‘Weird and wonderful’ observations from the roads of Pakistan

It’s not everyday you drive in your car and see not only cars, motorbikes, cycles and pedestrians, but things such as camels, donkeys, horses, monkeys, buses with the roof full of people,men wheeling their ‘shop’, more items stacked on a bike or motorbike than humanly possible, or more people than you would have thought impossible on a motorbike….unless you have been to Pakistan….some of the stranger things observed on the roads are captured below as I round off my last week of Pakistan related posts…

How many on that bike?

People moving is a national sport it appears in Pakistan with the old ‘how many people in a mini’ no challenge to become the world record in Pakistan for sure. The best I saw on a motorbike was 7 people, although my friend Hasnain had a photo of 8 people!

Animals anyone?

The roads are a constant battle between machine and beast!

Our car has clipped donkey’s heads, nearly hit cows on the way to airport, had to give way to passing camels, had monkeys climb over the front window, gone through herds of sheep and goats and had to avoid literally chickens crossing the road!

One of the strangest sights was seeing a woman in the back of the truck with a bull while the guys sat up front! A pretty smelly ride I imagine, and I don’t want to assume the future of the beast!

In the lead up to Eid, the roadside markets are full of goats, sheep, cows and camels all ready for purchase and slaughter. It was most common to have men, boys and families escorting their newly purchased animal along the road to their house in preparation for the ‘feast’.

Who needs a freight company?

Carrying items from place to place certainly doesn’t need the expertise of DHL or UPS or the like, simply have your mate hang onto the stuff on the back of your motorbike/ donkey or other animal and move it to the desired location!

Other items seen but I wasn’t quick enough to capture included air-conditioners, lawn mowers, doors, windows, 2 goats (alive), several goats (dead), generators, piles of books and others too many to list….you imagine it being carried, I probably saw it!

Driving in Pakistan was initially a scary event, but after changing the mindset and approach from one of caution to sheer aggression and ‘not giving a shit’ it actually became fun. The challenge was coming back home to Oz and driving in a civilised manner, by stopping, staying on the right side of the road and not driving anywhere, tooting at police, or anyone else who was in the way.

The roads in Pakistan certainly are weird and wonderful places and you could simply drive around all day taking photos and have hundreds of weird things to share.

Tony