.

The museum’s administration, urged by France’s state auditor to prioritise security over acquisitions, said last week it would install 100 external cameras by the end of 2026 while pressing on with a six-year renovation project.

Nearly nine million visitors passed through the museum’s doors last year, almost three-quarters of them foreign. The price increase is expected to bring in an extra 15-20 million euros a year.

Other museums such as the Palace of Versailles, built in the 17th century for King Louis XIV, the Gothic-style Sainte Chapelle chapel, the Paris Opera House and Chambord Chateau, in the Loire Valley, are also expected to raise prices next year.

Police have arrested the four suspected burglars and others suspected of complicity. The jewels have not yet been recovered.

“The idea is to offer customers an original experience they can share on social media,” Abdallah Islam, manager of the A12 cafe in Riyadh, told AFP.

At the cafe, Saudi women lift their black face veils to sip ice-cold beer. “Is there alcohol in this?” one customer asked, nervously eyeing his pint.

The incongruous scene, with veiled women clinking glasses, signals the changes under way and in the conservative kingdom, home to Islam’s holiest sites, as deep-seated taboos are gently prodded.

The A12 cafe, on one of the busiest avenues in the capital, displays a large picture of a foaming pint on its window. Its managers say the cafe has been packed since April when it began serving draft beer — a German Warsteiner with 0.0 per cent alcohol, poured into large mugs and served with peanuts, pub-style.

Around the tables, young men in white thobes — the traditional Saudi garment — film themselves sipping their drinks, while a waiter pulls pints behind a shiny black bar. Some watch football on a television screen while enjoying a cold brew.

Since the rise to power of Saudi crown prince and de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman, cinemas have reopened, women are allowed to drive and foreign tourists are being welcomed.

Alcohol, however, remains a red line. Booze has been banned in Saudi Arabia since 1952, shortly after the son of then-King Abdulaziz got drunk and, in a rage, shot dead a British diplomat.

Beer fear

For years, some residents of the city have been known to make their own bootleg wine. Others turn to the black market, where a bottle of whisky can fetch several hundred dollars.

In January 2024, the country opened its first liquor store in Riyadh, catering exclusively to non-Muslim diplomats. But alcohol will not be served during the 2034 World Cup, the Saudi ambassador in London told a British broadcaster this year.

“The kingdom must tread carefully with any potential legalisation of alcohol, as it would contradict its image as a credible leader of the Islamic world,” Sebastian Sons of the German think tank CARPO told AFP. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are the only Gulf countries that still ban alcohol.

Back at the A12 cafe, curious Saudis are coming to see what the fuss is about. “The look of it is scary — it looks like alcohol,” said Sheikha, 18, who asked to be identified by her first name only. “The word ‘beer’ alone is scary,” she laughed. “But I got over my fear, and honestly it’s refreshing.” The young woman, accompanied by a friend, decided to try the experience after seeing videos on TikTok.

For the cafe’s manager, the point is to be able to offer the bar experience “but within the limits of local values”. It is a delicate balance in a youthful country where many are keen to experiment — but without crossing the line.

“In our country, there are no alcoholic drinks,” said Ahmed Mohammed, 18, as he set down his empty mug. “And we don’t want there to be any. “

The online sensation hit 100 billion views this month and is in Riyadh to launch Beast Land, a theme park modelled on his videos that put people through elaborate endurance challenges to win large cash prizes.

“It’s probably one of the best days of my life,” the 27-year-old, whose real name is James Donaldson, told Reuters ahead of the launch on Thursday, in one of at least nine interviews conducted as part of his Saudi PR blitz.

“One of the top requests I get is: I want to be in a MrBeast video… So now (we are) creating that in real life where you guys can come visit it and experience what it is like,” he said.

Changing times

Over the past decade, once ultra-conservative Saudi Arabia has rapidly developed entertainment options as part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 to diversify the country away from oil and transform society.

Young Saudis grew up with few avenues for fun, with cinemas and concerts effectively banned. Outsiders saw the kingdom as stuck in time. Both perceptions have shifted. The Saudi capital is now the scene of Riyadh Season, running almost half the year with near-daily events from boxing and slap contests to house music parties and sports competitions.

Lit up in neon-blue, Beast Land combines theme park attractions like rollercoasters with Donaldson’s American Gladiator-style challenges, such as a game where the last player to slap a button when it lights up falls to cushioned doom.

Donaldson says 70 per cent of his fans are outside the US and Saudi Arabia was also a natural choice due to easily accessible studio space to film his latest season of videos. “I’d say give it a try, it’s much more developed than you’d think,” he said.

The kingdom has been known to attract international talent with massive compensation: Cristiano Ronaldo’s contract with Saudi Arabia’s Al Nassr is estimated to be worth more than $200 million.

MrBeast has at times stirred controversy, with Mexico in May filing suit against a firm they say worked with him after he produced a video at the nation’s ancient Maya pyramids.

Wayan Wardika, the man behind a wonderful firefly conservatory in Indonesia, said this as the four of us — my wife and I, and an American couple, Johnny and Lulian — sat around a table under the palm trees on his family farm.

We were here deep in the jungles of Taro village, just outside of Ubud in Bali, at the Rumah Konservasi Kunang-Kunang thanks to my wife. She’d refused to settle for the typical Bali itinerary and kept digging online until she found this experience.

The four-hour evening, which cost $54.78 per person (approximately Rs15,400), included a visit to the firefly conservation lab, a walk through organic plantations, cooking and sharing a traditional Balinese dinner with Wardika’s family, and firefly viewing at night. Transport was not included but could be arranged.

Wardika began telling us about his childhood. Back then, Taro had no electricity. At night, fireflies were everywhere, so many that he’d catch them in jars to light his way home, something his grandparents scolded him for. They believed fireflies carried the spirits of their ancestors and you weren’t supposed to trap them. But there were thousands of them.

Over the years, farmers started using pesticides, villages got electricity, roads brought more people and more lights. Within 20 years, the fireflies almost vanished.

Watching this happen haunted Wardika.

He’d been working on cruise ships, traveling the world, and every time he came home there were fewer fireflies. Finally, in 2020, he moved back to Taro and launched “Bring Back the Light” — a project to bring fireflies back to Bali.

He built the lab and taught himself the science of firefly breeding. Now he works with biologists and local farmers who’ve switched to organic farming.

As he spoke passionately about his work, I realised what it looked like to find your calling. Sitting there, I wondered if I’d ever felt that way about anything. I hadn’t.

Thankfully, Wardika interrupted my minor existential crisis. He stood and gestured toward the lab — a modest room tucked beneath trees planted decades ago. Nita, one of the biologists, was waiting for us.

Inside, rows of glass jars lined wooden shelves and Nita explained what we were seeing — firefly larvae. Some just weeks old, others nearly ready to pupate. She walked us through their life cycle — egg to larva to pupa to adult — a process that takes around two years. Two years of growing in the soil, hidden and patient. Then comes the adult stage, when they can finally fly and light up the night, lasts only two to four weeks. Less than a month to glow, to find a mate and to leave something behind.

We stepped out of the lab into the golden hour. Wardika’s son, Krishna, then took over, leading us into the fields. He walked us through rows of coffee plants, durian trees, and moringa bushes growing along the edges. Everything here was organic. No pesticides, no chemicals. It had to be — this was the environment the fireflies needed to survive.

By the time we made it back, the family had set everything up in the kitchen.

Ingredients laid out on wooden surfaces, pots ready over the fire. Krishna waved us over with a smile.

By now, Johnny and Lulian felt less like strangers and more like old friends. We’d moved past the polite introductions and into the easy back-and-forth of people who actually liked each other.

Krishna and his aunt walked us through preparing the meal. We chopped vegetables, prepped chicken for the bamboo shoots, and mixed spices. The work was simple, communal. All of us moving around the same space, contributing what we could as night fell.

When we finished, it was time. The moment we’d come for. Krishna turned off the surrounding lights and asked us to keep our phones tucked away too. The darkness that settled in was complete. Pitch black. The kind you never experience in cities.

We followed him down a path toward the rice paddies, moving slowly, our eyes adjusting with each step.

Around us, the Balinese jungle hummed softly. Cicadas buzzed in the trees, frogs croaked somewhere in the distance, the breeze moved through the rice stalks with a soft rustle.

Then I saw it — a tiny flicker of light, low near the ground. Gone as quickly as it appeared, I thought I’d imagined it. But then another one blinked further out in the paddies. Then another. Small bursts of yellow light appearing and disappearing across the field like tiny fallen stars.

The males are flying, flashing as they move. The females stay low, in the grass. When she sees a pattern she likes, she flashes back. That’s how they find each other.

We stood there watching, mesmerised — there was something about it that turned us all back into children seeing magic for the first time. I don’t even know how long we stayed, but eventually, Krishna led us back toward the house where dinner was waiting.

We sat down for the meal — moringa soup, bamboo-grilled chicken, tempeh skewers and steamed vegetables with coconut. The conversation flowed smoothly as we ate our delicious meal. Krishna mentioned something about his wife, and when we asked, he smiled shyly and said they’d just gotten married. Before we knew it, his phone was out and we were all watching his wedding video. He blushed as we congratulated him, clearly proud but embarrassed by the attention.

Heading back through the darkness that night, I kept thinking about the word jugnu, Urdu for firefly. I’d first learned it as a child from Iqbal’s poem Hamdardi in school. A nightingale lost in darkness, unable to find its nest. A small jugnu appears and offers to light the way home, despite being just a tiny creature.

To me, jugnu was just a beautiful word we read in poetry. Living in Karachi, a concrete jungle drowning in light pollution, I’d never actually seen a firefly, but watching those tiny lights pulse across the paddies, I finally understood what Wardika was fighting for — the chance for his grandchildren to see what he saw growing up. For jugnu to be more than just a word.

Officials believe the Grand Egyptian Museum, or GEM, alone could draw as many as seven million additional visitors annually after it opens on Saturday, helping boost total visitors to around 30 million by 2030.

Overlooking the Giza Pyramids, the 500,000-square-metre edifice will house tens of thousands of artefacts, including what is billed as the complete collection of the treasures of the boy-king Tutankhamun, many displayed for the first time.

The new space includes immersive exhibits and virtual-reality devices, in contrast to cluttered, old-fashioned displays in the older Egyptian Museum in downtown Cairo. Egypt, which has needed repeated bailouts to stabilise its economy, uses the foreign currency it collects from tourism to pay for crucial imports such as fuel and wheat.

Cultural tourism hopes

Last year the country drew 15.7 million visitors who spent a record $15 billion, according to official figures. Tourism had collapsed to a low of $3.8 billion in 2015/16, the victim of extended political turmoil after Egypt’s 2011 uprising.

However, factors including fraying infrastructure, poor planning and security restrictions have held back the tourism sector’s potential. Even with the recent recovery, Egypt trails regional rival Turkey, which said it had more than 50 million international visitors last year, bringing in over $60 billion.

Ghada Abdelmoaty, an associate professor at the Higher Institute of Tourism and Hotels in Alexandria, said visitor targets were realistic. “The museum accommodates a huge collection that was previously kept in storage due to lack of display space,” she said.

Popular with many travellers for its Red Sea resorts, Egypt hopes the GEM’s opening will also draw an increasing proportion of cultural tourists.

Such tourists typically stay longer and spend more than those who come mainly for beaches, analysts say.

Official figures don’t say how many tourists come for cultural reasons, but a 2021 study of GEM’s possible impact estimated they made up less than a quarter of the total. Abdelmoaty put the number of cultural tourists at only 10 to 15 per cent of all international travellers.

Remon Naguib, chief commercial officer at Orient Hospitality Group, said his company was working to integrate the new museum into “joint programmes” designed to attract visitors to experience both.

Tourists could “come and visit the museum, then spend three nights in a Red Sea destination, including Ain Sukhna, which is just one hour from Cairo,” he said.

Roads given facelift, pyramids entrance moved

Tourism revenues became even more important over the last two years as attacks on Red Sea shipping chased shipping away from the Suez Canal, another major foreign currency earner.

Tourism itself has proven vulnerable to shocks including political violence in the 1990s and 2000s, the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine — two countries which accounted for nearly a third of tourist arrivals in 2021. Tourism has also been hurt by the war on Gaza.

To fully capitalise on the GEM’s opening, the museum “has to be complemented by very high-quality tourist infrastructure — hotels, transport, and beyond,” said Ragui Assaad, professor of international economic policy at the University of Minnesota. That means addressing issues like transport in Cairo, a megacity with an estimated population of 23 million. Roads leading to the new museum have been given a facelift, while a new airport has been built about 25 kilometres (15 miles) from the GEM to circumvent clogged streets.

Entrance to the Giza Pyramids has been relocated to the back side to reduce crowding and keep visitors away from the area’s famously aggressive tourist touts.

Tourism Minister Sherif Fathy said last month Egypt had added 5,000 hotel rooms to its existing 235,000 and hoped to add yet another 9,000 before the year ends.

In the process, she photographed the city’s heritage buildings, libraries, churches and marketplaces, sharing them with her followers on Instagram.

“Guiding our cousin through the hidden gems of my beloved city on his first visit to Pakistan was both rewarding and heartbreaking,” she wrote. “Rewarding, because Karachi’s history is unbelievably rich and beautiful — heartbreaking, because so much of it is being destroyed. This can’t be right. If I can be of any help in preserving these treasures and protecting Karachi’s heritage, I’d love to connect with the right people.”

St. Patrick’s Cathedral

Among the highlights of her tour were two striking pictures of St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Situated on Shahrah-e-Iraq near Empress Market, the church was built in 1881 in the Gothic Revival style, with the capacity to accommodate up to 1,500 worshippers.

In its courtyard stands the Monument to Christ the King, constructed in 1931. The cathedral remains one of Karachi’s most prominent religious and architectural landmarks, quietly carrying over a century of history within its stone walls.

Empress Market

Khan also shared a glimpse of her stop at Empress Market, one of Karachi’s busiest and most historic marketplaces.

Built between 1884 and 1889 during the British Raj, the market is known for its striking Gothic architecture and houses hundreds of stalls selling everything from fresh produce and spices to textiles and pets.

The site has a sombre history. It was originally used by the British to execute participants of the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny. Today, it stands as both a reminder of colonial legacies and a hub of everyday Karachi life.

Frere Hall and its treasures

The actor’s tour wouldn’t have been complete without a stop at Frere Hall, the 19th-century Venetian Gothic landmark that once served as Karachi’s town hall.

Constructed in 1863 to honour British administrator Sir Henry Bartle Frere, the building today functions as a public library and cultural hub.

Its ceiling mural by Sadequain remains one of the city’s most iconic works of art, while the surrounding Bagh-e-Jinnah lawns offer respite from the urban sprawl.

Inside, Khan shared a series of images from the Frere Hall library.

These included shelves lined with ageing tomes, a 1762 edition of A Journey from St. Petersburgh in Russia to Ispahan in Persia by John Bell, a worn copy of Funk & Wagnalls’ New “Standard” Dictionary, and even a 1953 issue of Dawn!

She also photographed a volume of Japanese poetry translated by Arthur Waley, highlighting the eclectic and layered collection the library houses.

Karachi’s layered identity

By guiding her cousin, and, by extension, her social media audience, through Karachi’s churches, markets and libraries, Khan has spotlighted not only the city’s history but also the urgency to help preserve it.

Karachi is both “rewarding” and, in its current state, “heartbreaking”, as Khan said. It is a city where fragments of colonial architecture, sacred spaces and cultural heritage survive against the odds. As its past comes into focus, reminding us that beneath the city’s chaos lie stories worth remembering, we should also remember that they’re worth saving.

“It’s not the cheapest island, but it’s rich in soul, history and people who welcome you with genuine warmth,” she wrote in an Instagram post breaking down her trip in a bunch of slides.

For Ashraf, Zanzibar isn’t just a destination — it’s a feeling that lingers. “The call to prayer drifting through Stone Town’s alleys, the tide pulling the ocean back and forth in Paje, the sunsets in Nungwi that make you forget time,” she recalled.

The basics

According to the host, flights will set you back around $600 to $1,200 (Rs170,000 to Rs340,000) depending on the airline. A visa costs $180 (Rs51,000), and mandatory insurance is $44 (Rs12,487).

Her biggest travel hack? Carry USD cash. “It’s accepted almost everywhere,” she advised.

How long to stay

“Give the island time,” Ashraf urged. “Two weeks is perfect — anything shorter feels rushed.” She also suggested splitting the trip between the beaches and Stone Town for the full experience.

Where to go

Start in Nungwi, a village at the northern tip of Zanzibar known for its calm waters, soft sand and some of the best sunsets, she advised. “Pro tip: Best spot for swimming — tides here are kinder than in the south,” she wrote.

Next stop: Paje. Perfect for kitesurfing and a laid-back vibe, Ashraf described it as “a great base if you like a buzz” but recommended booking early in the season.

End the trip in Stone Town, with its spices, street food and winding alleys steeped in history. “Stay two nights — enough to explore without rushing,” she suggested.

Where to stay and how to get around

For transport, Ashraf noted that taxis cost around $50 (Rs14,000) per ride, but renting a car was far more convenient. She and her husband paid $35 a day for a local permit. “It gives you freedom to explore,” she said.

Accommodation on the island ranges greatly. Resorts start at around $150 (Rs43,000) per night and can go up to $400 (Rs113,000) or more. Bargaining at markets is expected, while food remains an “affordable joy,” according to Ashraf.

In a slide, she recommended “stays for every mood”.

For a luxurious stay, she suggested Zuri, Baraza, The Residence, and a private island lodge in Mnemba. For Boutique stays, she listed Emerson Hotels, The Nest Boutique Resort, and Zanzi Resort. And for eco-friendly, economical options, she recommended the Chumbe Island Coral Park and Jambiani guesthouses.

“Pro Tip: Mix it up — a luxe resort plus a boutique stay gives you the best of both,” she shared.

Pros and cons

In another slide, she listed the pros and cons of travelling to Zanzibar. “Pros: Dream beaches, rich Swahili culture, seafood and spices, diving and wildlife, and of course, the people,” whom she described as kind, warm and sweet. “Pro tip: Take time to chat — locals have the best stories,” she noted.

“Cons: Pricey resorts and taxis, vendors on the beach, power cuts and patchy WiFi, service runs on island time. Pro Tip: Lean into the slow pace of island life,” shared Ashraf.

Final thoughts

Her final thoughts about Zanzibar were: “Zanzibar is more than a postcard. Come with patience, curiosity, and time! It will stay with you forever. And me? I’d love to come back again… it feels like the kind of island that’s even more fun when shared.”

For her final pro tip, she said Zanzibar is great for couples, but friends and families will surely make the nights longer and the laughs louder.

Situated along the Silk Road, the major trade route between China and Europe, Uzbekistan is home to countless monuments of historical and architectural importance — from the Amir Timur Museum and Khast-Imam Complex to the Minor Mosque and Barak-Khan Madrasah. Beyond Tashkent, the historic cities of Samarkand, Bukhara, and Khiva are brimming with similar treasures.

As a Muslim, one of the great comforts of being in a Muslim-majority country is the assurance that everything you eat is halal. I had already listed four must-try dishes for my stay — somsa, pilaf, khanum, shashlik, and kazy — but the in-flight promotional video nudged me toward even more culinary adventures.

Bread in Chagatai

On my first morning in Tashkent, I headed to Chagatai, an old neighbourhood famous for its bread-making and surrounded by historic mosques and the Hazrati Imam Complex. The taxi driver dropped me in a narrow, bustling street with the reassuring words, “You can’t get lost here. Don’t worry, you’ll find your way around.” He was right.

The air was rich with the aroma of freshly baked bread, known locally as non or lepeshka. Every corner seemed to host a small bakery, their clay ovens turning out breads of all shapes and sizes. To my surprise, some vendors used baby carriages draped in embroidered white cloth as makeshift bread carts.

“There are two kinds of non: obi (plain) and patir (with sesame seeds),” explained a friendly local in the bakery queue. “In an Uzbek household, bread is not just food; it must look beautiful too.”

Watching the bread-making process was a treat. The dough, a mixture of milk, yeast, melted butter, salt, and sugar, is kneaded, shaped into flat rounds, and artfully decorated. A wooden stamp (chekich) creates intricate patterns, sesame seeds are sometimes sprinkled on top, and the bread is baked in a blazing tandoor. The baker, leaning halfway inside, presses the dough onto the hot clay wall before retrieving it with a metal tool.

Fresh from the oven, the bread is everything at once — hot, fluffy, chewy, and perfectly textured, with a crust far gentler than a French loaf. Traditionally eaten with kiamak (a dairy dip), honey, figs, or fruit, I paired mine with peaches from a nearby fruit cart, an experiment I’m unlikely to repeat.

Chorsu Bazaar

No trip to Tashkent is complete without a visit to Chorsu Bazaar. Under its massive blue dome, meat vendors occupy the ground floor, dry fruit sellers the upper level, and the surrounding streets brim with pottery, ceramics, jewellery, fruit, and vegetables. Inside, butchers arrange their cuts in circular stalls like a maze — every part of the animal is for sale, from chops and tongues to brains and intestines.

Buying dry fruits here is an art form — the moment you pause, vendors lure you with almonds, raisins, and pistachios from beneath the counter. The prices start high but can be bargained down to a fraction.

Uzbek dry fruits are exceptional: almonds crack like crème brûlée, each shell revealing two nuts; pistachios are larger and saltier than their Pakistani counterparts. Leaving without at least four to five kilos of each would be a mistake.

Shashlik Market

Just a short walk from Chorsu lies the Shashlik Market, its alleyways smoky with the scent of grilled meats. I sampled lamb skewers, beef kebabs, and fried fish, though the famous horse meat sausage, kazy, tempted me too. The barbecue resembled Afghani kebabs but was less juicy. The fish, however, was meaty and flavourful.

The real star here was khanum, a steamed dumpling of potato and onion wrapped in soft dough, sold by a vendor with a cult following. Served with raw onions, dill, and green chillies, it was mild on its own but transformed into a perfect bite with a bit of heat and acidity.

Somsa at Boboy Café

At Boboy, a traditional café in Tashkent Mall, I finally tried somsa, flaky pastries filled with lamb or beef mince. My beef somsa, golden and crisp, delivered an explosion of flavours: cumin, black pepper, red pepper, and perfectly balanced seasoning.

With its thick, multi-layered crust and savoury filling, it was a crunchy, buttery delight, a far cry from the South Asian “samosa” it inspired centuries ago.

Besh Qozon’s Pilaf Finale

I saved my last day for Besh Qozon, a legendary pilaf restaurant drawing crowds from morning to midnight. Here, giant cauldrons — some the size of bathtubs — simmer over wood fires. The process is mesmerising: sunflower oil, meat, and carrots are layered with onions, garbanzo beans, berries, saffron, and rice, then steamed under metal plates.

I ordered the spicy pilaf with lamb, beef, and kazy, accompanied by quail eggs and dolma. Golden rice glistened with meat juices, carrots were tender and sweet, and each meat cut — from succulent lamb to salty horse sausage — brought its own character. Every spoonful was a rich medley of flavours and aromas.

My four days in Uzbekistan ended here, and with my final bite of pilaf, I could finally declare my mission accomplished.

Photos used in cover image courtesy Uzbek Embassy in Pakistan

I’d suggest leaving the characters in the novels and heading out to explore all the city has to offer. Bucharest is an interesting blend of a contemporary yet historical urban landscape.

Taking a stroll in the old town to marvel at the medieval era buildings, walking on the wide pebbled roads, getting captivated by the columns at the palace of parliament or stepping into ultra-modern shopping malls, Bucharest continues to amaze you with every step and at every site.

On the advice of a friend, I chose to stay in the old town area, which was a 35-minute drive from the airport. The place was the picture of a ghost town during the morning until lunch hours started and one was able to witness the sudden buzz of activity with cafés and restaurants began filling up with hungry customers. As the night fell, these streets came alive with loud music, with outdoor areas and souvenir shops shining brightly along the streets.

Blending well into the world of Romanian gastronomy, I managed to befriend a server on a smoke break outside an eatery. “My friend, Romanian cuisine is all about vegetables, cornmeal and meat. Our tastebuds circle around these three essentials, call it comfort food or traditional or common food as you may,” he laughed.

For Romanians there is no compromise on the freshness of ingredients. Everything that goes into a dish, be it meat, herbs, veggies or fruit, needs to be fresh from the market or the farms, seasonal, and organic. You definitely won’t see okra in December or broccoli in June on a Romanian dining table.

From my very first meal in Bucharest, I was startled to discover the bond between Pakistani and Romanian cuisines, especially “the quintessential use of garlic”. The vegetable is used liberally in many Romanian dishes, just like ours. However, unlike in Pakistani cuisine, Romanians use garlic on its own, without the addition of ginger. My dish was no exception. Accompanied by a garlic sauce mixed with oil and water, I was advised by the server to spread the garlic sauce on the bread or pour it over the dish, whichever I prefer.

To start, I ordered Paine Cu Cartofi, a potato leavened bread baked on a hot griddle. “It’s mixed with potato and wheat flour with a ratio which varies from recipe to recipe,” explained the server who suggested I try it. It was filled with mashed potatoes that gave the loaf a soft texture and a rich taste. I paired it with a must-have — Zacusca, a red pepper spread that’s basically a vegetable paste made from roasted red peppers infused with mushrooms, eggplants, a hint of oil, crushed tomatoes and onions. Zacusca tasted like tamatar ke chutney but a much thicker and spicier version that was bursting with flavours.

The amalgamation of the fresh veggies made their presence felt individually with their distinguished taste. Zacusca on a toasted slice of bread with your morning tea could be a great alternative to the traditional omelette or fried egg we usually consume at breakfast. This traditional dip is over 100 years old and is consumed in almost every household in Romania. It’s also present on the menu of every eatery.

As Pakistani eateries offer a choice between mashed potatoes, baked or French fries with steaks and other meat dishes, Romanians offer polenta, one of the most popular and traditional side dishes basically made of boiled corn mush, salt, sour cream and often cheese to make a smooth mashed portion. It’s crusty on outside and gooey on the inside but essentially tasteless. It was just like a corn ball with no seasoning or herbs to distinguish it. I was told that many Romanians use polenta as a substitute for bread.

Although seafood is not a very popular item, one is able to find a few eateries only serving seafood such as lobster, octopus, sardines, trout or carp coated in cornflour or batter and deep fried, charcoaled and served with garlic sauce and polenta. My choice was obvious. Since lobster was too great a damage on the pocket, I opted for grilled octopus, which I had to pick from the raw seafood counter. The octopus was a bit chewy but full of herbs and fried in butter. It was my meal for the entire day as I could not finish the whole plate.

During a visit to a shopping mall’s food court, I ordered what another customer was ordering — Bulete de Cascaval and Dovlecei Gratinati. You could call Bulete de Cascaval cheese balls. They were golden-brown with a crispy crust courtesy of their deep frying, made with Romanian fried cheese known as cascaval. The cheese balls looked very ordinary at first glance — similar to what one eats at any fine dining restaurant in Pakistan — but what made them different was the hard, salty and yellow cow milk cheese within that was only half melted despite being deep fried. It carried a very powerful taste.

Dovlecei Gratinati is also a popular snack. It features a gratinated zucchini sliced, sautéed or baked with various filling options and topped with cheese. I ordered it with a chicken topping. Romanian cheese was more overpowering than the zucchini whereas the chicken was caught in the crossroads and barely made its presence felt.

Next on the list was Sarmale — pickled cabbage wraps containing minced meat, rice and caramelised onions, served with sour cream and polenta with sprinkled herbs on top. Sarmale is a very popular eastern European dish also found in menus around the world but Romanians make it with sour or fermented cabbage, and that’s the trick that makes it stand tall amongst its contemporaries. Packed with flavour and simmered in a savoury sauce of tomatoes, the tastebuds can easily distinguish the taste of the meat, rice and onions separately. Being sour, Sarmale had a slightly tangy touch which left its mark in every bite.

A tourist in Romaina cannot leave the country without dining at the famous Caru’ cu bere, a jewel in the country’s gastronomical crown and the magnum opus of Bucharest eateries. It’s not just the interior that leaves visitors in awe; the facade of the building is just as majestic and can’t be missed out on, even if you’re just walking past on the street.

The eatery is housed in a brewery that is over 130 years old and believed to be one of the oldest in Romania. It has two main rooms, terraces, and a cellar. The wooden Belle Epoque interior, stained glass windows and painted ceilings cast a spellbinding effect once you enter through the revolving doors. Caru’ cu bere has hosted visitors such as Ted Kennedy, prince of Japan and the Rolling Stones. The building is officially classified as a historical architectural monument.

I had made my booking way in advance, yet when I arrived I still had to wait for 40 minutes. I was guided past a hall full of guests, with live string instruments being played, and seated on one of the terraces that allowed me a magical bird’s eye view of the restaurant — the bar downstairs, the intricate painted ceiling, the columns and arches.

A four-page menu in a spreadsheet format was laid down by the server to scan. To be on the safe side, I was recommended to order the Supa crema de legume cu crutoane de casa, basically a vegetable soup with homemade croutons, and the Poveste Pescareasca, the fisherman’s tale, for the main course.

The soup was full of nutritious veggies such as potatoes, celery, onions, zucchini and carrots so finely blended that the soup did not lose its texture, and topped with homemade croutons that added a nice crunchiness. However, having said that, I had to add tabasco to add that kick of spices required for my Pakistani palate.

The reason I ordered the fish was not because I was in mood for the seafood, but because the picture on the menu was a true vision. The baked trout fillet arrived fully decked as if it were cooked by a jeweller rather than a chef. This pièce de résistance was filled with with champignon mushrooms, capers, red bell peppers, mustard seeds and a roasted pepper compote.

The ray-finned freshwater trout was cooked in corn oil and was oozing with butter, lemon juice, vinegar, and a hint of sour cream accompanied by a large portion of polenta. The hardest part now was to disfigure this chef’s marvellous creation and polish it off from the plate. But I managed it and the taste was beyond description. It took me quite some time to finish my meal as I did not want to let it go so quickly. Each ingredient which played its role to compile this work of art must have been chosen for a reason. It was like a manna from heaven and worth every euro!

It was my last day in Bucharest and I wanted to end the tour on a spicy note. A small eatery near a bus station pulled me in as I scanned the menu at the entrance door. I had already decided what to order even before being seated. “Ardei Umpluti and orange juice for me please,” I told the server as soon as we made eye contact. I could not go wrong with my order as Ardei Umpluti is a stuffed bell pepper cooked in tomato sauce.

My order arrived within 15 minutes and was a large portion for a single person. It arrived with a portion of sour cream dip and crusty bread, which I was really glad to see as I had prayed “please, no polenta again”. The bell peppers were hollowed out to be stuffed with a spiced meat and rice mixture, placed over tomato juice and baked in the oven until they were tender enough to fall apart. It was a complete meal.

The juices from the bell pepper and the minced meat mixture melded their flavours, and each bite was creamy and spicy. The shell casing was crunchy with the precise ratio of sweetness to acidity and heat providing the perfect balance of flavours. The cap of the bell pepper was put back on, which gave it the appearance of a cauldron. I skipped the sour cream dip, instead dipping the crusty bread in the pepper shell for a a great accompaniment for my meal.

As I was finishing up, I saw the server carrying slices of what we would call fruit cake. Out of curiosity I enquired about them. “It is called Cozonac and it looks like a loaf but it’s actually a cake filled with chocolate and raisins. If you look inside, it has swirls of chocolate filling,” she informed me. When I took a bite, it indeed tasted like a sweet bread with poppy seeds and raisins, something I think would pair well with evening tea or coffee.

It was great to end my tour on a sweet note, although four days were not good enough to do justice to the richness of Romanian cuisine, as I believe I only scratched the surface!

“I zone out a lot these days. It’s like your brain is trying to catch up but can’t,” said Kiani, one of Pakistan’s leading mountaineers. “Some people go back to a strenuous workout immediately after an expedition to fight body and mind fatigue. I need rest and body massages!”

A Dubai-based aerospace engineer, associate vice president at an international banker, cofounder of a tech startup, amateur boxer, and mother of two, Kiani has redefined what it means to break barriers. In just under four years, she has climbed 12 of the world’s 14 peaks above 8,000m, climbing seven of them in less than six months. She became the fastest Pakistani climber to summit 12 peaks and the only Pakistani woman to reach such heights. It’s an accomplishment unmatched even by any Pakistani male climber. In recognition of her achievements, the government awarded her the Sitara-e-Imtiaz on March 23, 2024, making her the only female athlete in the country to receive this honour.

But Kanchenjunga was a challenge unlike any other she had faced. “Oh, it was tough. Not so much technically, more mentally and emotionally.” She recalled during the expedition there was hardly any connectivity, not even a satellite phone, “only sporadic instances of connectivity”. Halfway through, she found out about the outbreak of conflict between India and Pakistan in May, while being away from her husband, her two daughters, parents, and in-laws.

“The mountain felt endless. My anxiety grew every day,” she said. “Once we caught a tiny signal, I called the Pakistan embassy in Kathmandu to get an update on the situation.”

Another source of concern for her was that at a time of heightened tension between Pakistan and India she was climbing Kanchenjunga alongside a Nepali-Indian army mountaineering team, which had five Indian members. “At that point, I was sceptical about engaging with Indians. Perhaps the saving grace was that they were stationed 100m below my group, which included myself, leading Pakistani climber Sirbaz Khan, and five more climbers.”

But in the “true mountain spirit”, the Indian climbers were respectful and kind — “They even helped Sirbaz Khan when he got drowsy from exhaustion.”

The journey begins

Kiani’s journey in high-altitude mountaineering began in 2021. That July, she summited Gasherbrum II in the Karakoram range. A year later, in July 2022, she stood atop K2. She reached the summit less than an hour after Samina Baig, the first Pakistani woman to conquer K2 earlier the same day. Ten days later, she scaled Gasherbrum I, scoring a ‘double-header’, the first Pakistani team to attempt it.

Looking back, she said, “Gasherbrum I was the hardest climb of my life. Winds hit 70 kilometres per hour as we pushed near 7,000m. At one point, I was so exhausted I considered unclipping from the safety rope to end it. I’d never felt that before, and haven’t since.”

Then came 2023 — a year of milestones. In April, Naila reached the top of Annapurna I in Nepal. After reaching the summit range, she had to be evacuated due to mountain illness. In May, she climbed Everest, becoming the second Pakistani woman to do so, a full decade after Baig’s historic climb. Just a day later, she scaled Lhotse between Nepal and China. Next in line were Nanga Parbat and Broad Peak in Pakistan, Manaslu in Nepal, and Cho Oyu between the Tibet-China border. In October, she was forced to abandon her summit attempt on Shishapangma because of deadly avalanches.

Next May, she climbed Makalu, on the Nepal-China border, to add another peak to her list. Earlier this year in May, she summited Kanchenjunga, bringing her total to 12.

On the global stage, however, its unusual for women to summit all 14 8,000-ers. Only 16 women in the world have completed the circuit so far. Edurne Pasaban of Spain was the first woman in the world to climb all of them in 2010; Nirmal “Nims” Purja, the former Gurkha and British special forces soldier from Nepal, climbed them in just six months and six days in 2019 and Kristin Harila from Norway along with Tenjen Lama Sherpa of Nepal broke Purja’s record by climbing 14 peaks in 92 days in 2023.

One wonders what compels Kiani to brave such treacherous paths, especially when other women have already set a historic goal that she may never be able to rewrite. Take Adriana Brownlee from the UK who set a record as recently as 2024 by becoming the youngest woman ever to summit 14 peaks at age 23, or Sanu Sherpa of Nepal who became the first person in the world to complete the circuit of 8000-ers twice.

“I don’t climb for glory. I climb to show that a Pakistani woman can stand on the world’s highest peaks, and belong there,” declared Kiani.

Her mountaineering journey began with a desire to celebrate her wedding uniquely, as “a small affair” in the mountains. So, she and her husband landed in Skardu ready to start their lives together. But just as they arrived, a family emergency forced her husband to return home, leaving Kiani alone in the remote mountain town to press on and to trek to Concordia, the gateway to the K2, in the Karakoram mountain range. At approximately 4,700m above sea level, Concordia is considered to be one of the world’s most spectacular mountain junctions, from where one can view four of the five highest 8,000m-high peaks in Pakistan — K2 (8,611 m), Broad Peak (8,051 m), Gasherbrum I (8,080 m) and Gasherbrum II (8,035 m). “I wanted to see K2,” she said, and her husband convinced her to do it by saying, “Once we have kids, you might never get to go again.”

Dressed in a red bridal outfit, she posed for a photoshoot in Concordia against a backdrop of towering peaks. Later, the photo went viral on social media. “Everyone assumed it was our actual wedding. Instead it was me posing as a bride without my groom!”

That was 2018. “Back then, I’d think, why would anyone put themselves through treacherous climbs? Are they pagal [crazy]? I watched the film Everest, based on the true events of the 1996 Mount Everest disaster, and told my husband, these people must be mad!”

By 2021, that sarcasm turned into curiosity and then action. That year she summited Gasherbrum II — her first 8,000er. Back then, “I wanted to be around elite mountaineers. I wanted to know what it takes to be up there,” she recalled. When she ascended Gasherbrum II, she became the first Pakistani woman to climb three 8,000-metre peaks.

Summiting G2 flipped a switch inside her. Already a mother of two, she found herself hooked on the thrill of standing atop the world’s highest peaks. “Once you enter the world of 8,000ers, it’s not about adventure anymore. It becomes about records, about pushing your limits — strength, endurance, resilience. You’re constantly testing what you’re made of,” she explained.

Away from the mountains, Kiani is a mother to two daughters — one six years old, the other four. She laughed when asked if they understand what she’s achieved — “Not quite.” What they do grasp is “simple and sweet”, that their mother disappears to faraway mountains, where it’s freezing cold. “The deeper meaning behind those words I suppose will come in time,” she said.

Kiani grew up in a conservative household in Rawalpindi, where her father wouldn’t let her wear half-sleeves or go to the park. “He’d say, ‘Achay ghar ki larkiyan park nahi jati’ [girls from respectable families don’t go to parks],” she recalled.

So when she summited her first peak, G2, she was nervous about telling him. “To my surprise, he was super supportive.”

Today, while her mother and mother-in-law still wish she’d stop out of concern for her safety, her father is “always cheering me on.”

It goes without saying that Kiani’s passion takes her to places where death is just a step away. And the risks are only growing, as climate change makes avalanches more frequent and unpredictable. According to a 2023 report titled Snow and Ice Avalanches in High Mountain Asia — Scientific, Local and Indigenous Knowledge, published by the European Geosciences Union, a organisation for earth and planetary science in Europe, at least 1,400 mountaineers lost their lives between 1895 and 2022 on the 14 peaks above 8,000m, and a few other prominent 6,000ers in the Himalayas. Alarmingly, 33 per cent of these deaths were caused by avalanches.

Kiani too has had her share of close calls. It was during the Shishapangma expedition that she made the most difficult call of her climbing career — to turn back. She recalled that the first avalanche came suddenly, sweeping away three climbers from the team. At that point, no one knew if they had survived or how badly they were hurt. “I knew a tragedy had occurred,” she said.

She said it was late in the day and the summit fever was high as her team was just 200m or 300m from the top. “We had to push a little further to be right at the top.” But there were no fixed ropes on the ice-covered slope, and the risk of another avalanche was real. Kiani turned back.

Twenty-five minutes later, another avalanche struck. “I could have lost my life,” she said.

An expensive sport

Climbing an 8,000m-high peak is as much a financial challenge as it is a physical one. Kiani climbed Gasherbrum II completely self-funded, but of the 13 peaks she has attempted, she has summited 12, and funded about two and a half herself. The rest have been sponsored by the Bard Foundation, supported by Bilquis and Abdul Razak Dawood.

The cost of a full expedition can range from $20,000 to $50,000. That is before the cost of gear is factored in. According to Kiani, a high-quality ice axe runs between $200 and $400, mountaineering goggles cost around $250, a summit suit goes for about $1,000, and high-altitude boots alone can cost at least $1,500.

Then there’s the permit fee.

In recent years, the Gilgit-Baltistan government hiked permit fees for foreign climbers. The permit cost to climb K2, for instance, jumped from $1,700 to $5,000 per international climber, a move that drew sharp criticism from the mountaineering community. After court intervention, the fee was reduced to $3,500 in 2025. Permits for other 8,000ers were also brought down to $2,500 for the summer season.

In contrast, Pakistani climbers pay far less. A K2 permit for a Pakistani climber now costs around Rs100,000. They’d have to pay Rs50,000 in the autumn and Rs30,000 in the winter. That’s a large gap, but for many locals, even those fees are a barrier. “The permit and gear pile up the financial burden. So much so that many skilled climbers in Pakistan never get the chance to go for the peaks,” Kiani said regretfully.

Some alpinists, however, defend the higher costs, suggesting they help protect the environment and deter casual climbers. Though Kiani gets the idea in essence, she said, “Pakistan isn’t Nepal. We need more tourism, not less.”

Instead of raising prices, she believes Pakistan should enforce better systems, such as requiring climbers to bring down their waste, like they do in China. “Mountain communities here rely on tourism. If you limit access without offering alternatives, you’re hurting people’s livelihoods,” she added.

Kiani is candid about the state of support services for high-altitude climbers in Pakistan. “Most of our porters are brave and incredibly strong — but they’re under-equipped and untrained. We don’t have a single certified mountain guide in the country.”

She added that they’re not trained in rescue techniques or even basic first aid. “Most don’t speak much English either, which limits their interaction with international climbers,” she said. In stark contrast, “Nepali Sherpas are a different league. They’re professionally certified, rigorously trained, and can earn up to $10,000 a season. In comparison, a Pakistani porter might earn just $2,000 a year,” she explained.

For this reason, most high-altitude climbers on expeditions in Pakistan come through well-established logistics firms from Nepal or other western countries that provide certified guides, rescue coordination, and technical support.

Pakistan’s mountaineering ecosystem, in comparison, is deeply connected to the military. From rescue operations and helicopter support to NOCs, much of it runs through the army.

Kiani acknowledged the Pakistan Army’s role in revising its helicopter evacuation policy. Previously, a round trip to K2 required two helicopters and cost around $26,000, but now, a single helicopter now handles the rescue, reducing the cost significantly to $9,900.

The route to the mountains

Soft-spoken and petite, Kiani is quite at odds with what many might expect from a high-altitude climber. While her background in boxing has helped with stamina and strength, she admits that training while living in Dubai isn’t always practical. She works out at a gym with a trainer, mostly focusing on strength, resistance work, and Zone 2 cardio. “Honestly, I need someone to push me, or I lose motivation,” she said.

Though hiking is an ideal form of exercise before the start of any expedition, she finds it hard to manage juggling being a parent and working. “Even getting to hiking spots like Ras Al Khaimah or Fujairah in the UAE takes the whole day. So I usually try to fit in proper hikes closer to the actual expedition.”

She’s careful, not rigid, with her diet. She avoids oily, spicy meals and follows a rough 80/20 approach, mostly eating clean with the occasional cheat meal. Before a climb, she tries to put on a little weight, knowing she’ll lose some during the expedition.

When packing for an expedition, aside from all the essential gear, there’s one thing Kiani never forgets — a tweezer. “I always pack a tweezer,” she laughed. “It’s such a Pakistani thing. We love our brows! I don’t think most foreign climbers care about that stuff. We do!”

And sometimes, there’s lipstick too. “I wore it on Gasherbrum II, even K2. Just for the summit photos.”

She recalled a Spanish climber, Stefi Troguet, known for her signature red lipstick on every ascent.

But Kiani was quick to add that looks are far from a priority on most climbs. “Some peaks are so brutal, it’s pure survival mode. You’re not thinking about your looks. You’re thinking about making it down alive.”

Sometimes, she said, high-altitude climbing feels surreal, especially “when we’re above the clouds, suspended between earth and sky”. Once, she noticed a distant glow on a far-off mountain and mistook it for a climber’s headlamp. “But it kept getting brighter…and kept rising. That’s when it hit me and my fellow climbers that we were looking down at the moon.”

That moment, filled with awe and disbelief, has stayed with her. It’s experiences like these, she said, that are quietly transformative. “In that stillness, under the bright blue sky, I feel deep gratitude for my life, my loved ones, and the beauty of our world.”

She plans to climb Shishapangma and Dhaulagiri I, located in Nepal, next year — her final step toward completing all 14 8,000m-high peaks. If successful, she will become the world’s 17th woman to achieve this extraordinary feat.

In his video posted on Monday, Buckley claimed that locals had said the resort was dumping waste into the lake and showed the contrast between brown, murky water emerging from the boundaries of the resort and the blue water of the lake.

“The beauty of Lake Attabad is the colour of the turquoise water, and if this continues, you can literally see the brown going all the way around […] where we’re standing at the moment, the winds coming towards us, it smells bad,” he said in the video.

After the video was shared online and garnered one million views and over 37,000 likes, authorities in Gilgit-Baltistan sealed on Tuesday a section of the resort and fined its owner Rs1.5 million for non-compliance with environmental standards.

Gilgit-Baltistan Environmental Protection Agency (GBEPA) Director Khadim Hussain, the Hunza deputy commissioner and other officials inspected the hotel’s environment and sewage system.

The district administration shut down the entire extension of the resort. The sealed portion will remain closed until corrective measures are completed and formal clearance is granted by the EPA after a re-inspection.

The administration has also launched a review of all no-objection certificates issued to hotels and restaurants in the Attabad Lake area.

Dawn tried to contact the management of Luxus Resort Attabad, as well as their offices in Lahore, but no one was immediately available to comment on the issue.

In an Instagram video posted on Tuesday, Luxus denied the claim and said the “adjacent water streams coming from the mountains have natural sediments like mud, rocks and minerals”.

“When these turbid water streams mix with the blue lake water, this causes the muddy/cloudy appearance of water seen near Luxus Hunza.”

The resort said the phenomenon was known as “confluence”, where two separately flowing water bodies meet. “If one of the water bodies is high in turbidity, then this causes a muddy/cloudy water surface at the point of confluence. This phenomenon is more pronounced during the summer, which is why every summer, Luxus Hunza is falsely accused of dumping waste water into the lake.”

Following the action from authorities, Buckley posted another video and said, “The hotel I called out yesterday in Pakistan has been found to have been dumping sewage into the lake. This started from my post, and it has now reached a national level. [It’s] all over the news, the government has gotten involved, officials have arrived to the building. I’m in disbelief, to be honest.”

He maintained that Luxus denied all claims and did not provide any credible documents against his allegations. Buckley also thanked everyone from Pakistan who interacted with the post.

“I don’t like drama or getting involved in this stuff, but I felt it was important to address, and within 24 hours, there has been swift action.”

He also distanced himself from the scenario, citing safety reasons, and thanked everyone who raised their voices, adding that it was a shame that nothing was done sooner.

“I haven’t changed my opinion on Pakistan,” Buckley clarified. “I still think it’s a wonderful country, I’ve had lots of great experiences. I’m just documenting my travels as honestly as possible.”

In August of last year, the Hunza district administration and GBEPA took stringent measures against other hotels for similar violations.

At that time, Luxus Resort and Dolphin Floating Resort were sealed due to improper management of grey water from washrooms and kitchens.

Some Pakistanis are accustomed to Greek salads and Greek yoghurt, but my trip to the capital of Greece helped unearth a treasure trove of local cuisine. The first place on my list was Klimataria, a traditional tavern established in 1927 and said to be one of the oldest taverns currently standing in Athens.

Ignorant of the city’s dining scene, I walked to the restaurant and at the gate was swiftly asked what name my reservation was under. “Don’t have any, just a walk-in tourist who’s heard a lot about the eatery,” I replied with a smile.

The hostess erupted into laughter and informed me that the earliest available date was June 23. I had no option but to plead my case.

“Would you give any consideration to a foodie tourist who has flown hundreds of miles from Asia to have a meal at Klimataria?” I asked. After a long pause, I was told to come the next day 12:30pm for lunch on one condition — that I leave within 45 minutes. Had the mythic goddess of the grain manifested and helped me get a last-minute table, or was it just my own luck? One thing was for sure: my lunch plans for the next day were cemented.

The restaurant is built on the ruins of an ancient temple. Complete with rustic interiors and stone walls, wooden wine barrels stacked atop each other, and ivy creeping along the walls, it was like sitting in your own veranda.

Maria, the current owner, helms affairs as she looks after guests, seating and even took orders along with her young Greek servers.

Greek tzatziki, fava (a creamy paste made from yellow split peas) and crusty bread were served as soon as I was seated. The bread was perfect — a crusty exterior with fluffy insides. The tzatziki, a traditional Greek dip made with garlic, yoghurt and cucumbers, was cool and refreshing with a light, creamy texture. The fava was cooked with chopped onions, garlic, lemon juice and olive oil and was topped off with raw onions, green chillies and olives.

Thus started my gastronomical journey in the city of Athens.

For the main course, I ordered a lamb roast with potatoes. The lamb shoulder, marbled with fat and slow-cooked in extra virgin olive oil, was tender, flavourful and fell off the bone as soon as it was lifted, melting in the mouth. The baby potatoes, seasoned with oregano, complemented the lamb perfectly.

The meal was reminiscent of the Shinwari Gosht at Charsi Tikka House in Peshawar. Make of that what you will.

For dessert, the server suggested ekmek kadaifi — the Greek version, as the dish originates from the Ottoman Empire. The first layer was pastry soaked in sugar and cinnamon, followed by a creamy vanilla custard filling and topped off with whipped cream and a generous sprinkle of pistachios. This showstopper was light and well-balanced, with all the flavours pronounced and distinguishable; pleasing to the eyes and to the tastebuds at the same time.

The next stop was Tylixto, a famous joint serving souvlaki. The eatery, located on a street in Monastiraki, could accommodate 10 to 12 guests at a time and relied heavily on takeaway orders. Regardless of the time of day, Tylixto had a line outside the door and a minimum wait of 10 minutes for takeaway — a testament to its popularity.

Thick toasted pita bread, with oregano-infused chunks of chicken stripped off skewers, dijon mustard, zesty lemon and tzatziki sauce, and topped with French fries was my quick meal fix, keeping me satiated for some three to four hours. The restaurant offered shaved beef and lamb options, as well as kebabs wrapped in pita.

The wrap itself was very light and crafted so perfectly that from the very first bite, one could taste all the ingredients present.

Needless to say, it was time to try some dessert, and Kirnos was the perfect place to delve into some delicious treats with a side of history. The bakery is said to be a century-old, family-run business that specialises in loukoumades (think Greek doughnuts), a treat once served to the ancient Olympians. The neoclassical building that houses Kirnos had a modern exterior but once I stepped foot into the bakery, I was transported to ancient Greece — with old furniture and paintings.

A single order of six loukoumades, the minimum order, was served on a silver platter. The doughnuts were drenched in a honey syrup and sprinkled with cinnamon and chopped walnuts. The absolutely divine treats were fluffy and airy, and what initially seemed like a large order quickly consumed.

My next meal was the famous Greek comfort food, moussaka. The eggplant casserole-based dish comes with meat filling, typically minced meat, tomato, potato and herbs. Once baked or pan-fried, it’s topped with homemade bechamel sauce and topped off with traditional Greek cheese called kefalotryi.

On first taste, the beef moussaka was similar to lasagna, but the second spoonful packed a punch and tasted strongly of eggplant. The kefalotryi cheese was nowhere close to cheddar — it was tangy, sharp and spicy with a rich aroma and firmer texture. The dish was so delicious that the name of the restaurant, located on Plaka, entirely slipped my mind.

On a stroll, I stumbled upon Mau — and couldn’t resist trying a couple of their pies. At the local hole-in-the-wall, I ordered the classic feta cheese pie with phyllo dough wrapping and sheep milk, or kasseri cheese pie. The famed feta pie was thick but flaky and was on the saltier side, while the second pie was buttery and flaky.

No tourist, let alone a foodie, could depart from Athens without a visit to Diporto, a restaurant nestled in a basement, like a hole in the ground, with no sign outside, and yet it’s been in business since 1887. Despite the lack of signs, the eatery was easily spotted because of the long queue outside.

Once you step down, you enter a dimly lit space with a faded concrete block mosaic floor, a wall lined with wine barrels, and a vintage marble sink. The atmosphere is so evocative of ancient Greece that it feels like stepping into a time machine. If you’re looking for truly traditional and authentic Greek cuisine, this remarkable restaurant is a must-visit. There’s no menu, the waiter simply tells you what’s been cooked that day, and the chef writes the prices on a paper napkin at your table.

Luckily for me, the dish of the day was grilled mackerel. The blue and green seafood speciality with a shiny silver underbelly was small in size, but the taste was indescribably delicious. The fish was covered in virgin olive oil and cooked charcoals, sprinkled with Greek herbs and came with a lemon wedge, courtesy of the restaurant’s 85-year-old chef. The experience at Diporto was simply exquisite.

The time to honour my sweet tooth had arrived, and portokalopita — a traditional Greek syrup cake made with phyllo and infused with orange — was a must-try. “It’s made with dough instead of flour, orange juice, orange peels, and a hint of cinnamon,” the server explained, recommending homemade vanilla ice cream to go with it. The cake was dense and soaked in honey syrup. My compliments to the server for the perfect vanilla pairing!

Walking through the streets of Athens, one often comes across yellow carts stacked with koulouria (pretzels or bagels), a popular street food. Unable to resist, I picked up a sesame-crusted one. It was quite crusty and a bit hard to digest, so a cappuccino from a nearby coffee shop came to my rescue. Slightly salted, it seemed like the perfect breakfast on the go.

Lukumades played a modern twist on loukoumades, the traditional Greek doughnuts. The transformation not only gave the doughnuts a new look, turning them into small, fried doughnut balls, but also elevated their flavour with fillings like caramel, vanilla, Nutella, chocolate, and pistachio. The place is always busy, with long lines of waiting customers. The only downside to this new craze is that one box contains eight doughnuts, even if you’re craving just one.

Greek cuisine goes hand in hand with Greek mythos. It is unpretentious and comfortingly familiar, yet full of transformation. With no cringe-inducing effort, it recaptures a spirit of hospitality — enough to keep Demeter pleased, even in the year 2025.

But when you’re in Dubai, you’re spoiled for choice and choosing which restaurants to visit is quite a task. We’ve compiled a list of four amazing restaurants in Dubai with very different cuisines — Italian seafood, Indian fusion, British-American, and Mediterranean — and some of the best dishes at these restaurants.

Alici

Alici was an interesting choice for someone who doesn’t eat seafood to visit, but rest assured, the restaurant has many options for people who don’t want a fishy diet.

One of my favourite things about Alici was its decor — think blue, Mediterranean, lemons, and fish.

From the very cute olive oil bottles on the table, to the pictures and fish on the walls, the decor at Alici was far from stuffy. With its dim lighting, the restaurant has a distinctly sultry feel to it — and it had a gorgeous view of the water from its balcony.

We ordered an assortment of things, starting with the house salad that could have been skipped. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t something I’d want to fill up on, not when the rest of the food was so good.

The bread was great and I loved their little olive oil containers that looked straight from the Amalfi coast.

The Fritto Misto for the table contained fried calamari, red prawns, sliced purple potato, zucchini, chilli jam, citrus and mayo and was something I stayed away from. Everyone else said it was very good.

The Tartare di manzo, nocciole e tartufo nero, or beef tartare, on the other hand, was a hit, with a wonderful nutty texture that melted in your mouth. That, of course, came from the hazelnut mayo, burnt leeks, potato chips and black truffle.

We also selected a truffle flatbread for the table, which was nice, but nothing spectacular.

For the mains, while others sampled seafood dishes, I opted for a creamy risotto with wild mushrooms and black truffle that I have no words to describe. Rich, creamy and packed with flavour, this dish was something I ended up forcing myself to finish while others erred on the side of caution and stopped eating when they were full.

I had no such compunction and decided I had to finish every bite of this risotto — it was that good.

I didn’t try the seafood dishes, but everyone else seemed to enjoy them. However, since this is a food review, I’ll include the pictures of things I didn’t eat as well.

The Salmone Grigliato featured a grilled salmon fillet atop vegetables.

The Garganelli con ragù di agnello e pecorino featured homemade garganelli pasta covered with lamb ragu and pecorino cheese.

One of the most surprising things about Alici was how amazing their desserts were. A crowd favourite was the Fondente Al Cioccolato which can best be described as a chocolate lover’s dream. Filled with dark chocolate and Nutella fondant and paired with liquorice ice cream, this was something everyone made space for, no matter how full they were.

One of my favourites was the lemon mousse with wild berries and vanilla soil. It was tart and creamy, and the berries added a juicy component to the dish. Inside the lemon mousse was a tart berry compote of sorts that balanced the dish perfectly. While everyone else was going wild over the chocolate dessert, this was my favourite.

We also ordered the lemon cheesecake with mandarin compote and the tiramisu, and both of them were great. However, they were eclipsed by the other two.

Duck & Waffle

A new and rather interesting addition to Dubai’s culinary scene is the 24-hour restaurant, Duck & Waffle. Serving what it describes as a fusion of British and American cuisine, this restaurant aims, as the owner described, to cater to everyone.

Its decor was a touch more casual than what you’d ordinarily see in Dubai and the menu was simpler than other fine dining restaurants.

There was indoor seating as well as outdoor seating, adding to their something-for-everyone theme. I especially loved the DJ-ing duck poster as you enter.

They have a fixed, all-day menu and set menus for lunch, breakfast, Sunday roast and weekend brunch. We chose from their lunch menu, which featured a choice between three starters, three mains and two desserts, as well as some items from their all-day menu. Some of the choices were obvious — who can resist a mango pavlova? — while others required some deliberation.

We started off with a salad, truffle fries and the potato and leek soup. The soup was alright, but, surprisingly, the salad was more of an attention grabber for me because of its dressing. The fries were loaded with parmesan.

From the mains, we had a choice of rigatoni, roasted sea bass and smashed burger, and I, of course, chose the rigatoni, which was very nice and creamy.

Some of the others got the burger, which they said was pretty good.

We also got the eponymous duck and waffle, which sounded a little strange but ended up being great. We were treated to the sight of the waiter carving the duck for us before assembling the duck and waffle combo. The roasted duck came topped with a fried egg, on top of a large waffle. The duck was succulent and roasted well, and paired nicely with the waffle and syrup.

The mix of savoury and sweet was decadent and I was glad we were sharing the dish, because I definitely wouldn’t have been able to eat this as a meal on its own.

We ended our meal with a wonderful mango pavlova that was light and airy, as any good pavlova should be, and torrejas, which was similar to a french toast, covered with maple caramel apples and cinnamon ice cream.

During our meal we met the owner of Duck & Waffle, Hadi, who told us about his hopes of creating a place where people could visit at any time of the day and get just what they’re looking for. With a pretty extensive and varied menu, I think he might be on his way to achieving that.

Khadak

Not to be confused with the Urdu word karak, Khadak is a new Indian fusion restaurant named after a famous street in Mumbai. It has been started by chef Naved Nasir, the former chef director at Dishoom, the London restaurant chain.

The ambiance at Khadak was lovely — it was like visiting a casual and comfortable home. The decor was homey with a twist — lots of light, warm-toned wood and statement pieces, like a colourful mural in the entrance that encompassed both the walls and the ceiling, and a wall of bells.

It was too hot to sit outside when we visited, but the seating area featured a wall with faded lettering in English, Urdu and Hindi that read “Dastan is the final word in storytelling”.

Our meal started off very strong with Morel Cheese Kulcha with Truffle Butter. This was creamy and delicious — a warm and lovely bite that was very unexpected but very welcomed. This is something you must get if you visit Khadak.

We also got some very fun mocktails, chosen from a cute menu advertising that the drinks were inspired by the people of Khadak.

Then came the Karari Kale Chaat, which was a hit — it was the perfect thing to have in Dubai’s rather oppressive heat. It featured a crispy kale tempura, drizzled with chutneys, yoghurt, and pomegranate and was a great addition to the table.

There was another chaat on our table — the Broccoli and Pomelo Bhel — which was also nice, but wasn’t as interesting as the Karari Kale Chaat. It was heavier than the first one, with grapefruit, pomegranate, broccoli, puffed rice and nuts.

The Radio Cafe Kheema Pao was nice enough but at the end of the day, it was qeema similar to what you’d get in any home in Pakistan. This was also my issue with the NM Chicken Shammi, which was just a shaami kabab.

I think both of these dishes were nice, and spiced well, but when you’re coming from Pakistan, you don’t really want to eat meals you’d be able to get back home for a fraction of the price. I think both of these dishes would have appealed far more to someone living in Dubai who perhaps didn’t have such easy access to them.

Something we’d been recommended to try was the Khadak Raan. It was a good, hearty meal but was a little on the saltier side and needed some naan to balance out the flavour.

The next item we tried was a little controversial, to me at least. We got biryani.

The Laccha Biryani with Bone Marrow Gravy was warm, comforting but it really wasn’t biryani. This is coming from a born and bred Karachiite, so take it with a pinch of salt. To me, biryani is spicy and certainly isn’t covered in obvious gravy, so I decided to evaluate this dish on its own merits. If you take away the biryani from its name, it was great. It was warm and comforting, and something I’d definitely order again. The gravy was rich and thick, spreading over the rice and mutton, and complementing them perfectly.

For the desserts, we had the Rasmali Baklava by Nadia Parekh, which is nice and light. I especially liked the addition of the kumquat chilli jam, which added a tart element to a dessert that was airy light, thanks to the thin phyllo sheets.

We also got the Chocolate Chikki by Nadia Parekh, which was rich with salted peanut toffee, and cardamom milk chocolate mousse. Compared to the rasmalai, this was decadent. A fun take on traditional chikki — or peanut brittle — this was like chikki meets Snickers bar and it was very good.

We also the Kulfi Falooda, which was nice but at the end of the day, it was just a kulfi falooda with a lot of dramatic flair courtesy of a smoke show. I realised after visiting all these restaurants that in Dubai people really like smoke shows with their food.

The one advice I’d have for anyone visiting Khadak would be to be more adventurous — sticking to things you know will just have you comparing them to food you get back home and that’s doing a disservice to the chef and yourself.

Somewhere

The fourth restaurant on this list is Somewhere, a Mediterranean restaurant, with a great name.

The restaurant itself is decorated in earthy tones reminiscent of the cultures it represents. The tall ceilings and curved walls were covered in a pinkish-brown terracotta colour, and complemented by white-washed vases and small statues, lending to the earthy, desert vibe.

When we visited, the patrons at the restaurant seemed to all be local, which lifted our hopes for a very authentic meal.

The menu was extensive and available in picture form if you asked a waiter for help. One thing for Pakistanis in particular to remember is that Mediterranean food is rarely spicy. It’s seasoned but its flavours are milder, something many of us tend to dismiss because we’re so used to bold flavours. The flavours at Somewhere weren’t bold, but they were definitely there.

We started off with a sweet potato salad that was topped with yoghurt, pomegranate and what appeared to be black gram or kaali daal. It was tart — thanks to the daal and pomegranate — but had the perfect crunch, thanks to the papar sprinkled on top. This was an instant hit.

The Wagyu Lahm Bajeen, essentially a beef kabab, was great. There’s just something about wagyu that makes it taste good no matter what form it’s in.

We also got the Black Angus Beef Hummus that featured hummus, beef chunks and pine nuts, drizzled with olive oil. This was good but it didn’t blow me away.

The Wagyu Kabab Bao was amazing — perfectly seasoned and in one of my favourite forms of carbs, a light and fluffy bao. The bao had Somewhere emblazoned on it, in a very nice touch. It was topped with crispy fried onions and is the perfect thing to order if you’re looking for a more fusion-style of food.

The Beef Shawarma Beetroot Rice was an interesting dish. We ordered it because almost every table seemed to have it, and it looked pretty cool. The purple rice stood straight up on the dish in a conical shape and was surrounded by beef. I did not like this at first and felt the beetroot aftertaste was far too strong. However, I am nothing if not hungry, so after trying a few more bites, I thought it wasn’t bad. Another few bites in and I decided I actually liked it. It tastes like a rice bowl you’d get at a healthy restaurant — light on the sauce, heavy on the vegetable flavour — but it wasn’t bad.

We also ordered the far less exciting looking Shish Taouk, which was actually nice and true to the original. It came on skewers, sans rice, but after the beef kababs, we were too full to do justice to it.

The real winner of the night, however, was the dessert. The French Coffee Baklava was recommended to us by our waiter, and it would have been a real pity if we had missed out on it.

A base of spongey cake covered in coffee ice cream, light phyllo layers and what I think was fried kunafa, this was an amazing dessert. The coffee was not bitter at all, nothing was too sweet and overall, it was light and amazing.

We also ordered the Kunafa croissant, but that was just okay. To be fair, I think everyone is done with pistachio kunafa desserts and nothing could measure up to the French Coffee Baklava.

Disclaimer: This trip was sponsored by Dubai Economy and Tourism. All the meals and activities were paid for by Dubai Economy and Tourism.

There are so many activities you can splurge on to make your vacation a one-of-a-kind experience like no other.

From checking out the sights on Ain Dubai, to creating your own perfume at Oo La Lab or immersing yourself in art at Arte Museum, here’s a list of six things to do in Dubai that aren’t on everyone else’s itineraries — yet.

Live like a sheikh (for 90 minutes) at the Burj Al Arab

We’d all like to live like the sheikhs but unfortunately, that’s not in the cards for us. We can, however, see how the uber-rich live via a guided tour through the world’s first seven-star hotel the Burj Al Arab. This experience is not for the faint-hearted — all the gold plating and rich will have you feeling distinctly overwhelmed, but fret not. You’ve got a private butler showing you around and giving you nuggets of information about previous residents of the very grand suite.

During your tour, you’ll explore the Royal Suite and the Experience Suite, and get a chance to take in the grandeur that is the Burj Al Arab. Decorated in red, purple, pink and gold, with gold plated everything (including the TV!), the suite is straight out of a movie.

The butler told us that each suite has its own distinct decor, and most of them are done in shades of blue, which makes sense given the decor of the halls, which is also in shades of blue.

The hotel itself is shaped like a sail-shaped and is distinctly nautical in its design.

One of the most interesting aspects of the suite were the bathrooms — two huge rooms with a golden-tiled showers and massive tubs, this is a true symbol of opulence and grandeur you’d expect at a seven-star hotel.

The tour isn’t an everyday activity, but it is worth visiting at least once to see how the one per cent of the one per cent live.

Create your signature scent at Oo La Lab

If you’re in the market for a fun activity that isn’t shopping but you still get a gift at the end, check out the Fragrance Design & Mixology Sessions at Oo La Lab where you get to create your own scent from scratch.

This may look easy, but it requires a keen nose and idea of what you like. You start with selecting your base notes, mid notes and top notes from their wide selection of fragrances, then get to choose how much of each you want to put in. Much like a chemistry lesson, you use beakers and droppers to measure out your perfume into a 50ml bottle that you can name and take home with you.

It sounds easy enough, but when you’re presented with such a wide array of scents, it’s difficult to choose which ones you like best.

This is the perfect activity to head to solo or with your friends, having fun while experimenting with scents. While we were at this event, we even spotted someone solo, immersing herself in the process of creating her own perfume.

At the end of this session, you get to go home with a cute perfume and the satisfaction of knowing you had a big hand in creating it, which is so much better than buying it in a store.

Oo La Lab is located in Dubai’s Design District and also has stores in Singapore and Bangkok.

Immerse yourself in art at the Arte Museum

If there’s one thing you must experience while in Dubai, it’s the Arte Museum at the Dubai Mall. This immersive art experience is a great way to spend your time. It has a number of exhibits that seem to keep changing. When we visited, the theme was Nature Beyond Time and Space: Eternal Nature, with Korean art taking up the (screens on the) walls.

The museum is open from 10am to 10pm and once inside you’re instantly transported from the hustle and bustle of the mall outside into a serene space, replete with soothing background noise. We were lucky to have visited when there weren’t too many other people, so we got a lot of the space to ourselves. One piece of advice would be to plan your visit when there aren’t too many other people, so you get to experience it in silence.

The museum makes use of mirrored walls and floors, projections, lights and sounds to create an immersive experience. Though we’ve included photos in this piece, pictures don’t do this museum justice. It truly has to be experienced.

On a side note, it’s also a great space to take pictures for the ’Gram. The psychedelic art encompassed nature at its finest and had two interactive art spaces which allowed you to colour in an animal and watch them come to life on the screens before you, which sounds like it would be great for kids but in reality is a great experience for anyone of any age.

My favourite parts were the Waterfall Infinite, which felt like water was coming at you from every corner, and the Garden Paintings of Joseon.

The last section is a café that incorporates art and projection into its offerings. There you can get a slice of cake or a coffee and have art projected onto it in a fun, interactive finale.

This is something everyone will enjoy, even people who aren’t art buffs.

Dream big at Dream Dinner Show Dubai

If you’re in the mood to really splurge, head on over to the Dream Dinner Show Dubai for dinner and a show like no other. The venue for Dream is the Address Hotel and it’s swanky — as you step into the lobby of the show you know you’re in for a luxurious treat.

The staff at the entrance are dressed like they’re performing at a luxurious circus, which is quite reflective of what’s going on inside.

The show features singers, dancers and acrobats, all dressed in elaborate costumes. But remember, this is dinner with a show, not a show with dinner —  the intervals between shows were long. You’re supposed to concentrate on your dining companions and the food — which is delicious by the way.

We started off our night with a lovely Smoked Truffle Beef Tartare and Aubergine Parmigiana, both of which were delicious. We then went all out and selected the Roasted Cornfed Baby Chicken, Crispy Skin Wild Salmon and Grilled Rib-eye steak, all of which were rich and decadent. One thing I would say is that they could have used some more sides, because a girl can’t survive on protein alone.

For dessert, we got stuffed french toast with strawberries and crème brûlée, both of which were amazing. Their menu is extensive and features an array of delicious appetisers and entrees.

As you eat, you’re serenaded by some amazing singers covering some very fun songs. My favourite was a cover of N’Sync’s ‘Bye Bye Bye’, which was entirely unexpected but very welcome. And if songs aren’t enough to entertain you, the acrobatics will surely catch your eye as performers swing from the air and leap across the stage while you savour your dessert.

Dream is a formal show, so you get a great excuse to dress up with your friends and enjoy a fine dining experience that isn’t all about the food. It’s also a very fun — and different — way to spend an evening.

Allow Ain Dubai to give you a bird’s eye view of the city

Have you been on the London Eye? Meet its swankier cousin, Ain Dubai.

Ain Dubai boasts the world’s tallest observation wheel, with a height of 250 metres, and has 48 cabins. The entire experience of riding the wheel is about 45 minutes, give or take, but it definitely doesn’t feel like it.

With breathtaking views of the Dubai marina, sitting in a luxury cabin, this relaxing journey allows you to take in the gorgeous view in comfort. If you opt for the premium experience, you get access to a VIP lounge, an even more luxurious cabin with seats instead of a bench and a bartender on hand to serve some delicious fruity drinks.

This is great for people who love taking pictures and want to be able to experience the whole city all at once.

If you’re worried about the height — 250 metres is no joke! — don’t be. The Ain Dubai observation wheel isn’t like a ferris wheel — it moves slowly, allowing you to take in the view while leaving any fears behind.

I must caution you though, taking a trip on Ain Dubai will leave you wanting to go swimming after seeing the blue waters below!

Perfect your putting at Swingers Dubai

One fun activity that hasn’t made its way to Pakistan yet is mini golf — and it should, because it’s so much fun! If you’re in Dubai and are looking for a fun activity, check out the recently opened Swingers Dubai.

Located on Bluewaters Island, the two-storey art deco clubhouse has food, music and mini golf. These things don’t sound like they should go together, but they definitely do.

Their crazy golf course, features three themed adventures — the Hot Air Balloon Course, the Waterwheel Course, and the Clocktower Course. The course itself is decorated with bright flowers, making it seem as if you’re taking a walk in the English countryside.

Now golf may not sound like the most exciting sport — and you’re right. But that’s why this is mini golf, which is so much more fun.

There are only nine holes, but each one is a challenge. You also get to compete against your friends, much like in actual golf. The only catch — this time you’re inside, you don’t have to walk kilometres to get from one hole to the other and you get to play with great music in the background, sipping on some fun drinks.

Disclaimer: This trip was sponsored by Dubai Economy and Tourism. All the meals and activities were paid for by Dubai Economy and Tourism.

Visitors to the HaHaHouse in the Croatian capital Zagreb are blasted with a puff of white smoke once they step inside to blow away their worries before climbing into a “giant washing machine”. The “centrifuge of life” then whips them away Willy Wonka-style down a twisting slide into a pool filled with little white balls where their journey to a happier place starts.

Its creator, Andrea Golubic, said she had the idea for the museum during the pandemic when many people were feeling down, depressed, and isolated.

“I realised that I had a mission ù to heal people with laughter,” added the upbeat 43-year-old. The idea “came straight from the heart”, Golubic said, and on that very day I listed 78 exhibits… that’s how the HaHaHouse began.“ Golubic said it was her carefree seven-year-old self that inspired her — “a picture of me as a first-grader, with wide teeth and dying of laughter. I was constantly joking as a kid,” she said.

Visitors press a button to be “disinfected from negativity” as soon as they step into the museum, which has eight interactive zones. One has a rubber chicken choir cheerfully cackling out hits like ABBA’s “Dancing Queen”, there is a karaoke room with distorted voices and a “Sumo Arena” for wrestling in puffed-up costumes.

There is also some serious history of humour from ancient to modern times, conveyed through theatre, film, or the net. The museum also explains humour styles, from wordplay, slapstick, toilet and dark humour to satire with the help of some choice one-liners.

“I’ve had so much plastic surgery when I die they will donate my body to Tupperware,” is one of the featured singers from US comedian Joan Rivers.

Originally published in Dawn, February 12th, 2025

As I gaze at the last of the mooncakes I brought with me from China, I am also reminded of how it was first served to me there. The little cupcake-sized delicacy had been neatly cut into four quarters to consume just a little at a time and not gobble the entire cake at once. I was offered and presented mooncake boxes as gifts on several occasions while in China, it being the mid-autumn or Mooncake Festival season there around the time of my visit.

Speaking of gifts, I am also reminded of the day I was myself preparing small souvenir bags with little brooches made of dolls dressed in Pakistan flag colours to present to friends in China. Just in time I saw the little ‘Made in China’ tag on the cardboard each little doll was pinned to. I quickly cropped that part of the cardboard before repacking the dolls in their neat little red goody bags. 

All my life, I have heard the terms “Pakistan-China dosti zindabad” and “Long live China-Pakistan friendship”. When I was little, my parents used to tell me different stories about the Chinese. My mother would tell me about their hard work and resilience. My father would tell me about their strong commitments and strength of character.

I got to see all of these qualities and more when I became part of a small group of eight journalists invited by the Chinese Consulate in Karachi to visit China “to deepen our understanding of China’s economic and social development … and strengthen friendly exchanges with the Chinese media”. During our 10-day stay in the country, we visited many famous landmarks such as the Great Wall, the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square in Beijing, as well as the Museum of the Chinese Communist Party in Shanghai.

The Chinese themselves love to visit these places, as we gathered from the long queues there. At the Great Wall, we met a woman who was over 100 years old. While we took a cable car to the top, she climbed the stairs herself.

Earlier, while exploring the grounds we noticed with a great sense of pride an inscription on a big white plaque that read first in Urdu, then Chinese, followed by English:

“A portion of the Great Wall from the North Tower 6-7 was restored through a friendly donation by the Government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan as a token of eternal friendship between Pakistan and China. His Excellency Mr M Akram Zaki, Ambassador of Pakistan to China, unveiled this plaque on 20-3-1989.”

Our Chinese hosts smiled as we read the inscription and posed for pictures with it. It was a proud moment for us Pakistanis, one we previously were not aware of.

Back to the heights, in China, we also got to see exceptionally tall buildings perhaps just slightly shorter than the hills and mountains of the Great Wall. Being lucky enough to have visited some of the largest cities in the world, I can safely say that I have never seen such architectural magnificence the likes of which I saw in Beijing and Shanghai. Not only are the buildings very tall, they are also spectacular. It is amazing then that during the 1960s, Chinese delegations used to come to Karachi to see our Habib Bank Plaza building in Karachi and marvel at its height. 

The Chinese don’t seem to have any concept of rest. And they expect the same of everyone else because they know no better. A busy itinerary was set for us by our hosts. We were taken around on various visits from the day we landed in Beijing, that is, as soon as we had checked into our hotel and gotten accustomed with the new Nihao Sim that we were given by our hosts. In China, unless you use a VPN, you cannot access WhatsApp, Gmail, Google, Facebook, YouTube and the like. For communications, WeChat reigns supreme. So, equipped with WeChat, we were on the coaster bus and out and about soon after breakfast, set to return to our hotel after dinner.

I know you are likely wondering what we ate in China. A bit must be said here about our hosts who made sure that we were only served halal food. We had five hosts who came to receive us at the Beijing airport. They were all bright young journalists from China Economic Net (CEN) — Wang Kai (Katie), Xiong Weisheng (Wilson) and Liao Yifan (Doudou) — and two young photographers whose names we could never understand therefore we nicknamed one Romeo and the other Juliet despite both of them being young men.

Romeo and Juliet were always working in a pair — if one took pictures, the other would be making videos. They were both bulky, something rare for Chinese people, and both dressed alike, too, in T-shirts and cargo shorts. Neither spoke English. But what they lacked in language they made up for through their helpful nature. The pair were like our shadows, always around to extend any kind of help. They wouldn’t let us carry heavy bags. They would be offering us bottled water after every little while. They were there for anything and everything. After a couple of days, to our amusement, we also found Katie, Wilson and Doudou referring to them as Romeo and Juliet.

The Chinese like to have an English name as well as their given names. During dinner with Pakistan’s ambassador to China, Khalil Hashmi at Pakistan House in Beijing, I happened to glance at the name card in front of Wilson which read ‘Weisheng’ and pointed out to him that they had his name all wrong.He smiled and said, “No it’s correct”. Then pronouncing Weisheng, he said: “See, sounds like ‘Wilson’ doesn’t it?”

Despite the busy schedule, our young hosts and their sweet-smiling boss, CEN’s Director of the International Cooperation Centre Yin Cui, who we would meet off and on, made us feel so welcome that it felt as if we were visiting family. When I was having trouble registering the local sim from my phone, there was Doudou who took out her own phone sim and registered mine from her phone while copying the details from my passport. Then when she had to run, Wilson downloaded WeChat for me and also added me as a friend.

When one member of our group had an anxiety attack on our first night in China and was found roaming outside the hotel at 2am in a bewildered state by Wilson, he rushed him to hospital where he was checked thoroughly before being brought back. Had he himself not mentioned it the next day, we would not even have known about it because Wilson never uttered a word. Wilson also served as the Chinese currency cashier for another member of our team who had only brought dollars with him. But then Wilson, still in his 20s, could also be naughty as after finding the same Pakistani journalist on LinkedIn, he found his brother and sent him a picture of the group member to claim that he had kidnapped him for ransom. Then the joke was on Wilson when the brother told him to keep him. 

Katie, the one leading our young hosts’ team, would find restaurants serving halal food wherever we went. The food, steaming hot, would already be on the table, well, on the Lazy Susan, when we reached the restaurants. There would always be barbecue, seafood, salads and potato and meat curry with some pasta, sometimes along with sweet yoghurt. There was also always steaming hot water in a teapot and green tea at hand. The Chinese are in the habit of sipping hot water before every meal. They also like eating in small quarter plates that can be refilled with whatever you need from the Lazy Susan.

The wheels keep turning in China. Men and women both can be seen riding motorbikes, usually E-bikes. And the pavements are lined with blue, turquoise, yellow and mustard bicycles, depending on their company colour, which can be rented for use and left on the pavement at one’s destination for someone else to do the same. They are locked, by the way, and can be unlocked by scanning the QR code visible on a small screen on them. An entire month’s rent for any company’s bike is 15 Yuan (about Rs581) and for half an hour it is 1.5 Yuan (about Rs58). 

There is also no shortage of buses and subway trains for commuting in China. But it came as a surprise that many Chinese people are not aware of the term bullet trains. They have trains that are even faster than bullet trains but they simply call them high-speed trains. When one of us mentioned that we were taking the bullet train to Shanghai, they looked very confused and asked what that meant. 

On said train, you are not allowed to carry liquids exceeding 100ml. When one senior Pakistani journalist’s expensive cologne bottle (worth around Rs40,000) was confiscated at the Beijing station because he had decided to ignore the advice about carrying liquids on the train, he was most distraught and kept complaining for the entire four-and-a-half-hour journey from Beijing to Shanghai. 

This time we decided to not pay him any heed. Most of us, anyway, were sad about another matter — the separation of Romeo from Juliet and us! We were informed by Katie that Romeo was to stay back in Beijing because he had to cover a trade exhibition there. But before he went, he booked our train seats and was also there to see us off at the station. Knowing we were not to see him again we bid him farewell with hearty handshakes and big hugs.

We were informed in Shanghai, by Michelle, another young CEN journalist, who was handling things for us there, that halal breakfast would be served to us on the 40th floor of our hotel. I wondered how many floors the hotel had — the answer was over 80. Reaching the hotel on my first evening in Shanghai, I was tired and a bit confused about my room number when I spotted some Chinese folk chatting near the lifts. They explained to me that the first numbers on my key card meant my floor and the digits next to it indicated my room number. Then it was their turn to ask me where I was from. On hearing my reply, the women hugged me and the men shook my hand with so much affection that it made me slightly teary-eyed. No wonder Indians in China often say they are Pakistanis.

After several days, first in Beijing and then Shanghai, we returned to Beijing to catch our flight to Pakistan the next morning. Juliet gathered our luggage from the train station and went to the hotel ahead of us to check us in, while we stopped at a halal place for dinner.

It was our final night in China. The next morning, it was time to say goodbye. Sweet Yin Cui brought big boxes of mooncakes for all of us as parting gifts. My suitcase was already full of mooncakes presented to us on so many other occasions along with the other souvenirs and I simply could not find space for another big box of mooncakes though I did take it, out of politeness, hoping to discard it at the airport (I could not do it in the presence of our hosts). 

Moments before boarding our bus, Romeo arrived, out of breath. Finding the senior journalist he was looking for, he handed him that cologne bottle that had been taken from him at the train station a few days ago. Romeo had noticed what had happened and come back to collect it as he was not going to Shanghai with us. And he kept it with him all this while. No words were spoken because Romeo didn’t speak English. But there was understanding. The journalist held Romeo in an embrace for so long that we almost renamed him ‘Juliet’.

I picked up my box of extra mooncakes and glanced at my backpack. I was sure I could make space for them in there. I was already leaving my heart in China…there was no point in leaving anything else behind.

We had miles to go before we slept — the city of lights was in full bloom, with every nook and corner decorated with fairy lights, shop windows coming alive with colourful displays, and the signature decorations suspended from every other streetlamp in Paris. It was also a tough competition on Christmas tree decorations. Gigantic, gorgeous sparkling fir trees lined famous boulevards, bearing flowers and hanging figurines of fantastical creatures. Trees were lit up at famous high end shopping malls and music playing across the city brought a touch of magic to the French capital.

However, all those decorations are rather meaningless to a foodie unless they’re accompanied by the sight of delicious food. Parisians love to munch at all times, trying out sweet delicacies, drinking espresso and hot chocolate on cold winter evenings, churro and macron bags from food markets clutched in their hands. When in Paris, we decided to do as the Parisians do and check out all the food we could get our hands on.

Kicking it off with French onion soup

The long walk on the Champs-Élysées and window shopping at the multi-storey Galleries Lafayette left us craving a traditional French onion soup to satiate the pangs of a hungry tummy. We found a café that was the perfect spot to step into — a warm and cozy heated environment on a chilly day. The server took 15 minutes to serve our order, which came in a porcelain lion head soup bowl with a warm, sliced French loaf and butter. The crust of the French onion soup was all golden-brown burnt cheese and the crack to cause fissure in the bowl reminded me of crème brûlée.

Boy, oh boy, the first spoon was accompanied by a heaping of caramelised onions, broth, morsels of bread and three cheeses for maximum decadence. It was too good to be true. The toasted French bread with butter slathered all over added to the taste of this classic French delicacy gratinéed to rich, gooey perfection.

The body all warmed up and fed just enough to tantalise the tastebuds, it was the perfect time to embark on a culinary escapade through the Parisian food markets.

The stalls on the food streets were overflowing with local delicacies and fresh produce and seeing epicureans enjoying treats and indulging in deep conversations at small cafés, take-away kiosks and ice-cream parlours was a true delight. The two famous food markets in Paris — the Marché Couvert des Enfants Rouges and Marché Bastille — were brimming with a myriad of sweet and savoury items, showcased like the work of a true craftsman.

Cheese galore

Naturally, our first stop without any thought was a cheese shop. Soft, hard, blue-veined and fondue, it was too cheesy a place to describe. There was no doubt left in my mind that cheese plays a central role in the culinary culture of France, as I could see the immense diversity of varieties. Choosing what to buy was a very difficult decision, so I tried to seek some help from the person already digging in the at the charcuterie board. “There are more than 1,200 varieties of cheese; cow, goat or in sheep’s milk! Which ones do you like?” he asked.

Lost in transaction, I ordered brie, roquefort, crottin and ossau-iraty cheeses that came accompanied by bread, nuts and honey. The brie made from cow’s milk had a very creamy texture but mild flavour. As I cut a slice to try, a neighbouring patron instantly suggested I spread it on the crackers in the platter and pair it with a bunch of grapes. This was uncharted territory for me but worth experimenting. Ossau-iraty, which I could not even pronounce, is sheep’s milk cheese. It had a pungent, gamey aroma, melting in the mouth but slightly oily textured.

Last but not least was the goat milk cheese, crottin. Two words for this goat milk cheese — tangy and creamy, striking a perfect balance. It was not too difficult to judge that for French people, cheese is much more than just a food.

Then we were out of the savoury and into the sweets. Our mouthwatering bucket list included macarons, pastries chocolate croissants, crepes, churros, ice-cream and, of course, crème brûlée.

More macarons please!

The first name that comes to mind when you say macarons is undoubtedly Ladurée. Although macarons need no introduction as they are can be found in every nook and corner shop in Paris, this century-old boutique is world famous for its macarons all over the world. Blackcurrant, caramel, lemon, raspberry, chocolate or violet, you name it and they had it. One can eat Ladurée macarons till their teeth rot out of their head!

Two small meringue halves, crafted out of icing sugar and egg whites, and sandwiched together are the main characters of this dessert, coming in different colours and flavours, held together by a delicious ganache. The Ladurée macarons were sinful — a moist centre, crispy shell and sweet filing, irrespective of the flavour you pick.

Paris’ tarts and pastries

Walking into a patisserie was indeed a test of nerves. The colourful, specular array of delicious cakes, pastries and desserts in the vitrine makes you wonder which to point your finger at. It was both the appearance of the desserts as well as some past delectable experiences that forced our minds to stop wandering and make a decision. The short list included éclair, opera cakes, canelé, tarte tatin, pie and tarts all falling in the linage of pastries, some to try and the rest to go.

The citron tart was a crust base filling with lemon making its presence known in every bite. The crust was hard, but soft enough to be sliced smoothly.

The must-have opera cake was just divine. I have tried many an opera cake, but this was a different story altogether. A perfect amalgamation of coffee and chocolate soaked with almond sponge, buttercream and chocolate ganache, topped with rich chocolate that makes your tastebuds tingle. It just slipped away in nanoseconds, leaving the tastebuds crying for more.

The tarte tatin was a new introduction to my palate, although it is the quintessential French upside-down cake with sliced caramelised apples baked in a shortcrust pastry. Since it was served upside down, the caramelised apples made their entry into the mouth first and overpowered the presence of the pastry crust. It was hard to decipher the pastry in totality as the caramelised apples, moist in texture and gooey due to the crust with a hint of sugar, refused to give way to any other flavours.

Washing it down with some coffee

For Parisians, coffee has been in vogue for a good decade. It is not just a drink but a form of art, a true sensory experience and at the same time an indispensable daily habit. It was a big surprise for me not to find a menu at a French bistro. I was told that a French coffee aficionado does not need one as they exactly know what to order.

With that in mind, we started off with a shot of espresso, went on to a full-bodied espresso, café au lait (creamy latte) and also ordered a café crema (cappuccino), the place was a paradise for coffee lovers. The subtle aroma in this cozy milieu, French roasted coffee in colourful mugs, the sound of brewing and grinding of coffee called for nothing more than a novel by your favourite author to go read with it.

The crème de la crème — crème brûlée

If one has still not tasted crème brûlée after being in Paris for more than 24 hours, then it is an unforgiven sin. This classic silky, smooth rich velvety custard topped with a thin pane of crunchy toffee is a must-have. An amalgamation of cream, egg yolks, sugar and vanilla, the devil is not in the details rather upfront, in the solid brittle crust created by the torch. I was served cold crème brûlée in a standard size ramekin. The two contrasting layers of luscious vanilla cream under a crackly caramelised sugar top was a match made in dessert heaven.

Italian gelato in Paris, France

It was hard to resist a French ice-cream parlour when roaming the streets of Paris. If ice cream is what you seek, Amorino Gelato is the place to be. This French ice cream parlour is well known around Europe as well as in North America with over 200 branches around the world. Their unique selling point is their delicate flower shaped cones with delicately crafted petals that looked like the work of a seasoned florist.

Their menu is now diversified and features their new invention — gelato-filled macarons. Frozen desserts have carved a very powerful impact amongst those with a sweet tooth as the flavours are very creamy, dense and rich. Warm waffles with cream and nuts topping, churros dressed in cinnamon sugar and freshly made Nutella crepes — Paris has a little bit of everything.

Rumours began to swirl online of the ‘demise’ of the cheese paratha-loving YouTuber in Afghanistan, with people posting about him being “pronounced dead in Jalalabad,” claiming he had disappeared after entering the country three weeks prior. Damant is a travel blogger and has visited many countries in South Asia, including Pakistan. He posted about being in Abbottabad at the start of December.

Poking fun at the news, the YouTuber shared a mock obituary to his social media pages.

“It is from the deep sadness of hearts that our adventurist, inspiring and loving Luke Damant has had his last paratha. Luke was attempting the Guinness World Record for the most cheese paratha’s eaten in 1 hour.

After a strong start, getting to 14 within the first 30 minutes of the challenge. It was at number 15, where Luke didn’t chew his paratha, swallowed, and after a 30 second struggle, he magically turned into one,” read his post.

“Authorities are still trying to figure out how a man can possibly turn into a cheese paratha, but it is believed that the old saying is true… You are what you eat.”

He ended his caption by saying his next video from Afghanistan would be out on Friday.

The 24-year-old also addressed the situation on his Instagram stories. “I can’t believe I even have to make this post,” he said in the video. “Guys, I’m f****ng chilling! For years I’ve been trying to say that the media fakes f*****g news, and hundreds of thousands of people think I’m dead in a day.”

Damant denied having anything to do with this, and said he didn’t even know how it happened. “We took the holidays off, new year, had a little bit of fun and all of a sudden, I’m dead! I’d love to take credit, genius marketing, incredible plot but I have to call it off. As much as I’d love to continue along with the trolling it’s gotten too out of hand,” he said.

“It is a crazy experience when everyone thinks you’re dead,” he said, recounting the thousands of heartwarming messages he received that made him remember that he has an impact. Damant said he’s grateful for all of those people. He also had a message for the people who said they’re glad he’s dead — “F*** you! I’m back mother f*****r.”

He also gave his followers a helpful reminder — “If I go offline for a few weeks, for a few months, that’s just me, we’re alive and we’re chilling.”

As always, don’t believe everything you read online, especially when it comes in the form of random YouTube exposés or blog posts.

In the list, CNN Travel said, “The Gilgit-Baltistan region in the Karakoram Mountains isn’t the easiest place to get to — flight schedules can be unreliable, roads can be blocked off seasonally — but it has more tantalising peaks than a lemon meringue pie.”

CNN Travel added that hiking in GB “makes the Himalayas look like a traipse in Central Park” but added that travelling alone is “not an option”.

GB is a big place and there are many beautiful places to visit in it. It’s also not the only picturesque place worth visiting in Pakistan. Here’s a list of five beautiful destinations that should definitely be on your travel list this year.

1. Malam Jabba

Queenie Sheikh in a 2023 article for Images wrote, “Malam Jabba holds a magical charm. As Swat Valley’s renowned ski destination, its elevation of 9,199 feet is often wrapped in mist and fog, which feel more welcoming than eerie.” What’s more, guests can also visit the Pearl Continental in Malam Jabba and experience the scenery from chairlifts, followed by the hotel’s high tea.

2. Hunza

The Hunza Valley is one of the most popular locations in GB, and for all the right reasons. If you’re travelling within Pakistan, consider going by car and enjoying the views. After her 2017 trip, Sahar Habib told Images, “It’s a completely different experience when you drive right through the mountains along the Karakoram Highway. This region is ridiculously beautiful and the pictures really don’t do it justice. Just know that if it looks impressive in a picture, it’s 10 times more picturesque in real life.

“We stayed at the Hunza Serena Inn, which has beautiful views of the surrounding valley and mountains everywhere you look, and a gorgeous view of Baltit Fort in the distance. At night, there is none of the noise and pollution of the big city, the clear skies are full of stars and music carries over from nearby villages.”

3. Chitral

The city of Chitral, located in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, was once known as Paristan or the land of the land of fairies, Mariam Sarah Javid said in a 2024 piece for Prism.

“Set against the backdrop of snow-capped mountains, it is no surprise that the rose-filled valley in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province is believed to be inhabited by mythical creatures such as fairies and dragons […] From genuine smiles, and fluffy walnut parathas with fresh goat cheese to the myths of fairy princesses and breathtaking views, Chitral makes a place for itself in the hearts of travellers, its mountains beckoning them to visit again.”

4. Hingol National Park

Many have waxed lyrical about the beauty of Pakistan’s northern areas, however, we don’t hear enough about Balochistan. As Noman Ansari wrote for Images in 2015, “The real stars of this earthy canvas are our rocky surroundings, which rise from the ground to imposing dimensions. These endless hills share deliciously earthy tones and are peppered with darker soil, as if they are nature’s version of an intense chocolate cake.”

While here, you can visit the Princess of Hope rock formation, pay respect at Hinglaj Temple (Nani Mandir), considered to be one of the oldest temples in the world, and enjoy the awe-inspiring views of the Makran Coast.

5. Sadh Belo

Activist Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Jr highlighted that travelling to Pakistan did not mean going to Hunza exclusively — and we couldn’t agree more. “Our country is deserts, mangroves, the sea, forests and harsh beauty,” he wrote on Instagram, listing places in Sindh that were also just as beautiful as the northern areas.

One such place is Sadh Belo, an island in the Indus River near Sukkur, and is famed for its highly revered Hindu temples, including Teerath Asthan, the largest Hindu temple in Pakistan. The entire area is stunningly scenic, with white marble temples sitting along the riverbanks. History buffs should definitely check out this place.

What is one place in Pakistan you think everyone should visit? Tell us in the comments below!

TCF is a non-profit organisation dedicated to educating underprivileged children. In October, it achieved 2,033 school units, impacting 301,000 students across the country.

While fundraising through cross-country running is common in the rest of the world, Rehman may be one of the first few to make huge strides in education advocacy this way in Pakistan.

The ongoing run, which started on Nov 3, is set to be completed within 35 days covering a total distance of 1,600km from Cadet College Hasan Abdal to IBA University in Karachi.

Pakistan is home to 71 million children between the ages of five and 16. An estimated 36 per cent, or 25.3 million, are out of school, according to a recent study on out-of-school children called The Missing Third of Pakistan.

The education system in Pakistan has recently worsened in terms of both access and quality. Many public schools fail to provide high-quality education in addition to various other problems faced by students, such as economic factors, cultural barriers, and inadequate infrastructure.

With the success of his project, Rehman will be able to support the education of at least 7,000 students. His game plan to raise $1 million primarily relies on donations but he has also received sponsors for his project, he told Images.

Before his run started, the project received $40,000 from a corporation. “As the run gains more traction, we are getting some sponsors. All the corporate money will be going to the fundraiser,” he explained.

“My plan now is reaching out to as many people as I can […] using social media or any other platform to raise money,” Rehman added. People can donate to the project directly or support the run by engaging with their social media platforms.

He narrated to Images how growing up in a small town in Punjab became the source of his inspiration behind the project. Rehman’s parents moved to Ahata, a rural town in Taxila. In 1991, his father opened the town’s first private school — and the first school in an eight-mile radius.

Over the years, his father established 16 other schools in the region, educating countless children. It was his father’s work that influenced Rehman to contribute to this cause.

During his years at Cadet College Hasan Abdal, he was surrounded by accomplished people with high merits, which broadened his outlook. It showed him that “education is a great equaliser and people from any background can be here”.

“So I wanted to do something for children.”

The final push was his time spent studying at Northeastern University in the United States. He went for his master’s in 2022 but saw “only a few Pakistani students,” which made him think about the dire state of Pakistan’s education system.

“Many children do not get the right opportunities, especially in fields of capital and innovation, and to come to the US,” he explained.

Speaking on the issue of out-of-school children, he said, “I always wanted to do something but never knew the what or how.” Today, with the right “capacity, wisdom and experience,” he is able to achieve his goals.

The process

Rehman, who has background in finance, has combined his passion for numbers with his commitment towards education. In many ways, his regular job as a strategy consultant equipped him with the skills required to support his advocacy.

“Working in finance did give me confidence to understand numbers and impact,” he said. But this project is essentially a physical one and while Rehman does not have any official marathon experience, he trained for six months to prepare for the run.

His training included covering around 20km every day and going to the gym three times a week. “I would run but also walk, which is very important as part of my training,” he said, adding, “I did this with my nine to five job.”

Any kind of cross-Pakistan journey is no easy feat, especially one that requires covering a long distance on foot. Rehman listed some of the challenges he faces, such as harsh weather, pollution, smoke from rickshaws and trucks, heat, traffic, sleeping in uncomfortable places as well as attacks from stray animals.

He recalled having an upset stomach on the fourth day of his run. “It is an eating sport as much as a running sport, as you need to eat to reclaim energy,” he said. “But I try not to complain.”

Rehman described his daily routine as a “rollercoaster of emotions and experiences”.

He wakes up between 6 and 7am and begins running at 8am after a calorie-rich breakfast. His first break is at around noon, for one hour. Then he keeps moving and takes breaks every two to three hours. The day ends at 7pm with him and his team staying at different guest houses and hotels. Sometimes, he rests in an RV.

Rehman is always accompanied by his crew stationed ahead of him, providing support and supply exchanges.

During the run, he is often greeted by locals and approached by local media. Rehman can be joined by anyone during his run. His team maintains a five-day rolling schedule on Google Maps, which is updated each evening after he completes his run for the day.

However, support runners must adhere to “strict rules” which have been detailed on his website. They must stay beside or behind Rehman, who will stay ahead at all times. They must also look after their own food, water and transport.

One of the most curious things about Rehman’s run was his decision to do it during peak smog season in Punjab. He admits the decision to travel amid the ongoing environmental calamity was “stupid”.

“I had to keep telling myself to keep going,” he said, adding, “but we have been smart about it. We delayed the start to 10 or 11am to avoid peak smog hours. And we have to wear masks.”

An unforgettable experience

Despite many challenges, Rehman called his journey “unforgettable”. “We were aware of the physical and mental side but forgot about the human side. Meeting kids in the schools — that’s the human side.”

And that human side has been the best part of his journey. He revealed that while he does not get the time to reflect during his runs as it is a “rollercoaster”, his interactions with kids at TCF schools are always uplifting.

On one such occasion, he recalled meeting a 10-year-old girl, Barirah, from Jhelum. “She came with her father and donated Rs1,000. I think that was her entire pocket money, which lifted our spirits,” he said.

On another, Rehman and his team visited a remote village called Kacha Khuh where they played and danced with the kids. He said such experiences kept him motivated.

Rehman is encouraging of anyone who wants to fundraise in a similar manner or simply go on a cross-country run, and said he is open to give them advice.

His biggest tip was to have a team. “It is definitely a team sport. I am not alone as I have a team of 10 to 12 people looking after the media, nutrition, etc who are working full time,” he said. He also emphasised on the importance of planning — but not too much.

“Have a game plan,” he said, “[but] be flexible.”

I can’t help but imagine that when Kathy Johnston, the self-titled chief chocolate officer at Mirzam Chocolate Makers, followed her heart and channeled her passion and energies into setting up the chocolate factory in the industrial sector of Dubai’s Al Quoz in 2016, she understood and realised that comparisons would inevitably be drawn between her and the lovable character of Willie Wonka from the Roald Dahl’s 1964 children’s novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The novel was later adapted into a screenplay for a Hollywood production that has since seen several remakes, the most well known of which features Johnny Depp as the eccentric chocolatier.

The similarities are striking — Johnston, like Wonka, followed her heart, and her passion for chocolate eventually led her to set up a chocolate factory, only hers is in the heart of Dubai’s industrial neighbourhood that is fast gaining a reputation as an upscale, commercially social hub.

Also inadvertently following in Wonka’s footsteps, Johnston’s experimentation with cocoa beans led her to produce in what in all probability is the most wholesome and fulfilling chocolate experience in the world, treating the cocoa beans with the love, care, and the respect they deserve to create a chocolate manna that is veritably the food of the gods.

Johnston’s little helpers are everywhere, busily going about their assigned tasks of roasting and grinding the fermented cocoa beans to yield bars upon bars of the dark brown gold. They go about their work with utter diligence and commitment, not once leaving the chocolate-making process unattended or unchecked lest the end product suffer from negligence.

As our party of five wide-eyed soon-to-be amateur chocolatiers toured the factory, I realised what the titular character of Charlie Bucket must have felt while exploring Wonka’s factory. We were walked through the entire process of the intricate and painstaking chocolate-making at Mirzam Chocolate Factory through glass-panelled screens by our charming Sri Lankan host, as even the slightest change in temperature or human exposure could change the trademark flavour of the high-end product.

The word Mirzam — Arabic for herald — is taken from a star once used for celestial navigation by dhow sailors on the historical Spice Route, a passage that no doubt helped the once-humble cocoa bean travel from their native origins and take up their rightful place on the world stage as the king of desserts, and the choicest of confectionary.

The Mirzam Chocolates experience wouldn’t be complete without experiencing the chocolate-making process from end to end; ie from the roasting and grinding of the fermented beans to the fun-filled chocolate bar-forming process which visitors are urged to experience and savour. Even minute details, such as the folding of the foil and paper wrapper are keenly supervised for a more wholesome experience.

Mirzam Chocolates are available in a wide variety of exciting flavours with prices on the slightly steeper side due to their exclusivity and a definite edge over other popular commercial brands. Among some of their top sellers are the Pistachio Stardust (AED 185), Dark Chocolate with Candied Oranges and Orange-infused Toffee (AED 40), Dark Milk Chocolate with Sea Salt (AED 83), Dark Chocolate with Cardamom and Coffee (AED 39), Milk Chocolate with Whole Roasted Hazelnut Slab (AED 90), Dark Chocolate with Rose (AED 39), Dark Chocolate with Pistachio Praline (AED 46), Alphonso Mango White Chocolate (AED 43) and White Chocolate with Orange Blossom and Roasted Almond (AED 43).

Then there’s the display area with extended product displays, yummy free samples and a bakery and open cafe where connoisseurs can enjoy a wholesome cup of hot chocolate and nibble on tasty chocolatey treats while meeting up with friends and family.

Earlier, our party of five had walked in as eager visitors on a media familiarisation trip on behalf of the Dubai Tourism Authority willing to try out something truly new and unique but as we walked out, we had transformed into amateur chocolatiers during the two-hour stay and exposure to the intricate art of chocolate-making at the Mirzam Chocolate Factory. Thanks to the visionary efforts of Johnston and her cherished dream to give the gift of pure unadulterated chocolate to Emiratis and the world, the intricate art of chocolate-making has been transformed into a joyous experience and one not easily forgotten.

All photos from Mirzam Chocolate/Facebook

All these flavours swirled in my mind as I landed in Thailand’s Krabi. Navigating the winding roads from the Krabi airport to the hotel, the first pitstop we made was at a roadside stall for freshly sliced coconuts to quench our thirst with coconut water. A dense mangrove forest in the background, the sounds of waves softly resounding from just across the road and the sweet taste of fresh coconut water — heaven.

As we passed through the narrow alleys, the town prepared for the post-sunset display and came to life with tables being set by street vendors for a street food market — the beating heart of Thailand’s culinary scene. Our eyes were glued to the mango sticky rice, Pad Thai noodles, chicken satay and som tum (papaya salad) being showcased on wooden carts as we cruised to our final destination.

When dinnertime arrived, our party of six was well prepared, having done our research before arriving in the beach town.

The Hilltop Ao Nang was about a 10 to 15-minute drive from our beachside hotel. Though the eatery offers a shuttle to and from hotels, we preferred to hire a van instead to be free of any time limitations. Visiting The Hilltop was something like visiting Monal at Pir Sohawa. Perched atop the hills, it was a steep ride to the top but once at the spot, the first look worked as a massage, loosening the tangled knots and relieving the body of the day’s fatigue.

The panoramic view of the bay and the sunset from the garden was both breathtaking and refreshing. In fact, it was difficult to discern whether the 200-plus seats at the eatery were for the food or for the spectacular view.

When we sat down and were finally able to tear our gaze from the view, we turned our attention to the rather extensive menu and spent five minutes narrowing down our order. We had already decided to go crazy on the seafood during our stay so our order was a no-brainer — tom yum soup for everyone, prawn salad in a taro pasty basket, deep-fried sea bass with sweet and chilli sauce, stir fried shrimps with bitter beans and shrimp paste, roasted duck red curry and traditional Southern Thai yellow curry with prawns.

Presentation is key in Thai gastronomy with dishes often embellished with intricate garnishes and served in beautiful traditional dishes, making it as much a feast for the eyes as well as the palate.

On to the food! The pièce de résistance in the tom yum soup was its broth. Deceptively simple in appearance, a single taste and a symphony of flavours erupted. With fragrant fresh herbs and spices in the form of kaffir lime leaves, galangal and lemongrass, as well as mushrooms and tomato chunks, the broth was definitely crowded. The prawns were succulent, the mushrooms rightly moist and the broth well balanced — both the texture and flavour of the dish were in absolute harmony.

The crispy, deep-fried fish fillet was decorated with deep fried garlic, shallots, lime leaves, and basil. The combination of these ingredients created a riot of flavour with every bite, but that riot was soon quelled with the accompanying sweet chilli sauce. It was difficult to peek deep into the golden fried sea bass but the taste made up for everything we couldn’t see. It was undoubtedly one of the hottest items at The Hilltop.

The other orders passed with flying colours and with bellies full and tastebuds happy, it was time to call it a night.

The highlight of our stint in Koh Samui was dinner at a very famous eatery — Coco Tams in Fisherman’s Village, Bophut Beach. It’s a very chic joint with a separate café, a bar and a fine dining restaurant all in one row. Its claim to fame is not only the location on the beach but also its spectacular fire show after sunset paired with a musical extravaganza.

There was mad dash for the entrance as we arrived at 7pm to try our luck to get in without a reservation. The server ushered us past the bar, and pool tables as we took in the all-wooden furniture layout. As we snaked through the walkways, it was easy to peek into the open live kitchen.

Fresh pizza dough was being tossed about, ready to be plunged into the wood-fire oven, bruschetta and salads were being given the last touch, calamari was being fished out of the wok and cocktails were making rounds in the café area. We had to climb down to the beach, where our waiter ushered us onto a patio, though we would have preferred to dine at the tables with the beanbag seating.

When in Koh Samui do not settle for an ordinary feast on the beachfront — net fresh prawns are a must have. Masterfully cooked in a sweet and tangy tamarind sauce and pan fried with chilli and salt, it was epicurean excellence for any food aficionado seeking scrumptious sophistication.

The roasted beetroot salad with walnuts and ricotta was no doubt the star from the antipasti pages. Glazed in balsamic, it was a loving marriage of walnuts and beetroot slices. It was priced around Rs2,500 when converted, which is about the same as any Pakistani fine dining restaurant. It would have been sinful not to order a pizza at Coco Tams, especially when it was love at first sight.

There were an array of pizzas to pick from but margherita was the safest bet. Tomato, basil and extra virgin olive oil — the pizza was heavenly. With its crust, burnt edges and the taste of cheese, it was nothing short of a flavour bomb in your mouth. The medium was priced at Rs2,500 and the regular at Rs3,500. The size and the portions did not, however, do justice to the price tag but the ambience was well worth it.

Small wooden tables embedded deep in the sand with perfumed candles in glass vases balancing on them, encompassed by a clear sky with a constellation of stars to gaze at above. The picturesque background, the music, the fire show and the food was well worth the 40-minute wait.

This local gem with an extensive menu was a temple of gastronomy. It is a must visit where the chefs, bartenders and even servers lighten up your mood with impeccable service, culinary fusion and a symphony of flavourful dishes that have a hint of new twists — sweet, sour and salty notes for a truly refreshing treat.

However, it is sometimes difficult for foodies to enjoy all the delicacies being offered while simultaneously making the most of their trip, especially in Bangkok where tourists are eager to partake in a myriad of activities.

To make things easy for you, we’ve compiled a list of the yummiest food you can grab while you’re on the go around Bangkok. Take it from someone who has had to eat on the go while being dragged around the city’s shopping spots numerous times — none of these items are to be missed.

Coconut ice cream

This combination might not sound appealing to our desi ears, however, coconuts and their byproducts are all over Thailand, so be prepared for all things coconut-flavoured — including ice cream! Thai coconut ice cream is different from what you might get at your local Baskin Robins — for starters, they serve it in a hollowed-out coconut shell, which is the perfect container as you move about town.

The main event, however, is the toppings! The ice cream, which is usually homemade, can be customised with whichever topping you want, and trust me you should get all of them. They top the delicious treat off with shredded coconut, coconut jelly, peanuts, sweetened sticky rice — sounds weird but it just WORKS — and toasted mung beans (yes this is essentially crunchy moong daal, but hey, it adds great texture and a touch of saltiness).

The whole affair is perfect for Bangkok’s hot, tropical climate, and even better after a long day of shopping. With all the toppings, it’s the ultimate dessert — sweet, creamy, and cold, with crunchy bits that add not only texture but also a touch of saltiness.

The Pizza Company — veggie and seafood pizzas

Now I know what you’re thinking, pizza? In a Southeast Asian country? JUST TRUST ME! The Pizza Company is a Thai fast-food chain and their pizza is pure comfort food. Remember how Pizza Hut used to be back in the day? Picture that, but better.

The crust is pillowy soft and thick with a perfectly crispy bottom. It’s topped off with a yummy marinara, and you can taste the fresh, slightly tart tomatoes they use in the sauce. It’s finished off with a thick blanket of cheese. Unlike most fast-food pizza restaurants, The Pizza Company is generous with its ingredients, without you having to repeatedly yell at the poor soul taking your order.

Then, of course, the question is what flavour should you get? I would highly recommend their veggie pizza. It comes with spinach, sliced tomatoes, mushrooms, onions and fresh red chillies. In addition to all the regular flavours, they also have seafood and shrimp cocktail pizzas, both of which are scrumptiously unique.

Wherever you are in Bangkok, this chain has several restaurants, and chances are you can pick it up on your route. There is nothing better than getting to your hotel room at the end of a long day, bundling up in your blanket and digging into this delicious pizza. Plus, several branches are open around the clock, so if you’re done with your night market shopping at odd hours, you can order some pizza!

Pad Thai

This is a more common one. A stir fry noodle dish, pad Thai is Thailand’s national dish; once you try it, you’ll understand why. This dish has a little bit of everything — soft and chewy noodles, crunch from bean sprouts and peanuts, and perfectly cooked shrimp, fried egg, chicken and/or tofu serving as the best possible protein. If you’re averse to seafood (who hurt you?!), you can opt for just chicken instead, and it’s almost as yummy as the original.

All the aforementioned ingredients are blended together with a sweet and tangy sauce comprising of tamarind, Thai soy sauce, ground dried shrimp, fish sauce, palm sugar and a couple of other choice ingredients.

The result is a perfect noodle dish, one that you can get everywhere in Thailand — from high-end fine dining restaurants to hawkers at almost every market — and chances are it will be delicious everywhere. Make sure you squeeze the lemon wedge they serve with the dish and add on some chilli flakes if you like it hot!

Fried food on a stick

Yes, I know this sounds vague, but hear me out. Several hawkers around Bangkok offer a variety of food battered or crumbed and skewered with wooden sticks before being deep fried — and all of it is DELICIOUS.

There’s shrimp, squid, chicken, chicken wings, scallops, beef, the list goes on and on. All of it is cooked to absolute perfection, with the light crisp clinging to the protein. If you’re lucky, the hawker will also be serving a Thai dip with it, which is full of red and green chillies and garlic. Together, they are a match made in heaven, especially as the spicy and sour sauce cuts through the greasiness of the fried food.

You can totally grab multiple sticks and continue your activities as you munch on!

Som tam (Green papaya salad)

I’m the last person to suggest a salad, but this is unlike anything I’ve ever eaten. This green papaya salad, or som tam as it’s locally known, will not only punch you with flavour, it will knock you out.

Made from crunchy strips of unripe papaya, it combines the fresh heat of chiles, the pungency of garlic, and the briny depth of dried shrimp. The roasted peanuts and beans add a satisfying crunch, while tomatoes balance the dish with a touch of sweetness.

Everything comes together when it is tossed in a mouthwatering dressing of fish sauce, lime juice, and palm sugar. The amalgamation of all the ingredients ensures that the salad is the perfect balance of sour, sweet, and spicy.

The final product is refreshing and vibrant, perfect for a hot summer’s day — which is most days in Bangkok — and every bite will leave you wanting more. The best som tam will probably be one you get from a small hawker in some alley. Unfortunately, I fell very sick and couldn’t enjoy this salad on my most recent trip, so I’ve made do with an Instagram picture to show you what it looks like.

Mango sticky rice

Mango and sticky rice is perhaps one of the most popular Thai desserts, with hundreds of videos on social media of people running through Bangkok’s airports and streets just to get their hands on this delicacy as soon as possible.

The combination sounds weird, but it somehow works. Slices of mango are served next to scoops of slightly sweetened sticky rice, which has been cooked in coconut milk. The whole thing is topped off with toasted mung bean and thickened, sweet, coconut milk. The mango is sweet and creamy, while the rice adds a little textural variation and chew.

In my mother’s words, “It’s chewy and gooey at the same time. The mangoes make you feel like you’re lounging in a garden full of mango trees, and the coconut milk adds the perfect nuttiness.”

Clearly, this popular dessert is so delectable it has transportive qualities, and if your mom — like mine — is dragging you around shopping malls, you can eat some mango sticky rice to imagine you’re in a field of mangoes.

Crab curry

Here’s the thing, you can get crab curry at many different places, but for the best and most authentic experience you must go to Samboon. This restaurant, which has served fried curry crab since 1969, has been mentioned in the Michelin Guide.

To quote the (much more seasoned) Michelin inspector, the restaurant has “impeccable cooking, flawlessly fresh seafood and generous portions”.

Their crowning glory remains the crab curry — bright orange in colour and deeply flavourful, this is literally mandatory for all seafood enthusiasts to try when they are in Bangkok. Think of meaty chunks of fresh, sweet crab tossed in a rich, thick curry. The curry is where the magic lies — it’s a luscious mixture of red curry paste, eggs, evaporated or coconut milk, and a blend of aromatic herbs. The end product clings perfectly to the crab.

Unlike the Thai red curry we’re used to eating at restaurants in Pakistan, this crab curry has a thicker consistency and an undertone of sweetness that is enhanced by the taste of crab meat. The curry tastes complex and savoury, without being overbearingly spicy, however, hints of heat come through courtesy of the sliced red chilli on top.

Fried fish

Once again, loads of places do really great fried fish, tossed in a myriad of varying but equally delicious sauces. However, my favourite is the deep-fried grouper with crispy basil, garlic and chilli, also at Somboon — I had a great meal there, clearly.

An entire fish is lightly battered and deep fried, then coated in a luscious sweet and savoury sauce that is full of chopped garlic and red chillies. The whole thing is then topped off with fried basil and voilà, you have the best fish dish you will probably eat. The fish remains crispy and is cooked to perfection, with the meat falling clean off the bone. Plop a piece on your plate as well as a generous helping of the accompanying sauce on some white rice and you will have the best bite.

Those who aren’t big on fried fish can get a steamed version of this too!

Tom yum fried rice

You’ve probably heard of (and tried) the famed tom yum soup. This is basically the rice version of it. Boiled rice is cooked with tom yum paste and aromatics like ginger and lemongrass until it takes on the same colour and deliciousness as its soupy counterpart.

Loads of seafood goes in — squid, octopus, fish, shrimp, scallops, you name it. The dish is finished off with some tomato and some green onions. Each bite delivers a tangy punch from lime juice and a hint of fish sauce’s umami richness, making the dish taste savoury and fresh.

This dish is also a great alternative to the soup, which can be too much on a hot day and isn’t as satisfying as a plate full of rice. After all, nothing beats carbs.

And yes, there’s a noodle version too, both soupy and dry. All versions are available at street-side stalls.

Morning glory

Morning glory — also known as water spinach — is a vegetable with tender shoots. Thai people (geniuses that they are) stir fry these shoots with soy sauce, garlic, chillies, sugar and some other herbs to create a quick and delicious veggie dish.

You may be thinking this is more of a sit-down-and-eat food, and while you can do that, it’s also available as street food. They serve it in plastic bags with chopsticks — or forks, if you are so inclined. This dish is perfect for vegetarians and those looking for a reprieve from all the Thai seafood.

So, tell us in the comments, what will you be trying when you land in Bangkok?

In an attempt to recreate that inspiration now that he has access to visas, Shah, who is pursuing his doctorate from the University of Antwerp in Belgium, decided to embark on the journey back home by road to understand the crossing of various borders.

Sharing his route from London to Quetta at an art space called Aahan Kada in Islamabad’s E-11 on Friday evening, Shah spoke about backpacking using mainly public transport and staying at hostels. He cautioned that travelling is not as easy as it is portrayed by those with stronger passports as well as socioeconomic privilege.

“This began a few years ago when I was doing a story for Herald, where I was required to travel via the left bank of the Indus Highway to understand and record the life of people living there,” he explained. “After that we decided to do a story on the migrant/refugee trail, which is basically a route taken by many who wish to enter Europe. But Covid struck so we were unable to follow up on that, and ever since I have been hoping to do something similar. I called this ‘From Coloniser to Colonised’ and hence decided to go through London and not Belgium,” he shared.

Documenting his journey on Instagram, Shah began his travel in the first week of July and reached Pakistan in the first week of September. He arrived in the UK from Belgium and then headed on to France, Italy, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Greece, Turkey, Iran and then finally Pakistan.

“I have a Residence Permit from Belgium which allows me to stay out of the country for a total of two months so I only had that time to travel home, and I had to account for any delays owing to my passport or unforeseen circumstances.

“Mobility is very easy in Europe — you can travel to three countries in a matter of hours or days on trains because of how porous the borders are and the passports they carry. In our case, we need to be prepared for anything and everything so bank statements, travel history, degrees, police statements — one needs to have it all or be sent [back] without a visa, which sends your time, effort and money down the drain,” he said.

Shah narrated that given that he had a Belgian residence permit, travelling through the EU was convenient and no one checked his passport or demanded any documentation. However, once he crossed Croatia to enter Serbia, he faced the dreaded interrogation room.

“I was picked out from many others on the bus and taken to the interrogation room. I had all the required legal documents but till they were verified, I was strip-searched and my backpack was also thoroughly checked as if they were waiting to find something,” he recounted.

He faced similar situations while exiting Albania, which Shah has marked on his map as border humiliation in red. Given that Greece is also part of the EU, one would expect that it would be fairly easy to get to Turkey from there, but it was not.

Shah was on the island of Samos from where you can literally see Turkey across the water. “Those who have the privilege can travel to Turkey for lunch and return to Greece because the journey is about just 45 minutes. I went to the same tour company to board the ride and was told that I would have to fly instead because ‘some’ nationalities (Pakistanis and Egyptians) were barred. I persisted calmly, and was finally given the ticket.

“A Greek friend of mine felt angered at the treatment meted out to me and I told him how anger was also a great privilege at these points, because if I dared to show any frustration or anger, chances were I would be put behind bars just because of where I came from,” he shared.

The photojournalist added that the island hosts refugee camps where refugees are allowed to leave the camp once a week. “At the cafe where I could see other people enjoying their drinks and food, a Greek woman who worked there told me I was the first non-refugee Pakistani she had met.”

Once he reached Turkey, the process was smooth again and after spending a few days in the country, he headed to Iran where he spent 17 days exploring 11 cities before reaching the Pakistan-Iran border.

“In Isfahan, I had a wonderful time and I realised that women felt at ease, so much so that when I asked for directions at a restaurant, the women who owned the place offered to drop me and also show me around. This was all well past midnight and families were out having a merry time,” he shared.

Instead of only presenting a rosy picture of his travels, Shah was quite upfront about how while some people he met were fascinating and many places were laden with history, but that fascination or fun could easily be marred by the trauma and distress caused by border control.

Shah aims to do the journey again, perhaps by car if he is able to secure a licence, or by bicycle — he has been inspired by Instagram travel vloggers Kamran On Bike and Abrar Hasan, as well as Shahram Khosravi, the writer of ‘Illegal’ Traveller.