Place
Saidpur
A village inside Islamabad — goats on car roofs, street cricket in every gap, and a restaurant strip up the hill, ten minutes and two dollars from the planned capital.
Saidpur
A village that has been absorbed into Islamabad — a ten-minute taxi from the city for about $2 — and the closest thing to rural life Harry sees without leaving the capital. The description places it off the Hill Road east of Daman-e-Koh, and notes it is known for its pottery, though that is not what the day turns out to be about.
After two weeks of the planned capital and its lettered sectors, the contrast is the point: narrow streets, goats everywhere, overhead wires, and a cricket match in every available gap. Harry is straightforward about the other half of it too — there is considerably more rubbish than he had expected.
What Harry did
Walked up through the village from the bottom, which he notes afterwards is backwards — the visitor part is at the top and most people would start there.
- A street shooting gallery, air rifles at balloons and cigarettes, which he loses to Mac.
- Street cricket, twice. He bats reasonably and bowls badly, and blames the ball, which is much softer than he is used to. One group is batting with a block of wood because they have no bat, and hitting it out of the ground anyway.
- Breakfast up the hill: a cheese omelette and black tea for him, a full traditional platter for Mac — paratha, a chickpea curry, garlic naan and sauces — which turns out to be a portion for two. 1,800 rupees for both, about $10.
- Watched a goat climb onto the roof of a parked car and stay there.
- Passed a goat market on the way out.
The visitor end
Up the hill the village turns into a small strip of restaurants with flags, decorative masks and colourful charpoy-style beds to eat and lie on. It is the part designed to be visited, and Harry gets there last on purpose.
Practical facts
- About $2 and ten minutes by taxi from central Islamabad.
- Around 15°C in January, and it rains. Harry’s warning is blunt: don’t come to Pakistan expecting heat, this is the middle of winter.
- Two meals for 1,800 rupees, about $10, at the restaurant strip.
- English turns up unexpectedly — one man Harry meets lived in London for four or five years.
What he takes from it
His summary is that people here seem happy without having much, and it is recorded as his observation rather than as a fact about the village. He pairs it with the rubbish and the wires rather than editing them out, which is what keeps it from being only a nice line.
Harry’s tips
- Go without a guide. This is the video where he explains why he uses one in the mountains and not in a city or a village — see travel with a local guide.
- Start at the top of the village and walk down, unless you specifically want the other half first.
- Join the cricket. Every group he approached let him bat.
Source
Videos featuring Saidpur
Linked from
- Islamabad Place
- Pakistan Country
- Travel with a local guide Tip