I suspect that to many people who read this blog, Pakistan feels like a pretty remote place. Sure, you’ve heard of it, but you never imagined you’d actually go there. Obviously, it wasn’t the same for me. Even on the tails of a 20 year separation, I always figured I’d find my way back to Pakistan. That is, at least to Karachi. But there were other parts of the country that felt as inaccessible to me as they probably feel to you.
Continue reading…Tag: People (Page 3 of 4)
Istanbul feels like the middle of the world. The city itself straddles two continents, sliced by the Bosphorous strait that separates Europe from Asia. But the geography just feels like the physical expression of a culture that resists falling cleanly into one box or another. On the same street you’ll see a woman in a hijab covered to her ankles, a girl in a crop top with half blue hair and fishnet stockings, and a flamboyantly gay guy in a muscle shirt and makeup (but they’ll all be smoking a cig). The call to prayer rings from the minarets 5 times a day but it’s also legal to walk around with an open bottle of beer.
Continue reading…Any New Yorker who says “if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere” should spend a month in Cairo. It bustles like any other huge city but it’s brand of chaos is particularly… relentless. As you walk around, air conditioners from the overcrowded apartments above drop big juicy beads of water directly on your head. When you cross the street, cars and motorbikes indifferently zoom around you. One time we were walking on a narrow crowded street and a woman standing outside of an essential oils shop was spraying big plumes of perfume in the face of every person that walked by, presumably performing some kind of urban baptism under the guise of salesmanship. Most relentless of all is the desert sun – the dry heat makes it quite manageable in the shade, but you can easily find yourself stranded on an unshaded road feeling completely exposed.
Continue reading…About Me
Hi! I’m Maheen but my family calls me Mano. Jack and I are traveling the world together and I’ll be sharing my thoughts and pictures on this site. Thanks for stopping by!