Jun 9, 2010

It was wedding season in Lahore, and this time I was ready. I laid out my various suits and saris on the bed to make sure I had appropriate accessories for each outfit, and an outfit for each day of the wedding. Something bright and playful for the mehndi (traditional henna tattooing), classy stilettos and a matching purse for the barat (when the groom’s

Sitting on the plane from Kuwait to Islamabad, I kept wondering how big an issue wearing a headscarf would be – I am a woman entering a Muslim country after all. Friends who had been to Pakistan several years ago said they had been given bad looks for having their ankles showing and that they wore head scarves everywhere. I had a diaphanous, purple and blue

I had heard from trekking friends that the Baltoro Glacier, in the Karakorum Range in northeastern Pakistan, was one of the most beautiful places in the world. I just got back from there and they were right! There are two mountain ranges, the Himalayas and the Karakorum, which contain all 14 of the highest 8000 meter (26,247 ft) peaks in the world. The Himalayas