So I had a short trip to Karachi a few days ago, and this is what Iâd suggest to anyone traveling there.
SPA
I absolutely love pampering myself and taking time for a slow, relaxing self care day, whether itâs a soothing massage, a fresh manicure and pedicure, or a good blow dry. I recently had an amazing scalp and shoulder massage at SOHO Salon in Karachi that lasted about 15 to 20 minutes, and they really knew the right pressure points, finishing with hot stones and a warm towel, which was so relaxing I nearly fell asleep. My mani pedi was just as good, with a great range of nail colors and properly sterilized tools opened in front of me. The blow dry was average since the curls didnât last long, possibly due to Karachiâs humidity, and overall salon services here are noticeably more expensive than in Lahore.
CHAAYE CULTURE
When I say Karachi has the best chaaye spots, I truly mean it. I love my tea and I know exactly how it should taste, and Chaye Wala in Bukhari is hands down the best Iâve ever had. Just get it in a disposable cup for the perfect experience. I used to get Doodhpati but in karak form with Cardamom. So it was a blend of three different chaaye they were serving.
Cafes and restaurants which arenât in Lahore or your city.
You should definitely try cafes which arenât available in the city or place you live. I absolutely love espresso, but they shut their branches off in Lahore. So when I went to karachi I went there thrice. Their spicy chicken panini sandwich, mushroom soup and the brick oven pizza was an absolute delight.
96NM for those frappes and coffee cravings. They had opened a pop up in Lahore a couple of months ago and they literally know how to make the perfect balance and blend of a frappe and a coffee. Their Signature (cold) NM special frappe and matcha is definitely what Iâd recommend.
Cafe Flo was too bland and tasteless for me. Probably wonât be going there again. However Chefâs table was really good. We took an 11 course meal and we chose the items weâd want to be individually served to us. The desserts I didnât like, it was too desi for my taste âPaan Gelatoâ. I liked their Rice Pudding though. From the main Iâd recommend the smashed beef in paratha. Amazing. The same paratha smash which got hyped in Dubai. Oh and I liked their Matka Biryani as well.
Seafood from Oyster Bay.
You need to try the seafood boil at Oyster Bay because itâs an experience in itself. It takes some effort as you crack open the crab carefully, trying not to hurt yourself in the process, and while they only had local crabs, I feel king crab would have been better since itâs meatier and easier to handle. The Cajun sauce wasnât as spicy as I expected, especially compared to Boiling Crab where you can choose different spice levels, so my expectations were a bit high, but it was still enjoyable. The shrimps were similar but in a milder sauce, and overall itâs a fun, messy experience best enjoyed with friends or family where you go full desi and eat with your hands, and they even provide bibs and gloves to make it easier.
Hey guys! I write this while I still fight my jet lag! My routine is still not on track. Anyways, we stayed in Pasadena, and were located in the heart of Pasadena about 5 minutes walk away from their famous Colorado Blvd. I opt for walking my way around places when on a vacation because we canât do that back in my country. LA is known for its weather, it was pleasant during the days and got super chilly right after sunset (Similar to what it was in December 2017).
Salt & Straw
I cannot put into words on how much I loved their chocolate gooey brownie ice cream. The ice cream had brownie chunks in it and was super yummy. I have always been a Haagen-dazs kinda person but this ice cream was just AMAZING. Definitely worth every calorie. I wasnât really calorie conscious on this trip. Also this is only Available in the States and was previously introduced in Portland, Oregon first.
In-n-Out burgers
This chain of burgers, fries and milkshakes is only available in the State of California. NO OTHER STATE or country. Iâve never really liked beef burgers but their burgers are an exception. The texture and theyâre very basic yet taste amazing. At the end it all comes down to quality maintenance, something theyâve managed to do so well. Due to covid and monkeypox we just got it via Drive Thru instead of going in the outlet. The line at the drive thru used to be crazy, easily took us 20 minutes or more each time. You definitely should try their Burgers. Fries arenât that good but the burger just melts into your mouth. So itâs definitely worth it.
Starbucks
Okay so starbucks is everywhere! But I have some favourite drinks which I would definitely recommend. Previously I had only tried their basic unflavoured latte but this time due to the summer and heatwave going on I opted for cooler drinks instead. I would definitely recommend strawberry creme frappe & cookie frappe. These two were my favourite. Plus I donât know about you but I hate flavoured coffee. Makes me sick. Coffee itself had such an amazing and strong taste, why would anyone want to change to into caramel or any other pathetic taste? Just blows my mind. So if you want a hot drink just stick to their basic latte. Also before you order any new drink from them just ask the person taking your order if they would recommend that particular drink to you, and just tell them what you actually want/ or like, if theyâre kind enough they will definitely recommend or suggest something. Atleast they were super sweet in Pasadena (Colorado blvd) Los Angeles. They even told me theyâd change my drink if I didnât like it. So shout out to them for being extra sweet.
85c cafe
They had an amazing collection of pastries, cakes and a huge variety of bread. The coffee was just average, but the hype regarding their bakery items was on point. This was a 3-4 minute walk from my hotel and a go to place due to the convenience. The funny part is that I actually went to this french crepe cafe near this bakery first (for breakfast) but their menu didnât really fascinate me so I left that cafe and stumbled upon this cute bakery.
The Boiling Crab
Let me tell you one thing. I never liked seafood just because I grew up watching Little Mermaid. And I always believed that if I eat fish iâm causing harm to the mermaids. Yes! That was me growing up. And guess what? I never bothered eating sea food until we traveled and the first time I ever had sea food and king crab was in Amsterdam. My entire idea has completely changed. Number one there are no mermaids (as of now) and number two you definitely need to try seafood when travelling because Pakistan has the most pathetic quality seafood ever. I loved Fried COD and King crab, but this time I actually ate shrimps for the very first time and I LOVED IT. We got fried shrimps, boiled shrimps & king crab, fried calamari, corn on the cob and cajun fries (absolutely loved these). You donât need anything except a crab shell cracker and your hands! This was definitely very unsophisticated but the taste was still worth the experience. Just make sure you wash your hands before and after the meal thoroughly. We went here twice. For the first time we ordered the spiciest sauce for our crabs and shrimps, I literally had tears in my eyes while I ate my meal. I couldnât even wipe them off because my hands were a mess!! They literally give you a bib so you dont ruin your shirt and they lay out a disposable sheet on the paper on which you actually eat your meal! If you are ever travelling to LA you definitely need to try this!
On our short trip we also visited 4 Indian restaurants 1 in LA, 1 in Minden (Nevada), 1 in South Lake Tahoe and 1 in Oakhurst. Ended up ordering the same thing; Yellow tarka dal, chicken tikka masala (extra spicy), Palak Paneer(spinach and cheese), garlic naan/ green chilli naan and Vegetable samosa. My top favourite one would be the one in Tahoe, the best food. I am big fan of Dal. I mean who isnât. Specially when youâre away from home and you want some good desi comfort food. We had also ordered barbecue but it was nothing like what you get in Pakistan, there was no taste just a red color added to the meat, so didnât really give that barbecue vibe. Just remember ordering the food extra spicy when youâre travelling in the west, otherwise your desi food will be more towards a dessert. Thank me later.
Urth Cafe
Okay apparently this was the first time I had cucumbers in my veggie cheese omelette and it was so weird. Literally wasted the entire thing! I only thing I loved was their coffee. The lady serving us complimented me and told me how pretty I looked, so it made me forget about the cucumbers in my omelette. The croissant however wasnât that fascinating either, Idk maybe my expectations were super high. The only thing I loved was the ambiance and how sweet their staff was. The breakfast was just okayish.
Portoâs Bakery And Cafe
This place had an amazing variety of breads & desserts. Personally I loved the Tres leches cake and their egg bread. The egg bread literally metled in your mouth, it was super soft and airy. While the Tres leches cake was just perfect. I absolutely love milk cakes and this was a good find.
Raffiâs Persian Food
I donât eat beef. I prefer having lamb kebabâs over beef. When I was here in 2017, they had Lamb Koobeâdeh which I loved but this time they only had beef koobeâdeh and it was so disappointing. I ended up ordering their chicken option instead. If youâre someone who doesnât mind having beef then this is definitely a place to go. This is a Persian restaurant and quite famous in Glendale.
Krispy KremeDoughnuts đŠ
Have you even lived your life if you havenât had Krispy Kreme doughnuts? Iâd been craving for these doughnuts since the past 4 years now (since my last trip to US). These arenât available anywhere in Europe, which was shocking. Personally I donât like doughnuts with fillings, I prefer the ones which are plain from the inside and loaded with flavour on top. My personal favourite will always be classic glazed, strawberry glazed with sprinkles and chocolate glazed with sprinkles. The strawberry glazed has a legit strawberry flavouring and would definitely recommend this to anyone who loves doughnuts. Theyâre always freshly made, super soft and flavourful.
Absolutely hated the Chinese food in Los Angeles. Though we went to one restaurant, Panda Inn (Glendale). It was overly priced and had no taste at all. The only thing I liked was Edamame wok fried. That is it. We had ordered vegetable chowmein, egg fried rice, sweet & sour chicken, orange beef and crispy garlic chicken. We ordered way too much food and it got wasted. I had high expectations for some reason. This is an old restaurant and was recommended by my father since it there since his college days. If youâre someone who wants to spend a lot on food which has almost no taste, you should definitely go there. Portions in America are huge so order accordingly.
Will be posting more from my trip! So stay tuned for more!â¨đ¤
Heyy guys! Todayâs blog will be about things you need to do in Amsterdam & places you need to visit once youâre there.
DAM SQUARE
This place has everything on a good walk/distance, every event or shop is super close to this area. Youâre literally in the middle of everything. So you definitely will have to go this place and lets not forget the amazing pictures/videos you can take in this location. The aesthetics are amazing.
Vleminckx Sausmeesters (1887)
The most amazing fries ever. No one recommended this to us, I discovered these fries while strolling across the street with my younger brother (while rest of the family was busy shopping). We saw a huge queue of people in order to get fries so we joined them and made an amazing discovery. We Went to this place multiple times on our second trip to Amsterdam. p.s I got plain salted fries but their garlic mayo ones were good too.
Paddle boat
This was by far a very fun experience! You need good amount of strength in your legs in order to keep up with who youâre with or just be with someone whoâs physically stronger than you so you not need to put in that much effort. And I had my younger brother with me here. He didnât complain when I stopped paddling. Good old times. We both paddled our way through the canal. This was in July, the canals are frozen during the winter season.
Cycling
This is good as long as you have company and you are aware of the routes. There was a bike/cycle lane right next to our hotel and we rented cycles from our hotel and went out. The only thing is that I got super confused when we got on the main road and the bicycle/bike lane merged with the main road with actual cars. I donât drive and nor am I good at those skills. I almost got hit by a bike (due to my confusion) and when my parents found out about our little adventure I was scolded and told never to get the cycle again. And this was our first trip, I didnât even bother renting the bicycle on the next trip.
Take a train to Delft
The train ride was for about 50 minutes and the weather here was super pleasant (while Amsterdam was facing a really bad heatwave). We booked a golf cart/ golf buggy which took us around this super cute yet historic city. Definitely worth the trip. We got back to Amsterdam after a tour and lunch at delft the very same day. There are multiple trains going back and forth from Amsterdam to Delft.
The Seafood Bar
If you like fish or seafood in any way or form, you need to visit this amazing place. This is our go to place whenever weâre in Amsterdam. Sort of a family tradition to go there almost everyday specially the Van Baerlestraat branch. They have multiple branches in Amsterdam but this is where we went all the time. The staff, the food, ambiance, menu everything was perfect! I Had king crab for the very first time here and I was never into crabs or lobsters before. This place just changed my taste buds!
DâJUICE HOUSE
They have an amazing range of smoothies! And some of them were super healthy too and filled with nutrients. I got the beetroot and apple smoothie all the time! This was next to the area we got our Belgium fries from.
The people in Amsterdam are super sweet and welcoming. They have trams which are super easy to understand and you can never lose your way. Plus itâs super safe. Just be careful to not interact with shady people (specially towards dam square).
I hope you all are having an amazing day. So this year i went to Europe for Summer Vacations.
We went to 4 countries;
Spain
France
Belgium
Netherlands
Today iâll be sharing my experience in Gent or Ghent whatever way you want to write it. Itâs pronounced as Gent, the h is completely silent.
Okay so we were traveling from Paris to Gent/Ghent. Trust me the trains were not easy, we had early morning trains. First we went to Brussels and then from Brussels we had to switch trains for Gent/Ghent. The train from Brussels to Gent actually didnât have enough space for bags. We were 4 people with 2 suitcases each. Plus my handbag. It was not easy pushing the suitcases, but Ghent/Gent is such a hidden treasure hence itâs completely worth the hassle.
The location of our hotel was amazing, it was right in middle of everything, food or shopping you name it. We stayed at Hotel NH Gent Belfort. The rooms were huge and the washrooms were spacious, would highly recommend staying there.
Ghent has everything. The best food and the best scenery. I had the best Asian Cuisine there, we went there everyday for either lunch or dinner. It was open till 11 p.m the plus point. It was Pho Saigon Noodle Bar, loved their chicken skewers and vegetable spring rolls. Plus the rice noodles were FANTASTIC đ
Hereâs a picture of it:
Waffles and Fries are something the Belgium people are good at, and they had the most amazing waffles there. Thinking about them right now makes me super hungry, THEY WERE SOOOOO GOOOOOD!!!!!
There were no high end brands in Gent/Ghent. Unlike Paris or other major cities. Itâs such a undiscovered gem in Europe. The architecture over there was so beautiful, every street’s hundreds of years old. With beautiful history. Would definitely recommend going there.
