I'm Out!

I made it to Pakistan this afternoon. The airport wasn't as awful as I'd feared. They've started rearranging flights due to the Haaj, and last year's Haaj madness at the airport was... madness. Many of the pilgrims had never been on a plane before, and their only transaction experience was in a bazaar, so clusters of dozens of men thronged the counters, shouting and pushing, ignoring any semblance of a queue. I seem to have missed the high season for pilgrimages to Mecca, however, and I was just so damned happy to be leaving on time that nothing much bothered me. I plugged in my Ipod, listened to Christmas music, tried unsuccessfully to brush the dirt off my slacks, and imagined myself deplaning in Islamabad.

One thing has changed at the airport though. This is the first time I've had my luggage gone through by stewardesses at the door of the plane and been body searched once inside. The Pakistani airline had clearly cottoned on that security at Kabul airport wasn't up to snuff. The x-ray machine was broken, and the women who were supposed to search my bags just smiled and waved me on when I greeted them in Dari.