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Shopping in Pakistan
There are many places in Pakistan to shop to your heart's
desire - roadside stalls selling cheap tack, expensive tourist
shops, but the best place is one of the main city bazaars
like those in Peshawar, Lahore and the Empress Market
in Karachi.
Buying a Shalwar Qamiz
One essential action when travelling in Pakistan is to get
yourself kitted out in a Shalwar Qamiz, the traditional long
shirt and baggy trousers worn by Pakistani men and women throughout
the world, and vital to keep cool in the beating sun. It was
originally from Punjab, but is now worn throughout India and
Pakistan and is a fashionable and comfortable alternative
to the more complex dresses like saris. The Qamiz is
a loose pyjama style trouser. For women, the shalwar qamiz
has been re-interepreted by modern, liberal Indian women as
not concealing and demure but rather seductive and, increasingly,
casual but sexy. A variant on the form is the churidar
- a tight fitting trouser gathered at the ankle which look
like bangles.
It can be bought 'pret a porter' or tailored within a few
days or even hours for you, the fabrics stall holders are
likely to be more than willing to offer their services. What
a charming and unique item for your wardrobe, perhaps made
from silk (resham) which is a great bargain readily available
in the northern areas. You need to buy about 20ft of cloth
to make one, and it's worn big and baggy. It will only set
you back around $15 when tailored, cheaper off the peg ones
may be just a few dollars.
Other types of dress you could buy in the markets include
the ghagra choli - waist length bare back blouses with
ankle length skirts or the traditional sari - a long
cloth wrapped intricately around the body to form a close
fitting dress.
Other great buys
Wool blankets (chador) - double as shawls, blankets
or a pillow when you're on the road
Camel skin lamps - popular in Baluchistan and Sind
where the transcluscent camel leather is streatched over a
clay mould and painted in dazzling bright colours, making
your lamp scatter kaleiodoscopic colours around your room.
Slippers - good ones are made of real leather and
are pointed with slight curls at the toe and decorated with
a mosaic of rich shimmery embroidery.
Textiles and embroidered clothes - glamorous and practical
buys, those of Gujarat are much like those found in
India with tiny mirrors sewn into the dyed clothes. Sindh
is famous for patchwork cloth known as rilli. Embroidered
caps are a speciality and a practical way to fend off
heat stroke, as you will have undoubtedly lost your western
cap by the time you reach Pakistan! Some fabrics are literally
green - many wools are unpicked from those clothes you unloaded
in a charity dumper and weaved into something new and special.
Jewellery - Richly decorated jewellery of Moghul origin
with jewels like rubies, emeralds and pearl inset in the gold
or silver.
Wood crafts - The Swat Valley is know for Buddhist
symbols in wood carvings, with Hellenistic and Greek influences
mixed in.
Carpets - Kilims, flat woven tribal carpets, are omnipresent
in Pakistan, made locally as well as imports from Iran, Afghanistan
and China. Remember that more coarse wool will be more durable
than the kind of soft wools you would find in a jumper. These
tribal rugs are not merely decorative or practical, they are
also symbolic, showing scenes of hunting, animals, flowers
and telling cultural stories, for example, rugs from Afghanistan
may have an image of an Islamic tree of life mixed with images
of war like guns, tanks and helicopters.
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