Shop 'til you Drop

Well, not quite. This evening was filled with rug shopping and though these rugs are beautiful, I just have no place for one. The rugs are Afghani and Pakistani rugs and hand embroidered. Rugs that are 6'x9' take one family a year to make, cost approximately $1700, but would cost around $5,000 or higher in the states!

In one shop I was able to buy a traditional top that I will wear to a dinner that we are hosting later in my trip and a beautiful piece to hang in my office.

My boss quested that I look for donkeys, but I have to represent with elephants, even if this is just a beautiful piece from Pakistan. The bead work is nice and there is crushed velvet, as close to velour as I could possibly find here. I am so missing my velour!

We finished our evening with dinner at Me'lange Cafe http://melange.com.pk/ . The best part was walking in and feeling as though I had just walked into a New York nightclub. The house music was pumping and there was fashion360 on the tv screens showing Dubai Fashion Week. I was listening to techno mixes of songs like Rhythm is a Dancer. This cafe is connected with a store featuring 8 different designers. As they were closing soon, I quickly walked through while listening to the soundtrack of Top Gun. All I could think was can this get any better?! Well, dinner was amazing. A spicy, VERY light, thai inspired soup, SUPER thin crust margarita pizza, and a rich molten chocolate for dessert. That was not something that I expected here in Pakistan, but it was a nice surprise.

Beautiful Day in Islamabad

It is after 4pm and my day has been mixed with work and relaxing. I was able to sit out in the gardens and enjoy green tea while speaking with colleagues, and let me tell you it just doesn't get better than this. While everyone in the Northeast is bundling up and enjoying some snow, I am in a light sweater wearing my Ray-Bans and enjoying early fall temperatures.

To sum up since my last post, I enjoyed a tradition middle eastern mezza with a morocan cous cous for dinner. The Morocan presentation of the meal was in the fabulous dish with a top, which was fun. I will try and get a pic as I am sure that I will dine there again. This evening is shopping as my boss is looking for a rug and I am looking forward to seeing more of the city.

As my day is coming to an end, I am wishing you all a fabulous Saturday!

Hotel Security

The hotel that I am staying at, the Serena Hotel, is beautiful. The finishes are amazing and everything is just bright colors. Most of the time there is live music being played - either by a pianist or lute. When it isn't live the most amazing music is just flooding the hotel with the sounds of Pakistan. In addition to this place being beautiful both to the eyes and ears, the security is top notch. There is a single road to arrive at the hotel of which the vehicle goes through three security check-points. After the third, the car must stay down in the parking lot and cannot drive up to the hotel. Individuals and their luggage go through screening similiar to that of airports. I can leave on my shoes and coat, but if I set off the detector, it is a private screening...nothing invasive though. If you don't want to walk up to the hotel there is a beautifullly decorated golf cart that will take you up. In addition to this screening process, there are armed security agents on peaks around the hotel as well. I definately feel safe staying here. I will try to take and post some pics soon.

Pakistani Food

Here I am outside of the Serena Hotel.

Breakfast is the most delightful meal of my day. Short order cook making omelets - just to die for and enough to keep me going until 8 or 9pm at night when I get my next meal. I am surviving on water and tea all day long. Guess I might want to hop on my 1970's scale to see how I am handling this concentration camp diet.



Tonight I had Pakistani food. It is similiar to Indian food, and since I am not an expert or well traveled in this region, I would say that if you have food from the Punjab region of Pakistan it may not be distinguishable from Indian cuisine unless you are a local. It is quite spicy and delicious. I find the heat exactly what I am looking for, no sweat, just a smoky and hot sensation. Poppadom was served prior to the meal and this was a spicy seasoning on a VERY thin and fried piece of bread. So light and tasty I was in heaven. Though my slice was a little heavy on the onions, thankfully Matt wasn't here to have to kiss me!



I have not seen much of Pakistan except for traveling between the hotel and office, but tomorrow I will be at an Embassy and hoping to do a little hike this weekend and next week get to Muzzafarab.



All is quiet here!

I have arrived in Pakistan

After a 13 hour plane ride with a unshowered fellow creaping into my seat, then a three hour ride from Dubai in a middle isle in a middle seat, I arrived safe in Pakistan. Private transport to waiting area where our amazing staff took care of obtaining my visa along with collecting my 50lb bag; while I enjoyed tea and cookies of course. My arrival time was just after 3am local time and well, I haven't been able to sleep yet. I have unpacked and organized my room for the three week stay, worked out, discovered the nuances of my bathroom, had an amazing breakfast, and am preparing to head off to our offices. Current time is 11am.

Now before tearing away to work, I have to talk about my bathroom. First there is a scale from the '70s under the sink for my use. Perfect, the one time I would die before seeing one of these is on business travel or vacation. The only redeeming quality to this scale is that it is in kg, so I immediately had a major weight loss upon stepping onto it.

I have a little toilet stall with telephone and shower head. Not sure if this is a make shift bidet and don't anticipate finding out. My shower upon first glance is a rain shower head - yes! But upon taking a shower the position of the head is in the ceiling and cannot be adjusted which means water ALL through the bathroom and I don't have any location in the stall where I am not being drowned in water. Guess I will try a bath next! Lastly in my small 10x10 bathroom there are two phones - guess that is the extra perk that I get for being on the executive level of the hotel.

I will be bringing more stories and photos - stay posted!

Happy Thanksgiving!

It is that time of year to give thanks for everything in your life. I must say that I am so thankful for my wonderful husband, and all of my family and friends. I have had quite a blessed year. Though I still struggle in my life, I always know that I have amazing people surrounding me to lend an ear and offer advice.

The last four days have been jammed pack with activities to prepare for my next trip. I have finished Christmas cards, organized for the doggies mini-vacation at the dogwalkers, decorated for Christmas, purchased 90% of my Christmas gifts, and tried to just be organized for leaving the house for three weeks. I am exhausted but am feeling good about being gone for that long, at least in the department of having items checked off my to-do list.

I hope to update often over the next three weeks to include my adventures in Pakistan. Wish me well and Happy Holidays!!!

Sorry for the Absence...

Wow, sometimes life just doesn't slow down. Matt and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary and I have been enjoying work and life. The summer was brutal this year in DC and I was not ready for the humidity but am loving my new short sleeve business suits and fabulous sleeveless summer work dresses.

We are enjoying fall and hoping to take up a new activity - geocaching. Poppa Dutes gave us a gps and with this device we can go exploring - we are hoping to do our first this weekend. Trial run will be finding the cache at the cemetery where our dogs are members.

We are digging into being super Apple people with the addition of an iPhone and iPad to our family this fall. We just love the technology that Apple has. Image uploads are not available due to maintenance so I will upload some images for your enjoyment later.

Happy fall!