La
Licorne
STOPOVER
in PESHAWAR
After two days work
in Chitral, all of us took the plane to Peshawar. Our party split up at the
airport; Jens and Rafique to stay in Peshawar and Mehjabeen, Mieke and myself
to fly on to Lahore. Now it happened that the plane that had to carry us suffered
from a flat tire, and a new one had to be flown in from elsewhere. So with a
substantial delay ahead we set out for town. Jens had hardly installed himself
in the Dean's Hotel when he saw us dropping by to snatch him for some site
seeing. Gone were his intentions for a good day's work and off the four of us
went downtown.
This time we took to
the east of Chowk Yadgar square. After passing the Clock Tower we turned into
an alley on our left, which gave unto a small inner square.
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It
is here that one finds the finest mercantile houses of Peshawar of about a
century and a half ago. One of the residents was so friendly to show us the
inside of the major salon. This gesture from a citizen of traditional Peshawar
to some strangers was quite a privilege, and it gave us an unique opportunity
to admire the posh interior of olden times elegantly furnished with carpets,
drapes, antique furniture and fancy lamps. I imagine all this to be
reminiscent of the past international trade tradition of the Peshawari
merchants. With many thanks we took our leave when time to check in for our
departure neared.
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read
on about FIRE IN LAHORE