Today Pakistan are playing South Africa at cricket in a 'limited overs' international here in Lahore. There are about 20 of us that have got tickets, we also have one of the large magnetic Ozbus signs from the side of the bus, some of us have even bought Pakistan cricket shirts.
We get quite a bit of attention as we enter the ground, I dont expect they get many groups of obvious looking westerners coming to watch the cricket. Immediatly we are picked out by a camera crew, we all line up with our sign and are clearly visable to the whole ground as they show us on the very large TV screen on the scoreboard. Eventually we get to take our seats, we are an attraction, people start to edge closer and closer until eventually we are surrounded. The locals are very inquisitive wanting to know who we are, where we are from, what we are doing in Pakistan. Now dont get me wrong once or twice is ok, you can maintain the enthusiasm about travelling by bus from one side of the world to the other, however by the fifth, sixth, thirteenth and fourteenth time all you really want is to be left alone to watch the cricket (I never thought I'd ever say that I wanted to watch cricket).
Myself and The Fox (a South African. Also known as a 'Safa') sit apart from the rest and meet with another Safa who is an aid worker taking some time off from her work in Afganistan. We are cheering for South Africa, the rest of the thousand or so in our enclosure obviosly arn't, but it is all taken in good fun and in general we all have a god time (for myself the only thing that spoilt it was the cricket).
We get quite a bit of attention as we enter the ground, I dont expect they get many groups of obvious looking westerners coming to watch the cricket. Immediatly we are picked out by a camera crew, we all line up with our sign and are clearly visable to the whole ground as they show us on the very large TV screen on the scoreboard. Eventually we get to take our seats, we are an attraction, people start to edge closer and closer until eventually we are surrounded. The locals are very inquisitive wanting to know who we are, where we are from, what we are doing in Pakistan. Now dont get me wrong once or twice is ok, you can maintain the enthusiasm about travelling by bus from one side of the world to the other, however by the fifth, sixth, thirteenth and fourteenth time all you really want is to be left alone to watch the cricket (I never thought I'd ever say that I wanted to watch cricket).
Myself and The Fox (a South African. Also known as a 'Safa') sit apart from the rest and meet with another Safa who is an aid worker taking some time off from her work in Afganistan. We are cheering for South Africa, the rest of the thousand or so in our enclosure obviosly arn't, but it is all taken in good fun and in general we all have a god time (for myself the only thing that spoilt it was the cricket).
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