Safety Tips in Karachi

There's a lot of political instability with people rioting in the streets. Travellers should stay clear of these crowds because there is a history of suicide bombings that have resulted in a lot of deaths and injuries. If some type of turmoil erupts during your stay it is best to stay inside for a few days.

But the news media really likes to make it seem like a war zone. It's not that bad. The general population is also fed up with the militants and the crazy stuff they start.

Being an American, I'm not used to seeing police with such heavy weapons! A lot of the poice in Karachi had really big shotguns and that was kind of scary. One night in particular my friend and I were leaving KFC and a police officer followed us to our car. He had a big shotgun out and he was trying to get me to roll down the window. My friend just drove off and nothing ever came of that... but in the future I will continue to avoid the police because I don't know what they're up to with all those guns.

Salut mes amis,

I'd not recommend to anybody to stay at the hotels, located close to railway station Lahore,pretty dodgy, there're many scams with foreign tourists as well as locals, so please beware of them.

Moreover, just open a Lonelyplanet travel guide, and you can see the scams & warnings in the hotels, at the railway station , Lahore.

For trains please look at their website

www.pakrail.com

I welcome the queries from all the travelers,

Bien venu et Bon voyage,

Imran Schah

The photos of my adevntures in Pakistan
http://www.flickr.com/photos/imranthetrekker/

while travelling in car, or walking on the roads -
avoid frequent using of ur mobile phone , or better use handsfree option if travelling in the car.

mobile snatching is on the rise in karachi , and the easy targets are the ones who are seen using the mobile phone at public / rush places - and can be easily snatched.

better safe than sorry .

do not over use your mobiel phone at public places

2 more images

I understand that every metropolitan city in the world is surrounded by inescapable pollution and garbage, but Karachi seems to be in a league of its own. I'm not fussy and I live in a big city as well, so this is just some information for you to know what's about to "hit you":

As one of the most rapidly growing cities in the world, Karachi faces problems that are central to many developing metropolises including overpopulation, overcrowding, traffic, pollution, poverty, terrorism and crime.
Unless you are travelling around the "posh" and expensive residential areas of town, garbage can be seen piling up everywhere on the sides of the roads: water canisters, plastic bags, discarded cardboard boxes, metal frames and of course organic matter lies in heaps on the roadside. Naturally, this doesn't really help with the problem of the large stray dog & cat population... but I guess the city has other priorities on its agenda, and rennovations & new business buildings are sprouting all around town.

The thing that I found rather disturbing about Karachi was the heavy air pollution. Certainly this is better and worse at different times of the year, but when we visited in December the city was constantly engulfed in a grey haze. The tuk-tuk's, rickshaws, buses and old cars leave huge clouds of smoke drifting through the streets. (you can actually see the grey haze in one of my photos) We found ourselves wheezing & coughing whilst wandering around Zeinab Market (particularly bad air) and my lungs felt like I'd been sucking on the exhaust pipe of a Dodge Ram for 3 days.

To cut a long story short: I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to Karachi, so don't let this put you off. However, if you're asthmatic you might want to stock-up on some extra inhalers.

The beaches no doubt are beautiful place to visit but care should be taken. Don't be excited becuase every year number of peoples were eaten by the sea. Just stay on sides of the beaches where you can enjoy flowing water under your feet but don't go slowly slowly forward to the danger or deeper area. We don't know when the air flow or the sea behaviour change and a heavy flow of wave catch us and take us from sea view to death view.

If you are going to visit karaci with your wife only, then must take her identity card to avoid any problem while staying and reservation rooms at hotels.It does not create problem at every hotel but it is in many hotels a compulsory requirement.

when driving at night in the more affluent areas as you pull up at traffic signals you will be plagued by a miriad of beggars and youths selling stuff,keep windows closed and smile politely the lights will change then off you go,majority of these are run by proffessional criminals who send these unfortunate ones out and take the money off them ,many are prised because of a deformity or in this case his stature,widespread throughout Pakistan