Kashmir Road Trip

I must admit that I wasn’t totally enthused when the time came to leave Hong Kong. With four months remaining in my stay in “No-fun-istan” I knew that it would be up to me to make the most of it. Thus, a week-long trip to our four Kashmir projects – Muzaffarabad, Hattian, Lamnian and Leepa – not long after my return to Islamabad was most welcomed. It was a useful and enjoyable tour and also provided me with a few items to put on my blog.

Just before leaving Islamabad I received an email from MSF Australia. They had been contacted by the mother of one our Expat doctors, who was worried that she hadn’t heard from her for a week. This is the MSF equivalent of being a kid and having your Mom making sure you’re okay at summer camp. Felicity did call home, much to her embarrassment and our entertainment.

For some strange reason Chartered Accountants garner immense respect in Pakistan. Mark, one of our project coordinators, is a bit of a boy wonder. He has a degree from Cambridge, is a CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst), has worked in the City of London financial sector, has had senior roles in three MSF missions, will begin his masters degree in development at the London School of Economics this September, and is still under the age of thirty. However, in the eyes of some locals its just too bad he didn’t become a CA. Mark joked that the reaction a CA gets is like if you told someone you’re an astronaut. Sometimes it isn’t so bad being dull and boring.

I visited for the first time our most remote project at Leepa. The distance from Lamnian was about 45 kilometres and it took three hours to get there on the mountainside road. The Leepa project is situated about a Grouse Grind below the Line-of-Control, the disputed border with India. Consequently, there is a significant military presence in the Leepa Valley. Not long after I arrived a message came that the military wanted to know who I was. The office administrator told the guard to tell him that my name was Ian – I-A-N. This apparently satisfied them.

Having lunch with the Leepa staff they asked what country I was from. I was then informed that Canada has a cricket team, but they were too polite to say that it isn’t very good. One fellow commented that all the MSF Canadians that they’ve met have been very nice and mentioned the names of Tom, Bryan and Peter. I smiled to myself, but didn’t tell them that the last two were American imposters.

My favourite activity while in Muzaffarabad was the evenings sitting on the roof of the Expat house with a refreshment beverage, chatting, and enjoying the panoramic mountain and river views. What a difference it is getting out of Islamabad and into the field. By the end of my week in Kashmir I was half-toying with the thought of extending my stay in “Now-fun-istan.”