[Leica] IMG: Hello from Pakistan

[hewthompson at mac.com (Hugh Thompson)]

Wendy - thank you.  Just like Spencer Cheng noted, Pindy is very  
different from Islamabad.  Since Islamabad is a "new" and planned city  
it has wide roads, and there is some sense of order.  Older areas like  
Pindy or Rawalpindi are much older, with very narrow streets - there  
have been may occasions I have been driven down these narrow streets  
at speeds much higher than I feel is safe, given the people walking in  
the road, kids darting all over the place, dogs, donkey cart, horse  
carts, and narrow sidewalks.  I still wonder if we have hit people  
from time to time.

Of course, in general, there are no such things as traffic lanes.   
Whatever you can do to squeeze in, honk your horn and keep looking for  
the opening.  I know people from Islamabad, who will not drive in  
Pindy, on the other hand I have a friend from Pindy, who drives with  
one hand, the other gesticulating wildly to convey the meaning of his  
words, and apparently paying little attention to the traffic, but he,  
like most others get by with a few scratches to their cars, I have not  
seen any serious accidents, although one reads about them in the  
newspaper.

Cheers

Hugh


On 5-Nov-09, at 6:51 AM, Wendy Thurman wrote:

> Good to see you are getting out and making pictures.  Are the  
> Pakistanis as
> maniacal behind the wheel as the Afghans are?  I suspect so, given  
> that many
> of the people here once lived there.  The last image, The Cook's  
> Domain,
> appeals- I do like the mood in that one.