The imposition of a complete ban on alcohol (Joint Committee Print 108-59)

In case you didn't already know, Islamic law prohibits the sale and purchase of alcohol among Muslims in Pakistan. If you are a non-Muslim, you can obtain a card that allows you purchase alcohol, but still, it's pretty hard to find a place with a non-Muslim to buy it from.

Like many missions, the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad has a commissary, which has permission to import alcohol into the country. So diplomatic employees of the embassy can buy alcohol there pretty much any day of the week -- unless there are shortages, sometimes because of bureacratic hold-ups. At separate times during our year here, the commissary has been devoid of all beer and all red wine.

So it's pretty strange to consider that Murree Brewery, the only brewery in Pakistan, exists. On a recent weekend, we headed to its factory in Rawalpindi for a tour and tasting (left). The brewery used to be based in the mountain town of Murree, thus the name, because of the quality of water available there, but logistical costs drove it to move down to the valley into the Islamabad suburb. As its logo indicates (right), the brewery was established in 1860 during colonization by the British, who are known to enjoy a stout now and again.

 

So the brewery is more than 150 years old, and its facilities are not so young either. Taking a tour through the facility was like taking a step back in time. The drying ovens date to 1944, according to a placard (top left). The brew pots are manned by workers who stir the boil with wooden poles when necessary (top right). Normally, the factory is powered by electricity and gas, but load-shedding and petrol shortages mean workers sometimes, including the day we visited, have to run the plant with energy from a large wood-burning stove (bottom).

 

Even the barley is done up old school. The seeds arrive in plastic-woven -- finally, some signs of modernity -- bags (left), then they are spread along the length of entire floor of the factory to germinate slightly and naturally before the barley is incorporated into the mash (right).

 

In the bottling section of the brewery, there are more machines, but the big lights and many switches make them seem like they are straight out of a Cold War-era Mission Control (left). And quality control consists not of a computer, but a guy who pulls bottles off the line if they contain any impurities or don't contain enough liquid (right).

 

On this day, as you can see, the factory wasn't bottling beer but liquor. The brewery is known for its whisky (another British favorite, coincidentally), which is aged in a huge warehouse of casks (left). Apparently keeping the casks cool enough, especially during the country's hot and humid summer, is quite a task. But over the years, Murree has offered a selection of liquors, including a "lemon lime" gin and a vodka with a label remarkably similar to the old version of Smirnoff.

 

At first, I was a little shocked at all the cans stacked up outside (left), thinking they were full of beer that would become skunked, but they turned out to be empty. The full cans and bottles were loaded on Pakistan's famous jingle trucks (right), to be distributed to limited outlets throughout the country. Each province or terrority is in charge of granting permits for alcohol sales. In Islamabad, part of the Capital Territory, foreigners can purchase Murree products through a hotel. When we first arrived, Murree beer was available in the commissary, but when the outlet was forced to contract with a single distributor, it opted for one with international brands.

 

So it had been a long time since we had actually tasted Murree beer. The tasting started prior to the tour, perhaps to dull the shock of the outdated equipment. We were allowed to serve ourselves from a selection of the best beers in Pakistan: Special Strong Brew, Millennium Brew, Classic Lager, and Murree Beer (top). After the tour, we were treated to draft beer, served from a large beaker, perhaps the most scientific instrument in the place (bottom left). The brewery owners graciously provided us with snacks to sustain us, and much to my surprise, right as we were leaving, we were given a set of four mugs, replicas of the ones we had been using (and I had been coveting) during the tasting (bottom right).

 

Sadly, I did not manage to get a bottle opener, but I did sneak out a cardboard coaster with the slogan "Have a Curry with Your Murree!" 

This situation in Pakistan is unique (Serial No. 111-33)

Sometimes, it's possible to forget that my living situation right now is unusual. To be honest, in going through the day-to-day routine, the "abnormal" parts begin to fade away. Part of that is because I am surrounded by opportunities to do "normal" activities.

In some ways, being on the embassy compound and the extension of the diplomatic enclave feels like being on a college campus. There are all kinds of clubs to join: photography, bird watching, painting; at the request of a Pakistani employee, I even helped start a public-speaking club at the embassy.

If you're into team sports, there are weekly pick-up games of soccer (called football here, of course), rugby, and ultimate Frisbee. There are regular tournaments for such sports as tennis, petanque, and darts. I now own many shirts or medals from participating in organized sports events, including a 5K, a swimathon, a triathlon, and even a local version of the Marine Corps Historic Half (half-marathon).

If you prefer more individualized types of exercise, you can find spinning, pilates, and yoga classes on and off compound. To escape my gym-rat rut, I recently started going to a HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training) class, offered twice a week -- for free -- at the embassy.

If your style is more lifting pints than weights, there is always a good excuse for a party. The international community means you get to celebrate all kinds of holidays: St. Patrick's Day, Chinese New Year, and Carnivale. The American holidays -- including Halloween, Memorial Day, and Valentine's Day (unfortunately) -- are not forgotten either. And hey, if it's not a holiday, just go to happy hour and sing some karaoke. We missed the biggest party of the year, the embassy's Marine Ball, because we were on R&R (not so unfortunately), but we competed in bar trivia a few times and ate haggis at the British High Commission's Burns Night.

More high-minded forms of entertainment are on hand. You can hear lectures on such things as climbing K2, the largest peak in Pakistan and the second-largest in the world; attend a poetry reading; or sing in the community choir. TJ and I chose to listen to a qawwali concert, and I joined a theater group, which is presenting Suites, a collection of plays by Neil Simon, right before I depart post. Hopefully, it will be a good finale for me, literally and figuratively.

TJ and I have seen only one other play, the same theater group's previous production, All You Need Is Luv. And it's hard to watch movies because most cinemas are off-limits. Still, we managed to watch one important movie, Zinda Bhaag, the first Pakistani film nominated to the Oscars in 50 years. Despite the movie's hopeful title -- which means "run to live" or "live destiny" in Urdu, depending on how you interpret it -- unfortunately it didn't make the short list voted on by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

As soon as the winter weather arrived, we fled our air-conditioned confines and headed straight for the Margalla Hills to do more hiking (left). The scenery is always lovely, but Trail 5 was even more refreshing after the wet season, when the streams were even fuller (right).

 

Unfortunately, the precipitation had washed garbage throughout the hills, making Trail 3 a bit trashier, despite the reminders to "Keep the Environment Clean" (top left). In the parking lot, the monkeys ignored the signs and made a mess (top right). Luckiily, the primates stuck to the pavement, and we only saw bovines on the trail (bottom left). They kindly let our band of homo sapiens pass by, unperturbed and undisturbed (bottom right).

 

 

It's nice to get outside, but sometimes, you don't want to walk so far, so instead you pack up the barbeque for a picnic in the park (top left). We filled two grills with food at Fatima Jinnah Park, which takes up the entire F-9 sector of Islamabad and (dubiously) claims to be the largest city park in Asia (top right). This time, no monkeys or cows intruded upon us, but a stick insect tried to get in on the fun (bottom left). We happily let him hang out as we enjoyed some post-lunch games of soccer and bocce (bottom right).

 

 

Our picnic activities drew some stares, but for most of the time, we forgot that we didn't really "fit in." But in my opinion, "fitting in" is over-rated anyway. Overall, my time in Pakistan has been quite normal enough for me.