Assalamualaikum

Hi! I went to Pakistan a couple weeks ago. In Pakistan, there is no greeting like 'good morning/afternoon/etc' but they say 'assalamualaikum' instead. It's because Pakistan is a muslim country (Islamic Republic of Pakistan) so they greet people in islamic way of saying 'peace be upon u' in arabic.

I went to Pakistan to attend a conference on fisheries. There are lots of stories I haven't shared here. Number one, I am finally graduated and obtained my bachelor degree on October last year and the graduation ceremony was on December. I was really glad and so do my family and friends. Before I graduated, I'm already hired to work with Dr. Mala Nurilmala in EMBRIO (Enhancing Marine Biodiversity Research in Indonesia).

Actually, the first one who was invited to the conference in Pakistan was Dr. Mala but she couldn't go so that's why I got the opportunity.

It was nice in Pakistan with good hospitality and a lot of friendly acquaintances. I experienced sleeping in a vintage and beautiful hotel, Faletti's Hotel. Moreover, I enjoyed the food and traditional dances showed in the gala dinner of the conference.

Most food in Pakistan is spicy but the spicy taste is different with Indonesian spicy food (pedesnya beda hehe). So if you love Indonesian spicy food you might not really like Pakistani spicy food or you might really like it. It depends on your tongue because the taste is very different, though both are spicy. Sorry it's hard to explain. Like you know, in Japan there is wasabi, but wasabi taste different from Indonesian sambal / chilli, however these two are spicy. You get it, right? The rice in Pakistan is also different from Indonesian rice and very very different from Japanese rice. I don't know why I'm comparing it with the Japanese one, well just to give you an insight of different rice in Asia.

A day before the conference, the committee managed to bring me to a unique traditional restaurant for dinner. The restaurant was near King's Mosque, the biggest mosque in Lahore, Pakistan. The restaurant was on a rooftop and they use torches for lighting and warming us because it was winter. It was such a great experience. You can see more moments about it through my Instagram: @hanihizb. I made a highlight for it.

Have you ever been to Pakistan?