Friendly guard outside the hotel. Would he really know what to do in an emergency?
Peeling water chestnuts. Tasty with a dob of salt
Chai Wallah
Hairnet probably a recent requirement, but this is very much the street food scene. Charcoal and skewers
Chutneys from mother’s recipe? Vats of either lime, mango, carrot or Mum’s special – a combination of everything plus copious garlic… at a price you’d not see as viable. £2.50 for 2 kg
Dress code for a mosque visit
If you were asking why Pakistan? The reason,and after our visit the only reason, CRICKET. Which Wisden will tell you in years to come, didn’t go well…
Fish men, Rawalpindi
Dried fruit and nut
The tandoor. Looks like a bored chap with divining rods but there are essential oven skills at play here
More dress code – PJs we call them, ‘thobe’ locally. Note satisfied salesman [L] and owner [R] who’s probably adding up the profit on having 2 English customers
‘Rambo’ with an old-looking weapon
Zubsir the taxi man. A vehicle marginally bigger than a tuk tuk but with sharp upholstery
Lahore needs a Pied Piper
‘Elbow Street’ In Lahore old town, a short walk from the city’s Delhi Gate, this narrow alley is said to be one of the narrowest as the name suggests. So narrow that furniture has to be made in situ rather than delivered, and a man and a woman cannot pass each other without some form of intimate contact. And that might mean an Iman is needed to wed the newly entwined couple
A man that could be useful? Rizwan, a wannabe ‘business man’ explained his plan to get to Manchester seeking sponsorship despite no relatives to support him. Upon asking him his trade, I was told ‘security consultant/trainer’, which sounded fairly reasonable. He went on to explain his expertise in dismantling and re-assembling weaponry like the AK47
Family from Faislabad. Women seemed shier to face the camera, but this family overjoyed to be pictured. They took ones of me too
What meat the vast population of India doesn’t eat, Pakistan does. Street food everywhere in Lahore centres around dishes containing beef, fish, lamb or chicken. Probably goat too. Vegetable dishes were harder to find, and the usual expectation of rice seemed distant. Above a man cooking keema – essentially a flavoured beef burger which is served with naan bread made next door
Cafe chick pea dhal
‘Mister Mister’ a friendly face at the main mosque
Entrails ‘Nihari’, a quick cook of the bits that most Westerners don’t eat
Some of the grimmer ingredients of local cuisine were eye-opening. Along with brain balti, tripe stir fry and testicle stew, there was a morning dish which was called ‘head and toe’ – a thick soupy stock made from goats’ heads and bull’s trotters. No vegetarian options available.
Above: A goat’s head, samosas and sheep’s bits. Below: a bucket of entrail stock and stuff just waiting for you in the market. Did the Rolling Stones visit?
Below: Karahi lamb [mutton], chicken kebabs and chicken nihari.
Below: Safer bets?
Tobacco. It seems Pakistan is a producer of tobacco, and here a vendor smokes his own. Sold in thick twisted ‘ropes’ resembling a child’s pigtails; this stuff is either destined for cheap cigarettes or smoked shisha style
Spices – some you know, some you’re not sure about
A big visitor to a poet’s mausoleum
Keen group wanting attention
Keema pattie, but with a crusty coating. Why the worry we shall never know, it tasted good
Halva
Chickens and family members awaiting their fate
Miserable face but great dates
Just what you’d expect – milking a camel on the high street
A Villa fan holds a camel
This street sells guns alongside camel milk
Hats, each style denotes a region
Sisters who’d ‘selfied’ me, so happy to pose. Very un-Muslim
The only gay in the Fort, on left
That’s the Koran, not a phone
More spices, some of which you use, some you just admire
Stir fried liver and veg
Punjabi traditional bed. Or traditional Punjabi bed?
‘The WinCo’
Charming, genial and educated man who entertained us for many minutes wanting to discuss matters of the world. Including cricket, his wife’s cooking, separatists, the economic woes of his country and his life a as a fighter pilot in the Pakistan airforce. We didn’t get to find out exactly how many Indian planes he’d downed whilst patrolling the Wakaan Corridor, but we’d have heard more had we accepted his kind offer to come and ‘dine’ that night at his house. A affable man; like many here who offered the hospitality that they could in order to spend time and befriend the few visitors that come to their country. A country that they clearly want to tell you about with pride
Onlooker, Rawalpindi
A boy tasked with getting rid of the last of the day’s trotters. Beetelnut helps him through the boredom
Fishmongers, Lahore. The ‘Rohu’ is sold widely in this part of Pakistan. The fish resembles the European carp, but is clearly adapted to growing to the size it does in some fairly dirty waters
The Jaffer Express lumbers into Lahore Central. This 17 carriage beast has already travelled 1200 km and taken 15 hours from distant Karachi. Its got another 5 to get to Rawalpindi, and then another 3 to get to Peshawar. Our cabin needed valeting during the 40 minute stop
Chai galley on the Lahore to Rawalpindi leg
The other Chai man shows me the fridge
Journey’s End as the Jaffer leaves us at Rawalpindi Central. A picturesque [in a ‘sub continent’ way] setting that could have been a backdrop for a Merchant Ivory film
At a glance Wolves fans?
The Meat Man. Sitting on a plinth with a tree stump chopping block in front of him, the barefoot meat man is busy preparing cuts for the kitchen of a very hectic restaurant
A restaurant in the ‘Butt’ empire. Butt is a common name, and the Butt family had this joint working tip top. Avoiding the entrail and brain selections we managed a very good supper – only to be offered to be paid for by the table next door, [be our guest!], and serenaded by a group of Glaswegian Celtic-supporting Pakistani teenagers who couldn’t understand why we were sitting on the fifth floor of a Lahori restaurant listening to the evening call to prayer. Well, there was little choice we said, glancing at a neighbouring table with 2 diners and their AK47s propped beside them
Pride at the border. Whipping up a febrile crowd, these entertainers ensure that Pakistan’s representation at the famous Wahgu border crossing with India is never out of the spotlight. A frontier post with the cities of Lahore in Pakistan and Amritsar in India only a stone’s throw apart. The province of Punjab now effectively straddles this divide
A man on a building site? One of the many ceremonial characters at the Wahgu Border. Behind him building work has commenced to upgrade their ‘welcome stadium’ which is intended to rival the seating already provided on the Indian side
I’m sitting 15 yards from India and 50 yards from thousands of Indians Below, the crowds gather in Pakistan to wave and cheer at the sunset ceremony
Pride at the cricket
Pride as ‘The Boss’. Father and son show father and son their restaurant
Pomegranites and their juice
Another character in the chai department on the big train
Below: Pakistan is a very Muslim place. 2 bars in our travels, but ironically a beer brewed under licence. Great but hard to buy
Fruit and nut vendor on ‘Machine Gun’ street
Day’s End. A solitary moped speeds away from the Indian Border.
jimsoccasionalblog 
And neither of you had intestinal problems?
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