For love of donkey. (03/13/06)
“We love our trucks and our donkeys here” or competitive firearm twirling.
The first is a quote from AZ our guide/driver/interpreter, Internews officer and all around damn fine guy. I made a comment about the intensity of the decoration found on EVERY truck we passed, then I realized that some of the donkey’s were decorated too. Donkey Bling if you will. The other is simply the only way I can describe what I am watching right now. And I can’t think of anything more gripping. Watching young Middle Eastern men compete in an arena surrounded by cheering fans, dancing, twirling and throwing chromed, magazine less Ak-47s. I know what your thinking…this cant be, your making it up Dave. There is no way that this show could exist. I mean how are they going to dance with out a patterned light show, multiple camera angels, a panel of steel eyed, emotionless judges, full burkah clad women with digital cameras pressed to their minimally exposed eyes and devoted fans waving posters of their favorite competitor?
The good news is I am not joking; the show has all of these things and much much more,
The great news is that I plan on importing the show to the US. I am working out the particulars with the producers as you read this.
I couldn’t make this show up if you pumped me full of drugs and gave me crayons.
Pakistan.
This is one interesting place. I can say that.
I started off this trip by staying overnight in London, meeting up with friends for dinner and pints. Sounded innocent enough,
I went to bed at 5 am and was awaken by the hotel fire alarm by 10 am. Strangely this did not excite me at all. When I called downstairs to find out what the story was the front desk answered the phone with “Hello? Please Leave!”
Excuse me?
“Please leave the building!”
I see.
So I stuff my cameras back into my bag and start down the stairs only to run into the security/bell hop who smiles and tells me they are having some problems with the system, there is no fire.
Back up I go three flights of stairs, hung over.
I met my friend Charlotte an hour later for breakfast at a local American style diner.
A few cups of coffee, some eggs, bacon, bangers and mashed, I was human. Sort of.
Jumping ahead to finding out my seat was literally surrounded by small children and infants I knew that I was not going to sleep anytime soon. So naturally I put on some music and went to a happy place. Sadly I ended up sleeping only an hour or two on the plane. By the time I had landed in Islamabad, I had pretty much been up for a more than a full day. Virginia said I looked high and dumb
A man with a Holiday Inn sign met me at the airport with my name on it. So I felt pretty good about how my morning was going to go. My initial thoughts on the landscape from the airport to the holiday in was pretty shocking. It instantly reminded me of the drive from LAX to the Hotel we often stayed at while working there. The road, trees, hills everything was strikingly familiar looking.
Virginia, my friend whom I met in Sri Lanka back in February, thinks I am making it up but that’s what it looked like to me. There you have it…Islamabad looks like LA.
After breakfast with Virg (and I kid you not nothing less than 4 pots of coffee) we headed out to meet AZ (Ay-Zee) who took us around to the Archaeological museum at Taxila (where the worlds first University was built) and then shopping for bootleg DVDs.
I am trying like hell to stay awake at this point (hence militia band camp on the TV) because tomorrow the real fun begins. I meet with the Internews team and head up to Abbotabad in the North West Frontier Province about two hours away. Now if you will excuse me I have some bootlegs to watch.
The first is a quote from AZ our guide/driver/interpreter, Internews officer and all around damn fine guy. I made a comment about the intensity of the decoration found on EVERY truck we passed, then I realized that some of the donkey’s were decorated too. Donkey Bling if you will. The other is simply the only way I can describe what I am watching right now. And I can’t think of anything more gripping. Watching young Middle Eastern men compete in an arena surrounded by cheering fans, dancing, twirling and throwing chromed, magazine less Ak-47s. I know what your thinking…this cant be, your making it up Dave. There is no way that this show could exist. I mean how are they going to dance with out a patterned light show, multiple camera angels, a panel of steel eyed, emotionless judges, full burkah clad women with digital cameras pressed to their minimally exposed eyes and devoted fans waving posters of their favorite competitor?
The good news is I am not joking; the show has all of these things and much much more,
The great news is that I plan on importing the show to the US. I am working out the particulars with the producers as you read this.
I couldn’t make this show up if you pumped me full of drugs and gave me crayons.
Pakistan.
This is one interesting place. I can say that.
I started off this trip by staying overnight in London, meeting up with friends for dinner and pints. Sounded innocent enough,
I went to bed at 5 am and was awaken by the hotel fire alarm by 10 am. Strangely this did not excite me at all. When I called downstairs to find out what the story was the front desk answered the phone with “Hello? Please Leave!”
Excuse me?
“Please leave the building!”
I see.
So I stuff my cameras back into my bag and start down the stairs only to run into the security/bell hop who smiles and tells me they are having some problems with the system, there is no fire.
Back up I go three flights of stairs, hung over.
I met my friend Charlotte an hour later for breakfast at a local American style diner.
A few cups of coffee, some eggs, bacon, bangers and mashed, I was human. Sort of.
Jumping ahead to finding out my seat was literally surrounded by small children and infants I knew that I was not going to sleep anytime soon. So naturally I put on some music and went to a happy place. Sadly I ended up sleeping only an hour or two on the plane. By the time I had landed in Islamabad, I had pretty much been up for a more than a full day. Virginia said I looked high and dumb
A man with a Holiday Inn sign met me at the airport with my name on it. So I felt pretty good about how my morning was going to go. My initial thoughts on the landscape from the airport to the holiday in was pretty shocking. It instantly reminded me of the drive from LAX to the Hotel we often stayed at while working there. The road, trees, hills everything was strikingly familiar looking.
Virginia, my friend whom I met in Sri Lanka back in February, thinks I am making it up but that’s what it looked like to me. There you have it…Islamabad looks like LA.
After breakfast with Virg (and I kid you not nothing less than 4 pots of coffee) we headed out to meet AZ (Ay-Zee) who took us around to the Archaeological museum at Taxila (where the worlds first University was built) and then shopping for bootleg DVDs.
I am trying like hell to stay awake at this point (hence militia band camp on the TV) because tomorrow the real fun begins. I meet with the Internews team and head up to Abbotabad in the North West Frontier Province about two hours away. Now if you will excuse me I have some bootlegs to watch.
posted by davidlang at 12:08 AM
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