bars/pubs in Lahore

There are none. No actually, there are AFAIK 3 places where you can get served, Royal Palm, PC Hotel and the Intenational Club. RP is the priciest, but it's got a nice setting (at the golfer's terrace, and has imported booze (Fosters, Heineken, Carlsberg, Black Label, Chivas). Don't expect anything fancier as the stuff they sell depends on what they can bring in.

The international club is much cheaper and they sell the same stuff as RP plus they have the plus point of getting supplies from the American Embassy commiss. Monthly dues are 50 bucks and joining I think is 500 (refundable) so it's not too bad really.

PC hotel recently converted one of the rroms into a bar on the second floor, but they only sreve local stuff. Pakistan has a brewery (Murree) which stamps "for export" on all their products but I don't know who on earth they would export to. They have primarily the Murree beer, whisky (both blended and single malt) and Vodka.

Only the vodka is drinkable (if desperate). The beer tastes like cat's piss and after 4 I guarantee you will get a massive headache due to the glycerine content. According to Geoff Lawson (ex Pak cricket coach, uneremoniously dumped but that's a story for another day) during the good old days when they first toured Pakistan you could see the 2 inches of glycerine floating on top of the bottle, but Aussies being Aussies. they still drank it.

The whisky tastes like kerosene and you could probably start a fire with it's fumes and the only taste you can ascertain is the vanilla in it.

I don't get formula 1

Is it only me but does anyone else find F1 a fucking bore? High powered fast cars with absolutely no relevance with the real world going round and round and round and round and round. Overtake the fucker already. O what's that, you can't? The tracks too narrow? Too many corners? You can only overtake when the guy in front of you goes to a pit stop? YAWN.

Thai Country Club !

Was in Bangkok over the weekend for some work, but managed to squeeze in around at Thai Country Club. Heaven. Course was immaculate, fairways cut to 12 mm, service was what you would expect from a place run by Peninsula Hotel. Overall a 5 star golf experience. Played reasonably but 3 putted 7 greens. Read them sooo badly. Playing in Lahore really stuffs up your game as the greens are poor and you can spray your ball all over the ball park and still have a chance to recover.

Anyway the 3 of us had 5 jugs of Asahi draught after the game. Would have had more if not for having to jump on a plane back to Lahore. How sad is that. (where are the Thai protestors thronging the airport when you want them?) Panippa our waitress was most impressed as she said the farang don't normally consume so much. Would definitely recommend playing there to any keen golfer.

Dinner at 11.50 pm

Matthew is in town so we have been eating out for the past 3 nights. Last night we were having drinks in Royal Palm with a couple of Pakistani friends, when we got hungry and they asked "do you want to eat meat ie go for the food or have dinner in a place for the ambience?' Me and Matthew being foodies of course said "food".

Off we went to this place called Sarhad Restaurant (after 4 more rounds). Got there at almost 11 p.m. The place reasonably crowded, no women (this is Pakistan, man, and this is a place where only locals eat), and the meat section was in the restaurant (the guy was chopping up the meat there) When in Lahore, meat means goat.

This place sells Peshawar type meat. Not many spices, just fresh. And only 2 types of meat, no menu. It was dry meat and wet meat. Dry meat being BBQ style and wet meat being meat that was cooked in it's own fat. Helooo cholesterol. Anyway it's a standard 50 mins wait for them to cook the meat, and it was well worth the wait. Fresh, tender, juicy. 5 of us polished off 5 kg of meat. I am a pig.

Another Lahore restaurant review - Hsin Kuang

Had dinner at Hsin Kuang (Chinese) in Gulberg. Man the place was packed. At 8 30. On a weeknight. Which was amazing. Cos Lahoris eat like at 10 pm. I have been to restaurants where guests come in at 11. I shit you not. Anyways, it apparently is the best desified chinese reataurant in town, and truth be told it was not too bad compared to a lot of other drivel that passes off as Chinese food in Lahore. So if you are in the mood for desified chinese give it a try. Service is quick and efficient, and the food comes out pretty quickly (another rarity). O yes, bottle friendly.

Since we are on food, also had dinner earlier at Zafir Tikka(Pakistani bbq place). Good. Try the Achari tikka. The other bbq stuff is also pretty good. Cheap. But the place has ZERO ambience. Hole in the wall. And asshole waiter refused to switch on the air cond, saying it was not working. Other than that food was good. What was funny was when my guys went out to look at them cooking the bbq, and everyone else was looking at them. I guess yellow asses are a rarity in Lahore.

DHA Lahore cinema - a review

Yes, there is a cinema in Lahore. ONE. And it's great. It's got just the one screen, capacity (i think) 600, clean, international standard seats, good leg room. They show mainly bollywood fare, which is officially banned by PEMRA, the authority that oversees these things, but local cinema operators are given "relaxation" except for movies which they are specifically told not to screen. Hollywood blockbusters (real official ones, not the pirated stuff) are also shown, but they are on limited screning times. So far I have watched Iron Man, Dark Knight,Quantum of Solace (which sucked) and just now, Watchmen.

The cinema actually starts ON TIME, something very rare in Pakistan. Locals, especially new to this cinema are caught out sometimes. I have actually seen people come in one hour late! And the ushers are clean, efficient, and are STRICT with ASSHOLES who smoke on the premises. Good on you guys, good job ! But with a 300 rupee ticket price, a lot of the riff raff, psychos, and general undesirables are kept away.

The only thing that pisses me off is the chatter during the movie, and when lining up to buy tickets. There will invariaby be some cunt of a queue jumper, which this rude expat will tell off, and the "close proximity" locals feel they must have with you when in a queue ie they stand like 6 inches behind you. Dude, we are not related, give me my space, man.

Sri Lankan test cricketeers attacked

It's a sad day for Lahore, especially when even visiting sportsmen are attacked. So the Aussies are proven right, it's unsafe, and Imran Khan's asssertions that terrorists will not attack cricketeers was way off the mark. Imran if by now you do not understand that these people have no sense or logic, then you are not very intelligent (then again I have said before you don't expect sportsmen to be geniuses). Also, it's only the celebrity obsessed western media that gives gives Imran so much coverage.

I am really saddened by the state of affairs in Lahore, and particularly peeved at the media. The whole world's economy is in trouble and Pakistan's economy is particularly not in good health, but now it's daily political demos in Lahore, and the newspapers are filled with nothing but politicians bad mouthing each other. What about the ECONOMY? Get your fucking priorities right !