Bhurban for the Weekend

Last Wednesday was a national holiday on account of the Prophet's birth anniversary so Mr. F and I flew to Lahore. The weather was gorgeous~!!!! Warm sunshine, cool breeze... :) The roses were in full bloom but my naughty nephews would break off at least a dozen every day just to annoy their grandma :-p.

On Thursday, Mr. F decided to drive up to Murree... We stopped at Gujranwala on the way and I sat in the "family section" of Shahbaz Tikka, a restaurant famous for its lamb chops and meat dishes. Mr. F was in the restroom when one of his friends came in twirling a thick curly mustache. He's a textile mill owner and went to the US for college but returned to his ancestral village to take over the family business... he reminded me of Sultan Rahi.

After a hearty lunch followed by ice cream, we continued our journey. It was my first time on the new Murree expressway. The roads were lined with fallen snow but there wasn't much traffic so we managed to reach Bhurban by 8:00 pm. I was disappointed at best... Bhurban used to be the best 5-star hotel in Pakistan and now it is totally run-down. The food was monotonous, the standards of the rooms had definitely declined and everything was ridiculously over-priced!

Next day we went to Kashmir Point and Mall Road. The walk was lovely and I was happy to see snow after 3 years but the Mall itself was filthy and crowded. I had coffee from the stall which tasted more like chocolate syrup. Thankfully, we didn't have internet access so we actually got a chance to spend time together instead of checking our emails and updating facebook :-p.

On Saturday morning, I went to visit one of my juniors at Princeton who now works for the AEDB in Islamabad. We caught up and reminisced about the best four years of our lives :-)

Later that afternoon, we went to have lunch at Mr. F's friend's farm. His ten year old daughter happily informed me that I was much nicer than the other aunty that Mr. F used to bring... :P Apparently, it was a popular hangout spot for Mr. F and his ex-girlfriend. The 6-hour ride back to Lahore was accomplished in silence:

Gaia: fulminating

Mr. F: trying to make lame jokes

I got over myself by the following morning and peace was restored...