Back to Germany

It was a long break on the blog. I am back to Magdeburg (Germany) on 24th March. There are lots of stories and pictures that I wanted to publish on my blog but simply couldn't do it because of the lack of the time.
Now I am back on work and will try to spare time to publish my thoughts and pictures taken during my trip to Pakistan.
From Pakistan, I brought with me 14 DVDs of photos that make more than 50GB of data (about 5 or 6 thousand pictures).
I guess it will take some effort and time to make photo-selection and post-process them.

Heading towards Northern Areas

Tonight (09.02.06) we are moving towards the beautiful northern areas. Our plan was to leave yesterday but out of nowhere my brothers and sisters started insisting to accompany us. Simply, I couldn't resist. Now we would be 8 persons and 2 children on this trip. This would include myself and my two brothers, Jens, my 2 younger sisters, mother and 2 elder brother's children. Perhaps, Mushtaq, a very close friend of my mine would also accompany us.

We will catch a train from Layyah to Rawalpindi. It will be about 10-12 hour overnight journey. From Rawalpindi, we will catch the bus to Gilgit (17 hour journey). From Gilgit we will move to our main center of interest, The Hunza Valley. If the weather conditions allow us, we will try to see the Khunjerab Pass near Pakistan-China border. My elder brother would take care of the other family members when me and Jens would be setting for some special locations to photograph.

It would be a five or six day trip. We will be back on 15th or 16th of March. Then Jens and I will have 3 days remaining to prepare for our departure on 21st March from Lahore. But no worries at the moment. All of us are very excited to experience the unmatching beauty of that region.

Update: some pictures from Hunza valley taken by me

Baltit Fort Karimabad

Pictures from Multan

Women in veil

A begger

Multan and Bahawalpur

Shah Rukan-e-Alam Shrine

Drawar Fort in Cholistan Desert (about 120 km from Bahawalpur)

Local boy in Drawar

Blogspot Banned in Pakistan

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has banned Blogspot.com and therefore it is no longer possible to access blogspot hosted blogs in Pakistan. The decision has been taken in order to prevent the users from accessing the blogs containing the cartoon images of Prophet Muhammad.


Although one cannot read blogs at blogspot.com, one can write new blogs or edit previous blogs as it uses a different website wwww.blogger.com. Funny as it is, now I can write the blog but I can neither view it nor I can read the posted comments.

Thanks for still giving me the freedom of speech.

Life at its abyss

Poor children living in the huts. Pictures from Layyah


There was a family of blind people living in the huts. Among them was a blind father who had his 4 blind sons with him. There were 15 to 20 blind persons in the hut colony.


A kid was tied to a rope like an animal. The reason mentioned to us was "the kid's mental level is low and that he damages the things".

No source of income except begging. Their huts were standing in the open sky. Animals and people shared the same shelter. Nearby to the huts was a pond of filthy water polluted with garbage. You ask me about the basic human rights, Roti, Kapra aur Makan (Bread, Clothing and Housing)? I tell you it's a JOKE.