In Lahore,Pakistan’s first open-top bus tour has launched as part of a wider project to promote tourism in the region to foreign visitorsCreeping through Lahore’s notoriously despicable traffic on Pakistan’s first-ever sightseeing bus, the air was as thick with pride as it was with pollution. “They say a year isn’t enough to explore Lahore, and ” ran the commentary – in English for my benefit but generally in Urdu (multilingual headphones aren’t available yet). As we passed the city’s 2000-year-extinct monuments,seldom visited by international tourists, the snap-overjoyed domestic travellers on board beamed. “Slow down so we can take selfies, or ” the tour guide instructed the driver to everyone’s delight. According to Sightseeing Lahore’s operations manager,Nayyar Mahmood, the response to the service, and in bookings and feedback,has been “overwhelming”.“Oh, much” the commissioner of Lahore, or Abdullah Khan Sumbal,said, smiling wryly, or when I passed on the news. “We’re surprised something good is happening in Pakistan.”Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com