Tourists/Foreigners in Pakistan

[Pakia]

Ethan Casey, author of Alive & Well in Pakistan

[taseer121]

These guys might be working for the CIA other wise who would tour Pakistan these days?

[James-Bond]

He wrote a book, Alive and Well in Pakistan. His journey was mostly documented, so I'm guessing he is just some random lafunga, wanting to tour Pakistan.

[Pakia]

Then there is another crazy American singer Todd Shea who has refused to leave Pakistan since he left USA for first time to help flood affected people in Pakistan.






Can you spot him ? with Atif Aslam

[Aadil.Aijaz]

I saw quite a few tourists/foreigners at Hyperstar a couple of days back. Not to mention that a retarded gori was walking around in her nighty. Guess she mistook Hyperstar for Walmart.

[truckin]

I saw quite a few tourists/foreigners at Hyperstar a couple of days back.

No offence, but is the purpose of this thread to mark foreigners(westerners, since there are many Afghans, Uzbeks, etc. in Pakistan, who technically are also foreigners) who are there in Pakistan? Just curious, is that a thing to be proud of, or to celebrate, because I haven't seen this kind of thread in any other SSC section, even in African ones. Because there is a different thread for Tourism, so this thread is basically to single out goras and goris on the streets?

Thanks in advance.

[Pakia]

No the purpose of this thread is not to single out gora & goris on the streets of Pakistan, but to dispel the wide spread impression that foreigners & tourists are in grave danger if they lay their foot on Pakistan soil.

Pakistan tourism & its reputation have taken a huge hit due to grave law & order situation in the country in last decade or so.

But inspite of that, there are brave or crazy souls who still venture out in the country and prove the nay sayers wrong. There are plenty of non-whites n the thread, who are visiting the country, not those who are residing here, may they be Afghans, Bangladeshi, Indian, Uzbeks or other.

It may seem there are only goras in this thread but if you browse the old pages, you'll see that there are plenty of non-goras too. The "weird" thread is because Pakistan is going through a unique identity crisis, unlike any other country right now.Thus the thread. Comprende?


You being from neighbouring country India, should understand that better than others.

Now back to subject, before KB closes this thread too

Here are few other crazy goras for ya.
image hosted on flickr

[siamu maharaj]

Originally Posted by truckin

No offence, but is the purpose of this thread to mark foreigners(westerners, since there are many Afghans, Uzbeks, etc. in Pakistan, who technically are also foreigners) who are there in Pakistan? Just curious, is that a thing to be proud of, or to celebrate, because I haven't seen this kind of thread in any other SSC section, even in African ones. Because there is a different thread for Tourism, so this thread is basically to single out goras and goris on the streets?

Thanks in advance.

To add to what Pakia said you usually find goras here only because they tend to put their pics up. On the street though you'd find Chinese and South East Asians most which is mostly mentioned but without pics.

[shakeelahmadch]

Originally Posted by Aadil.Aijaz

I saw quite a few tourists/foreigners at Hyperstar a couple of days back. Not to mention that a retarded gori was walking around in her nighty. Guess she mistook Hyperstar for Walmart.

So you finally saw Hyper Star ... usually about 50/60% foreigners in HS are Chinese... and you can find them there daily .. seems like they only trust HS.

[brightside.]

The # of foreigners in Pak has been steadily rising, not the other way round. I am extremely suspicious of the westerners here, kick them all out I say unless they're really doing something to benefit our society. Most of these goras are defence contractors, or US govt. employees. Thousands of visas are being issued, this has to stop.

I have no problem with tourists, but they shouldn't be given work visas so easily. I mean, even in that party in Karachi where that shootout took place recently, it turned out 8 girls there were foreigners who work here in Khi. WTF are they doing here? Is there a shortage of qualified people in Pakistan? Their job isn't something high-tech, so the answer is no.

[mambo]

[QUOTE=Mercenary;18306654]Angelina Jolie in Pakistan




[/QUOT

lara croft

[siamu maharaj]

Originally Posted by brightside.

The # of foreigners in Pak has been steadily rising, not the other way round. I am extremely suspicious of the westerners here, kick them all out I say unless they're really doing something to benefit our society. Most of these goras are defence contractors, or US govt. employees. Thousands of visas are being issued, this has to stop.

I have no problem with tourists, but they shouldn't be given work visas so easily. I mean, even in that party in Karachi where that shootout took place recently, it turned out 8 girls there were foreigners who work here in Khi. WTF are they doing here? Is there a shortage of qualified people in Pakistan? Their job isn't something high-tech, so the answer is no.

Really? Which counrty and what kind of jobs?

[Aadil.Aijaz]

Originally Posted by shakeelahmadch

So you finally saw Hyper Star ... usually about 50/60% foreigners in HS are Chinese... and you can find them there daily .. seems like they only trust HS.

Yeah, there were some Chinese workers too. I started staring at one and he started staring back. This went on for a while until I realized some guy behind me was asking me to get a bit aside.

[A-TOWN BOY]

Originally Posted by Aadil.Aijaz

Yeah, there were some Chinese workers too. I started staring at one and he started staring back. This went on for a while

oh boy that must've been really awkward..
if i was staring at an asian i'd be thinkin "not sure if staring or asleep"

[shakeelahmadch]

Originally Posted by Aadil.Aijaz

Yeah, there were some Chinese workers too. I started staring at one and he started staring back. This went on for a while until I realized some guy behind me was asking me to get a bit aside.

True, I have seen some chinese working for Hyper Star as well .. I thought they might just be with some chinese engineer's family or no china man would come all the way to work in Hyper Star .. lol

[A-TOWN BOY]

Originally Posted by shakeelahmadch

True, I have seen some chinese working for Hyper Star as well .. I thought they might just be with some chinese engineer's family or no china man would come all the way to work in Hyper Star .. lol

i think they would.. east asians in general tend to be anywhere n everywhere. except japanese and maybe koreans. the ones that i'd expect to do such jobs in a far away country the most r filipinos.

[Linguine]

Interesting thread....nice pics, just passing by, thanks.

[Pakia]

Pakistan's Portuguese wonder: Magic fingers



Ralph D’Aranjo is one such person. Ralph is not only an experienced guitarist, he is also a member of Pakistan’s tiny Portuguese community *— a community that has made an enormous contribution to the establishment and running of missionary schools all over the country.



In Pakistan’s early days, Portuguese artists were quite active on the music scene too, but as time went on, many of these maestros either passed away or emigrated.

Ralph, however, has been playing classical guitar for over 50 years, and has no intention of going anywhere. He is also in the unique position of being the only musician who has played (under one contract) in a five-star hotel in Pakistan for over thirty years.

Ralph began his musical journey at the tender age of 12, when his father presented him with a brand new guitar on his birthday. Two years later, he found himself heading for Europe. He tried to settle down in Germany after touring countries like Iran, Turkey and Greece by road. When he didn’t end up making a home for himself in Germany, he returned to Pakistan and started a musical career in a nightclub band.

This was back when Pakistan still rocked, and nightclubs were a big part of the social scene –from 1970 to 1979, Ralph played in various pop bands as a lead guitarist in almost every hotel, nightclub and discotheque in Karachi. Midway House, Beach Luxury, Horse Shoe Disco, 2001 Plaza, Three Aces Nightclub, Peacock, Lido, Taj and Nasreen Room … the list goes on, and Ralph’s played at them all.

But when the cabaret era came to an end, it was time to move on. He stopped playing pop music in 1979, and joined the Hotel Intercontinental (now known as the Pearl Continental Hotel). He played in the Nasreen Room for a few years and with the dawn of the 80s, he teamed up with Alex Rodrigues, who was a saxophonist, and Louis D’Souza, who was a pianist, and formed a jazz trio band.

A lot has changed in the past three decades, and just as in Bryan Adams’ song “Summer of ‘69”, the band members started drifting apart. The first person to leave was Louis D’Souza, who emigrated to the US in 1990. He was replaced by David Jospeh, who also emigrated in 1995, but to Canada. Christopher Carvalho was the next musician to join their band. He played with the band till late 1999, when he passed away. Ferdinand Goveas was the next replacement and continues to play with the band at present. Alex Rodrigues, the band’s original saxophonist, breathed his last breath on November 21, 2001. He was replaced by Dominic Gonsalves, who immigrated to Australia in 2007.

To date, Ralph continues to play with a jazz outfit at the PC Hotel. It is here that the hotel’s patrons drop by every evening to enjoy a variety of music from the likes of George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, Rodgers and Hammerstein, to tunes ranging from The Blue Danube to the relatively recent repertoire of Miles Davis, Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Dave Brubeck and Clark Terry.

“We are not only known for our jazz music, but also for blues, ballad standards, Caribbean music, Latin music, the cha cha cha, the tango, waltz, bolero, rumba, and bossa nova,” says Raplh proudly. “Through these past thirty years, we have been also performing for our foreign guests at the hotel, playing music that is indigenous to their countries: be it French, Italian, German, Spanish, Malaysian, Indonesian, Sri Lankan, Chinese, Japanese … you name it and we play it!”

Ralph also had to recently deal with a personal tragedy, as his wife passed away on July 7, 2010. Cheryl D’Aranjo had suffered from a rare disorder called the Guillain Barre Syndrome, in which the body’s own immune system attacks the peripheral nervous system. Naturally, Ralph and his two daughters Pamela and Linda were shattered, and he still talks of what a beautiful person she was.

Despite all these setbacks, and the many changes in his band’s ensemble, Ralph D’Aranjo says he is still here to stay! Ralph will be applying for a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records soon, claiming to be the only guitarist who has played under one contract in the same establishment for over thirty years.

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, June 12th, 2011.

http://tribune.com.pk/story/185598/p...magic-fingers/

[Pakia]

A visiting English teacher at Peshawar madrassa

[Pakia]