Although the government had made extra security measure for the torch,s journy but in Pakistan the torch will have no trouble of any sort said the AUthorities in islamabad.

“This is not the Pakistan that you read about in the papers,” he said, “It is one of the most peaceful places in the world.”

Kabala, 61, a pianist, and music director at the Round Hill Community Church, traveled to the country last August to go trekking.

“I went because I am a bit of a mountain freak,” he said.

Ever since he was a young child, Kabala had an interest in climbing and the outdoors. His father was a climber. But then Kabala became involved in his studies and his love of music. He didn’t have time to climb.

That is until 1994, when he was playing in a musical festival in Austria and decided to climb Grossglockner — one of the highest mountains in the country.

“Then I was hooked,” he said, “I like the excitement and the adventure of it.”

He decided to go to climbing school in Switzerland, where he trekked through the Swiss Alps.

He has since traveled through Nepal, Egypt, Tibet, Turkey and throughout Europe.

“I have really enjoyed it,” he said.

But this trip to Pakistan was unique.

“I had never been in a culture so removed from our culture in the West,” he said, “The people are so content with their lives and that intrigued me.”

Kabala, a resident of the Upper West Side in Manhattan, was struck by the hospitality of the people in the north of the country. Families would invite him to stay overnight in their homes and he would eat meals of rice and chicken with them. They were very open, inviting him to participate in many activities, including a dance around a bonfire.

“It’s a very simple culture É It was fun,” he said.

Before leaving for Pakistan, Kabala researched the region and knew he would not be in any danger.

“I had been in contact with people who were already there É in the areas I was going to and I came to the conclusion the risk was small. Pakistan is not Kansas. There is tremendous instability in the country, but not in the northern region where I was,” he said.

Kabala took hundreds of photos ranging from images of people to vistas overlooking the mountain range.

“I think the trip is sensational,” said Richard Bergstresser, former first selectmen and a trustee at the Round Hill Community Church.

Bergstresser sat through a slideshow and talk given by Kabala at the church and was struck by how fascinating the story was, he said.

“This was so unique. He had so many great pictures É and emphasized the people he met,” he said.

Kabala said that although this trip was strenuous, he plans to go back, possibly this summer.

“It was a tremendous experience,” he said.

The president of Pakistan Ski federation Air marshal Shahid Latif said that there have been trainers from Sweden and Austria invited to train the skiirs.

China’s ambassador in Pakistan Luo Zhau Hui annouced this after his return from Beijing where he attended the BOCOG meeting.

He disclosed that the torch will reach Islamabad on April 16 next year and Pakistan’s star sportsmen would carry it on the roads of the Federal Capital one after other. A large delegation of the BOCOG will visit Islamabad in the third week of this month to finalise the programme of the torch visit.

The Olympics will begin on August 8, 2009 in Beijing at 8pm. The ambassador said since the Chinese believe eight as a lucky number and so, 8th month and 8 pm has been fixed for the commencement of the games. The delegation will also finalise participation of Pakistan in the historic games. The ambassador said that the relay, with the theme ‘Journey of Harmony’, will last 130 days, carrying the torch 137,000 km - the longest distance of any Olympic torch relay. The relay will begin on March 25, 2008, in Greek city Olympia. From there, it will travel across Greece to Panathinaiko Stadium of Athens and then to Beijing, arriving on March 31. From Beijing, the torch will follow a route passing through every continent except Antarctica, Ambassador Luo said. - Internews

Connecting the commercial and industrial cities of Karachi and Lahore to the Lufthansa network will strengthen bilateral economic ties as well as the position of Lufthansa in the growing markets of the Middle East. ‘Pakistan as a growing market with a highly mobile population offers Lufthansa excellent opportunities’, says Joachim Steinbach, Vice President Sales and Services Southeast Europe, Africa & Middle East/ Pakistan, heading one of the strategically most important regions of the Lufthansa network. ‘Our passengers will have access to the extensive route network of Lufthansa connecting through the Lufthansa hub Frankfurt to other European destinations as well as to the US.’
Steinbach further added that passengers would benefit from the new Lufthansa flights since the nonstop connection from Pakistan to Germany would reduce travel time by up to three hours compared to current connecting flights from the Gulf to Europe. ‘This is a great advantage for the business traveler.’ Over the years direct investments into the economy of Pakistan, also from the U.A.E., has considerably increased and in recent times the country has witnessed the physical presence of many multinational companies in Karachi and Lahore.

Lufthansa also announced appointments for Pakistan. Effective August 1st the new Lufthansa country manager for Pakistan and Afghanistan based in Lahore will be Mr. Ian Patrick, who will in the near future also take over the Swiss sales matters for Pakistan. ‘Ian Patrick has a long and varied airline experience, consulting for numerous carriers in the field of marketing, revenue enhancement and route feasibility. We are proud to have him in the team’, says Peter Pollak, General Manager Sales U.A.E. & Director Gulf & Pakistan. ‘At the same time we would like to thank Mr. Kamal Syed, the current Lufthansa country manager Pakistan for his commitment and contribution of bringing Lufthansa back to Pakistan.’

He will manage all operational and launching activities for the inaugural flight in October. At the peak of his career and having seen his dream of a Lufthansa flight coming back to Pakistan Mr. Syed has decided after nearly 33 years with Lufthansa to put his feet up in Canada with his family.

This will greatly mprove confidence of European to travel to Pakistan.

The plants are continuously collected in the Herbarium and studied. It has been observed that some plants showed different characteristic after a period of 50 or more years, for instance a plant, may begin its flowering process in March this year, but half a century later this same species may commence its flowering process in January, this shows that a variation in climatic changes has altered the flowering and other processes of the plant.

University of Karachi Department of Botany

The information is useful to researchers, town planners, environmentalists and students in calculating climatic changes and in planning new towns after considering the detailed studies and the knowledge gleaned from plants of different species from time to time.

Prof. Pirzada Qasim, the Vice Chancellor of KU had laid the foundation stone of this Herbarium, a two-storey building on a covered area of 10,000 square feet, in 2005.

The Department of Botany is also preparing a ‘ Data List’ of more

than 300 to 400 plants found in Chitral to preserve their floral identity in the country.

Approximately, 500 plant species abundantly grow in Pakistan, with a majority of these found in Chitral.

Dr Mohammad Qaisar, former Dean Faculty of Science and incumbent Director of Herbarium said that the objective of preparing the “Red Data List” was to provide guidelines for further conservation and research.

“Pakistan is the only country in the region where scientists and researchers have obtained information about the country’s floral resources and prepared valuable documentation. While Japanese researchers have prepared documentation on Afghan flora and the British on India and Nepal, the Americans provided their services to China and the Europeans worked with Iran in this regard,” he claimed.

He said that four plants, namely Abitinlon Alii, Sepalum, Asparagus and Acacia nilotica SubSP Hemispheric, are abundant in Karachi. He said that Acacia nilotica SubSP Hemispheric plant is found along the coastline of the city, but this plant is fast becoming extinct due to oversight and development work at some specific coastal sites of the city.

The Flora of Pakistan is compiled by Dr Syed Irtifaq Ali and Dr Qaisar, and is available on the Internet with the active collaboration of the Missouri Botanic Garden, USA.

Global e-commerce has come up with “gBoss”, a state of the art travel accounting system that offers a wide range of reports for business analysis and decisions. Today, through International Travel and Tourism Mart, Global e-commerce, in association with Galileo Pakistan launched gBoss throughout Pakistan.

Moreover, to facilitate users during peak Umrah season and to rejoice in the holy trip of their customers, another value-added feature is being offered which is called gBoss Tours for Umrah and Hajj.

It is a ticketing software aimed at providing clients with complete support at every step of Umrah. NDC Head Galileo Pakistan, Shaheen Ramzan Ali congratulated the Ministry of Tourism and 4th Dimension for providing such an opportunity to launch the system and an excellent environment, most suitable for all successful endeavours.

The ITTMP 2007 has seen a regular flow of visitors both local and foreign in these two days and some of the exhibitors have called it a success. The exhibitors said that considering ITTMP is being held for the first time on this level they have received a good response and hope to see ITTMP being made an annual event. ]]> http://blog.travel-culture.com/2007/06/04/56/feed/ http://blog.travel-culture.com/2007/06/02/private-airline-airblue-pakistan-sets-off-flights-to-uk/ http://blog.travel-culture.com/2007/06/02/private-airline-airblue-pakistan-sets-off-flights-to-uk/#comments Sat, 02 Jun 2007 07:48:59 +0000 admin http://blog.travel-culture.com/2007/06/02/private-airline-airblue-pakistan-sets-off-flights-to-uk/ LONDON (UK): Pakistan’s new generation private airline AirBlue launched flights to UK on Friday by making Manchester as the first destination from capital Islamabad to the empires of Europe. It was a historic day – filled with emotions of Pakistanis – living in Britain when they saw the landing of AirBlue flight at the Manchester airport – in a way as smooth as silk.

Significantly, AirBlue is the first private airline of Pakistan in the aviation history to start long haul operations between Pakistan and the United Kingdom.AirBlue’s performance in Pakistan is an evidence of the success story of the airline, said Syed Nasir Ali.

Bumburait is the buffer zone of the Chitral Gol National Park, which is home of the snow leopard, one of the most endangered species.

Local resident Gul Mohammad said the leopard had attacked 19 goats on the pastures of the valley. He said local people could not shoot the animal because of prohibitions under the wildlife laws, although their own lives were at risk.

 

The wild life department aparently is absent most of the time.