Atta's Travelogues And More...!: February 2023

On my first visit to Geneva on an official trip I took a Turkish Airlines flight from Islamabad to Istanbul on Monday, January 23, 2023. On the seat next to me was a young Afghan guy who was going to the US. He had recently married his cousin who lived there in the US. People who can, have started leaving Afghanistan after the August 2021 fall of Kabul. This young good-looking guy was also one of them, I guess. I think he made a smart decision. With all the uncertain situation in Afghanistan, girls colleges being closed and Taliban having no experience and exposure to run a country in the modern day world it is the best decision a guy like him should make.

While landing at the Istanbul airport, I had a glance over the city through the plane window. It looked a bit green and not as busy as I expected. I had a connecting flight to catch to Geneva so after getting out of the plane started looking for my next boarding gate, A7. Interestingly, the Turkish Airlines didn’t serve wine in the plane that took off from Pakistan but as soon as we left for Geneva wine was served to those who liked. Understandable right? Red wine is quite famous in my district too. We call it Drocho Oogh in our local language. The literal meaning of Drocho Oogh is grape juice. In Chitral, the red wine of the Kalash valley is very famous. However, in villages where people have grape vineyards, some of them also make it at home but quite secretively. In the Ghizer side of GB, Sher Qilla, Punial, Gahkuch etc. folks also like red wine (read make and drink secretively). Of course the love of wine is lesser than the fear of being socially and religiously humiliated in Pakistan. But Turkish Airlines served only on Geneva flight. May be the flight that took off from Pakistan was a halal flight.

When the plane was over Switzerland and later Geneva, you could only see snow. It looked beautiful; snow all over. However, the green Switzerland that we had watched videos of, was all white in January. Skiing season, right? While landing it was good to see that the city center had no snow. Went to money exchange. Received Euros and Swiss francs for USD. In Pakistan, the exchange rate for dollar was Rs.256 per dollar. You could even not find dollars in the market. Thanks to my lovely friend for arranging that. Anyways, Euros were also no different. Costlier than USD. After ticking off one task, bought a local sim for data. Shockingly, the Telenor roaming package that I had bought in Pakistan, called the Telenor Global 4G package, didn’t work in Geneva. It worked a bit in the Istanbul airport. But alas! All I needed that for was Europe. So I bought a local sim for one week data at Rs. 40 Euros. The lady at the booth was nice. She told me to use data roaming once I leave Geneva to any other European country. I told her that I will be going on a Europe tour right after 3 days of my official business in Geneva. Took a taxi to Ibis Centre Nations; my home for next 3 days. Three of my colleagues were also staying in the same hotel. I had chosen this hotel because of its closeness to my headquarters. The first shock after check in was not finding slippers in the washroom. LOL. In Pakistan, in any hotel of this budget range, there will be such facilities. There was also no room service. Probably, it was due to the restaurant on the ground floor next to the reception. It also seemed a good strategy because ordering food in rooms might cause stains here and there. For cleanliness, I would rate this hotel 10/10. However, this stands true for all of Geneva. A clean, peaceful, and quiet city.

Geneva is one of the most expensive cities of the world. Imagine buying a 300 ml water bottle at 3 euros. In euros it might seems few bucks but when your Pakistani mind does the conversion calculation it would be about Rs.1,000. A nestle water bottle of the same size in Pakistan would cost you Rs. 60. Confusing right? But Geneva is expensive. However, wine is cheaper. In 3 euros you can also buy a glass of Gamay wine. Now it is up to you. W is for water. W for wine. Cost is also same. You decide.

Geneva is the most walkable city I have ever come across. I wasted no time to go out and start walking to the lake and the fountain. The fountain is huge, set up in the middle of the lake. The lake is so clear that you can see deep down from the surface. On both sides of the lake are hotels and shopping malls including apartments. You can find all the world class brands of clothing, perfumes, drinks, watches etc. But don’t buy. Just do a window shopping. If you are very rich, sure.

There is a Pakistani restaurant, Tasty Chicken, in the red-light district. You will have a Pakistani vibe inside along with Pakistani food. A simple plate of daal chawal (plain rice + lentils/Daal-e-channa) would cost you CHF 16 (around PKR 4,000). However, the owner was kind enough to give me a juice free when I jokingly expressed my surprise on the price of daal chawal that I used to eat in Gulberg main market Lahore in Rs.180 in 2020.

I stayed at Hotel Ibis Centre Nations. I booked here because of its proximity to our GVA office. But I also found out later that it is also close to the train station, Cornivan. My official days ended on the evening of January 26. My personal tour started onwards. I happily booked my Geneva to Paris train ticket online (TGV) and reached the train station some forty minutes before departure. Twenty meeting prior arrival is recommended but for people like me who have Pakistani passports it is good to arrive early to make sure that the immigration or custom officers have enough time to ask you a few questions. They only question I was asked was when your return ticket is. I said 4^th of Feb. Of course yaar wapis tou jana hy. Ap ne kahan rakna hy hamain itne saaf mulk main haha.

With my Chicken Ceaser salad packet in my hands, a laptop bag and a hand carry I boarded the train, TGV LYRIA 9787. Coach number 17 upper deck and seat no 067 took me to Paris in 3 hours 12 minutes. The train left on the exact time mentioned in the ticket and reached on the exact time the company committed. Mtlb yar kya ho jata agr thora late hotay. Koi baat nehi. But nehi. Time pa ponchna tha inhain Paris Gare De Lyon lol.

Paris… Here I come. But before that here are some pictures from Geneva !