Beach Trip to Karachi 2006

So I said I would pick up where I left off three years ago, which was leaving Chennai to go to Karachi for the first time.  I spent six weeks in Karachi, and had a blast.  Besides getting married (a post or more to come in the future), I went shopping at a bunch of great malls and bazaars.  I also went out to eat at all the places where I can't eat the food here, like KFC, Pizza Hut, had hamburgers.  KFC in Pakistan is sooo much better than it is here.  Two words--zinger burgers.  Anyway, one day we decided to go to the beach, all the way on the other side of Karachi, so I decided to document some of the interesting people and things that you may see on the streets of Karachi and thought I would share some of the pictures with you.

                         I have seen up to 7 members of a family on one 70cc motorbike, babies and all.  

This is a hijra (someone correct me on the spelling if I got it wrong, my Urdu transliteration skills are horrible).  They can be transvestites or transexuals, drag queens, in the rare instance actual eunuchs (although I don't know how common that is anymore).  They are usually working as beggars.  There were many of them on the street in 2006, and some even came door to door in M's neighborhood.  They will offer blessings for you if you give them money, or some people believe they can send the evil eye on you if you anger them or don't give them money.  Strangely, I did not see any when I was there this year, don't know why.  They will show up at weddings and offer to bless the couple.  In all, I think it is a very interesting cultural aspect for such a conservative country, and I think for the most part their lives must be very difficult, like all beggars on Karachi streets. 

This is a gadha guardi (donkey cart).  These cute little donkeys sometimes have to pull very heavy loads.  In the rainy season (like when I was there in 2006), their owners put plastic bags over their ears so that they don't get wet.  

Little donkey with a big load.  I also saw horse carts and camel carts, but those are less common.

 Rickshaw full of laundry, for some reason M thought this was really funny. 

Ok, next time I will actually do a post from when we got to the beach.  Maybe I should rename this Karachi Street Scenes 2006.   When we went this year, we took an actual video of the street as we were driving along, but you'll have to wait for that, as I am working my way forward (may take awhile, ha!)