A feverish step that made my day.

by Shehroze Sultan (Pakistan)

A leap into the unknown Pakistan

It was 27th September 2018,World Tourism day and I reached my destination Lahore-City of Gardens famous for its historical buildings. I am from mini Paris,Quetta a small city where everything shut down at 12:00 AM. It was my first journey with friends.I was very excited for it to begin completely optimistic to leap into the unknown. I along with my 3 friends were sitting in a traditional tea shop in a rainy winter evening,exhausted after final exam enjoying the tea when our ticketing agent whatsapp our tickets. We were so excited that we only heard our friend Mr.Umair saying that our flight is at 1:45PM.We packed our bags and were ready to explore the City Lahore.It is famously said that if you haven't seen Lahore, you are not truly born.I was ready to be born truly as I have heard stories about the beauty of Lahore,their food and hospitality. Our booking was done in a 5 star hotel named Avari and Let me tell you,it was my first time in a 5 star hotel too. In A thrilling feeling we reached airport and who knew a life long moment was waiting for us there.We were flabbergasted to know that we reached airport 3 hours prior to our flight.1:45 is the fly time and the flight time was at 3:30. We firstly laughed continuously for quarter of an hour.How foolish to not check our tickets time and how silly of Mr.Umair to consider fly time as a flight time.This is what happens when you leap into the unknown,can't guess what's coming. The best thing about travelling is you expect the unexpected. We spend our time on a nearby restaurant.Althoughit was a bad start but we were fully refreshed and energetic to explore Lahore. We reached Lahore celebrating International Tourism Day. We visited many places such as Badshahi Mosque,Minar e Pakistan,Iqbal fort and were astonished to see the buildings.The buildings had a fascinating effect and I was in awe to see the architecture. We were unknown to city and that was the net part.We were not dictated by anyone about which places to visit so we end up exploring many great places missed mostly by tourist.We went to Lahore food street and I became more excited when I came to know that a newly released film "Teefa in Trouble" is made here.I saw the colourful buildings,huge roads,well managed shops and up to my surprise the City was completely awake ecmben at 2:00 AM.It was thrilling for me as I was raised in Quetta. Ice cream parlour was open at night.We enjoyed "Tandoori Chai".Although it was winter but the atmosphere was very pleasing. The hotel was another exciting place where we lived. As I mentioned earlier,it was my first time in a 5star hotel,so I wasn't aware of proper swimming costume.I wore a track suit and I was not allowed to swim in it.It must be short up to your knee length.Thats what happens when you leap into the unknown.What to do now?Swim or no swim.It looks a easy choice but it was a challenging situation at that time. I ask for a scissor and cut the trouser I was wearing to my knee length.Problem solved.I tap my self on my creativity and even the care taker had a smile for a moment. The best of it was when we had a dinner in a Chinese restaurant and one of our friend asked for Bread "Chapati" to eat.We laughed when the waiter told that Chinese don't use bread.Add some rice and eat with a spoon. That was also a moment when we laughed alot. The trip was so fascinating that we didn't know how time flies? We learnt many new things made friends and in many occasions we found how humanity is still present in world.We were treated very lovely by the Lahoris and we didint find yourself in a new land.We were helped by people everywhere whether it is a laek or a metro station.They guided us very well.Lahore gave me new ideas and I brought back many new things which I applied in my city as well to make it better. The friends who arrived 3 hours earlier to airport and end up having a wonderful journey with lifelong experiences.