Trip to Murree

Sara in her carrier
Daddy and Sara at Kashmir Point Sara and I at Kashmir Point
Daddy and Sara on the bus to Murree
Picture of bus station in Rawalpindi

Shakil had 3 days off in a row this week and out of the blue we decided to head to Murree. Murree is about a 6 1/2 hour drive north of where we live here in Pakistan. Shakil automatically opted for taking the bus. I've never riden on a bus before in my life and I've seen the buses here so I was a bit hesitant. He told me it was going to be a very nice bus - a luxury bus. Wednesday night my FIL dropped Shakil, baby Sara and I at the bus station. Our bus was do to leave at midnight.

Upon getting on the bus I pleasantly surprised. The bus was very nice and very clean. I had no complaints at all. There was t.v. on the bus, great a/c, refreshments and even a small dinner. Baby Sara did absolutely wonderful on the bus. She is quite the little trooper. She seemed to just have a good 'ol time!! Our bus arrived in Rawalpindi at about 4:30 a.m. and we had to catch another bus that would take us to Murree and that bus left at 8 a.m. So we just had to chill out in the bus station waiting area that was not air conditioned. Thank goodness it was bright/early in the a.m. and it wasn't too hot yet.

We get on the 8 a.m. bus to take us to Murree and everything is going just fine. Then about 45 minutes into the drive and after several rounds of winding through the mountains I start to feel sick to my stomach. The rocking of the bus was not making me feel good at all!! More rocking and more rocking and I can't take it anymore and that feeling of "I'm going to puke" came on and indeed I did. I puked!! Yuck. I did feel somewhat better afterwards but we still had quite a ways to go. Murree is located at about 8,000 feet. I made it the rest of the way without puking anymore thank goodness. We arrived into Murree at about 9:30 a.m.

Next became the challenge of finding a hotel room. Oh what a challenge that was!!! We went around (walking) looking at different hotel rooms. The hotel staff is literally chasing after you to get you to check out a room in their hotel. I think we looked at about 8 hotels and I finally decided on one - not the best room in the world but it was alright. The hotels in Murree are pretty old and they are almost allllllll the same.

To make a very long story short, we ended up having a very nice time. We would walk around the town looking at different things and just really enjoyed everything. At night the temp would drop and it would be chilly. Quite a change from the temp here!

We left Murree on Saturday morning and got back home in the late afternoon. We're looking into going to Dubai next - now that sounds like a lot of fun!

Until later...

Bye for now.

Another day coming to an end - it's 12:32 a.m. I just put Sara down to sleep at midnight after a big feed. She should be down for the night. :-) My day started out about 10:30 a.m. Sara had gone to sleep the night before at about 2 a.m. and managed to sleep until 10:30 a.m. Shakil is usually the first one to pop up and get her out of her crib when she starts to make her noises to let us know she is ready to get up. I got her bottle ready and Shakil fed her and I dozed on and off while he fed her. After feeding we proceeded downstairs so I could cook us up some breakfast. I made us each 2 eggs with toast and we usually have some salad along with it - I know weird combination for breakfast but we like it.

The days are getting VERY HOT here and it is slowly becoming impossible to sit without a/c. Even a fan is just not cutting it anymore. My MIL came into the dining room (we're still on non-speaking terms) and she proceeded to sit down, talk to Shakil and not even acknowledge that I was sitting there too. She speaks to Sara and all and there I just sit. Now I do admit that I'm not even acknowledging her either. We're both being very stubborn. I quickly finished my breakfast, scooped up Sara and went back upstairs to our bedroom.

I was only back upstairs for about 10 minutes when Shakil's khala (mom's sister) arrived. The servant came upstairs and told me that they were wanting me to bring Sara downstairs and I did. 2 minutes downstairs and the electricity goes out. That is a regular occurance now and it's referred to as load shedding. The electricity was out maybe 5 minutes and my back was already wet from sweat. Gotta love it but you don't gotta like it!

Shakil left for work early since he had to pick up some clothing for me at the tailor and I took a nap along with Sara. It was nice - a good 3 hours! When I woke up I proceeeded to go downstairs and cook up some Chicken Karahi. It turned out very well but man was I hot cooking it. Sweat was pouring down my back and my shirt was just soaked. We have a gas stove so you can't run the fan without blowing out the flame. I think I was also a bit stressed because Sara was a bit cranky too - crying and crying. She was in one of those "I wanna be held moods" as I call it. She just wasn't happy in her bouncer. I did manage to get it finished but it sure wasn't easy.

After cooking the chicken I went upstairs to give Sara a bottle which she just sucked down. Not long after she finished the bottle, the electricity went out again! There was a BIG dust storm that had started and it was BAD. I've never seen anything like it before. I had to quickly run around and get all the windows closed so the dust didn't blow in. It still managed to get inside though. The electricity was on and off, on and off most of the evening. It even went out while I was finally able to sit down and have dinner at 10 p.m. Needless to say Sara didn't get her bath until 11 p.m. - a bit late.

It's now after 1 a.m. and Sara woke up again so I had her finish up her bottle and I rocked her back to sleep. I laid her back down but I can tell she's not asleep yet. Better get her to sleep!

Until later...

Bye for now.

The day comes to an end...

It's 10 minutes shy of 2 a.m. and my day is coming to an end. I just put Sara down to sleep. For the past week or so - maybe the past 2 weeks Sara has been going down to sleep for the night at about 1:30 a.m. or 2 a.m. I really can't complain because she has started sleeping the entire night without even hearing a peep out of her. She just turned 3 months old on the 2nd and she is sleeping about 8 to 9 hours every night. I'm finally able to get some sleep at night - it's wonderful!!

Sara went to the doctor yesterday for her 3 month appt and she is up to 11 pounds now! I was fearful she wasn't gaining like she should but we were pleased to see that she is doing just fine!

The heat is really in full effect here. The days are absolutely miserable outside. Inside our bedroom its nice and cool. I'm pretty much running the a/c 24 hours a day. Shakil and I did go out to the park the other night and enjoyed a nice long walk. It was hot but since the sun was going down it was a bit more tolerable. I hope to go tomorrow night since Shakil is off work.

War with my mother-in-law has happened once again. She showed up at this house with my father-in-law. They come here at night for the a/c in their bedroom here. The other house doesn't have any a/c's. My mother-in-law comes but doesn't even want to use a/c. She sleeps in a room with no a/c at all. I'm convinced she comes here to give me a hard time. She knows conflict is going to occur but she just does it anyway. I was good though, I held my tongue and didn't start bitching at Shakil when she came. Things have just been so much better with her at the other house and us at this house. Shakil, the baby and I would go visiting over there on Shakil's days off. It worked out nicely. So she came and as I was saying I held my tongue. The next morning she decided to turn the house upside down and she does this everytime she comes here. She implies that the house is soooooo dirty and blah blah blah and it just pisses me off. She rolled out some dirty carpet on the upstairs lounge floor and that just set me off. I pretty much just told her I didn't want it there and I didn't care what she has to say about it. We've had this conversation before but she just keeps wanting it back there. It's filthy with stains and it just holds so much dust. Needless to say, I got it rolled up and out of the way.

Now my father-in-law and mother-in-law are here again tonight and she is refusing to even talk to me. Not even acknowledging me. I'm not surprised in the least. I haven't made an effort to talk to her either and I don't plan to right now. She wants to play this little game then so be it.

Until later...

Bye for now.