Himalaya with Michael Palin 3 of 8

in skardu in the heart of the cow chorim a local businessman was very very cleverly used a crashed airliner about 30 years ago towed it into his hotel and used it as a cafe thank you thank you very much thank you this place sounds silly but I just don't trust vehicles fool try walking myself spit bouncing all over the place somehow I feel fake or like this maybe it's just not to look down from the world the moment we're nearly at the ends I feel slightly better Wow well for lovers of geography mountains are just anyone with a sense of the dramatic this is one of the great focal points of our journey three mountain ranges meet here for Himalaya the Hindu Kush and the Karakoram and the in girth meet for gilgit and begins its long journey down to Karachi there's also my first time next to the Karakoram highway we then continued rather Karakoram highway which is known up there as the eighth wonder of the world over the over the Indus and that took us eventually down to Islamabad the capital of Pakistan therefore say that Pakistan begins 15 miles outside Islamabad as llama body is a very modern city unlike most of their noisy oyster cities rest of Pakistan many famous people including Imran Khan cricketer turned politician who invited me around to interview his dog he was asleep at the time so I interviewed Imran instead what made you decide to give up on what I suppose could have been a very comfortable life as a swathed cricket pundit REE commentating you're very well respected in the game and turned to politics well I thought since I wanted to live in Pakistan and since I have a name and I'm respected in this country I might as well try and make a difference so that really was the reason and it's it was pretty tough because that meant that I had to stand up to the status quo which is very strong in this country which meant fighting the traditional parties and unfortunately money in Pakistan is in the hands of crooks the majority of people who who go into politics have crooked money I mean they make money through illegal means some of them are mafias they used that money to fight elections they come into power and then it's the best business because that's like an investment and then they make a lot of money once in power hence it's one of we were one of the most corrupt countries in the world but a smart bright lad from the bazaars poor background could he make it in almost impossible because he would end up in a government school and in government school the quality of education is so poor that there's hardly any chance of him ever ever fulfilling his potential another thing that strikes me coming out from from the UK certainly in the northwest provinces is you very rarely see women in public at all and that range from coming over from a very open materialistic consumer-led society seems rather odd they seem viral the modest here do you think that women should have more of a role in Pakistan well of course you know women you know especially where you're talking about the Northwest Frontier women in the rural areas actually have a the work they have a big role I mean their work alongside men you know in the villages and they're you know they work as much as men it's the cities where the problem arises because of urbanization when rural people come into the cities then somehow they get disorientated and they don't know how to protect their women though you know if a man cannot protect his woman if something happens to you know his woman then the whole family's honour is at stake so it's they get there's a lot of confusion there still it's urbanization is relatively new and people haven't quite adapted to it so what they do is that they're just more or less shut the women inside what do the women want to be protected like this what do you think they they themselves want to see a change I know it's a very impossible thing to say but do you think women want to change more want to have more of an open role in life for women it's very difficult I think they find it very difficult they don't know I mean there's the segregation and secondly the the activities they can do are very limited most of the women go into teaching they go into the primary they become primary school teachers but it's still new and I think it's evolving and I feel that you know the trends in Karachi if you go to Karachi which is right down south the women are very active all stratas of society the from the lowest to the higher the women are working it's that the problem is in the northern areas of Pakistan in the Northwest Frontier Province where this is a very new phenomena and I think there I I expect it will still take some time before the women can find their role Imran Khan has one seat in parliament his own and he's probably better known as a cricketer and a playboy I'm sorry to ask this but I've noted him one of the or thought of travel guides to Pakistan is on page 100 you you are described as this is before your your marriage of course is a Playboy and seducer in the world's most eligible bachelor your reaction to that I guess because I was married you know the sort of think Emma but I always described my life as what I was pre post Jemima and pre Jemima phase you know before I was married and after marriage and I seem to have you know I forget I've forgotten all my life before before I was married so I have selective amnesia I don't remember what happened before then I like to think of myself as a happily married man yeah not far from the steaming busy streets of Ralph's pindy and find the largest and richest a few breweries in Pakistan which allowed to make alcohol for non-muslims of course the Murray brewery established at the height of the British Empire and 94 percent of the workforce producing the alcohol here are Muslims so presumably can't taste their own product which was pretty good he has ranging from a seven point six down to a lager and they make three million pints a year not bad for a non drinking country Minu Bandera from my college at Oxford runs the brewery and I've talked to him can you explain the legal position for Muslims who found possessing or drinking alcohol in Pakistan well the law is pretty rigid nor Muslim is entitled by law to possess alcohol to consume alcohol or to trade in alcohol but the fact of the matter is that in the Punjab all those who dispense or sell alcohol ie the large hotels the Marriott's and pearl Continentals and so on flashbangs they're all owned either by Muslims or by corporations that are controlled by Muslims as far as we're concerned that does not quite fit in with the law what's the extent of the bootlegging well I'm afraid it is quite extensive just as in the United States it was really extensive during the Prohibition years I should think in Pakistan it's even more extensive as far as the upper classes are concerned they have access to alcohol which is important which is important from or bootlegged from places like Dubai in fairly substantial quantities one has only to ring up once bootleggers and you can get your choice of wine liquor or beer and most people prefer it that way because it's it's a headache to be getting a permit and getting being sort of identified as a permit holder and so on as far as the poorer people concerned who cannot afford important bootleg liquor there is moonshine and there is plenty of that around in point of fact at times the moonshine liquor we ourselves our legal liquor numbers on that well we can't be certain of our numbers but I think that the numbers are between one bottle of licit liquor to about three or four bottles of illicit liquor depending on the season depending on the time and the mood of the government and the and the police surveillance at the times but I would say that the average would be between two and three bottles of liquor in addition to us off bootleg liquor I went off to find some beer not easy to find but the back of a hotel just the other side of the Grand Trunk Road one of the great arteries across subcontinent led me to flash mums hotel and I was told if I went round the back I could find somewhere I could buy my quota of drinks provided I could prove what religion I was from hello I'd like to buy a bottle of whiskey now I don't have a pad look I need a permit guy dude you have to see this okay thank you thank you yes in religion Christian or agnostic as you know about an austere with doubts how much can i buy I don't enjoy a fool of the city nuts after six years yes which is what how much is it you made six water six versus six six bottles 420 PS for 120 beers you sign on this okay lovely thank you so a bottle of the VAT what is one bottle of that yeah thank you I think what do you thank you thank you very much do you sell a lot of whisky whisky justice who buys the whisky are they all people from foreigners buy whiskey fun no no for no Christians here by the recent non-muslim right Christians posses breakers thank you very much indeed there we are well rested thank you very much indeed it's quite tricky getting it but I think you got the measure of me because he shouted as I walked away I do Jin these steps are um slightly awkward for humans but that's because they were built for Elephants this was a special entrance for the Mughal courtiers so they could come up right into their private apartments without getting off their elephants so we just up spirited in their hand into the moguls they really you know had style the rather sad story attached to this place because this was apparently where the emperor Akbar used to meet one of his favorites in the harem Anarkali and one day his son Prince Salim passed through an act while thought he glimpsed in the reflections of these mirrors here a flirtatious glances changed between Anarkali and Salim and he got very very angry indeed his chaps due up moments like this an Anunnaki immured walled up and buried alive and many years later when Salim became the emperor jahangir he said of a splendid tomb and on it wrote the words if I could but see the face of my beloved once again I would give thanks to God till the day of resurrection it's a it's a lovely if slightly gruesome tale and probably completely untrue but somehow it stuck stubbornly in the folklore of the city size and scale of the mughal buildings here in lahore the beauty of it there in the distance you can see from the fort to the Badshahi mosque one of the great Musk's of what was there north indian this little gem of a building here doesn't surprise me move actually built for Queen Mumtaz who was the wife of the Emperor Shah Jahan he wasn't averse to spending a a bit of money on ladies he liked because he built a tomb for her which is the Taj Mahal part of the beauty of the decoration here these pieces of Pietra dura which is a inlaid marble very precious turned so precious that some of them have gone missing over the years this was in the 17th century the moguls decorated these buildings another exquisite pavillion down on the right there with the curve the roofers based on a hot local country hut and it's in marble that Ruth is marble water and things you could do with water were very very important to the builders of the mughal palaces this is the Shalimar Gardens wonderful series of fountains waterfalls specially created trying to unclog them for us the day we were filming because sadly they're not in such good shape as they were p41 Hollywood is Pakistan's answer to Bollywood Bombay central Indian film industry all made in Lahore and a lot of them feature Shan Shaheed areas bleeding from the head and I was invited along to the studios to watch Sean at work all the films are made in the middle of the night when it's cooler far too hot to make films in the day and in between making nine films he agreed to meet me and then be interviewed here's the man how many movies have you made now I'm doing in 2223 in fourteen years into that two years I went back to New York I didn't work so twelve years what's a typical day like for you I do about nine projects a day nine different films I give two hours to each project and then I run to the other one so during the daytime I have to finish about 4:00 and then I go home rest for a while go back to the gym take some steam sauna I have dinner with the kids come back and work till five o'clock in the morning because now I'm gonna catch up for more shootings on this set I'm going to be a two year two to was only same thing you don't finish my work till that time too bad I have to go you playing nine different characters in the day yeah you know I mean if you if you do any question on that within 28 days I finished one film I will have to kiss on screen pop the lips on the little not on the lips probably on the hands or the forehead or you know on the side cheek or something but not on the lips saying my wife is not gonna agree to that anyways I'm gonna say does that seem unnatural to you no that's very natural I would feel the same way camera at one time it seemed unlikely that we might film in Kashmir cuz it's high security and there's been conflict there for many years lots of lives lost there's loss of all the most peaceful and beautiful places and I visited on the journey this is Lake dal early morning going to the floating market people here live around the edge of the lake they grow their food very often hydroponically on the lake itself take their produce to the market where you'll find dozens of boats lined up since the main market that's the main part of the market so I mean we just push in there and we start by suppose doesn't look because they were going to be able to do much supermarket shopping in my boat that was called stranger in paradise I talked to mr. Latha the boat man pointed out what was going on in the market these are people who live just on the edge of that lake so they're harvesting by boat going by both selling by and buying by boat yeah and the farmers coming very early in the morning yeah what are these oh I'll be the bait the being those are the red yes so gone yes come early in the morning they come here early in the morning after the sell and after the by they have all day free for selling and for the farming yeah the farmers go back to the farming everything big road here on the small islands the prices being negotiated here as well as the shouting that goes by they say no making a big argument that selling their spinach yeah long things - Maurice Blake yeah and those leaves are there this one's great all thanks I've noticed leads now eats a boogie Linda needs water lily right yeah thanks for the pound I'm fascinated by Lotus what comes from the Lotus what are these these are actually then the flowers are felling down from the seeds on the flowers then after that we get the seeds yeah these are the seeds yes it's selling here on the vegetable mark yeah then we buy those only they sort of come out like that yeah take this out like yes yeah then we peel this yeah like this yeah yeah and after we feel that again Green Party hill again yes and they have this white part yeah you can pick that from my hand yeah and put it in your mouth it eat it just like the nuts it has a good base but just like does a good very cleansing fresh taste fresh taste ma'am that's from there's a lotus seeds though to see well there are many tourists now in Kashmir so when a tourist boat does come along you're besieged and there really won't sir won't let you alone the flower settlers I didn't have any one ticket to buy the flowers for but they would have flowers I went all right let's see how much lovely how much of those about how much you trying to break me look I've got 200 there 200 I've got 200 and how about some yeah what have I got here yes 250 this is my hundred special I know I keep this there might be an emergency I have to keep this in case everyone goes I'm left stuck alone and Kashmir no other kind of business no I'll give that to a lady friend okay there we are thank you very much thank you all right very nice thank you very much what's your name my name is anyway we have to go now thank you very much yeah thank you no we have to go and there's somebody else we're in the middle of a sort of flower explosion they are nicer for you thank you so much the headquarters of the Tibetans in exile in Dharamsala it's not exactly speech day at school it's a special day at school when other girls do a dance for their parents these are basically Tibetan style dances with the long sleeves is seen our parents taking photographs they're girls and what they wear this there's amber and coral beads terribly important too when you go around the world and you've met some of the leading statesmen of the world over the last 40 50 years from maps it under george w bush I mean do you find that they respond to what you're saying these are people with enormous power and enormous armies they can take major decisions to send people into action or whatever do you feel with your message which is such a clear message of life in such a absolutely you know uncontradicted message do you feel it gets through to people you can you see change happening when you meet these people I think they're my own case one level better Rama or Tibetan or Buddhist but the fundamental level is human being so similarly no matter what for position but basically on a subtle level all same human being yeah so for example when I met like German war or President Bush I always says look mainly on the level of human being human brother so on that level we have no differences and usually well now I I meet you see these whether this leader or businessman or scientist or a politician how does he communicate with them on a human level that's main thing so I do not find you see any other day difficulties or not not much differences not wise differences so most to me more as a human on one all people very often coughing so sometimes it is also experience the few occasion I dined with chamanlal and sometimes with party pixel banquet so I always see beside him I stayed so he almost that appears like father father figure so he you know the Chinese of the tradition - chop chop stick yes you see his uncle chops to use some positive vegetables or things like that they put in my sort of you think human level Bush also very straightforward person and almost political and as a leaders of course they have their own difference of views and different responsibilities and actually my main motivation when meeting these people mainly say another human being who have major responsibilities but the main thing is as a human being so human level more compassionate person and his or her professions politics or business or sort of education or any anything do you ever encounter a situation where you meet someone who doesn't you know you can't get through to in whom there is a coldness and there is an indifference which you feel at you you know you just come up usually I don't know second and 90% right here 99% I think my meeting usually goes or that level and very very friendly fumigation one occasions idly lightness change I mean you're the best travel of any Dalai Lama in history and I mean you you are but you have a very hectic schedule why is it important for you to travel the world as much as you do now I actually invitation come some of this invitation well some kisses Sayaka I comes on or say day time not permit then also they at the time my first visit outside India there was 1973 to the West I described myself as a world citizen from my childhood I always have curiosity or desire to know more about different people different culture and as a Buddhist monk I also say have came just to learn more about different religious traditions I read somewhere I think that you had a big atlas when you are young so they're important to you I mean how is exactly the same I love that actually I think I think the factor which which bring interest about men is doing second world war like that West Japan so then eventually I develop some as the interests about us a jar of he and culture of different people differently area different climate perhaps I either want one reason in our own but it's literature some description about world and how developed it through evolution so I am as interest make comparison what's the difference is the model scientific explanation how developed this whole world like that so some of them do you worry about traveling now I mean there's an awful lot of tension and fear in the world about what countries we can go to and which countries are not allowed to go to I mean what advice would you give to somebody safe some young people wanting to travel now in this troubled world take more caution because now there is some unexpected things make me happen do you have any fear when when you travel that something might happen to you generally no forever I met some people always somewhere in friendly atmosphere immediately it happened when I passing through Street I always smile and I smile but then sometimes the other side but usually you see when I I show some smile without doing yeah it's just as a human being some very positive very peaceful sort of manner a great video it's a universal thing I knew also have died in the same same experience like it is mine though you sometimes you may not communicate with local language but smile and you put your hand most people are good except security guards I was going to ask actually there any station in the world today or anyone in the world today that you would still like to meet and haven't been able to is there anybody comes to mind idle talk melon oh I don't know I know but at least among you know those sort of leaders whom I already met and among them one doesn't happen I had great admission respect Czech Republic Czech Republic well for lovers of geography mountains are just anyone with a great sense of the dramatic this is one of the great over there the Himalaya range here the Hindu Kush they all meet here at the confluence the Indus and the gilgit River the Indus flows down to Karachi and is also the first time I come in contact with the Karakoram highway as you can hear Hey lovers generally or just lovers generally

Channel: Iva Sivaraja

Views: 179,702

Rating: 4.8754325 out of 5

Keywords: Himalaya, with, Michael, Palin

Id: FX3LDk5Nr_0

Length: 41min 58sec (2518 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 24 2011