Hi guys I’m Ava over the last few weeks
I’ve been traveling all around Pakistan
but I’ve been spending most of my time
in Islamabad now before I came to
Pakistan I kind of imagined Islamabad to
be kind of like sandy-colored with a lot
of sand with a lot of animals walking
down the streets and not much going on
otherwise basically I kind of believed
the same image that most people out in
the West believe Islamabad to be but of
course having spent time here I realized
just how wrong I was
so today in this vlog I want to show you
my style but this offer that I know and
that I have come to really really really
like so yeah let me take you on a tour
of my Islamabad chalo let’s go
before we actually begin I want to take
you out on a coffee with me because it’s
morning and I am NOT had my fix of
caffeine yet which is very bad I cannot
function without it so I’ll take you to
one of my favorite coffee spots in town
this is key he’s not an actual husky and
a little coffee run I just want to
preface this by saying that Islamabad is
really surprising I think the thing that
surprises people the most when they
first arrive in Islamabad it’s just how
green it is everywhere I mean there’s
trees there’s hedges s plants it’s it’s
extremely lush in that way and it’s
actually one of my favorite things about
the city that feels like you’re living
in a village or in the countryside and
the city itself alright we’re just about
to arrive ourselves a parking spot
this part of town is called cruiser
market and is this tiny cute little
oasis in the middle of f6 or m7 in a
flower and most of the people that I
know here in the city pretty much
through a favorite hangout spot and also
a mine that we’re here to get coffee and
not wax lyrical about kusa market so
let’s go into that
yep I’m a high functioning individual
but I’m a little actually I need to
go to the shop very quickly sir so let
me just take you guys along and we’ll be
on our way
versus of course most places in Pakistan
are not like this but in this vlog I
want to show you just how Western it can
get and that’s why I’m taking you to the
most Western shop in town there’s a lot
of coffee here ladies and gents actually
probably more than in my local Tesco is
back home in London in fact I shamefully
admit that I don’t recognize most of
these American products anyway armed
with my Fairtrade coffee I had to keep
going because this next place I’m just
about to show you is really cool and
hides a key to the history of Islamabad
- this is sad poor village one of the
most historic and probably Instagram
abilities in all of this Lama bar and
there’s a couple of places in here that
I really want to show you first of all
the little Museum here is where you can
come to learn about the history of
Islamabad just in case you can’t make it
though let me give you a rundown super
quick lesson in the history of the
starboard basically this city doesn’t
have
hi as rich and centuries-old as that of
Lahore Multan Slava didn’t actually
exist about a century ago following the
partition between India and Pakistan
Pakistan was looking to have a new
capital that was a bit more central than
Karachi the previous one so they picked
a piece of land in the middle of the
country they hired Greek architects and
urban planners and they decided to build
a city the new capital it’s called the
stahma but coming from Islam which is of
course the dominant faith here and Abad
which kind of means City I think in
Persian so in the 60s this beautiful
capital was created pretty much from
scratch and here we are now for a
culture vulture like me the newness of
Islamabad means that I don’t really get
my history fix here but as with
everything he can find it if you know it
look but that’s not all another thing I love
about sad poor village is that it’s very
diverse at least historically so this
here is the Sikh temple and that over
there is a Hindu temple one of the very
few remaining in Pakistan if you’re in
is new I’d then you probably think that
sad poor is a bit touristy that’ll be
cute but touristy as a tourist I’m
pretty sure that you will absolutely
love it so yeah that’s sad poor kind of
for me the last remaining historical
part of the city as for the rest well
this is where the really western part of
the vlog begins and I want to show you
all of this because this is the side of
Islamabad that most people in the West
don’t realize exists let me show you
what I’m about to share with you now is
actually one of my biggest sources of
anxiety before coming here longer-term
basically you know other european go and
I like my European food and from the
kind of image of Pakistan and asada that
was sold to me by Western media I assume
that you know I would be sitting here
bathing in nihari and chicken karahi and
samosas well it’s actually turned out to
be one of my biggest sources of surprise
and delight in the end and here’s what
example it turns out that Islamabad has
a European
that’s run by a Polish babe honestly
most of these can compete with what you
get in Europe I swear no exaggeration
there’s even a Belgian restaurant and in
English teahouse serving scones andHardee’s serving burgers and the
dominoes serving well anyway you get the
gist all of the big food brands from the
West and for the Wizards out there
there’s even a Harry Potter cafe
so it turns out that it’s not about has
all these Western and American brands
that you probably don’t even see in most
European capitals so that really caught
me by surprise you know I just had
completely not see it coming and
actually most of my Pakistani friends
complained that in Islamabad there isn’t
enough choice of authentic Pakistani
sort of desi food but I find a pretty
good cup of chai if you know where to
look or if you can handle it Kashmiri
chai and there as my which is a
ridiculously sweet please don’t judge me
for making really irresponsible food
choices and stuffing myself with sweets
it’s just how I am so you know some of
that is a pretty modern new cities of
course it doesn’t have the same cute
linaria traditions that Karachi Orlando
might have because if you want the set
of desi touch in a sour bud you can also
find it and I get it all the time with
things like food shopping for example
when I go to little tiny stores to get
my fruit just like this I used to think
it was super annoying to have to drive
halfway across town just to get some
fruit from a shop where before I would
just go downstairs to my local
supermarket and get it from there in
London but actually I realized then that
nothing compares to the personal
attention that you get while shopping
here you know the great thing about
shopping for free
Pakistan is that it is mostly hyper
seasonal so anything that you get like
pomegranate which are currently in
season is gonna be fresh as an
absolutely lovely and actually something
that I don’t miss about back home and
yeah or you know all that processed food
have you ever seen pomegranate this red
anyway as soon as I stop obsessing over
this pomegranate let me show you
something else
it’s a hands-down the best thing about
Islamabad is the weather and the nature
it’s easily the greenest capital city I
have ever been to in my life and that
means that every morning when I wake up
and I go out onto my balcony I get to
see this those hills they are
technically called the mug galas but
actually they are the foothills of the
Himalayas which means that if you live
in a sauna bar then technically you get
to see the Himalayas every day I guess
that’s a fact right but you can get even
closer to the Margalla Hills actually
you know you could hike up on one of the
many trails here in a Sabha or like you
can take the easy option and drive all
the way up there having seen so much of
Pakistan I of course realized that many
cities here have a problem with
pollution and they have very limited
green spaces but Islamabad is not like
that Islamabad enjoys all of this
pristine nature that really surrounds it
from all sides and this is probably the
most beautiful drive in the city I mean
just look at these vistas isn’t it pure
magic so that’s it guys that’s my
version of Islamabad thank you so much
for watching this vlog and if you’ve
enjoyed it
it would mean the world to me if you
subscribe to my youtube channel or any
of my other social media channels
did in the description box but thank you
again and I’ll see you next time
the best thing about Islamabad it’s that
it’s it’s that it yeah wasn’t it
particularly but Islamabad is. - Credit to : Eva zu Beck