We have arrived in Islamabad! Pretty normal city really, way more structured and organized than India, a little like Washington, DC in a strange way - a bit modern, starchy and lacking Mugal architecture. We went to the Friday women's bazaar in Ralwapindi, its twin older city for some shopping yesterday. We wore our headscarfs and blended right in (yeah right). But actually it is amazing to see the difference when wearing appropriate dress in how you are looked at and treated.

People are very friendly and the women are super engaging at the markets - almost everyone wants to make long eye contact and smile. The women are in all types of cover in the city, almost without an exception with some type of headscarf. For clothing, all the men are dressed in almost the same beige or white color pajama-looking outfit. The women have much more variety - from sequined shalwar kamis (dress tunic and pants), to black billowing tent dresses, and burkas - some with a slit and some with the mesh.

Zoe and I have been struck by how much you can learn about a person from their eyes - and with almost no exception the eyes take us in and radiate the biggest smile you have ever seen. I felt I knew these women more in a few seconds, more than any contact even in a friendly town in the US. The eyes are open, welcoming, baring their souls.

The Muslim women are a great help with shopping, quick to tell you where a better bracelet shop is located or if you should ask for a better price. Pakistani culture is great for shopping, as it is not acceptable to hassle you for a purchase! A mere "no" suffices, and bargaining is to be had with just a few interactions and no pressure. A jeweled necklace and earrings to match that'd cost a hundred dollars in the states might cost a mere 50 rupees, or little less than a dollar. Zoe and I along with thousands of women were in a pure heaven of jewelry and cloth.

The food so far is pretty bland -- dhal, korma, etc but not as spicy or interesting, and very oily like China. Women and families eat in a special section of every restaurant, while the men eat in another. Same thing holds true in the passport line and markets -- women's and men's versions of everything. Yet it seems perfectly natural, and leaves you completely without men trying to pick you up.

We are now camped indefinitely at the office in Islamabad for British Airways to find Curt and Bill's lost bags which have been missing for a week. One bag missing contains our satellite phone for the video v-blogs (irreplaceable) so we are in a bit of a bind and cannot head for the mountains. Thanks to technology and Skype we have friends in the US trying to help and discovered after a day on the phone that a luggage carousel broke in London last week and 4000 bags are piled up. Ugh.

There are lots of tourists here at our hotel from Italy, 40 of them trekking and climbing Broad Peak. They look totally inappropriate for the culture dressed in shorts, tank tops, sunglasses, et. The heat wave "global weirding" of 120 degrees F just passed before we arrived thank goodness. Hot but tolerable, even clothed with pants, skirts, long full coverage baggy shirts, and wool shawls.

We hope to fly to Skardu on Sunday,if the luggage arrives, which doesn't look good. And the weather is Skardu is rainy, which also means no planes flying, so we may need to drive for two terrifying days up the famous Karokoram highway which eventually heads to China.