October 26th, 2007 
Raymond Ho I guess everyone has been busy hitting the gym in preparation for the upcoming River Regatta. To lighten the mood, I have decided to put up a posting of a trip I made to Lahore (Pakistan) in early Apr this year.
Although we frequently read/hear of media reports about political and religious dissent in the country (especially recently), Lahore was surprisingly peaceful. Still, my mum froze for a second when I told her I’m going there. Lahore is about 6 hrs away from Singapore, and I was there to attend a conference for APAC mobile operators, hosted by Warid Telecom (SingTel just bought a stake in this company).
Aside from the meetings and presentations, the conference delegates took time off to visit several attractions in Lahore. Lahore Fort, a structure constructed between 1566 and 1673 A.D., boasts a grandeur of Moghal Architecture. I took a close look at the walls, and found it nicely well-preserved!
But the highlight of the trip, was a visit to the Wagah Border. Wagah Border, about 25 km away from Lahore, is the check-post separating the hostile neighbours of Pakistan and India. 2 heavy gates (1 at Pakistan’s side, 1 at India’s side) define this sensitive border, and every evening at 6pm, 1,000 Pakistanis and 2,000 Indians will gather here to watch the flag-lowering ceremony. This ceremony, which is replicated on both camps, demonstrates the standard of pomp and precision expected from 2 nations of military might. It is difficult for me to explain the process of flag-lowering, with just a few happy pictures of me. You can watch it from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18QFTStzimM. Now, why doesn’t Singapore and Malaysia have this at the causeway too?
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Nice post! :) I liked the second picture particularly; The one with the soldier towering over a beaming Raymond. Hmm…Raymond’s hand seems to be somewhere it shouldn’t be…lol
It’s iterally an opposite situation. Here the guard looks tense and serious but Ray is happily trying to make him feel relaxed. The is what i call “Opposites attract”
Ray, thanks for sharing your personal experience with us at Lahore. The flag-lowering ceremony is pretty tense.
Hahaha… Yeah, the 2nd photo looks as though I’m touching the guard’s butt :)
But he was pretty unhappy with me, because I shouted to the Indian guards across that “I’m from Pakistan”. He scowled at me, that I cannot talk to those guards across the border.
Pakistan and India are hostile neighbours historically, and are at peace with each other over the recent years. But this flag-lowering ceremony is a symbolic gesture between both sides, that there is still heavy emphasis on their military standards (i.e. to remind both sides not to play-play with each other)…