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Guests

Happy Hour in Karachi

by Chris Guillebeau, October 1, 2010 12:14 PM
Thanks for all the nice notes and death threats on yesterday's post. For my final post on the great Powells.com, I thought we'd do something different.

I visited Pakistan last fall and managed to get the first visa-on-arrival for a U.S. citizen in 28 years — or so I was told by the immigration supervisor who finally gave in to my pleas after two hours of waiting. I hung out around town for a couple of days before heading back to Hong Kong and beyond.

Here are a few more memories from the trip.

÷ ÷ ÷

Happy Hour in Karachi

Arriving from Hong Kong

the immigration notice reads:

"Welcome to Pakistan

Drug users will be punished by death."

Three a.m. arrival

and all of South Asia is awake.

In the markets the next day

"My friend! My brother!"

In Karachi, I have hundreds of friends

and dozens of brothers.

I'm offered the last price, the best price,

the Thursday price —

no matter the day.

I jump in a taxi and return

to the sanctuary of the privileged traveler.

It's Happy Hour at the Sheraton

Fruit juice for everyone, on the house!

Contractors from America, Britain,

Holland, France

discuss home, country, and exchange rates

while eating peanuts.

At the front desk

one can sign a statement

promising to be non-Muslim,

and thus free to imbibe —

but this seems like a lot of trouble.

Better to ride the wave of fruit juice

A glass of pineapple, please.

And may I have some peanuts?

Nellie Furtado plays in the background:

"I'm like a bird, I'll only fly away.

I don't know where my soul is.

I don't know where my home is."

At the gym

separate hours for male and female guests:

men in the evenings,

women during the day.

The parking lot has been converted

into a jogging track

of five laps per kilometer

I run fifty laps.

Shower and head back to the bar

where Happy Hour has ended

pineapple juice back to regular price:

$3 a glass and no more free nuts.

Travel rule of thumb:

wherever you are in the world

at some point in the evening

you'll hear the United Nations anthem"

"Hotel California."

÷ ÷ ÷

Thanks again to Powell's for having me as their guest this week! I'll be live in the Burnside store on Thursday, December 16th.




Books mentioned in this post

Art of Non Conformity Set Your Own Rules Live the Life You Want & Change the World

Chris Guillebeau
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One Response to "Happy Hour in Karachi"

dana saechao October 1, 2010 at 01:30 PM
that poem is emotional to me in so many ways... keep on writing poems! XD! i mean what kind of story is this if it has a poem in it?

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