Day 2 in Pakistan

Well I didn't want to wake up this morning, and morning came very quickly

For breakfast we were treated to special friend pancake-like-naan with sweet sauce, as a Pakistan specialty  it was very good!

Due to the rain they have had here, everything has been postponed by a day, so today was our rest day and tomorrow will be the practice.
Gerald was wearing his special pounsley pink uniform!

So we set off for the University stud farm to have a look at Prince Malik's horses and watch the South African managers try them out as they are going to lead the parade on them.

The second horse we saw was a lovely Palomino stallion, and Prince Malik's team are all smartly turned out




We went on to look at the ground where we will be pegging, this is currently harrowed to help the ground dry out and will be rolled tonight to make it suitable for pegging
They were in the process of erecting some pretty huge marquees for the expected large crowds!

This event should be pretty colourful and noisy as its a large festival for them.

The South African boys then got very excited as they saw a tractor in the nearby field, it doesn't matter if its just an old Massey, it still seems to evoke the same "small boy" reaction

The guys in the field were hand cutting an oat/ barley type plant and collecting this into bundles to load on to either tractor trailer or the donkey - talking of which here is the South African guys having a go at driving


Lunch was next on the agenda, and again served in the University garden and was fantastic food

Back on the bus - you remember me saying yesterday the roads were better than India? I take that back, after quite a few near misses, even the danger seeking South Africans retreated to the back the bus as the ones at the front worked out they would be the first to die!

2 long hours later and a crafty kip for me, we arrived at a horse farm to drums and musicians in a small village. All the villagers turned out to see us, not sure whether we were the entertainment, but I don't think that area would see many foreigners.

So dancing horses were next, and we had 3 perform to us in time to music

Tea was next with the most amazing food, including fluorescent orange donutty type things and pink tea (known as kashmiri-chi, which after asking many people, no one knows the secret ingredients)

However we were going straight to dinner, so we had to eat enough to keep our wonderful hosts happy, but not too much that you wouldn't want anything else

Following tea was a tour of the horses, they kept predominantly "white" horses, but technically greys as they had dark eyes. These are always hobbled for part of the day, as part of their normal routine

The grounds were extremely well kept










Dinner was next, at another horse farm, and once again there were more horses to inspect. Including a very nice looking stallion, who was reputed to be the best bloodline in Pakistan

They had a pretty impressive tackroom which we inspected with Prince Malik (tack is out of sight to the left)

The food for dinner was prepared outside including the bread, cooked in a massive bbq area. We were outside, but had a fire to keep us warm, as the temperature is around 9oC at night and dropping!

We did have beer - so all the boys seemed very happy with meat and beer!


Right back to the room - so there has been a parting of ways! I'm afraid to report that Jacky and I have broken up and are now sleeping in separate beds!

This was partly due to John from the SA team asking me why on earth I hadn't requested this earlier... well you live and learn. Fortunately I was the duvet hogger, so Jacky was cold whilst I was toasty.

Despite being in a dry country we are being well looked after and have a fridge full of beer in the room!

Here is the obligatory toilet picture, we did have toilet roll ready and waiting, which was a nice surprise. However there is still the ominous hose and buckets lurking in there. Looking at the track, I don't think there are any "facilities" at all around there!