In the morning, after providing us with a delicious breakfast of Eggs and fresh yogurt Afzaal and one of his friends took us to look around Khanewal. We went out to see the market and the place was packed with people. Electronic shops and fruit vendors lined the main road and behind them was a warren of alleys and stalls selling clothes, kitchen products, all sorts.
Afzaal took us to get ice cream at the best ice cream place in Khanewal according to him and it was indeed delicious. Then we went to visit a two story kitchen appliance shop which was indoors and the two men seemed very proud of. Everywhere we went people wanted to shake our hands, say hello and most importantly, get a photo.
We visited a glasses shop, the owner was another good friend of Alfaaz. Everyone was really happy to see us, they all asked what we thought of Pakistan and were atains to explain that it wasn’t dangerous.
After the market Alfaaz took us to meet his boss, the producer of the local TV news station and editor of the newspaper for the region. We sat in a nice office with him and his friends for a while drinking tea and answering questions.by now though it was starting to get let, and as much as we appreciated being shown all these places and meeting all these people we still and to get some distance dance cycling.
Before we could leave though, the press club and the news station wanted to interview us for TV. A big group showed up to undertake this procedure. They asked regular questions and then got some footage of us cycling the bikes. It must really be a rare occurrence to see a western tourist come through.
It was bit later than we would have liked when we finally did get going. We were in the main highway to Lahore so the road was quite busy, but out in the countryside the wide open field and grass and trees all made up for the constant, defeating honking of the trucks. It was so nice to cycle past trees again.
Like yesterday we attracted curiosity like no other with people on motorcycles pulling up to talk to us frequently, and people in cars stopping to get a photo more than once. When we pulled up to a shop in a small town to get food for camp, everyone in a ten meter radius stopped what they were doing (nothing..?) to come stand around us and stare. It’s really the biggest culture shock we’ve experienced on the trips like no other. It’s a bit intimidating at first, but once you get used to it it’s kind of funny.
Finding somewhere to camp proved to be quite difficult, everywhere was farmland with only narrow tracks wide enough for a motorcycle between them. We pulled off down a side road looking for somewhere decent, a dusty road that was surprisingly busy with people like most places in Punjab.
After much searching we eventually found a patch of land that wasn’t growing anything and set up for the night. As we were pulling our bikes to the campsite a local guy came walking the other way and helped us out setting up camp. Then he gave us his phone number in case anything happened and walked off into the night.