Google Sightseeing » Pakistan

Border Ceremony as a Spectator Sport

Ian Brown — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 14:08:00 +0000

The road between the Indian city of Amritsar and the Pakistani city Lahore crosses the border through the village of Wahga (or Wagah, depending on which side of the border you’re on), which was divided in half when the subcontinent was partitioned in 1947.

While most border posts are mundane places where you fill out forms and get your passport stamped, this one is the scene of possibly the most spectacular – and the most well attended – border ceremony in the world, with crowds from both nations packing their own grandstand for a lively and festive celebration of nationalism.

By day, people and goods flow across the border, often with porters of one nation handing packages across the border to porters from the other. However at sunset, troops from the two countries parade in aggressive fashion, with much stamping, staring, brandishing of weapons, slamming of gates and coordinated flag-lowerings, all timed precisely such that one nation’s flag is not removed earlier than the other.

Check out the pictures at Panoramio and view some of the many YouTube videos to get a true sense of this border ceremony as a spectator sport.

Thanks to Mukesh Kanchan.

Locations: India, Pakistan / Categories: Stadiums and Sport, Weirdness

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Tarbela Dam

Ian Brown — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 17:21:42 +0000

Tarbela Dam, found on the Indus River in Northern Pakistan, is the largest earth-filled dam in the world.

The dam was completed in 1976 as the result of a water-rights agreement between India and Pakistan. It is 143m high and almost 3km wide, for a total volume of 106million cubic metres of rocks and earth, making it one of the world’s largest man-made structures.

It holds back a reservoir almost 100km long, though the capacity of the lake has been reduced by silt deposits, just one of many problems encountered by the dam’s builders and operators.

The water is vital to irrigation for farms in the area and power stations at the dam provide a significant portion of Pakistan’s hydro-electric power (caution, vibrant text and background colour!)

Zooming in shows us that it also makes the perfect backdrop for a large religious pronouncement, with Arabic and English text from the Koran reading And HE hath made the rivers for service unto you.

Thanks to Rashid and Syed for pointing us to the first Google Sightseeing entry from Pakistan. This was also our first ‘large type’ from the Koran, though we have had advice to read the Bible and of course, many dams.

Locations: Pakistan / Categories: Large Type, Structures

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