Old graves and mosques and stuff

Been advised to spend our Sunday on a trip to see a few of the sights on the outskirts of Karachi. There are so we are told simply thousands upon thousands of important graves that have to be seen. And of course lakes and mosques and sights of life along the way.

With Qassir our Driver, Wanna and I set off about 9 am and picked up Ian to join us on our magical mystery tour. I say that it was magical as we only know the names of places where we were going but no idea where they were. In fact having been there we still don't know!!! All in all about a 200 kilometer trip.

First stop was just out side of town. Place called Chucandia where they have an old grave yard with fabulous tombs intricately carved. All seemed to be made of sandstone but somehow I think it was a harder stone given that it had survived the ages so well. Each tomb reflected the wealth of the person placed below. This was measured by the size of the tomb. Several were impressive. But just the art work was good. We were asked by the custodian Ali Doni to fill in the guest book. Surprise, only 2 days earlier there have been a Thai visitor. So Wanna entered some comments in Thai. Never did get an explanation of what exactly she wrote.

From there we left Karachi proper and headed out in a North East direction. It was a hot day 34Deg C and seemed to be getting hotter. Thank God for Air conditioning.

We travelled to Bambhore. It has a small museum filled with old artifacts found locally. Seems there was a big Dig around 1958. Not really much to see and the whole area had an air of the 1950's. We wondered about and took a few shots but really not much to see. Just seemed to get hotter and hotter. Several other visitors kept coming up to us and asking "where are you from?". I said UK and pointed to Ian said his real name is David Beckham. They left us alone after that and concentrated on Ian!

From there we moved on to Hilji Lake. A lovely spot with a huge lake. About 15 kilometers perimeter. Few people about but some were fishing, others selling fish and hustling for our rupees. A few kids wanted to spend the afternoon staring at us so again a quick photo. Looked at some caged Marsh Crocodiles and then left. Not much to hold your interest to be fair. So off again.

Stopping on the road side for tea. Some of the trucks passing by were carrying enormous loads. Think the cargo was grass but so wide and so tall. Quite a sight. I expected to see them fall over at any

moment. On the way passed several herds of Buffalo.

Malki graveyards was something else. Full of snake charmers and some fantastic buildings, again tombs, left in honour of past Kings and Prime Ministers. (Don't ask which ones!). Took loads of photos and really enjoyed.

On the way back we saw tomorrows dinner being trucked into Karachi.