Pakistan

Back in college at the University of Miami, one of my favorite places to go was Club Space, a legendary house music club where people dance until sunrise beneath a giant glass dome. One night there, I met a fellow student from Pakistan named Hash. Years later, when I finally planned my trip to Pakistan, I reached out to him, and he immediately offered to show me around his country.

Hash met me in Lahore, where we explored the city’s historic sites and attended the famous Wagah Border ceremony, where India and Pakistan’s border guards put on an elaborate daily display of military pageantry. We finished the day there by visiting a barber who specializes in Lahore’s famous “fire haircut,” where my hair was literally set on fire before being cut. It was, without question, the craziest haircut I’ve ever had. Afterwards, Hash welcomed me into his hometown of Faisalabad, where his family received me with remarkable hospitality. Spending time in their home gave me a glimpse into everyday life beyond Pakistan’s major tourist destinations.

From there, I continued to Islamabad, whose calm, organized streets felt worlds apart from the energy of Lahore, before making my way to Abbottabad, a place that had fascinated me ever since watching Zero Dark Thirty. It was there that Osama bin Laden had been found and killed during the 2011 U.S. raid. After tracking down the location on Google Maps, I made my way to the site where the compound once stood. Speaking with locals while standing there made one of the most famous events of recent history feel surprisingly real.

My final stop was Peshawar, one of the oldest cities in South Asia. Wandering through its ancient bazaars dressed in traditional Pakistani clothing felt like stepping back in time. After a string of flight cancellations forced me to abandon my original plan of flying to Afghanistan, I found a driver before dawn who was willing to take me overland through the legendary Khyber Pass, part of the ancient Silk Road and the same route once traveled by Alexander the Great and his army. It was a fitting end to a country that had exceeded every expectation, and the beginning of another unforgettable adventure just across the border in Afghanistan.