In our first post, we promised to bring you "the good, the bad and the ugly." We've had a great trip so far but it hasn't been without its bumps! So here's a little sample of the not-so-smooth sailing one might find on a visit to Pakistan:
*Don't drink the water. People in private homes purchase H2O by the tankerful (as in, the truck comes to your home and pumps water into a system that distributes it throughout the home) and said water is unsafe to drink. Water is boiled to remove impurities and then stashed in the fridge. However, at the insistence of 99% of my relatives, Nick and I have been chugging only the bottled stuff since our arrival.
*Watch out for fruits and veggies. For a visitor, eating salad here is a HUGE no-no and all fruits must be peeled prior to consumption.
*Keep a candle nearby. Short power outages are incredibly common in Karachi. It's generally not much more than a bit of an inconvenience, and many people own generators. We've averaged between two and four outages per day since our arrival.
*Stay covered. For women, it's considered improper to wear anything shorter than capri pants, and even then trousers are a safer bet. Sleeveless (not tank) tops are OK, but a shawl or scarf over the shoulders is encouraged. Again, not a huge deal, but something female travelers should be aware of.
That's all I can come up with for now -- not too bad overall, but these are all things I take for granted back in Racine.
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About not drinking the water or eating raw fruits and veggies: what are you risking? Something worse than the Pakistani equivalent of Montezuma's revenge? And/or up to cholera?
ReplyDeleteDid you or Nick get any shots before your trip?
Mmmmm, yes, Montezuma. He's particularly potent over here. Not sure about cholera, but my Mom was in the hospital with typhoid for ten days back when we lived here -- a direct result of drinking tea [made with unsafe water] in carpet shops.
ReplyDeleteNo shots before we went, but that's because we were in Costa Rica in April and had most of our updates then. Pretty much the same standard round you'd expect for Central America.